Overcrowded FM Dial

[Emartz91]

Where is an area that has a station on every frequency and has multiple stations with Co-channel interference. A prime example of this is Central NJ.

 

[gr8oldies]

I can't think of any truly blank ones in East Tennessee. Dayton/Cincinnati may be worse.

 

[fordranger797]

Perhaps Seattle, WA? The Seattle FM's do well because stations in the large neighbouring markets are spaced appropriately, but every frequency on the dial has something on it, and on many occasions, multiple stations.

 

[semoochie]

Perhaps Seattle, WA? The Seattle FM's do well because stations in the large neighbouring markets are spaced appropriately, but every frequency on the dial has something on it, and on many occasions, multiple stations.

We haven't covered the entire dial just yet but there are places in Portland, where you can clearly hear 102.3, 102.5, 102.7 and 102.9 altogether, all translators.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I've been to NY, Chicago, and LA. The dial is packed, but strong locals - especially with HD - jam first adjacents so you actually can receive less stations than other areas. Central Florida is one place where you don't have too many strong locals, so first adjacents have a chance. Near Disney, I've been able to hear different stations on maybe 85 or 90 frequencies. Everything from Jacksonville to Miami, although some are extremely weak. Late night, after a day of thunderstorms, the band opens up with skip and you can get nearly 100% of the frequencies.

 

[crainbebo]

There's going to be MANY more that are overcrowded soon...thanks to AM Revitalization. AM stations are applying for translators for FM, and most are participating in the effort. If it helps their ratings, more power to them. But why move to FM? Because RFI interference, TVs, lights, computers, have ruined the experience of the MW band.
But I can guarantee you if you go up to Bellingham WA, Victoria BC, Mt. Vernon, you will hardly find an open spot on the dial. It's sad, really - with internet radio in its golden era, FM keeps getting overcrowded with too many religious and NPR relays. Prime example is KAWZ/CSN...they have no business leaving the Twin Falls market. They operate TWO yes TWO translators within 10 miles of Yakima...both heard clearly.
Seattle I can agree on. DXing is not as fun there anymore, and won't be as fun with the LPFMs that got CPs granted and the translators. There's even translators that are signing up for 100.3...and we know how strong CKKQ Victoria gets in the Puget Sound area. Plus 20 channels of HD = times the stations running it by two channels a piece with hash and that's the dial.

 

[Emartz91]

Yup, all of those new FM signals. Some frequencies with two or more stations on it causing funky signal swapping while driving. 95.1 in my area has three stations that are fringe reception. If a frequency was clear a few years ago, it has a station on it now. It stinks that not everyone has HD Radio. It could clean up some signals.

 

[MarioMania]

There's no blanks in Sacramento

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Yup, all of those new FM signals. Some frequencies with two or more stations on it causing funky signal swapping while driving. 95.1 in my area has three stations that are fringe reception. If a frequency was clear a few years ago, it has a station on it now. It stinks that not everyone has HD Radio. It could clean up some signals.

92.9 in Dallas had five deep fringe signals. But I don't think HD radio is the answer. When I ride with somebody whose car has HD radio, I ask if I can tune the radio to something I like. They are completely unaware of HD radio, and on the first dropout of the HD-2, they get frustrated with it and want to change the channel.

If you REALLY want to clean up the band, I submit that the way to do it is by eliminating all these new low power stations and translators, and using an intelligent software algorithm to re-assign frequencies to place the densest possible allocation of full power stations. Whether it is an HD-2 dropping to silence, or a translator fading out a mere ten miles into a commute, the result is the same. Frustration and channel switching. It is enough to drive ANYBODY to satellite, especially when the formats on all these new translators and LP's SUCK. Where I live, it is the battle of the Spanish religious stations to get as many translators as possible. One bad ultra fringe signal with a ten mile radius after another. Ridiculous, especially when none of them will EVER show up in ratings.

 

[icybluelake]

It is enough to drive ANYBODY to satellite, especially when the formats on all these new translators and LP's SUCK. Where I live, it is the battle of the Spanish religious stations to get as many translators as possible. One bad ultra fringe signal with a ten mile radius after another. Ridiculous, especially when none of them will EVER show up in ratings.

Or drive them to the internet.

 

[cyberdad]

I've never tried to do a count, but the dial is pretty loaded here about 44 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. My location is sort of a Bermuda Triangle between Chicago and three other markets (Madison, Milwaukee, and Rockford, IL).

In searching for a channel for my Whole House FM modulator, I can't find a a channel that's completely blank. I started with 107.1, but the weak signal there from WSPY...about 40 miles southwest of me...got stronger when they upgraded their facility a few years back. I subsequently moved to 92.1, but what used to be WFNY from Racine, WI is the resident pest there. To be sure, for my purposes in the house and yard, the modulator produces an excellent signal. So much so that a couple of my neighbors sometimes listen in. Especially when I've got the Christmas music going.

But when I first got my first modulator, the signal was usable for roughly a full block. The one I have now, an upgraded version which actually produces a better signal, is only usable for about half a block before it gets overriden.

 

[charlestondxman]

In the Charleston market there are very few wide open frequencies any more. Just about every open frequency, they're trying to shoehorn a translator. We just lost 97.5 due to a station owned by the local library.

Just in the last 10 years, we've lost 99.3, 101.3, 102.9, 96.3, 97.5, 88.9, 90.3, 107.3, 95.9, and there's one or two others I think I'm missing.

And later this year, 96.5 and 102.1 are getting filled in with AM translators with those new applications. Everybody wants to get on FM, when in this market, a whopping 2 AMs get any ratings (WTMA 1250 and WTMZ 910, which has been simulcast on FM for 3 years).

