Why do NYC stations cut out once you enter Sussex County? I don't really understand why that is besides for KTU because of NNJ.
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NYC signals in Sussex
- Thread starter XCountry285
- Start date
XCountry285 said:
I presume you are talking about the ESB located NYC FMs.
The 60 dbu contours for all those stations end somewhere 5 to 10 miles (approximately) to the east of Sussex County. 65 dbu is about the limit for plentiful in home and at work listening, and around 60 dbu is where in-car starts to be less than pleasant for the average listener... although the dedicated one may drag the signal out a bit more.
So the answer is that the signals simply don't go any farther based on height, power, co- and adjacent channel allocations, etc.
As well, the boundary of Sussex County closest to the ESB is also home to the Highland Ridge. That physical terrain blockage doesn't help reception matters when the time comes for a seek button to lock on a station. Many of us who have driven NYC to Philadelphia, for example, will get WCBS-FM going up the hill and WBEB going down the hill. The terrain along Route 1 and the Tunrpike is relatively flat, too. But even its mild effect registers.
My sister lives in Sullivan County NY, and DXing there is terrible on both AM and FM. I know my way around a radio dial pretty well, but there are some close-by stations -- a few from from the county itself -- which just can't be heard at an enjoyable level. Too many mountains.
My sister lives in Sullivan County NY, and DXing there is terrible on both AM and FM. I know my way around a radio dial pretty well, but there are some close-by stations -- a few from from the county itself -- which just can't be heard at an enjoyable level. Too many mountains.
Steve Green NEPA said:
I didn't know that. Another reason why the FMs don't penetrate.
Which of the NYC AM's has a usable signal there, day and night?
I notice that Vernon is basically the last place where you have NYC FM signals including KTU. On Rt. 23 in West Milford/Newfoundland they're still strong so I think the ESB signals go about 10 miles into Vernon or so maybe all of Vernon roughly because you can still receive all NYC FMs including KTU in West Milford, Hewitt, Newfoundland and that's the most Western Edge of Passaic County
Don't forget you're talking about "up-county" Passaic and Northern Sussex which are more sparsely populated than the Southern sections of those counties.
Check quickly before they go away: http://www.radio-info.com/markets/sussex but in last fall's Sussex Radio Market diaries NYC FMs showing up in the Sussex ratings included:
WAXQ 4.5
WHTZ 3.9
WPLJ 3.2
WCBS-FM 2.6
WLTW 1.9
You don't get audience numbers like that if you can't hear the FM signal in the county which has a population of about 125,000.
You have to remember that places like Byram Township and Stanhope, are in Sussex County and the NYC signals are listenable there, and the proof is in the ratings.
When it comes to NYC AMs in Sussex, the usual suspects of WABC, WFAN, WCBS, WOR all can be heard there both day and night.
Last fall WABC had a 6.5 rating 12+.
Remember, Sussex is not in the NY Radio Market, and it has a very different rural population mix. Most NYC types couldn't relate to the annual Bear Hunt, mostly in Sussex and up-county Passaic. It is a land where Classic Rock, AC, and CHR rule. You'd have a really hard time finding very many Urban, Rhythmic, or foreign language radio listeners there.
@ David Eduardo , re >> 'Which of the NYC AM's has a usable signal there, day and night? ' <<
Can't speak for Sussex Co, that much, David, but as more data for your FM inquiries, the most faithful of all the NYC FMers way in THIS direction has been WQHT 97.1
We have a rotating aerial for the infrequent times we DX on FM.
I say 'not Sussex Co so much', but just across the Delaware from Sussex, Pike County PA, we were driving last year to see the aforementioned sister in the Catskills. Great, grand stretch of highway it is ; U.S. 6 and I-84 and U.S. 209, between Milford and Port Jervis.
I tuned to try and find if the temporarily-silent WTSX was on the air yet. They weren't. But the only IDable 96.7 was what dearly *wants* to be a NYC station -- Luv-FM out of New Rochelle NY!
I only DXed on AM after that for a short while. The usual 50,000 watt NYC clears were there but fuzzy. We hardly ever listen to anything but casettes in the car, anyway.
I hope this input helps a bit. Average demo age in the car was M-F 57, lol.
Can't speak for Sussex Co, that much, David, but as more data for your FM inquiries, the most faithful of all the NYC FMers way in THIS direction has been WQHT 97.1
We have a rotating aerial for the infrequent times we DX on FM.
I say 'not Sussex Co so much', but just across the Delaware from Sussex, Pike County PA, we were driving last year to see the aforementioned sister in the Catskills. Great, grand stretch of highway it is ; U.S. 6 and I-84 and U.S. 209, between Milford and Port Jervis.
I tuned to try and find if the temporarily-silent WTSX was on the air yet. They weren't. But the only IDable 96.7 was what dearly *wants* to be a NYC station -- Luv-FM out of New Rochelle NY!
I only DXed on AM after that for a short while. The usual 50,000 watt NYC clears were there but fuzzy. We hardly ever listen to anything but casettes in the car, anyway.
I hope this input helps a bit. Average demo age in the car was M-F 57, lol.
Last month I did visit one of my uncle's in Sussex County (Franklin, about 3 miles from WSUS's tower) and most of the dial was weak signals, even some that target Sussex County (like WHCY). It was hard but not impossible to listen to WHTZ, WQHT & WEPN-FM. WFME was the best listenable signal serving NYC but even that had a little static. I was more surprised to get decent signals from the Lower Hudson Valley, such as WHUD, WPDH & WSPK, those did as well as the NYC stations I mentioned. The terrain & mountains of Sussex County really hurts FM reception in the county for the most part (unless you climb High Point, then almost everything from NYC, Catskills, Lower Hudson Valley & even some in the Poconos is listenable).
What market is West Milford considered to be in they get all the NYC stations but none of the Sussex stations even SUS doesn't come in clear neither does NNJ or Max.
XCountry285 said:
West Milford is in Northern Passaic County which is still part of the NYC market, but it's just a few miles from Sussex County.
Hard to believe it's difficult to get WSUS from West Milford when it's just 8 miles away, lol.
Look at RL's coverage map of the non-directional WSUS and see how it gets out better to the north & west
but has it's limits to the south & east...thats the terrain.
The same is true for WDHA...It has a really hard time going north & west past Netcong,
I've had better reception of DHA in New Brunswick than in Sussex. :
Considering West Milford is the largest town in the state of New Jersey and probably the largest township in the whole entire NYC Metro area I'd imagine that SUS wouldn't cover such a large area. DHA barely comes in and that's close by. WRRV in Middletown @ 92.7 competes with the 92.7 in LI. In WM I think you can get Hudson Valley stations like K104 and WPDH and 103.1 out of Middletown as well. 107.1 the peak barely comes in. WHUD rarely comes in and as for 105.9 it comes in decently as did the pulse 87.7 when it was still around. Beautiful place I must admit you rarely see that anymore in any township.
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