Laramie, WY DXing

[SomeRadioGuy]

I just moved to Laramie about a month ago after a year in Pennsylvania. What's kind of interesting is that while in Western Pennsylvania, I heard KCGY 95.1 Laramie, KDNR 88.7 South Greeley (Cheyenne) and KOLT 100.7 Cheyenne. I also had KUNC 91.5 Greeley and KIMN 100.3 Denver (KIMN's HD even flashed but didnt lock)

In my new location, I'll be focusing on AM and SW DXing but still doing FM stuff. I have a 5 element broadcast grade yagi for FM to use with my Sony XDRF1HD thats been modified (www.xdrguy.com). I'll also use the sony for AM stuff If I am trying to log an HD signal. I have an Icom IC746Pro for most AM and all SW listening (No, I'm not a ham!)

Right now because I just moved, my AM antenna is nothing but 2 15 foot pieces of wire thrown outside my living room window . I have all the parts on the way to build a giant superloop. Using a Wellbrook amplifier and control head, I'm planning a 25 foot long by 10 foot tall loop supported by speaker stands and PVC pipe.

And the main direction of my loop will face Canada so it'll be interesting to see .. or hear what I hear.

 

[crainbebo]

Welcome to Laramie. First of all, it's colder than Western PA in the winter - by far.
Next, you have a great shot at FM stations in the Pacific NW, California and western Canada when summertime comes. KCGY has been heard here many times. You're far enough from Denver where it probably isn't a problem during Es.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Welcome to Laramie. First of all, it's colder than Western PA in the winter - by far.
Next, you have a great shot at FM stations in the Pacific NW, California and western Canada when summertime comes. KCGY has been heard here many times. You're far enough from Denver where it probably isn't a problem during Es.

I spent 16 months in interior alaska... Laramie's winter will be a piece of cake for me

 

[boombox4]

The higher elevation in Laramie should help with MW/AM DXing. Don't rule out the XDR for standard MW DX. The chipset in those radios is very, very good for MW DX. I have used mine with a 3 foot loop of wire and it's very sensitive and selective as well.

 

[gr8oldies]

I always thought it would be cool to experience "reverse ESkip" (meaning DXing from places I've received ESkip from and DXing home).

 

[cyberdad]

Welcome to Laramie. First of all, it's colder than Western PA in the winter - by far.

"Welcome to Laramie" indeed. Last time I was there, it was a year ago March and there was a miniature blizzard going on. I was headed eastbound on I-80 and it was perfectly clear and well above freezing 25 miles either side of town. The time before that was a few years prior and I spent the night. Beautiful June day, nice enough town, but lousy DX due to major electrical noise in my hotel room.

 

[davideduardo]

The higher elevation in Laramie should help with MW/AM DXing. Don't rule out the XDR for standard MW DX. The chipset in those radios is very, very good for MW DX. I have used mine with a 3 foot loop of wire and it's very sensitive and selective as well.

Higher elevation only helps if that elevation puts you above any hills, mountains or other barriers to low angle skywave arrival.

I DXed for about a decade from Quito, Ecuador. The elevation was around 10,000 feet AMSL. But my location had a 15,700 foot high mountain just a few miles to my west, so I never got any Pacific DX (Australia, NZ, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, etc.)

But I got things like South Africa, Egypt, many Europeans and western Africans, Falkland Islands, Graveyarders from North Dakota and Montana and the like. I was all clear on those "sides" and at the time the noise level in the city was very low and the only local stations on the air after midnight were mine.

 

[boombox4]

Higher elevation only helps if that elevation puts you above any hills, mountains or other barriers to low angle skywave arrival.

I DXed for about a decade from Quito, Ecuador. The elevation was around 10,000 feet AMSL. But my location had a 15,700 foot high mountain just a few miles to my west, so I never got any Pacific DX (Australia, NZ, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, China, etc.)

But I got things like South Africa, Egypt, many Europeans and western Africans, Falkland Islands, Graveyarders from North Dakota and Montana and the like. I was all clear on those "sides" and at the time the noise level in the city was very low and the only local stations on the air after midnight were mine.

Agreed. Mountains in the way will reduce any signal, regardless of altitude. But elevation helps. I got tons of SW stations on a simple portable up at Snoqualmie Pass when I needed a wire to hear them at my location near the Seattle metro just 40 air miles away. Also, on the coast the ultralight MWDX guys DX from the 500 foot cliffs instead of right at the shoreline, because the elevation helps with the low angle propagation.

Laramie's in a fairly wide valley, if memory serves (the map shows the valley 10-15 miles wide in spots), and it's pretty high up. I would think it would be a decent location, better than many spots in other parts of the country that are lower in elevation with similar topography.

I remember in the late 1980's I took my Realistic TRF with me on a jet airline trip. Coming back from San Diego, during daylight, I switched the radio on for a few minutes over the Central Valley. Non-stop signals from every town we passed over. I didn't have it on longer than a couple minutes because I wasn't certain of RF rules in the plane. Even so -- I'm sure if I'd have done it at night it would have been a packed band.

 

[gar hi]

I will probably never be able to hear any FM stations from Oahu on the eastern part of the Big Island even if there were the ultimate tropo conditions because of the mountains Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and the high elevation of the land in between.

But they can easily be heard on the Hamakua coast and anywhere on the western part of the Big Island above 2,000 feet.

 

[cyberdad]

I will probably never be able to hear any FM stations from Oahu on the eastern part of the Big Island even if there were the ultimate tropo conditions because of the mountains Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and the high elevation of the land in between.

The flip side is true as well. In the year of high school that I spent in Honolulu, I never heard a whiff of any Hilo signal....AM or FM. However, I was able to regularly hear a weak signal from the 5kw 790 from Kealakakua on the Kona Coast. Day and night.

I also spent a few days on the Kona Coast where, with no mountains or land mass of any type to get in the way, the Honolulu AMs boomed in like locals. A fact that came to my attention when I went poolside and heard a couple of transistor radios tuned to K-POI. That's 5kw on 1380 from more than 150 miles away.

 

[crainbebo]

Ultimate tropo? California to Hawaii has been done before on FM. And about 2-3x a year, I'll see the big Island beacons reported on tropo from southern CA. And then this happened:
https://www.wtfda.org/vud90s/1998/04-98vud.pdf
Go down to page 25, for Shel Remington's unbelievable FM tropo to Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, Colima. I don't know if he's still around today. He lived in Kea'au 2600 feet above sea level.