The best E-skip opening ever? Short skip RECORD and who knows how many NEW! 7/14/21 ROUND 2

[crainbebo]

Tonight's opening took the fantastic conditions of July 1st, June 16th, and May 21st, and blew them into pieces. After 3 new logs this morning, the ionosphere took a needed nap, only to light its artillery shells, exploding into probably the second-best Es opening of my career, outside of the inconceivable 2Es opening of 6/30/17. I've never had this many new logs in one night, nor have I ever seen signals this strong or short. One to remember and reminisce for years to come. A classic! Over 40 RDS pictures taken tonight as well.

5:50PM (PT) - 6m noted to Colorado on the maps. Quick check of the radio shows insane Es signals wiping out 94.9 Pasco and others. Ran to the car
5:57PM - 96.1 KICX McCook, NE; local commercials at an 80% signal, like a local. Relog, 55KW at 1095 miles. And this was just the beginning...
5:58PM - 104.9 KRRR-FM Cheyenne, WY; huge signal with oldies and RDS 'KRRR-FM.' NEW #819, 25.5KW at 882 miles.
5:58PM - 104.5 KCVN Cozad, NE; sermon and RDS 'BOTT'. NEW #820, 100KW at 1117 miles.
5:59PM - 105.5 KZQL Mills, WY; great signal with classic hits and RDS 'Kool 105'. NEW #821, 5KW at 755 miles.
6:00PM - 103.9 KQHK McCook, NE; Bob Seger song, RDS 'The Hawk.' NEW #822, 50KW at 1095 miles.
6:02PM - 103.7 KQLT Casper, WY; TOH ID 'KQLT Casper, Kolt County'. NEW #823, 97KW at 755 miles.
6:03PM - 106.1 KYVZ Atwood, KS; mentions of Northwest Kansas. NEW #824, 60KW at 1084 miles.
6:06PM - 91.1 KTNE-FM Alliance, NE; with classical music wiping out KYPL and // KLNE-FM, see below! NEW #825, 92KW at 930 miles.
6:06PM - 88.7 KLNE-FM Lexington, NE; same classical music, with RDS 'Nebraska Public Media.' Relog, 60KW at 1143 miles.
6:07PM - 100.7 KHOK Hoisington, KS; mixed with at least two others, '100.7 Eagle Country.' Relog, 100KW at 1243 miles.
6:09PM - 101.9 KKQY Hill City, KS; ID '101.9 the Bull' mixed with one or two others. NEW #826, 97KW at 1193 miles.
6:10PM - 98.3 KATR Otis, CO; country music, mention of Julesburg, RDS "KAT COUNTRY 98.3". NEW #827, 100KW at 984 miles.
6:13PM - 99.1 KUAD Windsor, CO; RDS 'New Country 99.1.' Relog, 100KW at 895 miles.
6:15PM - 94.1 KNEB-FM Scottsbluff, NE; RDS '94.1 the Brand', local ad with 308 area code. Relog, 100KW at 907 miles.
6:16PM - 107.7 KGCR Goodland, KS; little girl IDing the station 'Tri-State Praise KGCR.' Relog, 100KW at 1092 miles.
6:17PM - 107.5 KQKS Lakewood, CO; local Denver commercials, not easy to defeat KFFM splatter! NEW #828, 91KW at 920 miles.
6:17PM - 107.9 KZRS Great Bend, KS; with Ben Shapiro Show and scrolling RDS ID "107-9 The Patriot". NEW #829, 99KW at 1235 miles.
6:19PM - 106.9 KBGL Larned, KS; RDS 'Hits 106.9' and local ads for Great Bend. NEW #830, 100KW at 1228 miles.
6:20PM - 104.3 KVGB-FM Great Bend, KS; more local ads for Great Bend and Hays, RDS 'B104.3 The Point.' Relog, 100KW at 1247 miles.
6:21PM - 103.3 KJLS Hays, KS; overtook KWLN Wilson Creek with ad for Midwest Family Health in Russell, Great Bend area. NEW #831, 100KW at 1193 miles.
6:22PM - 97.5 KSRX Sterling, CO; huge signal with RDS 'BOB-FM' and ID. Relog, 38KW at 976 miles.
6:24PM - 96.7 KSOB Larned, KS; with ID for 'The Mighty 1290 KMMM', apparently they simulcast. NEW #832, 3KW at 1243 miles.
6:27PM - 98.7 KSID-FM Sidney, NE; with promo for a giveaway sponsored by 98.7 the Big Boy. A big MANNED-UP signal! Relog, 100KW at 946 miles.
6:28PM - 97.9 KWGB Colby, KS; with local ads for Colby. NEW #833, 100KW at 1086 miles.
6:29PM - 102.5 KKCI Goodland, KS; local ad for steel building warehouse in Goodland. NEW #834, 100KW at 1086 miles.
6:30PM - 105.5 KVSV-FM Beloit, KS; so glad to listen to this station for a brief period! Community calendar and MOR/standards music, which included a Spanish song by Linda Ronstadt called 'Perfidia,' from 1992; and '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' by Paul Simon, along with one by the Little River Band, I believe. This station does not stream, it is a shame. It's a very unique station in a land full of country and religious formats. NEW #835, 50KW at 1237 miles.
6:34PM - 92.3 XHMMF Mexicali, BCN; path switch! RDS "LA BESTIA GRUPERA." Relog (from this morning), 21.9KW at 1027 miles.
6:36PM - 96.3 KERP Ingalls, KS; 'The Marshal' ID. Kansas hanging on for a couple more minutes but not for long. Relog, 100KW at 1200 miles.

