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Wells Beach, Maine Reception

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I went to Wells Beach today and was able to check the dial to see what I could get with the salt water help. Here's what I got.

92.1 WPHX FNX
92.3 WMME 92 Moose
92.5 WXRV The River
93.1 WMGX Coast
93.7 WMKK Mike FM
93.9 WARX Air 1
94.3 WCYY
94.9 WHOM
95.3 WSKX Kiss 95.3
95.9 WPEI
96.3 WJJB The Big Jab
96.7 WQSO The Wave
96.9 WTKK
97.1 W246BP (WMDR)
97.3 WJFD
97.5 WOKQ
97.7 WNSX
97.9 WJBQ
98.1 WCTK Cat Country
98.5 WEBB B 98.5
98.7 WBYY The Bay
98.9 WCLZ
99.1 WPLM Easy 99.1
99.3 WBQQ
99.9 WTHT 999 The Wolf
100.3 WHEB
100.9 WYNZ Big Hits Y 100.9
101.3 WVQM The Voice of Maine
101.9 WPOR
102.5 WKLB Country 102.5
102.9 WBLM The Blimp
103.7 WPKQ
103.9 WVOM The Voice of Maine
104.3 WABK Super Hits 104 ABK
104.7 WBQW WBACH
105.1 WTOS 105 TOS
105.3 WSHK The Shark
105.7 WROR
105.9 WBCI
106.1 WCOD 106 COD
106.3 WHXQ The Bone
106.9 WBQX WBACH
107.1 WERZ
107.3 WBZN Z 1073
107.5 WFNK Frank FM
107.7 WBQI WBACH
107.9 WFMX Mix 107.9

I couldn't believe how well salt water actually helped with reception. As I left I put it on 107.3 to see how far it would go. I was surprised that it lasted onto Route 1 and down the street aways then fading to static. I had hoped 97.3 was from Canada but the only 97.3 I could find on radio-locator that was non-english and had a water signal was from Massachusetts.
 
Yeah, salt water doesn't conduct FM waves as it does AM. The good reception associated with the ocean on FM is because the sea makes the atmosphere along it much more ripe for tropo.

When I was young, I used to assume the reason I'd often get FM stations from as far as the North Carolina coast at the Jersey Shore in summer was because the signal traveled better on the water.

Again, that's indirectly true but there are other variables involved.
 
Not to mention the fact that while you're out at sea, there are NO obstacles whatsoever that block your line-of-sight signals. In the midwest, we often have an advantage in the flatter and more wide open spaces that are associated with the rural areas of the upper midwest, and the plains states. This isn't the case in the mountainous regions of the country, nor is it even the case in parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley, as once you get north of Iowa/Illinois Highway 64 (Sabula, IA/Savanna, IL), the bluffs increase in height, and FM and TV reception are quite often an issue in far northwest Illinois, northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin, and southeast Minnesota. I'm sure it's even worse in the Appalachian Mountains and Adirondack Mountains in the eastern United States and the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Cascade Mountains in the western United States.

So, being at sea, or even in the middle of a major lake (the Great lakes, Great Salt Lake, Etc.) would allow for awesome FM and TV reception, regardless of the ground conductivity of the water. Not to mention being able to pick up stations from the other side of the lake (Example: FM stations in Chicago have been known to travel across Lake Michigan over to Benton Harbor, Michigan (on the other side of the lake) and vice versa. The lakefront areas of Chicago and Milwaukee can pick up stations from each other's markets and markets across the lake courtesy of line-of-sight and lake-effect tropo.

I'm not sure how good the ground conductivity of the freshwater lakes would be and if it makes much if even any difference on AM reception (which relies mainly on ground conductivity, not line-of-sight or tropo like FM and TV).

Another thing regarding oceanwater is that transoceanic dx reception has been reported not only on AM and LW (LongWave) which rely on groundwaves and nighttime skywaves but also on FM and VHF as well (maybe E-skip or super tropo from the ocean has something to do with transoceanic VHF reception).
 
Even though there are no obstacles on sea or fresh water, the FM signal can only go a little more than line of sight beyond the horizon.

Anything beyond that is because of the assistance of tropo conditions or e skip.

Transatlantic FM or VHF reception is the result of double hop e skip. Hawaii - California reception can also be tropo in rare cases if the conditions are perfect.
 
Salt water really helps AMs, especially those high up the dial.

You want interesting DXing, try the AM band on any beach along the Atlantic Coast. The best is Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras. One thousand waters will go several hundred miles.

