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Signals to the South (last night)

D

dj_kandre

Last night @ 12am I was leaving from doing a show down in Portsmouth, OH. I'm no stranger to that area (do shows there from time to time and I actually dated a girl there for a several years)
It had been rainy pretty much all evening so the all of the windows in car was in bad needed defogging so while I sat there I did a little DXing and to my surprise all of the bigger Columbus signals 92.3, 93.3, 94.7, 96.3, 97.1, 97.9 and 99.7 were all coming in strong loud and clear (even the RDS). I never experienced this before while down there. Usually 92.3, 97.1, 97.9 and 99.7 aren't heard there because of stations on the same frequency in the nearby Huntington, WV./Ashland, KY. market.
Then to my surprise as I drove out of Portsmouth, I started to pick up 101.7 and 106.7 which usually fades north of Chillicothe.
I was even more stunned when somewhere around Piketon 98.9, 101.1, 104.9, 105.7, 106.3 and 107.1 started to come in as well (106.3 London was actually beating out 106.3 Huntington/Milton there which was def something I've never heard before.) Now the reason I know that something was def up with the atmosphere 107.5 WCKX from that wire coat hanger hanging atop the side of the Borden Building, a station that doesn't ever really make it into Chillicothe (it gets clobbered south of Circleville from 107.5 out of Portsmouth), was beating out the 107.5 Portsmouth signal, just north of Waverly!!! (on my way down there yesterday afternoon WCKX faded out south of Circleville)
107.9 even came in earlier than normal (somewhere between Chillicothe and Circleville - it really has issues with the 107.9 in Huntington)
I just thought this was very interesting because I've spent a lot of time driving back and forth from down there and never experienced this before :)

I didn't mention 95.5, 100.3, 102.5, 103.5 cuz those you can get regularly in different parts of southern Ohio. I will say that 103.9 has to be the worse of the Columbus signals (esp. to the south) I can't even tell u were that came in.
 
Usually in that area before Huntington put a radio staion on 97.9 you could listen to WNCI in Asland, Kentucky. I have relatives that live below pikeville and I would usually have them cut in over the 97.9 in Nearby Hazard. Wcol before the louisa radio station fired up usually played along route 23 till you got around Greenup. Columbus radio was always strong going south and west of the city better than north and east even though all the class B signal stations on10tv are omnidirectional compared to WNCI's directional signal.
 
Now I have been out in Wheelersburg (which is to the south of Portsmouth) before and actually heard WNCI fighting with the 97.9 out of Huntington/Ashland. 93.3 is the only Columbus FM station that I've really ever picked up their b4 on any regular basis and it was never all that clear.
In the past my routine was to listen to Power or the Fan, Power usually fades before Chillicothe and the Fan usually fades after Chillicothe (but then it can pick up some after those hills between there and Waverly), 100.1 out of Piketon/Waverly which is an automated but decent CHR station, I usually start getting closer to Circleville is usually my next choice. If its between 2p-6p on a weekday I'll do Mix 99.3 out of Portsmouth because my boy Chris Smith does the drive at 5p show there and his show is a CHR/80's/90's/Hot AC Hybrid, usually that comes in our side of Chillicothe. I used to then around Lucasville do Kiss 107.1 out of Huntington (it was a Hip-Hop/Rhythmic) but they flipped that to a simucast of Rock 106.3 a few years back so now its 100.1 or 100.5 out of Huntington which might I said is dang strong itsself. :)
 
That's odd! When I visit my relatives in eastern Kentucky and drive down 23 I usually have a clear signal on WNCI till I get into Waverly then it fades in and out till I get out of the city limits. After that I usually have a decent signal till I get past Lucasville then it fades a little till I get to Portsmouth then I get WNXT cutting in. Then once I get out of Portsmouth the fight with Kenova, West Virginia's WMGA begins. I usually toss between Sunny 95 which I can keep in till Lucasville on a regular day and WNCI. Back in the late 80's it was WNCI and what seems to be Columbus's 2nd strongest signal 92X which is now WCOL. Kiss in Ironton switched because they were co owned with WKEE and they were pretty much canceling each other out ratingswise. WAMX didn't reach all of the river cities well due to the class A signal so the simulcast on 107.1 began. As for 933 that station always had a strong north and east signal from being a Chillicothe station. I don't think they reconfigured it when they moved the transmitter to Obetz because I still get a better signal in Zanesville with that station than any of the other Columbus signals.
 
