Who has the strongest FM signal(s) in New England?

[necrat123]

99.9 The Buzz (100kw.) in Plattsburgh does have a great signal, booms into Montreal, shoots down the Champlain Valley, and yes keeps those LSC students sane with great terrestrial radio, yet it doesn't have quite the tower height as list below.

Not to mention a very tightly directional pattern as well...

I am surprised no one mentioned WAMC 90.3 from Mt Greylock, in North Eastern Mass. @10kW (equiv to a 80kW) signal, you can hear it sometimes in Maine.
(I can remember hearing it on Mt Agementicus in York).

Southern New England has three power houses.
WEEI 103.7, WKCI 101.3, and WEBE 107.9
WEEI is almost city grade into Hartford, CT., and very stong well into the cape.
WKCI can easily be heard in New Hampshire/Vermont, and even decoded in HD for me near Brattleboro.
WEBE comes in on the southern RI coastline, and chews into the WXKS signal in and around Providence, RI. During the summer tropo months, I have picked up WEBE strong enough to decode in HD.

 

[Ozman]

this is a little off topic but heres my info...
webe 108 fm.. they crank out 100,000 so their hd signal is 1,000 watts... not to mention they have a great location right on long island sound so nothing except flats nearby. I remember many torturous years of webe 108 fm's signal knocking out everything on my walkman for several miles near the tower, which if you guys don't know is next to the Port Jeff Ferry on the red smoke stack...
As for kc 101... Its the only CT station that makes it down here in Greenwich Ct but gets a lot of splatter from WCBS-FM 101.1 in NYC. does Kc-101 have a directional tower down towards the NYC are?

on a side note..
I can't imagine how well WCCC 106.9 would come in down here if it was not for 106.7 and 107.1 the NY black out in 2003 proved this theory.. In southern Vt north of Brattleburo, 107.3 and 106.9 get smashed as most of you know by 107.1 from Bellows Falls. imagine if that station was not there..

Lastly WEII 103.7 I really miss it as the FNX radio network. That station Boomed far into CT and far Up in the litchfield Hills where I went to Boarding school In Kent on top of skiff Mt Rd.. WAAF came in booming as well on my walkman.

both 103.7 and 107,3 did fight station however from NY in the hudson Valley

-OZ

99.9 The Buzz (100kw.) in Plattsburgh does have a great signal, booms into Montreal, shoots down the Champlain Valley, and yes keeps those LSC students sane with great terrestrial radio, yet it doesn't have quite the tower height as list below.

Not to mention a very tightly directional pattern as well...

I am surprised no one mentioned WAMC 90.3 from Mt Greylock, in North Eastern Mass. @10kW (equiv to a 80kW) signal, you can hear it sometimes in Maine.
(I can remember hearing it on Mt Agementicus in York).

Southern New England has three power houses.
WEEI 103.7, WKCI 101.3, and WEBE 107.9
WEEI is almost city grade into Hartford, CT., and very stong well into the cape.
WKCI can easily be heard in New Hampshire/Vermont, and even decoded in HD for me near Brattleboro.
WEBE comes in on the southern RI coastline, and chews into the WXKS signal in and around Providence, RI. During the summer tropo months, I have picked up WEBE strong enough to decode in HD.

 

[jlehmann]

this is a little off topic but heres my info...
webe 108 fm.. they crank out 100,000 so their hd signal is 1,000 watts...

WEBE is a normal 50kW class B, not 100kW.

 

[necrat123]

Which makes WEBE's HD signal 500watts.

ALSO, WKCI isn't directional, you just are quite a ways from the tower at that point. What I did find unusual the last time I was in Manhattan was 99.1 was WPLR not WAWZ. Only when I got into NJ, did 99.1 become WAWZ, and even there it was fighting it.

But back to New England,
the best three signals are WHOM, WEZF, and WVPR. WPKQ would come in up there but it gets hammered by WKNE to the west, and WEEI to the south.

 

[NO DAG]

I take it you mean WVPS 107.9 in Burlington, the signal off the top of Mansfield. WVPR is a "B" on 89.5 with it's antenna off the top of Ascutney. That signal is not too shabby either.

 

[Signpost]

Was getting Portland's WCLZ at 98.9 on my clock radio yesterday. I live 10 miles north of Boston.

So far no one mentioned WXLO - that station seems to have great coverage.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Was getting Portland's WCLZ at 98.9 on my clock radio yesterday. I live 10 miles north of Boston.

That was just a little "troppo" bringing them down the coast and over the water. That happens with them fairly often. They don't normally come in around Boston without those conditions happening.

I live immediately north of Boston in Somerville, and normally I get a very faint trace of WORC Webster, MA on 98.9, but occasionally those conditions bring WCLZ down right over it.

 

[BRNout]

But back to New England,
the best three signals are WHOM, WEZF, and WVPR. WPKQ would come in up there but it gets hammered by WKNE to the west, and WEEI to the south.

I'd add WBLM 102.9 to that list. With 100 kw, they come in pretty well from Salem, NH and Essex County all the way up into central Maine and are the strongest Portland area signal (aside from WHOM). If you don't mind the occasional fade, you can listen to 'BLM from the Merrimack Valley of MA all the way up through the eastern White Mountains and into the North Country. All in all, its got a pretty good range.

