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Impressive Midwest Tropo
- Thread starter BRNout
- Start date
A few more catches: KZIA 102.9 Cedar Rapids IA (over WHOG); KUUL and KBEA Quad Cities; WGFA 94.1 Watseka, IL; WNDU 92.9 S. Bend, IN. Lots Of signals fighting it out and some knocking out semi locals from Milwaukee. Yet I am also pulling in WOLX Baraboo/Madison, WI. Interesting.
Ok update: just pulled in KIKN 100.5 Salem/Sioux Falls, SD! positive ID.
Ok update: just pulled in KIKN 100.5 Salem/Sioux Falls, SD! positive ID.
Interesting you're getting this at that time of day too!
Now that we're out of the nighttime AM DXing season, I've been anxiously awaiting my first catches of the tropo season but so far it's been a dud here in Florida. March and April is the best time here too.
There's been good conditions for a while for most of the Gulf coast but it's been missing the state of Florida for some reason.
There may be fome hope for tomorrow morning anyway but that seems to be it for this week. Maybe the forecast will change.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html#hour6
Now that we're out of the nighttime AM DXing season, I've been anxiously awaiting my first catches of the tropo season but so far it's been a dud here in Florida. March and April is the best time here too.
There's been good conditions for a while for most of the Gulf coast but it's been missing the state of Florida for some reason.
There may be fome hope for tomorrow morning anyway but that seems to be it for this week. Maybe the forecast will change.
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html#hour6
gar fla said:
Whaddya mean "now that we're out of the nighttime AM DXing season"??? A few early mornings ago before local sunrise (that IS considered nighttime, isn't it?), I bagged 1566 HLAZ from South Korea for the first time.
Which reminds me... it's too late today (3:45pm as I type this) to do it, but I should check the upper end of the band (above 1500 kHz, and especially above 1600 kHz), and see if I'm still getting any noontime skip...
With us heading toward summer, though... I guess we're approaching the season when we can leave our big outdoor antennas up (well, those of us that have them) and see how far we can "extend" the groundwave signals from AM stations hundreds of miles away? (Or am I the only daylight AM DXer around here? )
Oh... and hey gar, where's your Trans-Atlantic loggings & youtube videos? I do believe Europe & Africa are closer to you than Asia is to me. And, isn't the stock Sangean PR-D5 (or whatever you have) more sensitive and selective than my Tecsun PL-606 (or PL-380) and Select-A-Tenna combo (with which I've logged a Japanese station between a local and its IBOC sideband)?
With us heading toward summer, though... I guess we're approaching the season when we can leave our big outdoor antennas up (well, those of us that have them) and see how far we can "extend" the groundwave signals from AM stations hundreds of miles away?
(Or am I the only daylight AM DXer around here? )Oh... and hey gar, where's your Trans-Atlantic loggings & youtube videos? I do believe Europe & Africa are closer to you than Asia is to me.
And, isn't the stock Sangean PR-D5 (or whatever you have) more sensitive and selective than my Tecsun PL-606 (or PL-380) and Select-A-Tenna combo (with which I've logged a Japanese station between a local and its IBOC sideband)? Hey, you know I am too. I do mine when I'm by the ocean or the Gulf. Not only that, where I live there's too much interference including being about two miles from the towers of WFLA and WHNZ which have splatter on the entire dial during the day.
I've given up on TA catches. Too much splatter interference on the 9k frequencies from the nearer 10k ones, especially the Cubans.
I think I've done quite well with my AM catches I have.
gar fla said:
Hey, you know I am too. I do mine when I'm by the ocean or the Gulf. Not only that, where I live there's too much interference including being about two miles from the towers of WFLA and WHNZ which have splatter on the entire dial during the day.
I've given up on TA catches. Too much splatter interference on the 9k frequencies from the nearer 10k ones, especially the Cubans.
I think I've done quite well with my AM catches I have.
Hmm.... too much splatter interference?
How much modulation splatter do you hear on this recording of 594 JOAK? I have a local 5kW IBOC on 600, KOGO, about 7.7 miles west of me and only 6 kHz away.
