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Strong Tropo

M

MarioMania

Yesterday I was going to Martinez Amtrak Station to Sacramento

I was listening to both my Yorek YK-901 & my HanRongDa HRD-103, Not the best at DXing

I was on my stations I listen to like 103.7, 99.7, 93.7 and 106.9

I got like 103.7 the Beat out of Fresno

93.7 Kiss Country Fresno, 93.5 KYCC

106.9 Mexican again, assumed it's KQLB Los Banos, CA
 
MarioMania said:
70 views & No replys
I guess it's the same old thing
Click to expand...
Most of us have no idea about those frequencies and call letters.
Tell us how far they were, their power and height, how high up you were, the time of day, and if it was particularly cold.
We want to hear something interesting, like "wow, an LPFM from 300 miles away", not just statistics.
 
ai4i said:
Most of us have no idea about those frequencies and call letters.
Tell us how far they were, their power and height, how high up you were, the time of day, and if it was particularly cold.
Click to expand...

I don't Think it has been “particularly cold” anywhere in CA since around March. Where I am the patio thermometer says “118” right now at around 5 PM
 
Martinez CA to Los Banos is 100 miles, to Fresno is 160. Helps that it's mainly flat once you get past I-680 north. A good antenna might pull those in 24/7.
 
Were you on the eastern slopes of any hills on that trip? Maybe not, if you were on the train.

160 miles is a long way, but I've been amazed at the catches I've made in the central valley before. (I don't live in CA, just visit fairly often.) But mainly, when I've caught FM stations from long distances in California, it's been entering or leaving the valley. Or in the mountains east of the valley. So the slopes seem to be a big factor. If that's the case, maybe you weren't getting tropo effects, but just a signal from that far away.

One example: I definitely remember hearing KYLD from SF when I was driving around Lassen Peak, way up in northern California, about 200 to 250 miles from SF. I've also caught some of the SF FMs on the other side of the Sierras, almost in Nevada. Also, have caught Wild and some other SF stations in the middle of Yosemite National Park, with pretty decent signals.

To me, California is a fascinating area for FM DXing, because my part of the country doesn't have many unpredictable effects. If you hear a signal from more than, say, 150 or 200 miles, it's gotta be atmospheric conditions at work (with some exceptions). Although those catches I've had in California have been frequent enough to make me think it isn't really DXing at all -- just that some signals out there carry extremely well because of the lay of the land (or absence of many other stations at all east of there, in the desert) or whatever it is, result in some funky effects without tropo conditions present at all.

It's an interesting part of the country. Thanks for your post.
 
A few years ago probably, someone posted a link to an FM propagation map that was very detailed. I can't seem to find them right now. I remember looking at maps that were specific to stations in northern California. You could enter info on some station, let's say, 99.7 in SF. It would display the areas where you could expect to pick up the signal, and the maps are really detailed. The maps showed that you could hear the station around SF, but as you moved east, the coastal mountains would block the signal. Then you could pick it up again once you moved to the central valley, and on the western slope of the Sierras. Fascinating, to me anyway. I can't find that site but maybe someone else knows where it can be found.
 
It's knife-edge being up near Lassen Peak. A nearby mountain is bouncing the signals off, and in the exact spot, signals are possible from up to 200 miles. North of Selah there's a mile on I-82 where a few Portland FMs are very strong - Z100 for example. Out in downtown Shelton, WA (in 2013) I had 98.3/99.1/106.5 from Tri-Cities and 92.9 from Yakima - Tri is over 200 miles. Mt. Rainier and the transmitters are positioned perfectly. You never know what will show up at Chinook Pass, one side I could be getting huge signals from BC, the other side I could be getting Eugene or Portland. Not to mention the small spots where eastern WA as far away as Pullman have shown up.
When Scott Fybush lived east of Bishop CA a long time ago, San Luis Obispo and Fresno stations were easy catches across the mountains, even though there was only one local at the time (KIBS).
 
This even applies to TV. The paper in Sonora, CA (on Google Newspapers) used to include KSBW from Salinas in their TV guides, along with all the San Francisco and Sacramento stations.
 
Yes. I know someone who used to live half a mile into the canyon north of Selah, and he could get KGW 8 in Portland albeit weakly. This is the same knife-edge path that brings in the FMs.
 
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