One time while in Maui Itried to DX mainland stations. I got just two: KLIV in San Jose and KDAY Santa Monica, both above 1550 and both shoot out to sea.
 
Dusty Dale Brooks said:
Salt water really helps AMs, especially those high up the dial.

You want interesting DXing, try the AM band on any beach along the Atlantic Coast. The best is Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras. One thousand waters will go several hundred miles.

One time while in Maui Itried to DX mainland stations. I got just two: KLIV in San Jose and KDAY Santa Monica, both above 1550 and both shoot out to sea.
Click to expand...

I assume you're talking about skywave from Maui. I've DXed from Hawaii but only received skywave from the mainland.
I've also heard Australia & Japan from Hawaii so the salt water really does help.
 
Yes, salt water helps AM a lot, and seems to make some difference on FM.

I'm near 32°45'40"N 116°56'50"W, which is near El Cajon / La Mesa, CA, and recently recorded my saltwater-aided reception of several stations.
http://cid-6bdd1917662288cb.office.live.com/browse.aspx/AM radio files/2010-07-20
(960 KIXW Apple Valley, CA, was not over a salt water path, and can be ignored.)

All of those were recorded on the PL-380, as the recording notes text file says. I'm about 195 miles from the 3 1kW or less Santa Barbara sticks, 111 miles from KNX, and about 210 miles from 103.3 KVYB, which almost consistently comes in at that level, and is occasionally strong enough on some radios to trip the stereo decoder. If I go to the top of a couple hills less than a mile from my house (one to the north/northwest, the other to the southwest), where the elevation is several hundred feet higher, KVYB will ALWAYS trip the stereo decoder, and I will also hear several other stations that aren't otherwise receivable where I am.

So am I the only person who can consistently hear an FM station over 200 miles away in spite of being on the wrong side of a hill? Also is that tropo, e-skip, vapor ducting over the ocean (that's what my dad thought it was) or does line of sight really go 200 miles?
 
Dusty Dale Brooks said:
Salt water really helps AMs, especially those high up the dial.

You want interesting DXing, try the AM band on any beach along the Atlantic Coast. The best is Cape Cod and Cape Hatteras. One thousand waters will go several hundred miles.

One time while in Maui Itried to DX mainland stations. I got just two: KLIV in San Jose and KDAY Santa Monica, both above 1550 and both shoot out to sea.
Click to expand...

You got those two stations in the middle of the day? Frequencies that high up will have late morning and early afternoon skywaves in the fall, winter, and early spring and can have mid day skywaves in winter.

While saltwater improves all AM reception, I'm pretty sure it allows the lower drequencies to go much greater distances than those at the high end.

And yes, I've heard many good DXing stories from places like Cape Cod, the NC outer banks, Bermuda, and I've had my own experiences on Florida's Gulf and east coasts.
 
I once went to that section of Maine and I heard FMs from Boston and southern Mass. probably through oceanside tropo, though I didn;t listen to any AMs. When I was at Halibut State Pk on the MA coast NE of Boston, I heard some Portland, ME area FM stations clearly.
 
Here's a report I found of someone getting WQAM MIami in the daytime in Newfoundland.

Chris, While still in the employ of Uncle Sam I visited Signal Hill in
St. Johns, NF in September 1988, at the peak of Solar Cycle 22. At the
time I was an SWL, not yet licensed as a Ham, which came in December
1989. I had with me a Sony ICF-6500W receiver and at daytime on ground
wave I was able to clearly copy WQAM 560 kc 5 kw in Miami, FL. At the
time WQAM's single tower was out in Biscayne Bay. That was an
approximate distance of 2158 km, 3474 mi. Part of the ground wave path
in NF was over land but the signal probably skewed along and around
the coast to Signal Hill.
Click to expand...

http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg24696.html




I'd bet that if there were a 50kw non directional station on that low of a frequency right on the California coast, it could be heard in Hawaii all day.
 
I know its been reported that in Cape Hatteras, that New York AM's can be heard there during the day. Can WBZ from Boston be heard in Cape Hatteras during the day also?
 
Raider57 said:
I know its been reported that in Cape Hatteras, that New York AM's can be heard there during the day. Can WBZ from Boston be heard in Cape Hatteras during the day also?
Click to expand...

I did heard both WBZ and WWGB (near DC) both 1030 on the Outer banks beach at the same time. This was during mid or late morning.
 
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