Or, what about this from 774 JOUB? There's a 5kW (was on day pattern as it was shortly after sunrise - they're 50kW at night) on 760, KFMB, about 7.3 miles northwest of me. (This one's offset by 14 kHz making it a little easier, and they don't run IBOC, which helps.)
And, last but not least, I'll mention my above recording of 1566 HLAZ. There's a 50kW IBOC on 1580, KMIK, about 300 miles east of me that often, due to their nighttime directional pattern, comes in about as strong as 600 KOGO when conditions are right. (It wasn't nearly so strong when I recorded HLAZ, though, as it was after sunrise in AZ and they would have been non-directional.
On the other hand, my equipment does have considerable difficulty if I'm too close to a station. My grandma lives 1/3 mi from a 23kW on 1300 and a 50kW on 1430 (both are less at night but are still major pests), and while the audible splatter is limited to about ±12-14 kHz or so, they do desense the radio severely across the band, especially within a hundred or so kHz of the two stations. Several stations, on 1230, 1260, 1280, 1330, 1390, 1460 and 1480, are supposed to be at least 2 mV/m there, according to radio-locator. Normally under good reception conditions such field intensity would produce a fairly solid, very nearly noise-free signal, but at her house they range from unreadable to very noisy.
I do believe that there is a difference between 1/3 mile and 2 miles, though, isn't there? And isn't the ground conductivity on FL land worse than coastal (and near) Southern California? Or do the two pests have a 99% saltwater path and directional antennas aimed right at you and as focused as the 1190-KFXR Dallas, TX nighttime pattern?
Not to beat a dead horse (and steering back OT), but I was surprised at how the changing weather patterns today (warm front) resulted in some high-level tropospheric ducting. Honestly, I was picking up FMs that would have impressed me if I was flying over my house at 30000 feet. KIKN from Sioux Falls was the farthest (421 miles!) and I also picked up KOWZ (Cows) 100.9 from a place called Owatonna, MN (290 miles).
Also somewhat unique was that while I was getting the aforementioned stations, I was also pulling in signals from western MI and Indiana - the farthest being WBYR 98.9 from Ft. Wayne, IN. So the tropo was coming in from multiple directions.
Were my FM dial not filled with locals, I am sure that tons of others would have come in. If this happened back when we had analog TV, that would have been very interesting. The 421 mile pickup was my farthest FM reception that was not e-skip. KIKN was coming in steadily (at times fairly well) for at least an hour - perhaps longer.\
Did anyone else in this region grab any catches today?
Also somewhat unique was that while I was getting the aforementioned stations, I was also pulling in signals from western MI and Indiana - the farthest being WBYR 98.9 from Ft. Wayne, IN. So the tropo was coming in from multiple directions.
Were my FM dial not filled with locals, I am sure that tons of others would have come in. If this happened back when we had analog TV, that would have been very interesting. The 421 mile pickup was my farthest FM reception that was not e-skip. KIKN was coming in steadily (at times fairly well) for at least an hour - perhaps longer.\
Did anyone else in this region grab any catches today?
tfcwings said:Hmm.... too much splatter interference?
How much modulation splatter do you hear on this recording of 594 JOAK? I have a local 5kW IBOC on 600, KOGO, about 7.7 miles west of me and only 6 kHz away.
Or, what about this from 774 JOUB? There's a 5kW (was on day pattern as it was shortly after sunrise - they're 50kW at night) on 760, KFMB, about 7.3 miles northwest of me. (This one's offset by 14 kHz making it a little easier, and they don't run IBOC, which helps.)
And, last but not least, I'll mention my above recording of 1566 HLAZ. There's a 50kW IBOC on 1580, KMIK, about 300 miles east of me that often, due to their nighttime directional pattern, comes in about as strong as 600 KOGO when conditions are right. (It wasn't nearly so strong when I recorded HLAZ, though, as it was after sunrise in AZ and they would have been non-directional.
