I've caught some of my locals off now and then. In some cases I've heard DX when they were weak. Below I will list some stations I've heard on their frequencies. I will also include adjacents if the local runs IBOC, or was off the air during the day. Signal strengths listed on the locals are as indicated on the PL-606 (which as of yesterday late afternoon sometime when I wasn't near the radio has a broken frequency display).
First, I'll mention I haven't had much on FM. I never can seem to get e-skip on my barefoot radio, for one thing. I've heard that tropo usually enhances signals 200 miles away (or more/less) on occasion, but 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara at 212 miles is too regular, I think, to be tropo. At the top of a ~900-ft hill 3/4 mi NW of me, KVYB is pretty much a 24/7 regular, often good enough to be in stereo especially when Temecula isn't competing. (I'm at ~550 ft, KVYB is NW.)
One of these days I'm hoping to get some good e-skip. For example, I'd like a bunch of stations to pile on a frequency so it makes today's nighttime graveyard channels seem like what a clear used to be like before the 1950s at midday 1500+ miles from the frequency's clear-channel transmitter. (Quick question for hams... during DX contests, is that what pileups are like, per frequency?) The pileup should include some stations NOT in North America (Europe or Australia would be nice if possible) Each station in the pileup should be strong enough, by itself, to *completely* block detection of my strongest local, 89.5 KPBS, which is 2.7 kW 4.6 mi S of me, visible from my house, and with the extended antenna on my PL-606 has briefly indicated around 78-80 dBu or so (if switching bands and the FM was already on 89.5) before desensing to around 66-70 dBu or so. (That blocking should happen even if the pileup is nowhere near 89.5 FM.)
Now, for the AMs......
-- 600 KOGO (5 kW DA-1, 7.7 mi W, ~69/25)
have yet to catch them off (they're the local main EAS station), haven't ID'd anything on-frequency.
Under KOGO's IBOC, I've heard 590 KTIE San Bernardino and 610 KAVL Lancaster midday with the Select-A-Tenna, as well as 610 KEAR San Francisco.
I think one of my all-time best catches was 594 JOAK Tokyo, Japan, dug out from under KOGO and its IBOC a couple Octobers/Novembers ago, using a PL-380 and Select-A-Tenna.
-- 690 XEWW (77.5 kW / 50 kW DA-2, 32 mi SW, ~70/25 day, ~60(?)/25 night)
don't remember anything specific. Any ideas for what may be possible?
-- 760 KFMB (5 kW / 50 kW DA-N, 7.3 mi NW, ~72/25 day, ~82/25 night)
Day, with KFMB on, have caught KKZN Thornton, CO, before their sunset.
Night, with KFMB on, I can detect an as-yet-unID SS from God-(or_your_choice_deity)-knows-where (is South America possible?)
I have yet to bag WJR - is there any possibility, considering KFMB is NW of me and WJR is NE or E/NE (and no cheating by doing it when KFMB is on reduced day power or off the air)?
-- 910 KECR (5 kW DA-2, 9.3 mi N, ~67/25 day, ~71/25 night)
Day, with KECR off (one of the most frequent locals to be off, along with co-located 1170 KCBQ), a weak XEAO Mexicali is possible on 910, usually requiring the SAT, IIRC.
Night, I've heard KGME Phoenix, AZ, and KWDZ Salt Lake City, UT. Both were with KECR on, and in KWDZ's case KECR was having automation problems (program frequently blanking out for several seconds, playing programs at the wrong time of day (like maybe 11:20pm instead of 8pm or something like that), playing TOH ID at :20 or so, etc) last Thanksgiving weekend, IIRC
-- 1130 KSDO (10 kW DA-2, 6.3 mi N, ~75/25 day/night)
KRDU Dinuba would be a regular.
Last September during a region-wide power outage during which several stations (including KSDO) were off at various times, I caught KQNA Prescott Valley, AZ (a daytimer) cheating late at night.
Also another time KSDO was off most of a night, I bagged CKWX Vancouver, BC, my first and only Canadian so far.
(I'll also mention tentatively catching 1120 KPNW Eugene, OR, with KSDO off the same night I got CKWX, the only time I remember hearing them.)
-- 1170 KCBQ (50 kW / 2.9 kW DA-2, 9.3 mi N, ~82/25 day, ~66/25 night)
KCBQ, like co-located KECR, is one of my most frequent locals to be off the air.
KLOK San Jose is the only station I've confirmed so far. I have yet to hear KFAQ Tulsa, and would someday ike to be able to get KJNP North Pole, AK. I'd probably have a field day if a European, Asian and Australian would all simultaneously blast in at local midnight strong enough to totally block KCBQ (bonus points if KCBQ is cheating on day power, something I have yet to hear them do, and an extra bonus if I happen to be near their transmitter site, one of my most frequently-visited sites).
-- 1240 KNSN (550 W, ND, 11.4 mi W/SW, ~60/25)
Several years ago when local then-KSON was, IIRC, running 1 kW from their old (possibly not yet then blown over) with an unmodulated carrier one night, I heard the then-Disney KALY Albuquerque, NM, which is E/NE of me, using a Panasonic RQ-SW20 and SAT. (Local 1240 is usually strong enough to own the frequency at night.)
I'll briefly take the opportunity to mention one of my luckiest catches. I had gone to sleep listening either to 1090 XEPRS, 1110 KDIS or 1580 KMIK on my SRF-59. Upon waking up one March morning (IIRC) around 5am or so, I put the headphones back on (they'd slipped out of my ears in my sleep). Not even 10 seconds later I heard a spanish ID of XEEX. It was weak, but virtually alone on its frequency (some trace of chatter was faintly detectable at the noise floor). Checking online revealed that apparently the tuning on my SRF-59 had gotten bumped during the night, as XEEX is on 1230 from Culiacan, about 795 mi SE of me. Due to there being no trace of splash from local 1240 KNSN, and XEEX having a slightly crisper tone than normal (but not quite sounding off-tune), the SRF-59 was likely tuned a few kHz low or so.
-- 1360 KLSD (5 kW / 1 kW ND, 8.3 mi W, ~70/25 day, ~63/25 night)
Late in the afternoon, KPXQ Glendale can often make an appearance before their sunset. I suspect they'd also be there in the morning, but I don't remember checking them then.
Well there's my list.
Was wondering.... am I the only one on here who has actually *ATTEMPTED* DXing with my co-channel locals on the air? (One qualification is there should be NO background static detectable (if you cranked up the radio as loud as the front center seats at a rock concert during programming, it should be absolutely silent in an anechoic chamber when unmodulated, and if connected to a 48-bit or better recorder's line-in should go from complete overdrive to flatline when the carrier goes to unmodulated, both cases after playing the quietest passage that exists in music not including John Cage's 4:33), even on a pocket radio using only its built-in loopstick. An exception may be considered for a graveyard IF the local is still strong enough to be listenable by the average non-DXer's standards according to David Eduardo.)