START OF GARGANTUAN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA OPENING!!!
6:51PM - 92.3 KRRL Los Angeles; with RDS 'Real 92'. Relog, 42KW at 892 miles. But that was a tease for what was to begin......
6:52PM - 91.7 KALW San Francisco, CA; strong with RDS ID 'KALW.' Relog, not heard since 2012; 1.9KW at 646 miles.
6:54PM - 94.1 KPFA Berkeley, CA; with mention of Mountain View, CA (I think Democracy Now! was on), and RDS 'KPFA.' NEW #836, 59KW at 637 miles.
6:55PM - 93.3 KRZZ San Francisco, CA; RDS ID 'KRZZ-FM.' NEW #837, 6KW at 651 miles.
6:57PM - 92.1 KKDV Walnut Creek, CA; RDS ID 'KKDV.' NEW #838, 3KW at 634 miles.
6:57PM - 92.7 KTOM Marina, CA; scrolling RDS '92.7 K-TOM.' Relog, 6.9KW at 725 miles.
7:01PM - 89.3 KPJP Greenville, CA; 'Relevant Radio News...' mixed with several others. This tears the two Jackson WY stations heard in 2015 to shreds as the SHORTEST E-SKIP LOG I'VE EVER HAD!!! NEW #839, 4.5KW at an astonishing 468 miles!! This calculates a 144 MUF at the spot, but likely most went into the ocean. Simply incredible! 😲
7:02PM - UNID 89.7 with World Cafe. This was 75% likely to be KNCA-FM Burney CA, even closer than KPJP! Only 426 miles!!! But NO ID NO LOG (and no RDS, in fact). Darn.
7:05PM - 91.1 KCSM San Mateo, CA; destroyed KYPL into the ground with a 90% signal strength! JAZZ 91 RDS and jazz music. NEW #840, 11KW at 661 miles.
7:06PM - 96.1 KSQQ Morgan Hill, CA; with Asian programming and RDS ID 'KSQQ.' NEW #841, 4.7KW at 682 miles.
7:07PM - 96.9 KWAV Monterey, CA; with Delilah and ID 'K-WAVE 96.9.' Did hear this one in Seattle I believe, but not in Yakima due to the local - so NEW #842 to Ellensburg, 18KW at 725 miles.
7:08PM - 101.3 KIOI San Francisco, CA; with RDS 'Star 101.3' and very strong signal, Hot AC music. Amazing for such a short distance. NEW #843, 125KW at 651 miles (grandfathered power).
7:08PM - 102.9 KBLX Berkeley, CA; RDS ID 'KBLX.' NEW #844, 7.2KW at 651 miles.
7:10PM - 102.5 KDON Salinas, CA; with weather forecast for the Central Coast. NEW #845, 15KW at 710 miles.
7:12PM - 103.7 KOSF San Francisco, CA; contest promo. NEW #846, 6.4KW at 651 miles. The old KKSF has finally been logged here!
7:13PM - 103.3 KATM Modesto, CA; huge signal with Nights with Elaina and RDS ID 'The Kat.' NEW #847, 50KW at 653 miles.
7:14PM - 93.1 KXSM Chualar, CA; ID 'Radio Lazer.' NEW #848, 2.5KW at 730 miles.
7:15PM - 94.7 KKDO Fair Oaks, CA; short skip! RDS had song/artist and "@ALT94.7". NEW #849, 25KW at 577 miles!
7:16PM - 96.9 KSEG Sacramento, CA; with ID '96.9 the Eagle' and RDS, tore KZTA to shreds. NEW #850, 50KW at 579 miles!

