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What is the best place in your town/area to DX?

C

charlestondxman

I've traveled around many different places getting DX in my town, and there are several spots which are better than others for AM/FM DX.

1) At Sunrise Park, an area on James Island, near Charleston Harbor: This spot is one of the best in the Lowcountry to DX. You're close to the Charleston transmitters, in fact, you can see most of them, so that holds FM down. AM, however, is great. I've gotten Miami stations like WQAM 560 and even 640 here. Even little 1KWs from Central Florida come in around here (like the 1590 in Daytona Beach).

2) Isle of Palms, northern end: Another barrier island, but this is great for AM DX. Wilmington stations come in here, which normally don't come in anywhere else in the Charleston area. I've gotten several small AMs that can't be heard south of here. FM is not as good because the local transmitters are only like 5 mi away.

3) Kiawah Island: This barrier island is good for both AM and FM, as you're pretty much away from the Charleston noise except for one FM transmitter with two stations on it. I've gotten Jacksonville and Orlando frequently on FM, with other markets possible.

What are the best places in your town? Explain them.
 
The top of a 11 story parking garage is great for tropo. Best part is free parking in the evenings (when the tropo really gets strong) and weekends.
Also, I'm able to get almost constant tropo along the Jersey shore to Long Island. The signal strength is strongest right at the water. At least I can still blast PartyFM 105.3 on the beach in Jersey.
 
1: My backyard, for AM DX. A lot of AM DXing happens here because of the [bleep] 60 watt lights!

2: My frontyard, for FM DX. In the backyard, I have more bleed from local stations here, for some reason. In the frontyard, I FM DX here. About 96-97% of my 99 FM loggings happened here.

3: The Manastash Ridge, near Ellensburg. On a trip to Yakima, I could get at 3000 feet 107.7 KUMA Pendelton, OR at 130 miles, 93.3 KRKL Walla Walla, WA at 129 miles, 95.7 KKSR Walla Walla, WA at 129 miles, and 103.5 KWHT Pendelton, OR at 128 miles.

4. Stampede Pass, WA: Here I got 105.7 CBU Vancouver, BC at 120 miles.

-crainbebo
 
Not much to hear on AM during the day here in Tampa but go over to the gulf beaches and it's a completely different story, as the AM band becomes loaded with countless stations from the entire Gulf coast and Cuba.

These stations vanish as soon as you go back inland with the exception of some of the Cubans which become barely audible and WWL, which still has a weak signal.
 
I recently moved from one basement apartment to a third level apartment (the top level at the complex) with the balcony. When the weather gets warmer I can use the balcony for FM DX. For AM I have much less trouble with the RF noise as I keep my equipment next to a large window. Trying to FM DX in the old apartment was like trying to do so in a cave as I cannot have an outdoor antenna at all.

I can still go to the Shenandoah Nat'l Park during the day for hearing FM at long distances on either side of the Blue Ridge mountains.
 
First get out of town. Couple favorites are Caeser Creek State Park/Lake near Cincinnati but away from Dayton and Cincy transmitters
 
On the mobile have to be short best FM and AM is Indian Lake near Bellefontaine. Much fewer transmitters and you can null Dayton and Columbus
 
Of course, you're going to find the most difference on the coast. I used to live in Tampa in the late '60s and would take dates to Clearwater Beach to go DXing (when I didn't have any money). A couple of them were fascinated to hear a lot more (and much better) Top 40 stations than LCY, but some weren't, so I'd tune to a graveyard frequency, tell her to have patience for a station to break through, and we'd make out.

DXing can be fun - in so many ways. ;)
 
charlestondxman said:
I've traveled around many different places getting DX in my town, and there are several spots which are better than others for AM/FM DX.

1) At Sunrise Park, an area on James Island, near Charleston Harbor: This spot is one of the best in the Lowcountry to DX. You're close to the Charleston transmitters, in fact, you can see most of them, so that holds FM down. AM, however, is great. I've gotten Miami stations like WQAM 560 and even 640 here. Even little 1KWs from Central Florida come in around here (like the 1590 in Daytona Beach).