the marv said:
That's odd! When I visit my relatives in eastern Kentucky and drive down 23 I usually have a clear signal on WNCI till I get into Waverly then it fades in and out till I get out of the city limits. After that I usually have a decent signal till I get past Lucasville then it fades a little till I get to Portsmouth then I get WNXT cutting in. Then once I get out of Portsmouth the fight with Kenova, West Virginia's WMGA begins. I usually toss between Sunny 95 which I can keep in till Lucasville on a regular day and WNCI. Back in the late 80's it was WNCI and what seems to be Columbus's 2nd strongest signal 92X which is now WCOL. Kiss in Ironton switched because they were co owned with WKEE and they were pretty much canceling each other out ratingswise. WAMX didn't reach all of the river cities well due to the class A signal so the simulcast on 107.1 began. As for 933 that station always had a strong north and east signal from being a Chillicothe station. I don't think they reconfigured it when they moved the transmitter to Obetz because I still get a better signal in Zanesville with that station than any of the other Columbus signals.
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I wish I could contribute more here, but I haven't been south of Chillicothe since 2004, and that was a trip to Jackson where almost all Columbus FM signals are nonexistent (at least by my memory). I do remember the 107.9 from Huntington that regularly tramples Mix 107.9 (then B107.9) from Lancaster south was pretty strong in that area despite the hilly terrain.
I don't remember being able to rely on Columbus FMs much past Waverly. Those hills really weaken things once you get below Chillicothe, which also and on an unrelated note is about the farthest south I've heard 610's night signal.
I completely agree with the last statement. I am out in Zanesville twice a week to see my girlfriend and I've noticed 93.3 has by far the best signal of our FMs out there (not counting 100.3 and 101.7, both of which are pretty impressive there). 92.3, 97.3, 97.1, 97.9 and 106.7 make it there but 93.3 is better than all of them. Sunny 95 gets clobbered in town by a low-power on 94.5, which translates their Mix 105.9.
 
in my experience 12am-7am, especially during or after rain, and especially in summer or spring, is prime-time for picking up distant FMs you wouldn't normally expect to get. Less so since docket 80/90 and move-in fever, of course.
 
107.9 in Huntington transmits on top of a hill with 50,000 watts compared to mix 107.9's 3000 watts. I have a factory car radio and not a aftermarket product so I think the radio is grounded and adjusted for maximum performance. When I travel to Jackson I usually can hold most of the columbus big signals till I get there. The major issue is WNCI being blended with WCJO Jackson. Once I get a few miles from Jackson I usually used to pick WNCI up till I got close to Charleston, West Virginia. Now in Zanesville the reason 100.3 and 101.7 pull in pretty good is because they are actually closer to Zanesville than the big signals in C-bus. 100.3 is in Newark and 101.7 signal is in Johnstown even though it's licensed to New Albany.
 
I remember growing up as a kid hearing WCOL-FM (Was WXGT at the time) and WNCI along the Ohio River.. of course that was many years ago and now the FM dial is more crowded.
 
Nu_Roo_2 said:
in my experience 12am-7am, especially during or after rain, and especially in summer or spring, is prime-time for picking up distant FMs you wouldn't normally expect to get. Less so since docket 80/90 and move-in fever, of course.
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Now that u mention that, I can recall last summer driving home from a show in the Belpre/Parkersburg area and it had stormed big time, it was about 10/11p or so and I steam was coming off of the roads etc, was on US 50 between Belpre and Athens and I was able to get nearly all of the Columbus stations, even 107.5 (not clear of course) but I was suprised because I went to school in Athens years ago and 107.5 wasn't listenable until u got just closer to Fairfield County. One a different note back when I was in school down in Athens I used to be able to get WAMO out of Pittsburgh in my car, somedays clearer than others and not to date myself but this was back when WAMO was on 105.9 :)
 
the marv said:
107.9 in Huntington transmits on top of a hill with 50,000 watts compared to mix 107.9's 3000 watts. I have a factory car radio and not a aftermarket product so I think the radio is grounded and adjusted for maximum performance. When I travel to Jackson I usually can hold most of the columbus big signals till I get there. The major issue is WNCI being blended with WCJO Jackson. Once I get a few miles from Jackson I usually used to pick WNCI up till I got close to Charleston, West Virginia. Now in Zanesville the reason 100.3 and 101.7 pull in pretty good is because they are actually closer to Zanesville than the big signals in C-bus. 100.3 is in Newark and 101.7 signal is in Johnstown even though it's licensed to New Albany.
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Precisely the reason I did not include them. Not a fair comparison, but 101.7's signal is still pretty nice out there even for being 15-20 miles farther away than it was.
 
I grew up in that area and then drove the 23 and 35 route to Dayton and back frequently during my college years. I used to be able to get 92.3, 97.1, and 99.7 with a Rat Shack amplified antenna turned the right way. WNCI was hit and miss because of splatter from 97.7 in Jackson, and 94.7 didn't come in because of adjacent 94.9 licensed to South Webster. Of course, this was before 99.7 and 97.9 were assigned in the Ashland-Huntington area, so who knows what reception is like now. I stick to Sirius for my road trips these days.

On the road to and from Dayton, the larger Columbus stations would come down the 23 corridor pretty well and would be good and strong by Waverly, and 107.1 would start to come in around Chillicothe. Most of them would disappear around Jeffersonville when the adjacent splatter from the Dayton area stations would take over. Nowadays, the IBOC hash knocks them back a little further down the road.
 
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