More of this amazing FM DX in the next reply!

 

[crainbebo]

And now part 2, of As the Ionosphere Turns...or Explodes...or whatever you want to call it...

7:18PM - 100.7 KPRC-FM Salinas, CA; with Spanish commercials and RDS 'Salinas.' NEW #851, 1.4KW at 725 miles.
7:19PM - 101.7 KKIQ Livermore, CA; mention of 'hometown station' and calls, RDS 'KKIQ.' NEW #852, 4.1KW at 653 miles.
7:20PM - 101.5 KCCL Woodland, CA; with oldies music and RDS 'K-HITS.' NEW #853, 5.7KW at 584 miles.
7:21PM - 102.5 KSFM Woodland, CA; sweeper promo 'say Alexa, play 102.5 KSFM', back into top 40 music. NEW #854, 50KW at 584 miles.
7:24PM - 105.5 KSAC-FM Dunnigan, CA; with Bloomberg business programming and RDS ID 'KSAC'. NEW #855, 2.55KW at 573 miles - amazing signal for this short of distance on a channel this high on the dial - who knows what the MUF was on this opening!! I didn't bring the scanner darn it, I'm sure NOAA 162mhz had something.
7:25PM - 105.1 KOCN Pacific Grove, CA; ID '105.1 K-Ocean.' NEW #856, 1.8KW at 725 miles.
7:27PM - 107.5 KPIG-FM Freedom, CA; ad for lumber yard in Watsonville. Cool to hear this station! NEW #857, 5.4KW at 705 miles.
7:28PM - 107.1 KSES-FM Seaside, CA; only Es log #2 on 107.1! Coverage of a sports event in SS (soccer? Lots of SS stations were carrying coverage of what sounded like soccer) and RDS 'KSES.' NEW #858, 1.75KW at 725 miles.
7:32PM - 93.1 KFBK-FM Pollock Pines, CA; with local news sweeper mentioning 'FM News 93.1'. I got a kick out of this one as 1530 is a regular night visitor on AM. Now I have the FM that they constantly advertise. NEW #859, 20.5KW at 578 miles.
7:33PM - 92.3 KSJO San Jose, CA; local ads with a thick South Asian/Indian accent, RDS 'Bay Area's Bollywood Station.' NEW #860, 32KW at 680 miles.
7:35PM - 91.3 KUOP Stockton, CA; this was just amazing. The first of THREE KXJZ relays heard all at the same time! CapRadio IDs and support messages. NEW #860, 7KW at 660 miles.
7:35PM - 90.9 KXJZ Sacramento, CA; see 91.3. NEW #861, 50KW at 575 miles.
7:35PM - 90.5 KKTO Tahoe City, CA; see 91.3. NEW #862, 38KW at an astonishing 533 miles - easily listenable for such a short distance!
7:36PM - 92.1 KRDA Clovis, CA; RDS 'Amor'. NEW #863, 39KW at 684 miles.
7:37PM - 97.9 KMGV Fresno, CA; with ID 'Mega 97.9, the Valley's Old School Hits.' Relog, 2.1KW at 688 miles.
7:39PM - 100.7 KHAY-FM Ventura, CA; with syndicated country program, interview, and RDS 'KHAY-FM'. Was looking for KIBS Bishop but didn't get them...BUT got another Eastern Sierra station instead about an hour later! Relog, 39KW at 876 miles.
7:41PM - 92.5 XHRM Tijuana, BCN; with RDS 'Magic 92.5.' Relog, 100KW at 1018 miles.
7:42PM - 93.1 KKXX-FM Shafter, CA; with ID 'Hits 93.1.' Relog, 4KW at 800 miles.
7:45PM - 98.7 KYSR Los Angeles, CA; RDS 'Alt 98.7.' NEW #864, 75KW at 897 miles.
7:47PM - 98.9 KSOF Dinuba, CA; Delilah and RDS 'Soft Rock 98.9.' NEW #865, 19KW at 721 miles.
7:51PM - 104.3 KBIG Los Angeles, CA; with Green Day song and RDS '104.3 MyFM.' Relog, 65KW at 892 miles.
