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What is your worst co-channel interference situation on fm
- Thread starter Dxer1105
- Start date
Mine is a station in Hammond, IN; WRTW, "The Key" on 90.5, which has almost obliterated classical WNIU (DeKalb, IL) over most of the Chicago area since they signed on last summer. WRTW dominates in Indiana and some of the southernmost parts of Chicago. I no longer can hear WNIU clearly until I am well west of Elgin.
This underscores the fact that the interference range of a radio facility greatly exceeds its usable service area.
This underscores the fact that the interference range of a radio facility greatly exceeds its usable service area.
A few here in Rochester NY, none terribly serious: CHBM Toronto and WYXL Ithaca, both about 90 miles out on 97.3, and the similar 99.9 situation of CKFM Toronto/WIII Cortland. The rest are translator issues: two on 104.5 piled up alongside CHUM-FM Toronto, and local W221CL on 92.1 against WSEN-FM from Syracuse.
In my area, we don't have that many right in the area, but there are a couple. 99.3 FM has a 250 watt sports translator of 1390 WSPO, W257BQ, which frequently gets interfered with north of I-526 by the 99.3 in Kingstree, WWKT, which brings a pretty good signal throughout most of the northern part of the Charleston area.
107.9 also suffers interference during DX times, with the signal mixing between WLOW out of Hilton Head and WGTR from Myrtle Beach.
107.9 also suffers interference during DX times, with the signal mixing between WLOW out of Hilton Head and WGTR from Myrtle Beach.
Scott Fybush said:
North of Brockville ON, I've had the CKFM/WIII mix, along with WBTZ Plattsburgh NY & Brockville's UCB relay CKJJ, thrown in for good measure.
Some other co-channels for me are WTSC Potsdam NY/CJRT Toronto/CBFX-6 Mont-Laurier QC on 91.1, WVPS Burlington VT/WWHT Syracuse NY/CHUC Cobourg ON on 107.9, CHOM Montreal/CHTZ St Catharines ON on 97.7 and...plenty others!
~BG
Definitely the worst one here is..
88.3 WAYK Kalamazoo- 10kw 42 miles away. They do throw a null in my direction to protect...
88.3 WEAX Angola, IN- 920w 21 miles away.
The two stations very severely mix it up in Coldwater to the point where no one station is listenable. You may be stopped at a traffic light with WAYK coming in on your car stereo, but the person one car length behind you may have WEAX. Once you get north of Coldwater, WAYK very drastically takes over 88.3 within just a couple miles of the city limits. When going south, WEAX will win the battle just a couple of miles outside of the city.
A notable mention would be 96.5 WKZO-FM from Portage and WQHH from DeWitt, MI (near Lansing). They have a large area of mutual interference which stretches from just east of Battle Creek on I-94 to just south of Charlotte on I-69. It's kind of a trip hearing a 6kw station getting chewed up just a hair over 20 miles away from the tower.
88.3 WAYK Kalamazoo- 10kw 42 miles away. They do throw a null in my direction to protect...
88.3 WEAX Angola, IN- 920w 21 miles away.
The two stations very severely mix it up in Coldwater to the point where no one station is listenable. You may be stopped at a traffic light with WAYK coming in on your car stereo, but the person one car length behind you may have WEAX. Once you get north of Coldwater, WAYK very drastically takes over 88.3 within just a couple miles of the city limits. When going south, WEAX will win the battle just a couple of miles outside of the city.
A notable mention would be 96.5 WKZO-FM from Portage and WQHH from DeWitt, MI (near Lansing). They have a large area of mutual interference which stretches from just east of Battle Creek on I-94 to just south of Charlotte on I-69. It's kind of a trip hearing a 6kw station getting chewed up just a hair over 20 miles away from the tower.
Southeast of Watertown, NY
CKWS 104.3 Kingston, ON 8kw
WFRG 104.3 Utica, NY 100kw
WFRG used to come in clear as a local since its 100kw, but now its just a mess of the 2 stations interfering.
During tropo things can get bad for some stations, like WBLH 92.5 Watertown, NY at 6kw starts taking quite a bit of interference from WBEE 92.5 50kw Rochester, NY during the summer. Theres also the massive 300kw CKOI on 96.9 that takes over WOUR 96.9 Utica, NY during tropo.
CKWS 104.3 Kingston, ON 8kw
WFRG 104.3 Utica, NY 100kw
WFRG used to come in clear as a local since its 100kw, but now its just a mess of the 2 stations interfering.
During tropo things can get bad for some stations, like WBLH 92.5 Watertown, NY at 6kw starts taking quite a bit of interference from WBEE 92.5 50kw Rochester, NY during the summer. Theres also the massive 300kw CKOI on 96.9 that takes over WOUR 96.9 Utica, NY during tropo.