On the other hand, my equipment does have considerable difficulty if I'm too close to a station. My grandma lives 1/3 mi from a 23kW on 1300 and a 50kW on 1430 (both are less at night but are still major pests), and while the audible splatter is limited to about ±12-14 kHz or so, they do desense the radio severely across the band, especially within a hundred or so kHz of the two stations. Several stations, on 1230, 1260, 1280, 1330, 1390, 1460 and 1480, are supposed to be at least 2 mV/m there, according to radio-locator. Normally under good reception conditions such field intensity would produce a fairly solid, very nearly noise-free signal, but at her house they range from unreadable to very noisy.
I do believe that there is a difference between 1/3 mile and 2 miles, though, isn't there? And isn't the ground conductivity on FL land worse than coastal (and near) Southern California? Or do the two pests have a 99% saltwater path and directional antennas aimed right at you and as focused as the 1190-KFXR Dallas, TX nighttime pattern?
Jeez, I didn't know this place was about who has the bragging rights to being a better DXer than someone else.
We all have our own styles and extent of knowledge and constructive criticism is a part of it but you seem to be making this some 'one upping' thing and I don't think that's necessary.
We are supposed to be here to share our catches and encourage each other, not compete with each other.
Just sayin. :-\
Today, here in Lake Geneva, WI (not far from BRNout) I snagged a few new ones, too. They all came in between 10am & 4pm local time. I used several different radios.
I got the usual tropo stations from Peoria & the Quad Cities. Nothing from anywhere north of me, though.
Here are today's new catches.
Sony XDR-S10HDiP w/east/west facing dipole
107.9 KLTE Kirksville, MO Religious "Bott Radio" 297 miles (completely wiping out WLEY)
106.3 WJOE Columbia City, IN Talk "The Truth" 192 miles (some background noise from WYRB)
Tecsun PL-390 w/whip
101.3 WBAA West Lafayette, IN Talk (Purdue Public Radio" 177 miles (KUUL was in there, too)
Tecsun PL-660 w/whip
102.5 KSTZ Des Noines, IA Hot AC "Star 102.5" 269 miles (in the clear)
103.1 WCSJ Morris, IL Talk "Talkradio" 90 miles (Yeah. not a long haul, but it's still a new catch, competing w/WGFB & WVIV)
I got the usual tropo stations from Peoria & the Quad Cities. Nothing from anywhere north of me, though.
Here are today's new catches.
Sony XDR-S10HDiP w/east/west facing dipole
107.9 KLTE Kirksville, MO Religious "Bott Radio" 297 miles (completely wiping out WLEY)
106.3 WJOE Columbia City, IN Talk "The Truth" 192 miles (some background noise from WYRB)
Tecsun PL-390 w/whip
101.3 WBAA West Lafayette, IN Talk (Purdue Public Radio" 177 miles (KUUL was in there, too)
Tecsun PL-660 w/whip
102.5 KSTZ Des Noines, IA Hot AC "Star 102.5" 269 miles (in the clear)
103.1 WCSJ Morris, IL Talk "Talkradio" 90 miles (Yeah. not a long haul, but it's still a new catch, competing w/WGFB & WVIV)
Bleh, sorry, gar... I didn't mean it that way. :\
Back on topic...
At home, I have often received 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, CA, 212 miles northwest of me. (Some days/nights are better than others, though.)
Also, last August I went to the top of a hill about .8 mile NW of my house (and a few hundred feet higher elevation than where I am), and was able to get 103.3 KVYB, as well as 93.7 KDB Santa Barbara, CA, whose 12.5kW transmitter is 196 miles NW of me. On that hill (elevation somewhere around 800-900 feet ASL), I've usually been able to receive those stations 24/7.
Now, though, I'm detecting a very faint signal from what sounds like a translator of 90.7 KPFK, on 93.7. According to the FCC & Radio-Locator, there's a translator matching that description licensed to Rancho Bernardo, CA, a little south of Escondido (north of San Diego), so it looks like my days of getting KDB near here are past.
Considering that the distances involved are around 200 miles, and that up on the hill they're usually received 24/7/365.2422, would that be normal line-of-sight reception (thought 200 miles was too far for that, though), or tropo?
Back on topic...
At home, I have often received 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, CA, 212 miles northwest of me. (Some days/nights are better than others, though.)