2) Isle of Palms, northern end: Another barrier island, but this is great for AM DX. Wilmington stations come in here, which normally don't come in anywhere else in the Charleston area. I've gotten several small AMs that can't be heard south of here. FM is not as good because the local transmitters are only like 5 mi away.

3) Kiawah Island: This barrier island is good for both AM and FM, as you're pretty much away from the Charleston noise except for one FM transmitter with two stations on it. I've gotten Jacksonville and Orlando frequently on FM, with other markets possible.

What are the best places in your town? Explain them.
Click to expand...
My parking lot at work in Chattanooga is good for Dxing.I can catch stations in Nashville,Knoxville,Atlanta and Northern Alabama. I even caught an FM station from Albany,Georgia in that parking lot.
 
Nice, that must have been tropo. What station, David67?

-crainbebo
 
My entire area is pretty good for DX, as it's equal distance from Lansing, Fort Wayne, Detroit and Chicago. Also, the Battle Creek-Kalamazoo stations are far enough away as so not to put much co-channel on neighboring frequencies. The only real DX obstruction is 50kw 98.5 WNWN, 7 miles away. There are two local translators (97.1 and 101.1) which can be wiped off of the map during strong enough tropo and Es. Save for a 250-watt class A (90.1) in Coldwater, the nearest class A station is 14 miles away.

DX isn't the greatest in the center of the city, but a good spot to park and flip around the dial is in any one of the box store parking lots on the east side of town. On the car stereo in my '08 Mazda 6, something can be heard on every frequency, even within sight of the 101.1 tranny site.

But the BEST area to DX is just east of Coldwater in Hillsdale County. You're still equal distance from Lansing and Fort Wayne, even farther from BC-K'zoo and even though Detroit is 80-90 miles away, it's still far enough away that their signals don't cause much trouble. Hillsdale has two class A signals, but no translators. I would LOVE to have my 32' antenna tower set-up out there and just go nuts on my radio.
 
I'll toss this post in here, because it seems to fit somewhat. Living around Chicago, the terrain is fairly level so there's not really an obvious spot for great FM dxing. However, this morning, I was out in Palatine, IL (or, as I refer to it, Pal-a-tino) in an area near the top of what passes for a hill around here. Had some time to kill so was checking out the FM offerings on my G8.

Turns out that this is an excellent spot to dx! Was pulling in Madison market signals at 94.1, 94.9, 98.1 and 104.1; most Milwaukee area signals (surprisingly well) and some surprises like 98.1 WLKN from the Manitowoc/Sheboygan, WI area. Biggest shocker was pulling in (with positive ID) KUUL "Kool 101.3" from the Quad Cities (licensed to E. Moline, IL)! Never before have I heard a Quad Cities signal in this area - it's about 135 miles, which is a pretty good distance across higher terrain (than here) on a cold day.

Keeping in line with the thread, I'd have to say that the best area for AM dxing in my area would be along the Lake Michigan in Lake County, IL (north of Chicago) - there you can pull in a decent variety of signals from IL, MI and WI - even WLW and WJR. The latter two are blotted out at my house during the day by WGN and WBBM's I-BLOC respectively.
 
For AM, my house is just fine!

I'm in a bit of a black hole for FM, but if I hop in the car, there are numerous locations along the St. Lawrence or Rideau systems, along with some nice elevations to pick off some long haul signals. Regular visitors come in from Burlington VT to St. Catherines ON and well down into New York state.

~BG
 
I've been in several places with great reception in my travels. Daytona Beach is a really good spot for DX, as I've picked up FMs in the summer from Charleston down there on a walkman.

Sadly, we don't have many hilly areas around Charleston, but the farther away you get from the city, the better reception you get of Columbia and outer market stations.

Strangely, you can drive N on 17 out of Charleston, and when you get up to Awendaw (halfway between Georgetown and Charleston), Savannah stations come in well on even normal radios, as stations like 106.9 and even 98.3, which are overriden often in metro Charleston, come in well up there.

The entire Grand Strand is a great place to DX, as I was in North Myrtle Beach a couple years back and I picked up several Greenville-Spartanburg FMs on my Grundig S350 during the summer. WCOS and WTCB came in on the car radio almost every day.
 
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