8:00PM - 91.3 KWTH Barstow, CA; RDS 'K-WAVE' and Contemporary Christian music. NEW #866, 1.55KW at 877 miles.
8:02PM - 91.5 KUNV Las Vegas, NV; WIPED OUT LOCAL TRANSLATOR!!! TOH ID mentioning 'and HD-1, Las Vegas.' NEW #867, 12KW at 815 miles.
8:12PM - 94.7 KTWV Los Angeles, CA; with ID '94.7 the Wave.' Relog, 52KW at 892 miles.
8:14PM - 96.7 KNOB Healdsburg, CA; with mention of listening online at '967bob.fm.' Short skip again! NEW #868, 2.5KW at 583 miles.
8:16PM - 98.1 KISQ San Francisco, CA; with local ads and 'Bay's Relaxing Favorites' RDS. Relog, 75KW at 640 miles.
8:18PM - 99.9 KOLA Redlands, CA; ad for dentist in Montclair, California. Relog, 29.5KW at 917 miles.
8:22PM - 95.1 KNYE Pahrump, NV; with lots of strange conversation between aliens or extraterrestrial forms several local ads for Pahrump car dealers and a casino. The station that Art Bell owned and operated, I hope he's smiling up in the heavens. Relog (from 5/17/15), 6KW at 781 miles.
8:25-30PM - Spent chasing an unid 89.1, in fact two of them. One with upbeat SS music, the other with folk music with a female singer. I strongly believe it was KGFN, Goldfield, NV (and only 1000 watts). Randy Zerr on the TVFM Skip Log and WTFDA forums is a full-time RVer and has spent the last nearly 2 years in Goldfield, where 89.1 is about a mile away from him. I think I got really close to logging this one.
8:31PM - 88.7 UNID Spanish, mentioned 'like on Facebook' so hopefully something IDed. Maybe Calexico CA.
8:32PM - 93.3 KRHV Big Pine, CA; with 'I Saw the Light' by Todd Rundgren // stream. My first FM logged from the Owens Valley or Mammoth area! NEW #869, 890 watts at 673 miles. Tried really hard for 92.5 KSRW, even //ed their stream, but got nothing but XHRM and likely other stations on the densely-populated west side of the Sierras.
8:34PM - 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles, CA; IDed '95.5 KLOS.' Relog, 61KW at 892 miles.
8:36PM - 96.3 KSWG Wickenburg, AZ; with George Jones 'White Lightning' and ID '96.3 Real Country.' Relog, 5.8KW at 990 miles.
8:39PM - 101.5 KGB-FM San Diego, CA; with ID. Relog, 50KW at 1002 miles.
8:42PM - 92.7 UNID station with ID that I didn't recognize, adult contemporary format with 'Trouble' by Taylor Swift so pitched up it sounded like she turned into a chipmunk, jarringly followed by 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry' by Chicago (not pitched up). Maybe the station I heard later on this channel...or KZIQ in Ridgecrest?
8:49PM - 96.3 UNID CHR station, '96.3 the ???' sounded like it began with a B. Will check this one later, nothing listed in CA or NV.
8:57PM - 97.3 UNID Country station, 'New Country Now'? KRJK or KOLC (short skip)? I'll post this later.
9:03PM - 92.7 KUNK Mendocino, CA; with TOH ID 'Skunk FM, KUNK Mendocino-Fort Bragg' into CBS News. Very short skip, and a new part of CA reached! NEW #870, 3KW at 554 miles!
9:04-08PM - Last bursts. 95.1 Country station (KTTI? KFRG?) and an interesting 96.3 classic hits into Stevie Wonder, SATELLITE format, with a female. Tentative Lake Havasu City AZ translator, will research.

