Has anyone traveled to another part of the USA or out of the country and received any of their local FM stations in E-skip? In a reply to another topic, I mentioned receiving 99.9 WQRC (Barnstable/Hyannis) from Cape Cod, Massachusetts and 105.1 WWLI in Providence, Rhode Island while driving through Perryville, Missouri about 100 miles south of St. Louis. The signals did not last long, but it was amazing to hear them about 1,100 miles away.
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Local FM stations heard during E-skip
- Thread starter radiojay1
- Start date
Speaking of Southern New England radio stations, the inverse happened to me. Since I spend considerable time in both South Florida and Southern New England, this FM catch qualifies. During the summer of 1999, I picked up 97.9 WRMF/Palm Beach from Narragansett, RI. I have also picked up 98.1 WCTK/New Bedford from Atlantic City, NJ.
Back in 2003 (when I lived near Tampa, FL) I took a Carnival Cruise to the Eastern Carribean. Of course I brought a radio with me to see what I could get every once in awhile. Near the coast of Mexico, approaching Cozumel, but still a good 100 miles or so out) I turned on the radio and was suprised to actually hear English music! I waited for an ID and couldn't believe my ears when I heard "The New 101.5 The Point!" I dialed down a notch and sure enough, there was "Mix 100.7" as well as just about every other major signal from my hometown, as clear as a bell near the coast of Mexico. Talk about a surreal experience!
RMarino said:
I'm a little surprised that you got good reception on a cruise. I've been on a couple and I could never get good reception. Were you out on the deck?
radioman148 said:
Well we've always had a balcony room, but FM reception on my Sony Walkman has always been just as good inside the cabin as it is out on the balcony. So I'm not sure why you were having reception trouble on the cruise, unless maybe you were in an interior room with no windows or something.
RMarino said:
I had a balcony room also, but I was trying to DX AM. Even though I had a wire strung out on the balcony my reception for the most part was terrible. Lots of noise. I couldn't even get anything decent on SW.
I really didn't try much on FM, but did get some local stuff when in a port.
radioman148 said:
Yeah, AM DXing really isn't possible in the cabin, but when I walked out on my balcony, I got plenty of signals. In fact I was quite surprised to pick up the 5kw signal (daytime) of 1320 WAMR (now WDDV) Venice, FL well south of Cuba (almost to Grand Cayman)
I didn't use any wire or anything, just the internal antenna of my Sony Walkman.
Oh, I did bring a SW radio on one cruise. I was always able to get signals on the balcony, but only the strongest of those could be heard in the cabin.
RMarino said:
Did you pick up the Florida stations in the day or night?
Next time I'll have to try out on the balcony and during the day maybe on the top deck outside.
Yes, I also was nerdy enough to dx on a cruise. In this case, it was from Boston to Bermuda in April of 1998. Boston's Eagle 93.7 (now the castrated "MIKE FM") used to have an excellent rhythmic oldies show on Saturday nights and I was checking it out on a humid evening hours after we left. We had to be well SE of Nantucket and 93.7 was still coming in very clearly on my Walkman. As I fell asleep while listening, it was coming in as well as it did at my home in southern NH. By my calculation, we were at least 150 miles from their transmitter site in Peabody, MA at the time. Fell asleep before the station faded out, so I can't say how far out it went. I will say that it was one of the few Boston stations that made the trip that night.
Of course, the next morning nothing came in on FM because we were in the middle of the ocean. Wish I had tried for AM at the time, but I was doing other things and didn't think of it.
Of course, the next morning nothing came in on FM because we were in the middle of the ocean. Wish I had tried for AM at the time, but I was doing other things and didn't think of it.
BRNout said:
The same thing happened to me from San Francisco. We were sailing out of SF at about 6PM and most of the night I was able to listen to SF FMs. We had to be more than 200 miles out when I last heard them.
Did you try to AM DX from Bermuda?
You know, I should have tried to AM DX from Bermuda - but that was a time when I wasn't that interested in AM. Found seeing the sights, wrecking my moped and downing dozens of Dark 'n Stormies more to my liking!!
Did sample some of the local FMs, including an excellent Urban AC that they had there at the time. If I had it to do over again, I sure would set aside a little time on the MW band of a good radio.
Did sample some of the local FMs, including an excellent Urban AC that they had there at the time. If I had it to do over again, I sure would set aside a little time on the MW band of a good radio.
BRNout said:
I've heard you can get some of the 50KW NYC stations during the day--specifically WINS.
Sounds like you had a better time.
radioman148 said:
When I picked up WAMR it was during the day. That was the furthest daytime AM signal from Florida I could receive.
As for nighttime, out near St. Martin (east of Virgin Islands), the only English speaking AM signal I could hear (at least that night) was 940 WINZ Miami. I thought it was a bit interesting too considering that WINZ was "Air America" back then.
RMarino said:
Back in the early 70s when 710 in Miami was still broadcasting in English as WGBS, it could be heard at night in Puerto Rico even though they were only 10KW nighttime.
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