Nice Northward Tropo Blast This Morning

[ScottBurns]

For any DX enthusiasts, there has been a nice tropo blast hitting southern Rhode Island since about 10 PM last night. Many Maine FM stations are coming in like locals, including WNSX 97.7 FM/Bangor, and several stations from Portland, such as 107.5 Frank FM and the Bone's simulcast. An interesting side note: With such tropo, it is possible to pick up two "Franks" at the same time: The Cape's Frank as well as Portland's.

 

[Skynet74]

I was up playing around with the AM Band for half the night. I'm in the process of seeing if I can pick up a signal on every frequency using a GE Super Radio. I'm also recording all of this. After I'm finished I intend on editing together all of these clips in sequence so you'll hear 5 to 10 second clips of every station located between AM 530 and AM 1600 on the dial. Each clip will consist of the station announcing it's call letters. I'll probably end up posting it here once I'm done.

I fell asleep listening to some Canadian station last night located at around frequency 730 on the dial. I'm not sure of the call letters or exact dial position since all the programming was in French. Who knows what the hell they were talking about. It was some kind of talk show. I need to analyze the recording to figure out where it was coming from. That should be a lot of fun seeing that I don't understand it.

 

[CHJ1950]

You were listening to CKAC 730 Montreal. 50,000 watts

 

[Skynet74]

You were listening to CKAC 730 Montreal. 50,000 watts

Thank you very much!

 

[DG02816]

Not only will you hear CKAC on 730, but if you physically turn the radio, you might hear 730's prime occupant, and the station it protects, XEX in Mexico Cty, with their 100 kW. From what I read in DX News, they're now a Spanish-language sports talker. CKAC is a full-service format for Montreal's Francophone population. They're directional, same pattern day and night, sending most of their power northeast through Montreal, with a small lobe to the southwest. XEX is non-directional, with a tall (147 electrical degrees high) for the frequency.

 

[Skynet74]

Interesting stuff. Well I definitely picked up Canadian 730 and not Mexican 730. I just uploaded my recording from last night so you can hear.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/17568841e5931029

 

[jlehmann]

Montreal's 730 sends a great signal down here every night, it's nothing rare.

 

[Skynet74]

The most distant station that I've been able to pick up is 1040 WHO Des moines

 

[CHJ1950]

Try for WOAI 1200 San Antonio,Texas

 

[DG02816]

Another good catch is R. Vision Cristiana on 530 kHz from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies. They're local quality in R.I. at night, with programming from WWRV-1330 in New York. The 530 kHz signal is used because of its strong groundwave to New York over a mostly saltwater path at night. This facility at one time was running 100 kW; unsure if they're still doing it. They fight it out with Canadian ethnic station CIAO near Toronto, with 250 watts non-directional at night, and more recently, a Cuban station.

 

[Andy Taylor]

With such tropo, it is possible to pick up two "Franks" at the same time: The Cape's Frank as well as Portland's.
Here in North Windham Me.I often pick 3 Franks all at once 107.5,104.9 & 105.5.I've actually picked 106.3 Frank fm in Nashua a few times.If you're in 104.9 or 105.5 COL you can pick up the monster 107.5 signal.

 

[ScottBurns]

I have never caught anything north of Maine on the FM dial, at least from my home in southern Rhode Island. I find that tropo usually works in one of three ways:
1. Northbound - scattered stations from Maine. I usually pick up anywhere from Portland to Bangor. I also typically can hear WOKQ/Portsmouth and WHOM/Mount Washington.
2. Eastbound - while many Cape stations can be heard clearly without any help, with eastbound tropo, Cape stations sound more local than Providence stations. The hardest cape stations to hear from Rhode Island are WKPE/Cape 104 (especially because of WEEI-FM's monster signal) and Frank-FM's 93.5 signal.
3. Southbound - while the most common pick-ups are WALK/Long Island and WEBE/Westport, a good tropo will bring in stations such as Beach 104/Kill Devil Hills, NC and Max-FM out of Norfolk.

 

[Shaun C]

For those interested in Tropo, William Hepburn's DXinfocentre.com website provides a nice tropo forecast page. Here is the link:

http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html

Skynet, I also am working on trying to log a station on each of the AM band frequencies. The easy ones are already done with most gaps at the top and bottom of the band. Getting those will probably require the new solar cycle to ramp up and a better receiver than my Eton 100. While not that far away, I think my best "get" so far is WPTX in Lexington Park, MD on 1690.