Also, last August I went to the top of a hill about .8 mile NW of my house (and a few hundred feet higher elevation than where I am), and was able to get 103.3 KVYB, as well as 93.7 KDB Santa Barbara, CA, whose 12.5kW transmitter is 196 miles NW of me. On that hill (elevation somewhere around 800-900 feet ASL), I've usually been able to receive those stations 24/7.
Now, though, I'm detecting a very faint signal from what sounds like a translator of 90.7 KPFK, on 93.7. According to the FCC & Radio-Locator, there's a translator matching that description licensed to Rancho Bernardo, CA, a little south of Escondido (north of San Diego), so it looks like my days of getting KDB near here are past.
Considering that the distances involved are around 200 miles, and that up on the hill they're usually received 24/7/365.2422, would that be normal line-of-sight reception (thought 200 miles was too far for that, though), or tropo?
dxer720 said:
Interesting dxer, I was beginning to think that we had a NW/SE duct, but your catches tend to indicate that it was more omni directional than that. You had some good stuff too. While you had WBAA on the PL-390, I had KUUL Moline/Davenport on the same freq (on my PL-310) at my QTH to your SE. It held in (weakly) most of the afternoon.
You are in a great spot up there with relatively few strong locals to spoil the fun. For example, at my location, I could NEVER get WCSJ because WVIV is far too strong (tx site is in Arlington Heights). Was getting something on 102.5, but that's a tough channel for me because WXLC 102.3 is quite close.
We had a cool lake breeze blow in from the east at about 3:30 - 4 pm and that seemed to put a quick end to the really distant stuff. On the other hand, FMs from the east side of Lake Michigan became more prominent. Reception of those is more typical during tropo events, so I don't get too excited about that anymore. Did get WOOD-FM 106.9 from Muskegon, MI last night, which was the first time I pulled that in. First adjacents to WPPN are tough in my area - WZBK is about the only Milwaukee FM that I can't get regularly thanks to that.
I also took advantage of this rare off-season tropo event! I logged nine new stations out of it. Distances have not yet been figured.
From Coldwater, MI-
100.1- KUYY- Emmetsburg, IA- CHR- Y100.1
94.5- KKEZ- Fort Dodge, IA- Heard w/ Fort Dodge mentions
96.5- WMT- Cedar Rapids, IA- Hot AC- Mix 96.5- Previous unID via TrS, but finally logged yesterday.
93.7- KKRL- Carroll, IA- Heard w/ Carroll mentions and weather.
91.3- WHHI- Highland, WI- Wisconsin Public Radio- Over 14 mile distant WCKZ!
89.3- KRSW- Worthington, MN- Classical Minnesota Public Radio- Only match on 89.3!
89.7- KDUB- Dubuque, IA- Iowa Public Radio- 2,200 watts!
96.3- WHHH- Indianapolis, IN- Hip-hop- Hot 96.3- Been after this one for YEARS!
105.9- WGKC- Mahomet, IL- Classic Rock- Heard very weak w/ WGKC mention!
From Coldwater, MI-
100.1- KUYY- Emmetsburg, IA- CHR- Y100.1
94.5- KKEZ- Fort Dodge, IA- Heard w/ Fort Dodge mentions
96.5- WMT- Cedar Rapids, IA- Hot AC- Mix 96.5- Previous unID via TrS, but finally logged yesterday.
93.7- KKRL- Carroll, IA- Heard w/ Carroll mentions and weather.
91.3- WHHI- Highland, WI- Wisconsin Public Radio- Over 14 mile distant WCKZ!
89.3- KRSW- Worthington, MN- Classical Minnesota Public Radio- Only match on 89.3!
89.7- KDUB- Dubuque, IA- Iowa Public Radio- 2,200 watts!
96.3- WHHH- Indianapolis, IN- Hip-hop- Hot 96.3- Been after this one for YEARS!
105.9- WGKC- Mahomet, IL- Classic Rock- Heard very weak w/ WGKC mention!
Finally a little tropo action here in Tampa this morning.
