Yesterday afternoon as I was leaving the Wal-Mart here in Spartanburg, SC, I had my radio tuned to 96.7 to see if I could pick up the Part 15 station I've been operating on that frequency for the past four months. No luck with that, but I was quite surprised with what I did hear.
First thing I heard was a station identifying itself as "96-7 Kiss FM." It didn't snap with me at first, until I heard a commercial for an auto insurance company with a 512 area code, I then realized that the station I was hearing was KHFI from Austin, TX!
KHFI came and went as I headed toward I-26, and then turned off that way to head toward Columbia. A little further down the road, I caught a Radio Reloj station from Cuba, which came in clear, like a local, for at least a good two or three minutes. Heard the ticking sounds in the background and the morse code IDs with every minute plain as day! (I've heard some AM Radio Reloj stations here in Spartanburg at night before, but this is my first time catching an FM.)
After Radio Reloj faded, I heard what sounded like a Christian talk station broadcasting in mono. This one didn't have as consistent of a signal; I heard what sounded like an ID for a network of translators, but the station faded before any mention of the one on 96.7. One of the COLs for one of the translators was Okechobee, so I assume this was from somewhere in Florida.
By the time I was out of Spartanburg County, all the E-skip stations had faded completely; all I could hear was staticky reception of WLTY Cayce/Columbia (variety hits "96-7 Steve FM"); if I get any DX reception on 96.7, it's usually WLTY- some mornings it's like a local, often wiping out my Part 15 station before I'm even out of the apartment complex.
Briefly checked a few other frequencies, but couldn't catch anything identifiable. Since I caught a Texas station on 96.7, I was hoping I could catch Houston's KHMX over on 96.5 (not to mention the fact that I'm originally from Houston, and would like to, just once, hear a station from there during an E-skip opening); Heard about four different stations on that frequency, but none of them stuck around long enough.
First thing I heard was a station identifying itself as "96-7 Kiss FM." It didn't snap with me at first, until I heard a commercial for an auto insurance company with a 512 area code, I then realized that the station I was hearing was KHFI from Austin, TX!
KHFI came and went as I headed toward I-26, and then turned off that way to head toward Columbia. A little further down the road, I caught a Radio Reloj station from Cuba, which came in clear, like a local, for at least a good two or three minutes. Heard the ticking sounds in the background and the morse code IDs with every minute plain as day! (I've heard some AM Radio Reloj stations here in Spartanburg at night before, but this is my first time catching an FM.)
After Radio Reloj faded, I heard what sounded like a Christian talk station broadcasting in mono. This one didn't have as consistent of a signal; I heard what sounded like an ID for a network of translators, but the station faded before any mention of the one on 96.7. One of the COLs for one of the translators was Okechobee, so I assume this was from somewhere in Florida.
By the time I was out of Spartanburg County, all the E-skip stations had faded completely; all I could hear was staticky reception of WLTY Cayce/Columbia (variety hits "96-7 Steve FM"); if I get any DX reception on 96.7, it's usually WLTY- some mornings it's like a local, often wiping out my Part 15 station before I'm even out of the apartment complex.
Briefly checked a few other frequencies, but couldn't catch anything identifiable. Since I caught a Texas station on 96.7, I was hoping I could catch Houston's KHMX over on 96.5 (not to mention the fact that I'm originally from Houston, and would like to, just once, hear a station from there during an E-skip opening); Heard about four different stations on that frequency, but none of them stuck around long enough.