 

[NO DAG]

I think "the Rock and Roll Blimp" was high atop someone's list.. Can they still say, "From Bangor to Boston" or are there any LPFM's in the way ??

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I think "the Rock and Roll Blimp" was high atop someone's list.. Can they still say, "From Bangor to Boston" or are there any LPFM's in the way ??

No LPFM's that I know of, but there's a high-powered pirate called "Choice FM" on 102.9 in Boston's inner city.

I used to be able to hear WBLM fairly well in many areas of metro Boston until "Choice" came on.

 

[BRNout]

I think "the Rock and Roll Blimp" was high atop someone's list.. Can they still say, "From Bangor to Boston" or are there any LPFM's in the way ??

There's one in Londonderry, NH too - run by the high school. It blots out WBLM in Londonderry, Litchfield and parts of Manchester. But, WBLM is king again by the time you get to Merrimack, Bedford or Hooksett.

Though I know that this LP station is not within WBLM's protected contour, shoehorning it in there serves no one. The school gets an inferior signal thanks to "interference" from WBLM - which comes in pretty well from Londonderry eastward. And for those who listen to WBLM (out of market as they may be - Heaven forbid) well, they get interference as well. Doesn't seem like the best way to do things.

 

[NO DAG]

Not to get to far off topic, but was it WBLM that used "From Bangor to Boston" or was that the old "FM 103 WTHT" that used that slogan when the original "Hitradio 103 WTHT" was on 102.9. Yep, I'm dating myself a bit..

 

[Signpost]

I've listened to WBLM many times driving down Route 3 around Plymouth MA

 

[Ozman]

you get WBLM on Nantucket fighting the other 102.9 from Hyannis on cape codd
-OZ

Not to get to far off topic, but was it WBLM that used "From Bangor to Boston" or was that the old "FM 103 WTHT" that used that slogan when the original "Hitradio 103 WTHT" was on 102.9. Yep, I'm dating myself a bit..

 

[WMC2006]

Eli mentioned these 2 stations earlier in the thread and I mentioned it myself in another thread a couple of weeks ago.

I was travelling down Rt 122 in the Northbridge, MA area about 830am a couple of weeks ago. Had the car radio on scan and stopped it at 98.9. Where I would normally have heard Oldies 98-9 (WORC-FM) out of Webster (MA), I actually picked up WCLZ in Portland.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Eli mentioned these 2 stations earlier in the thread and I mentioned it myself in another thread a couple of weeks ago. I was travelling down Rt 122 in the Northbridge, MA area about 830am a couple of weeks ago. Had the car radio on scan and stopped it at 98.9. Where I would normally have heard Oldies 98-9 (WORC-FM) out of Webster (MA), I actually picked up WCLZ in Portland.

Strong troppo this past evening bringing coastal Maine FM down over the water to Boston. WCLZ coming in quite listenably, and a new one for me on 95.9, Hip-Hop on WRED in Saco coming in all around Boston, cutting out the usual fringe reception of WATD Marshfield from the Massachusetts South Shore.

 

[NO DAG]

That seems to frequent around or just south of the Concord NH area where WPLM drowns out WNNH on 99.1 and WSNE drowns out WNHW on 93.3

 

[BRNout]

That seems to frequent around or just south of the Concord NH area where WPLM drowns out WNNH on 99.1 and WSNE drowns out WNHW on 93.3

There is a terrain issue there, which starts just north of the Hooksett tolls. You end up on a southeastward-facing slope that heavily favors Boston area stations and is death to those class A signals from Concord/Laconia.

Even on a winter afternoon, you lose WNNH and others there for a little while. When there's any tropo enhancement, the effect is even greater.

 

[NO DAG]

A couple of powerhouses that nobody piped up on so I'll throw these out there, and I live no where near these signals..
106.5 WQCB in Brewer Maine, that's a full "C" and WMEA the "Pubcasted that serves Portland.. Not sure of the COL for that one, that's gotta be a C as well.. And there are even places deep into the central part of the Green Mountain State where the 'Rock and Roll Blimp" can be heard.. Can be heard quite well cruising up I-91 !

 

[BRNout]

A couple of powerhouses that nobody piped up on so I'll throw these out there, and I live no where near these signals..
106.5 WQCB in Brewer Maine, that's a full "C" and WMEA the "Pubcasted that serves Portland.. Not sure of the COL for that one, that's gotta be a C as well.. And there are even places deep into the central part of the Green Mountain State where the 'Rock and Roll Blimp" can be heard.. Can be heard quite well cruising up I-91 !

WQCB is a good one - 98 kw at 1080 feet. It comes in pretty well in Boothbay, which is some 80 miles over less than favorable terrain. It's only weak right by the water - where it is overwhelmed by WBQW (Portland) and WHXR "the Bone" (N. Windham) on adjacent frequencies. Which is to be expected, as the terrain faces south, southeast and southwest in that area.

IIRC, Q 106.5 comes in like a local in the Grand Lake Stream area, which is about 75 miles from their tx site near Exeter, ME.

WVOM 103.9 came in the best in that area (by far), thanks to 90 kw and a tx site that is 1500 ft AAT at a much closer location (NE of Bangor). You can pick that one up around Rockland, but it is gone past Edgecomb.