Rock cut area on I-81

[TheTiger]

There is a turning point when traveling on I-81 on the Luzerne/Schuylkill county border when it comes to radio reception, especially if you have a very good, sensitive car radio. If you are traveling north on I-81 listening to WROZ from Lancaster as it approach the rock cut going to the Luzerne County line, it would be replaced by Froggy 101. And if you are going southbound near the McAdoo exit(the first exit for Schuylkill County), several southern stations are open within the county.

How does this happen? Is northern Schuylkill Co. high in elevation?

 

[fennessy]

There's a more technical and precise answer than this, but it has to do with FM travelling in a straight line from a high point to the horizon, versus AM which is conducted by the soil and follows the curvature of the earth. If you're travelling east on I-80, just beyond the 80-81 join in Tannersville, all of the FM stations on your radio flip from NEPA stations to NYC stations...as the straight line signals from NEPA stop at the terrain on one side, and the NYC FM signals hit the area from the other side.

 

[travis]

> There is a turning point when traveling on I-81 on the
> Luzerne/Schuylkill county border when it comes to radio
> reception, especially if you have a very good, sensitive car
> radio. If you are traveling north on I-81 listening to WROZ
> from Lancaster as it approach the rock cut going to the
> Luzerne County line, it would be replaced by Froggy 101. And
> if you are going southbound near the McAdoo exit(the first
> exit for Schuylkill County), several southern stations are
> open within the county.
>
> How does this happen? Is northern Schuylkill Co. high in
> elevation?
>
I-81 was (idiotically) built on top of mountains between Wilkes-Barre and Pine Grove... which explains why there's fog all the time, and why it gets hit hard in the winter. But yes, the radio reception is quite interesting... it's fun getting WFPG in a few pockets in Schuylkill.