KMVA 97.5: DX in Ajo?

[fusejockey]

Last Thursday morning, while on a road trip, I was scanning southern Arizona FM on our truck Rx. Between Ajo and the town of Why, one of the strongest FM signals was 97.5 from above Crown King / Cleator. That seems like a fairly efficient radio signal for the long distance. Earlier, near Gila Bend, I had fringe KLPX 96.1 and KMVA was just booming in... 96.1 was battling the mountains south and west of Tucson and picket fencing into Why.
As a note to the side, Tucson 107.5 Oldies had a decent signal in the area. So, the relative strength of 97.5 was a bit impressive. :-\
42 Gallons with 2785 HAAT KMVA 97.5...
DX the FM band in AZ, anyone?


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=34.23472,+-112.36722+(KMVA-FM)&om=1

 

[DJ_Perry]

Their transmitter is close to Camp Verde area, where KAJM and KKFR also have their sticks. They always seem to come in on my drive out of AZ on the I8

 

[beauduran]

Those Crown King sticks have pretty impressive signals to the west. You can routinely pick them up clear as a local almost all the way to Quartzsite. When I was at Mega I always quipped that if West Maricopa County had any population of note we would have been a force to deal with in the ratings based solely on the strength of our signal compared to the guys on South Mountain.

When you think about these two factors it's easy to see why those signals are so good to the far west. First if you drew a line straight south from the transmitter sites above Crown King you would end up almost directly between the 101 and the 303 in Litchfield Park. So this is considerably further west than South Mountain. Phoenix proper and especially the 480 is actually on the eastern fringes of their coverage areas. Secondly, and most importantly, the Crown King signals are up at over 7600 feet above sea level. South Mountain? About 2700 feet. That's basically a "mile high" difference which makes a huge impact on line of sight, especially traveling through the largely flat deserts of Western Maricopa county or down by Gila Bend and Ajo. Even the Tucson signals you mentioned (both of which I think are in the Tucson Mountains? At least I know KLPX is) are only up at about 4500 feet above sea level.

 

[kwthom]

KHYT is adjacent to KLPX in the Tucson Mountains...

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=32.24889,+-111.11639+(KHYT-FM)&om=1&ie=UTF8&ll=32.248886,-111.116409&spn=0.012903,0.018668&z=16

I seem to get both with ease from Gila Bend.

 

[asugeorge1]

Last Thursday morning, while on a road trip, I was scanning southern Arizona FM on our truck Rx. Between Ajo and the town of Why, one of the strongest FM signals was 97.5 from above Crown King / Cleator. That seems like a fairly efficient radio signal for the long distance. Earlier, near Gila Bend, I had fringe KLPX 96.1 and KMVA was just booming in... 96.1 was battling the mountains south and west of Tucson and picket fencing into Why.
As a note to the side, Tucson 107.5 Oldies had a decent signal in the area. So, the relative strength of 97.5 was a bit impressive. :-\
42 Gallons with 2785 HAAT KMVA 97.5...
DX the FM band in AZ, anyone?


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=34.23472,+-112.36722+(KMVA-FM)&om=1

KMVA does have quite an impressive signal throughout western Arizona. Of all the Phoenix-area FM stations, KMVA was the only station I could pick-up, albeit with a lot of static, in the Yuma area. KEDJ also faintly came in here and there around Yuma. In addition, driving to Las Vegas via U.S. 93, KMVA is the last remaining Phoenix station on the drive north. You lose KMVA once you merge onto I-40 outside of Kingman.

The problem with KMVA is that it has a weak signal in the metropolitan area it is suppose to cover: Phoenix. This is especially so in the southeast valley. The other problem, at least for me, is the redundant format KMVA offers. As if we already didn't have enough AC stations in the valley! :

 

[DJ_Perry]

The problem with KMVA is that it has a weak signal in the metropolitan area it is suppose to cover: Phoenix. This is especially so in the southeast valley. The other problem, at least for me, is the redundant format KMVA offers. As if we already didn't have enough AC stations in the valley! :

Yes I would say all the sticks in that area are only strong outside the valley...Go Figure! In addition, they all need help with their formats.

 

[fusejockey]

Those Crown King sticks have pretty impressive signals to the west. You can routinely pick them up clear as a local almost all the way to Quartzsite. When I was at Mega I always quipped that if West Maricopa County had any population of note we would have been a force to deal with in the ratings based solely on the strength of our signal compared to the guys on South Mountain.

When you think about these two factors it's easy to see why those signals are so good to the far west. First if you drew a line straight south from the transmitter sites above Crown King you would end up almost directly between the 101 and the 303 in Litchfield Park. So this is considerably further west than South Mountain. Phoenix proper and especially the 480 is actually on the eastern fringes of their coverage areas. Secondly, and most importantly, the Crown King signals are up at over 7600 feet above sea level. South Mountain? About 2700 feet. That's basically a "mile high" difference which makes a huge impact on line of sight, especially traveling through the largely flat deserts of Western Maricopa county or down by Gila Bend and Ajo. Even the Tucson signals you mentioned (both of which I think are in the Tucson Mountains? At least I know KLPX is) are only up at about 4500 feet above sea level.

Yes, indeed...The HAAT of 2,785 for KMVA is pretty formidable. Driving south to Ajo most signals from the metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson picket fence annoyingly.