My list from a northwestern suburb of Philly:
94.5 WPST/WDAC (by far the worst)
96.1 WCTO/WSOX
98.5 WKRZ/WYCR and that 100.7 WLEV translator which seems to be getting stonger each year. (useless since 100.7 has full coverage in the area to begin with)
103.3 WARM/WPRB
103.7 WXCY/WNNJ
107.9 WKRF/WRNB
94.5 WPST/WDAC (by far the worst)
96.1 WCTO/WSOX
98.5 WKRZ/WYCR and that 100.7 WLEV translator which seems to be getting stonger each year. (useless since 100.7 has full coverage in the area to begin with)
103.3 WARM/WPRB
103.7 WXCY/WNNJ
107.9 WKRF/WRNB
I'd say that the worst here - about 40 mi north of Chicago - is 99.9, which is an absolute mess. Depending on the position of my radio/antenna and the weather conditions, I get a mish/mash of WFEL-LP Antioch, IL; WJVL Janesville, WI; WCPQ Oak Park, IL and WHFB Benton Harbor, MI. Sometimes, I hear another station in the mix as well - playing some sort of CHR or urban format. I have yet to ID that one. All of the others have been positively ID'd and are often all in at the same time!
It is a horrible frequency in this area, a fine example of what happens when the FCC only considers the 'protected contour' and nothing else when licensing stations. You end up with multiple stations on the same channel, not one of which you can listen to.
It is a horrible frequency in this area, a fine example of what happens when the FCC only considers the 'protected contour' and nothing else when licensing stations. You end up with multiple stations on the same channel, not one of which you can listen to.
92.1 KXEZ, K221FM, and KTFW.
In Dallas K221 and KXEZ duke it out. 'XEZ used to come in pretty good.
get to Carrolton and all 3 fight. In these areas it make all the stations
unlistenable in a car.
96.7 WBAP-FM Bad during Tropo
104.1 KTDK Bad During Tropo
95.9 K240DS and KFWR Get into Dallas and these two fight it out.
In Dallas K221 and KXEZ duke it out. 'XEZ used to come in pretty good.
get to Carrolton and all 3 fight. In these areas it make all the stations
unlistenable in a car.
96.7 WBAP-FM Bad during Tropo
104.1 KTDK Bad During Tropo
95.9 K240DS and KFWR Get into Dallas and these two fight it out.
Mobile-Pensacola is a great market. There are a lot of powerhouse signals in the area, so I do not think you will find all that many co-channel issues. WABB-FM, for example, can be heard from Ft. Walton Beach to New Orleans (although reception is pretty bad in the latter).
Zach said:I'm in central Mississippi for one more week, and there are no co-channel issues here beyond a few very far flung distant stations that fight it out during tropo. After I move to the Mobile-Pensacola area I expect to find a much more crowded band.
ScottBurns said:
I'll be right smack dab in between the two cities. I've already had fun on the beach with the 99.5 freq, with New Orleans and Fort Walton Beach fighting it out.
I also came across a very unusual case of co-channel interference today while driving back to central Mississippi. On 97.3 MHz there's WFMM Sumrall (Hattiesburg). Then there's WFMN Flora (Jackson). These two stations have a pretty good sized area of overlap between Mendenhall and Magee along US-49.
What makes this unusual is that they're both carrying the "Supertalk Mississippi" talk radio network. The two stations were about 1/4 second out of sync. In certain areas where the two signals were equally strong, I got a half and half of both. It made the speech sound like it had reverb on it! Very amusing. If the two stations were to be perfectly sync'd it'd definitely be listenable on a good car radio between the stations.
They would have a combined coverage area of about 150 miles end-to-end that way, from Belzoni to Wiggins. 8)
In northern VA, three stations on 103.1: WAFY in Frederick, MD, WRMA in Culpeper, VA, and WRNR-FM in Graysonville, MD, on the east side of Chesapeake Bay and the farthest of the three.
102.9 WR275BO in Centreville, VA, about 10 miles away from me, a Bible translator, and WKIK in California, MD, 60 miles away to the southeast (yes, that's the name of a town in southern MD)
102.9 WR275BO in Centreville, VA, about 10 miles away from me, a Bible translator, and WKIK in California, MD, 60 miles away to the southeast (yes, that's the name of a town in southern MD)
The San Juan Islands of North Puget Sound is the worst with this problem. Several Lower Mainland BC and Vancouver Island FM station signals duke it out with Seattle FM station signals on the same frequencies all across the FM band. Many co-channels can be heard clearly with the flip of an antenna wire. But driving and listening to this stations in an exercise in schizophrenia....
There is a 92.9 in Lexington, KY and Eaton (Dayton) Ohio that are short spaced and cause havoc between the two.
Meanwhile there is an extreme short spacing situation between 92.3 in Roanoke, VA and Asheboro, NC where they overlap. A similar situation occurs between two 104.7's between Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC. Plus there are two overlaps between Philly and NYC with 100.3 and 101.1.
Meanwhile there is an extreme short spacing situation between 92.3 in Roanoke, VA and Asheboro, NC where they overlap. A similar situation occurs between two 104.7's between Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC. Plus there are two overlaps between Philly and NYC with 100.3 and 101.1.
M
Mid West Clubber
Guest
I live in a rural area, but in the within both the Indianapolis and Bloomington Indiana markets,,, I dont get much co channel interference except on fringe stations like WMGI Terre haute which has an NPR translator about 13 miles from my House,, However, the Translator isnt supposed to heard up this far.. I get alot of Co Channel from Tropo in the summer, but they arent a problem this time of year.
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