WAVV?

[vchimpanzee]

A map of its coverage area shows Miami is just outside.

For those who don't think WFEZ is "Easy" (that would be me) it would be a nice alternative. But my guess is with an actual radio, it would have problems in Miami.

Without a radio, they do stream once again.

 

[Ai4i]

But my guess is with an actual radio, it would have problems in Miami.

It would require an actual radio connected to an actual antenna,
assuming there aren't a bunch of secondary service stations in the way.

 

[seattlesarchiebunker]

It would require an actual radio connected to an actual antenna,
assuming there aren't a bunch of secondary service stations in the way.

And therein lies the problem!

Before all the translators popped up in Broward/Dade, you could occasionally DX stuff from SW FL or the Space Coast. Even the Lower Keys on rare occasions! It was a true fight even then. I only picked up 3 stations from the SW: 96.1 (fighting it out with a pirate), 96.9 (also fighting it out with a pirate), and 101.9 (you guessed it, same deal!)

South Florida is a hot mess when it comes to long-distance listening. Granted, my experience was from the top of a 3 story condo complex in Hollyweird, so as one moves towards the Turnpike, I’d imagine the SW FL stations become a little easier to receive and you’ll be moving further from all the junk on the FM near the big cities

 

[strangelove]

And therein lies the problem!

Before all the translators popped up in Broward/Dade, you could occasionally DX stuff from SW FL or the Space Coast. Even the Lower Keys on rare occasions! It was a true fight even then. I only picked up 3 stations from the SW: 96.1 (fighting it out with a pirate), 96.9 (also fighting it out with a pirate), and 101.9 (you guessed it, same deal!)

South Florida is a hot mess when it comes to long-distance listening. Granted, my experience was from the top of a 3 story condo complex in Hollyweird, so as one moves towards the Turnpike, I’d imagine the SW FL stations become a little easier to receive and you’ll be moving further from all the junk on the FM near the big cities

Yeah, the pirates made a mess of the airwaves down here; there's one on 88.7 that been causing interference with WKPX on 88.5 for years and that's only a few miles from Piper where the signal originates.

I used to get WINK-FM on 96.9 when it was called Star 96 (iirc) and there was another Naples/Fort Myers area station on 102.9 that came in decently. 96.9 in central Broward now carries the programming from brokered WSBR 740 AM and the last time I scanned the FM dial I didn't get anything long distance.

The northernmost station I ever managed to pull in was WZZS 106.9 in Zolfo Springs on my car stereo near Fort Lauderdale and WKLG 102.1 out of the Upper Keys. When Hot 105 was off the air one Sunday afternoon I could get WOMX 105.1 in Orlando.

 

[Ai4i]

I listened to WDNA daily when I was in Fort Lauderdale
but WQCS would clobber them every night.
Both have similar "normal" coverage areas,
but for extended propagation, might makes right.
At least 88.9 had no secondary service or
undocumented stations on or adjacent to it.

 

[davideduardo]

A map of its coverage area shows Miami is just outside.

Not really. Miami is way outside the coverage area of WAVV.

The "useful coverage" of the radio-locator maps is the inner red contour. The second contour is what, in ideal terrain, you might get in a good car radio in an unobstructed path. The final outermost contour is pretty much "DX" listening and in most places is impossible due to co-channels and adjacents.

Remember, radio-locator used to have "for amusement purposes only" on the bottom of the search page.

 

[strangelove]

I listened to WDNA daily when I was in Fort Lauderdale
but WQCS would clobber them every night.
Both have similar "normal" coverage areas,
but for extended propagation, might makes right.
At least 88.9 had no secondary service or
undocumented stations on or adjacent to it.

I can pick them up pretty solid near Tamarac on the Superradio on my patio but that's the only receiver in the house that can pull them in. Car stereo reception is so-so until around I-595.

 

[Ai4i]

Not really. Miami is way outside the coverage area of WAVV.

"Back in the day", WYOR, now Hot 105, had a promotional coverage map that showed their predicted signal levels all the way up to Orlando.
I was a child but had ridden with my parents up that way and called the station to ask them, "but isn't their a station on the same frequency in Orlando?"
They said "maybe; yes; I don't know". The conversation did not go much further than that. I knew more about radio propagation than their "grownup" board op did.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Not really. Miami is way outside the coverage area of WAVV.

The "useful coverage" of the radio-locator maps is the inner red contour. The second contour is what, in ideal terrain, you might get in a good car radio in an unobstructed path. The final outermost contour is pretty much "DX" listening and in most places is impossible due to co-channels and adjacents.

Remember, radio-locator used to have "for amusement purposes only" on the bottom of the search page.

You're talking about an ideal signal. I'm talking about people who really want to listen.

With flat terrain, I'm sure the signal could go farther, unless there are other considerations, and in the absence of tall buildings or translators, and with no interference coming from the east (I was going to say south but a Cuba station could easily get across the water), I would think even where the blue circle is, people could still listen. If they really wanted. They won't get an ideal stereo signal.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I guess I'll pile on here and say that back when I worked at WAXY 105.9 I had some friends who really enjoyed the station and said they listened to it all the way up to Orlando. That was before the Orlando area got a station on 105.9. (Holiday?). FM was so much better in those days, now it's a cluttered mess.

 

[davideduardo]

I was going to say south but a Cuba station could easily get across the water

The closest point to Miami in Cuba is somewhere around Varadero, about 180 miles away. Given that Cuba does not build its FM facilities particularly high up, you are not going to get a Cuban FM in Miami-Dade except on exceptional DX conditions.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The closest point to Miami in Cuba is somewhere around Varadero, about 180 miles away. Given that Cuba does not build its FM facilities particularly high up, you are not going to get a Cuban FM in Miami-Dade except on exceptional DX conditions.

I've always heard that it was 90, but okay.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I guess I'll pile on here and say that back when I worked at WAXY 105.9 I had some friends who really enjoyed the station and said they listened to it all the way up to Orlando. That was before the Orlando area got a station on 105.9. (Holiday?). FM was so much better in those days, now it's a cluttered mess.

I remember picking up the Orlando station in Myrtle Beach before WNMB moved to 105.9.

In fact, WEZV, as it was called later, went off the air one day and I was picking up 105.9 The Mountain from Asheville just outside Myrtle Beach.

 

[davideduardo]

I've always heard that it was 90, but okay.

"90 miles from Cuba" is Key West, an island that is over 100 miles SW of Miami.

 

[vchimpanzee]

"90 miles from Cuba" is Key West, an island that is over 100 miles SW of Miami.

Oh, right.

 

[Ai4i]

"90 miles from Cuba" is Key West, an island that is over 100 miles SW of Miami.

We join our fearless flying feline friends just ninety miles north of those crazy questionable Cuban characters on the
serene and relaxing island of Key West, Florida, nestled deep[ly] in the heart of the lovely yet delicious Conch Republic.

 

[MarquisP4]

Speaking about WAVV, listening online they have shifted from one of the last beautiful music/lounge/easy listening stations to a full-time Soft AC format again (albeit modernized from their first stint from sign on in 1987 to about 1993/1994), in style of the recent "wave" of Relaxing Favorites stations popping up recently...this comes a year after owner Herb Alpert passed away and his heirs and GM took over.

 

[MarquisP4]

Speaking about WAVV, listening online they have shifted from one of the last beautiful music/lounge/easy listening stations to a full-time Soft AC format again (albeit modernized from their first stint from sign on in 1987 to about 1993/1994), in style of the recent "wave" of Relaxing Favorites stations popping up recently...this comes a year after owner Herb Alpert passed away and his heirs and GM took over.

Sorry, Norm Alpert