What an opening! Off the charts! Audio coming...someday...and RDS coming a little sooner than that I hope

 

[radioman148]

Nice work crainbebo!

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I remember when Mt. St. Helens erupted, there was what seemed to be a very extensive upper tropospheric layer effect, which routinely reflected signals further than the usual distances. I saw this forest fire map, and wondered if it could be affecting things.

Wildfire Map: Track Live Fires, Smoke, & Lightning | Map of Fire

Track wildfires & smoke across the US. Monitor fire spread, intensity, and lightning strikes. Stay informed with real-time updates on Map of Fire.

www.fireweatheravalanche.org

 

[crainbebo]

Don't really think so. When we had the Carlton Complex Fire in 2014 (the one that destroyed most of Pateros), there was Es on 7/15 (at the very start of the fire) and 7/20, but not much else after. That X-flare from about 1 1/2 weeks back still may have an effect on radio reception. I've never seen anything like it in the years that I've DXed. The East Coast has had one feast after another, DAILY! I've never seen more double-hop reported in a week. That's just as much as I would see in a year (or two, or three years), not to mention double-hop Es to areas never hit before by U.S. DXers, like Iceland and the Azores. Yesterday as I had Omaha and NW Missouri, a Nevada DXer reported double-hop to Michigan on FM (WIN 98.5 Coldwater, B93 Grand Rapids) and the opposite happened for someone in Ypsilanti who heard KCLB-93.7 Coachella CA!

I only know that this opening put me behind on a level of the east coast FM DXers. They are overwhelmed with entire hard drives running out of SDR room...and I may have to spend an entire day just going through my recordings.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

The higher than normal tropospheric layer may act like an optical lens, bending the waves before they reach the ionospheric radio mirror called the E Layer, formerly the Kennelly Heaviside Layer. Anyone else remember that name?

I may have recently posted here about hearing KSEL 93.7 Lubbock, TX in Southeast Michigan for a couple of hours in the 1970s over 470000 watt (If you look at the History Card, it gradually decreased from 550000 watts to 320000 watts) WJFM 93.7 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Both Tropo and E Skip were involved.

 

[bulwnkl]

Congrats, crainbebo!

 

[RF101]

Yes, 7/14 around 1200-1300 Eastern time produced some incredible E-conditions.. From metro Washington DC stations in Eastern Canada and North Central US could be heard. Was the solar storm part of this equation? Too bad all these lame translators leave little room for open channels...

 

[crainbebo]

7/14 at 9AM I had just woke up and logged onto Edinburgh, Indiana's Global Tuners only to find a band full of Wyoming (KTAG-97.9, KYTI-93.7, etc.) that jarringly flipped the opposite direction to the Maritimes, and I had Nova Scotia like locals up to the top. French and CBC relays everywhere.

 

[ksradiogeek]

Same here in North Iowa on Wednesday. Morning started off with DC/Delmarva stations (with a hint of the Florida panhandle) before switching up to Idaho, Maine, Quebec and New Brunswick. Did get a French FM (I believe from Saguenay) mostly clear and overriding a weak regional stick only 70 miles away.

 

[crainbebo]

It probably caught drivers in towns all over America off-guard. How many I wonder flipped over to their Spotify playlists knowing that their usual FM preset was gnawed up and chewed up by other stations?

 

[ftballfan]

On Tuesday evening, I had a bunch of stations from NC and VA, then suddenly 93.3 from Austin, TX popped up (right next door to the NPR on 93.1 from Richmond, VA)

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

On Tuesday evening, I had a bunch of stations from NC and VA, then suddenly 93.3 from Austin, TX popped up (right next door to the NPR on 93.1 from Richmond, VA)

There could have been two ion clouds, or one that moved west to halfway between the TLs and RLs. I remember a more gradual transitions from FL, to TX, to CO, to SD, ND, and MB.

 

[ftballfan]

There could have been two ion clouds, or one that moved west to halfway between the TLs and RLs. I remember a more gradual transitions from FL, to TX, to CO, to SD, ND, and MB.

I had at least two different clouds and maybe a third, as at the end of the opening, it was focused heavily on peninsular Florida (which may have been the NC/VA cloud that moved a little bit). The NC/VA cloud produced very short skip (including five sub-600 mile receptions) while the TX/LA cloud, while weaker, brought in some stations.