I could hear two stations on the same frequency and depending on how I held the radio, it would be one or the other - Lite 96.1 - WEJZ Jacksonville at 162 miles and 96.1 Jamz - WHBZ Tallahassee at 203 miles.
Not as good as tropo can be this time of year but I'll take it.
I could hear two stations on the same frequency and depending on how I held the radio, it would be one or the other - Lite 96.1 - WEJZ Jacksonville at 162 miles and 96.1 Jamz - WHBZ Tallahassee at 203 miles.
Not as good as tropo can be this time of year but I'll take it.
Gar, I have posted this before, but I had a similar two-stations-battling-it-out-on-the-same-frequency experience in Clearwater back in Novermber 2006. Depending on the direction I faced on the beach, I could hear WFLZ on 93.1 (a powerhouse in and of itself) or Q-93 in New Orleans. On that day on Clearwater Beach, I pulled in Gulf Coast stations from Houston (93.7 The Arrow) to New Orleans to Mobile to Ocala (K-Country battled The Arrow). I have never had as good a tropo experience in my native east coast of Florida.
I didn't know what real tropo reception was living up north in New Jersey until I moved down here.
There have been times this time of year where I've gotten New Orleans and Houston.
But my best tropo catch came as quite a surprise almost a year ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRK9nP1Li8
What have you heard from the east coast?
There have been times this time of year where I've gotten New Orleans and Houston.
But my best tropo catch came as quite a surprise almost a year ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkRK9nP1Li8
What have you heard from the east coast?
CD, who lives a bit south of where I live, has had far more success than I on the FM dial (I am an FM DX'er only). My most consistent FM DX catches are from the Jacksonville and Daytona markets, but my best ever was Beach 104/WCXL/Kill Devil Hills, NC - and this is despite the blowtorch that is Sunny 104.3. Very occasionally, I can get a Tampa station from Palm Beach County. For example, I have picked up The Eagle and WPCV out of Winter Haven.
What is your best DX catch from the Tampa area?
What is your best DX catch from the Tampa area?
As far as tropo goes, it was KTEX from Brownsville, Texas in the video I just posted.
Kill Devil Hills, NC from the central or south Florida east coast is a good catch! According to the maps, the openings don't usually stretch that far north but more in an E/W direction on the Atlantic ocean from Florida.
I just checked the FM band and the Orlando stations are coming in like locals. They are registering on the RDS too. It seems like the beginning of something.
Tonight into tomorrow looks to have some good potential here in Florida for some real long distance tropo. We'll see.
Kill Devil Hills, NC from the central or south Florida east coast is a good catch! According to the maps, the openings don't usually stretch that far north but more in an E/W direction on the Atlantic ocean from Florida.
I just checked the FM band and the Orlando stations are coming in like locals. They are registering on the RDS too. It seems like the beginning of something.
Tonight into tomorrow looks to have some good potential here in Florida for some real long distance tropo. We'll see.
I know how hard you have it, BRNout. For a time, I lived in Waukegan.
I did have one of (if not) the best tropo days from there, back in 2003. It was a cold, off-the-lake wind in May. I addition to the Lake Michicag's east coast stations, I was able to snag Detroit, Columbus & Ft Wayne. I even logged some Canadians that day. It was so unusual to hear a commercial station in, what we consider the non-com part of the FM band. I don't remember to call of that particular station, (I'd have to dig up my logs & recordings from that year) but do to have a photo of my ATS-909's display of 89X on the RDS for 88.9.
I've been here in Lake Geneva since 2008. That's when I started new logs from scratch from this location.
I did have one of (if not) the best tropo days from there, back in 2003. It was a cold, off-the-lake wind in May. I addition to the Lake Michicag's east coast stations, I was able to snag Detroit, Columbus & Ft Wayne. I even logged some Canadians that day. It was so unusual to hear a commercial station in, what we consider the non-com part of the FM band. I don't remember to call of that particular station, (I'd have to dig up my logs & recordings from that year) but do to have a photo of my ATS-909's display of 89X on the RDS for 88.9.
I've been here in Lake Geneva since 2008. That's when I started new logs from scratch from this location.
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