Is FM Listening in Midtown Manhattan Difficult?

[Barry]

With all the powerful signals being broadcast from the Empire State Building, and other midtown towers, is there a lot of interference on adjacent frequencies heard when listening in that area? I would think that could make it hard to pick up suburban or even some NYC stations in central Manhattan.

 

[nd2023]

There is a lot of multi path and overloading. It's hard to hear Nash FM in NYC. 87.7 also has a tough time penetrating the intermodulation. Listening on an HD radio is better since there's no multi path.

 

[benale]

The Tecsun AM FM shortwave radios have excellent sensitivity and selectivity on FM,even in mid town Manhattan. Every station comes in clear. Nash FM is not as good as the others,but it does put out an audible signal. I was sitting in one of those chairs in Times Square waiting on a train last week and had no problems picking up every signal, even 96.7, 101.5 and 103.9.

The Tecsun radios have virtually no multi path or overloading on the FM band.

 

[ansky212]

I used to walk to work in midtown every day with my portable FM radio and I never had any problems listening to any of the major FMs. Even inside my 10th floor office on 28th St. I had no problems. This was a regular non-HD radio.

 

[KML0224]

Certainly! I had a Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman" with me in midtown on Wednesday. Regardless of the sensitivity setting (LOCAL/CITY and DX), I did not get any useable signal of 94.7 FM walking down 8th Avenue or outside of Penn Station/MSG. I distinctly heard WQHT-FM (Hot 97) as one of the stations blocking out 94.7 FM. Yes, I'm aware that WQHT-FM is very close by, transmitting from the ESB.

 

[nd2023]

Certainly! I had a Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman" with me in midtown on Wednesday. Regardless of the sensitivity setting (LOCAL/CITY and DX), I did not get any useable signal of 94.7 FM walking down 8th Avenue or outside of Penn Station/MSG. I distinctly heard WQHT-FM (Hot 97) as one of the stations blocking out 94.7 FM. Yes, I'm aware that WQHT-FM is very close by, transmitting from the ESB.

2*97.1-99.5= 94.7

That's just one of the intermodulation products that are on 94.7 that involve Hot 97.

A few more

3*97.1-97.9-98.7= 94.7
3*97.1-100.3-96.3= 94.7
3*97.1-104.3-92.3= 94.7

It's actually pretty interesting to be near the Empire State building with a crappy portable radio with digital tuning, and hear which stations are in the intermodulation mess. Then try to figure out how they combine to yield that frequency. You move your radio an inch and suddenly hear different stations combining to form intermodulation. The stations that combine are usually the strongest signals at that exact location. The signal strengths change 10-20 dB very close to the ESB because of the constructive and destructive reinforcement as the signals bounce off buildings. The locations of the constructive/destructive reinforcement are different for each frequency since they have different wavelengths. You could hear every station from Empire on 94.7 as you walk around. The intermodulation is the sum and difference of every station and its harmonics. It's interesting trying to ID 3 (or more) different stations coming in at once on the same frequency

The signals are actually weaker when you're standing underneath the ESB since the antennas are vertical polarized and they aim their radio waves towards the horizon. That's true for most stations. I stood under the 1000 foot tower of WFEZ 93.1 with a radio that displays signal strength, and I noticed the signal strength was not as strong as it was 10 miles away. In fact, I could find spots near the base of the tower in which the signal strength was lower than the maximum signal strength of WFEZ I received during an e-skip opening over 1000 miles away.