 

[crainbebo]

One of these days, I'll have to move to a rural region to DX FM. I.E., eastern Montana. Just one local FM, a couple of local translators and a couple of semi-locals (Malta and Wolf Point stations) in Glasgow, MT!

 

[AKDXer]

I've never seen a totally-full FM dial before. However, I have seen totally EMPTY ones before!

I imagine tuning an analog radio must suck in your situation...

 

[ftballfan]

I've been to NY, Chicago, and LA. The dial is packed, but strong locals - especially with HD - jam first adjacents so you actually can receive less stations than other areas. Central Florida is one place where you don't have too many strong locals, so first adjacents have a chance. Near Disney, I've been able to hear different stations on maybe 85 or 90 frequencies. Everything from Jacksonville to Miami, although some are extremely weak. Late night, after a day of thunderstorms, the band opens up with skip and you can get nearly 100% of the frequencies.

It really helps that the big Orlando sticks are 30+ miles from Disney

 

[KML0224]

Checking the FM dial here in New Britain, CT, roughly 9 miles southwest of downtown Hartford:

88.3 blank
89.1 usually blank...sometimes WPKT-FM from Norwich
89.7 usually blank...sometimes WGBH-FM from Boston with tropo
90.1 usually blank...sometimes WUSB-FM from Stonybrook, NY
90.3 blank
90.7 blank
90.9 blank
91.1 usually blank...sometimes WSHU-FM from Fairfield
91.5 blank
91.9 blank
92.1 usually blank...sometimes WLNG-FM from Southampton, NY
92.3 blank
92.7 blank
92.9 usually blank...sometimes something from Long Island
93.3 blank
93.5 blank
93.9 blank
94.1 usually blank...sometimes WHJY-FM from Providence
94.9 blank...but THE spot for West Peak (Meriden) overload on cheap radios
95.3 blank
95.5 blank
95.9 blank
96.1 usually blank...sometimes WSRS-FM from Worcester, MA or a country station from Long Island
96.3 blank
96.7 blank
97.3 usually blank...sometimes WZBG-FM from Litchfield, CT
97.7 blank
98.1 blank
98.3 usually blank...sometimes WILI-FM from Willimantic, CT
98.5 blank
98.7 blank
98.9 blank
99.3 blank
99.5 usually blank...sometimes a Spanish pirate
99.7 blank
100.1 blank
100.3 blank
100.7 blank
100.9 blank
101.1 blank
101.5 blank
101.7 blank
101.9 blank
102.3 blank
102.5 usually blank...sometimes a religious low-power station from Tolland County (Vernon?)
102.7 blank
103.1 blank
103.3 blank
103.7 usually blank...sometimes WEEI-FM from Westerly/Providence
103.9 blank
104.3 blank
104.5 blank
104.7 blank
105.1 blank
105.3 blank
105.5 usually blank...sometimes WQGN-FM from Groton, CT or a sports station from Northampton, MA
105.7 blank
106.1 blank
106.3 blank
106.5 usually blank...sometimes WBMW-FM from Pawcatuck, CT (New London County)
106.7 blank
107.1 blank
107.3 blank
107.5 blank
107.9 usually blank...sometimes WEBE-FM from Westport, CT

 

[dtvdxer]

KML - an awful lot of those "blanks" are really IBOC noise adjacent to your locals.

 

[Schlep82]

I think around Cincinnati, Dayton, Lexington, and some Louisville signals are pretty much crowded signals on the dials. Lexington signals are the strongest than Cincinnati, and Dayton but I think Louisville might be a little stronger than Lexington. Cincinnati stations can reach around 50, 60 or sometimes 70 miles away. Lexington signals are 70 - 90 miles. Dayton signals aren't really good to Cincinnati, Lexington, and not even Louisville. One of the Dayton signals actually tried to go far into Louisville I've heard which is WHKO but failed because of Lexington in dial 99.1. Dayton signals can be reached at roughly around 30, 40 miles with weak radio stations. Some Dayton radio signals are bigger than the others. So some stronger Dayton signals can make it to roughly around 50 miles. But some Dayton signals can be heard even in Maysville, KY. I've heard 99.1 and then 99.9 and 104.7 with weak mixed interference of another station. I can explain all of these radio stations signal strength in really far locations in the near future of this post. So. Cincinnati, Dayton, Lexington, and some Louisville signals are pretty much crowded signals on the dials I've heard so far in My life.

 

[teaneck]

Central Jersey blank frequencies (au contraire): 92.1, 92.9, 93.7, 94.9, 95.3, 97.3, 97.7, 99.3, 100.5, 101.3, 101.7, 102.5, 104.9, 107.7. Of course, people from anywhere from Frenchtown to Toms River might describe their location as "Central NJ" so perhaps in TR you get a 97.3, 99.3, low power 102.5; 104.9, etc. aka YMMV

 

[cyberdad]

Since the last post prior to this thread being bumped up, I've had the good fortune to visit Italy.

When I posted about the ultra-crowded nature of the FM band in that country, David Eduardo responded with a response I'll never forget. He called Italy the "wild west" of unlicensed broadcasting. So many pirates on the air that the Italian government has more or less given up on trying to restore order to the FM band. One of the first things I noticed was that in my rental car, the the tuner/display screen readout were calibrated to display in one-HUNDREDTHS. A hypothetical example of this would be 101.15, etc.

At the location where we were stayin in Tuscany, about 30 miles south of Florence, indeed, just about every frequency that could be displayed was occupied. Mostly with stations programming pop or rock music.