Reception of Providence-Area Stations in Hartford

[ScottBurns]

I was recently in Hartford, and noticed that I could pick up two Providence FMs - WHJY and WEEI-FM. I was not surprised about WEEI-FM, as its tower is close to the Connecticut border. However, I was surprised to pick up 'HJY. Is 'HJY a normal pick-up in downtown Hartford, or were the atmospheric conditions just better than average?

In terms of the inverse, I cannot think of a single Hartford FM that can be picked up in Providence. Years ago, WTIC-FM used to come in fairly well in and around Providence. But that was before WMVY put a translator on the 96.5 frequency in Newport, RI.

 

[nd2023]

There has been tropo every night since it became warm outside

 

[ScottBurns]

I picked these stations up during the day, not at night.

 

[HiTop]

I was just thinking the other day about how the WEEI network gets good CT coverage without needing an affiliate here. 103.7's stick is in Westerly, RI (I think), so that covers most of eastern CT and 105.5 out of Springfield, MA gets into the greater Hartford area.

 

[KML0224]

Westerly is their city of license, not their transmitter location. I think it's located in Exeter, RI, not far from the Connecticut border. As for the Northampton station, there coverage is very spotty in downtown Hartford at best. I get no signal from them here in New Britain.

 

[MarcB]

Depending on the conditions and where I am in central Connecticut I can sometimes get 94.1 and 103.7, but their programming isn't anything I'm interested in. Sometimes I used to be able to get Cat Country 98.1, but not anymore thanks to that stupid experimental ESPN Station in Bristol on 98.1 - WX4ESPN.

As for 105.5 WVEI-FM out of East Hampton, Massachusetts they're strong here, depending on exactly where I am. I hate them. Until they came on the air depending on which way the wind would blow I'd get either what was then Y-105 out of Paterson, New York or Q-105 out of Groton. As a Country music fan I wish WVEI-FM would go away so I can listen to KICKS 105.5 out of Paterson. And I know it will never happen in a million years I wish KICKS 105 would buy out WVEI-FM and WQGN-FM and use those stations to relay their signal so they'd have a much bigger coverage area.

 

[BRNout]

I picked these stations up during the day, not at night.

Doesn't matter, tropospheric ducting doesn't follow the same rules as the ionispheric skip that causes distant AM signals to come in at night. You can have excellent tropo during the day or night hours.

Of the Providence market signals cited here, only WEEI-FM normally comes in through much of the Hartford area. That's thanks to it's transmitter location, power level and some accidents of favorable terrain that aid the line of sight in that direction. WHJY has a marginal signal that can be received on east-facing higher terrain to the west of Hartford, but not quite into the city unless you're high up in an office tower. It's main coverage area starts in Tolland, once you get past the first set of hills east of the CT River Valley. That being said, any little bit of tropo will bring it in to Hartford itself. Thanks to the 94.1 frequency being relatively open, that's the best Providence signal into CT (103.7 being based quite a bit to the SW of PVD).

As Marc alluded to, WCTK has long been one of the best indicators of a tropospheric ducting event in central CT. Their signal is not easily received in the area, unless there's some skip, then it comes in quite well. WJFD used to do the same thing, but is now blocked out by a station on the same 97.3 frequency in Litchfield.

And no, Hartford/New Haven/Springfield FM signals do not get in to Providence. That's simply due to unfavorable terrain, there is too much higher terrain to the west of the Providence/Cranston/Warwick area and those cities are down near sea level, facing east. Because of this, they can often get signals from Cape Cod - but rarely from the west. Much of central CT has higher terrain to the west and not-as-high terrain to the east and that favors reception from locations to the east and southeast. Line-of-sight reception is not necessarily reciprocal.

The SE New England region (Providence, New Bedford and the Cape and Islands) is an area that's prone to have more tropospheric ducting than inland areas. Because of that, their full-powered stations often bounce all over New England on those hazy, humid days. They do the same thing in S. NH and S. ME as they do in CT during those conditions. OTOH, rarely have I seen Hartford stations skip very far when there's tropo. One time, I got WDRC from Falmouth, MA and that was during an extraordinary ducting event that brought in lots of Long Island signals. It seems pretty unusual for that to happen.

 

[ScottBurns]

I spend a decent chunk of each summer in Narragansett, RI, and reception of Hartford stations is not out of the ordinary. However, such reception is limited to a few of the same stations during tropo conditions. Before WMVY put a translator on 96.5 out of Newport, WTIC-FM was an easy catch in much of Rhode Island. In addition, WCCC is a consistent catch when the conditions are right (in Washington County, WMJX is weak at 106.7, helping reception of WCCC at 106.9). Hot 93.7 is another consistent catch in Rhode Island. And very rarely, one can hear WKSS.

During the summer in RI, north-south tropo is far more consistent than east-west. While the Cape stations are semi-locals in parts of RI, during various summers, I have DX'd stations as far south as West Palm Beach and as far north as Bangor.

 

[nd2023]

I've been able to get all the Hartford stations on tropo in NJ this weekend.

 

[Raider57]

From Northern New Jersey, the easiest Hartford stations receivable during tropo are 96.5 WTIC and Hot 93.7 followed by 102.9 WDRC, eventhough they are adjacent to the NYC FM's. Very rarely do I get WCCC, WRCH, or 104.1 and for some reason Kiss 95.7 is never received during Tropo.

 

[BRNout]

I spend a decent chunk of each summer in Narragansett, RI, and reception of Hartford stations is not out of the ordinary. However, such reception is limited to a few of the same stations during tropo conditions. Before WMVY put a translator on 96.5 out of Newport, WTIC-FM was an easy catch in much of Rhode Island. In addition, WCCC is a consistent catch when the conditions are right (in Washington County, WMJX is weak at 106.7, helping reception of WCCC at 106.9). Hot 93.7 is another consistent catch in Rhode Island. And very rarely, one can hear WKSS.

During the summer in RI, north-south tropo is far more consistent than east-west. While the Cape stations are semi-locals in parts of RI, during various summers, I have DX'd stations as far south as West Palm Beach and as far north as Bangor.

At that point in my discussion, I was talking about standard conditions. But, I think we can probably agree that the Providence/NB signals get the boost from tropo more often than those from Hartford. Also, I was talking specifically about the metropolitan region of RI (Prov, Cranston, Warwick, etc.). Once you get down on the south coast, you're farther from blocking terrain and (most) strong FM signals. Narragansett wasn't brought up before. Yeah, I've pulled in WTIC-FM and WDRC-FM from Charlestown too. But not from Providence.

In Providence and its environs, you don't get anything from Hartford under reasonably normal conditions. But the same thing can't be said in reverse as Providence area signals do come in around certain parts of the Hartford area. Even on a cold, dry winter's day - you can get WHJY from hilly areas west of the city.

 

[necrat123]

And no, Hartford/New Haven/Springfield FM signals do not get in to Providence.

I have to disagree with this one a little.
Hartford stations transmitting from West Peak do not do well in this area without some sort of tropo condition bringing them in.
However stations NORTH do come in, on a fairly regular basis, especialy WCCC. WTIC-FM used to come in fairly regularly too before that Spanish LPFM signed on.
Out of Springfield, WAQY is a normal catch around here. I have listened to them on a number of occasions without tropo or special conditions in downtown Providence as well as other areas around here. The other big in-market signals (WMAS, WPKX, and WHYN-FM) are no-shows. (WHYN-FM is killed by WSNE's IBOC).