Promising FM/TV DX Day

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Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby jon » Fri May 17, 2013 11:58 am

So far, nothing really distant here on FM, but the WTFDA (FM/TV DX Club) mailing list is really "hot" today with reports from the U.S. Midwest and East of FM and Channel 2 TV catches.

It is an unusual day here as I almost never get Calgary FM here, and it is actually coming in better than Red Deer most of the time: I'm pretty sure 88.9 was Calgary and 88.1 is pretty likely though it was only an Open Carrier.

Worth keeping an eye out.
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby jon » Fri May 17, 2013 4:35 pm

Still nothing distant, but I did catch CKUA's Drumheller transmitter on 91.3 MHz.
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Sat May 18, 2013 10:20 am

Hi Everyone,
Good to see the report on FM DX Jon. I was especially interested to know that you normally don't hear Calgary FM in Edmonton!!! When I lived in Calgary and tried dxing back in the late 1980s from there did get Red Deer and a couple of Edmonton FMs at least. I was listening quite a few times from the top of Nose Hill Park in North Calgary, one of the highest points and a really great location. Was trying for Montana FMs from there but did not hear too much from there, would have to check my logs which I think are out in Langley not here in Ontario. Anyway I think I heard the FM from Shelby, Montana from there. From Edmonton I believe one of the stations I heard in Calgary was CIRK FM 97. something I think. Anyway my partner Terry who helped with Eldon Electronics doing all the metalwork for loop antenna cases grew up in Medicine Hat, Alberta and I got to know it real well thanks to him. We did some sales for the business down there thanks to Terry having contacts in Medicine Hat's Industrial area. Most important I did a fair amount of AM and FM DXing from there. From the Hat and Terry's parents home was in southeast MH.. we got all the Havre, Montana FMs, Swift Current, Saskatchewan and some Williston, North Dakota FMs too. There were others too which I have forgotten, they are in my Alberta DX Logs which are in Langley. I do remember getting a couple Calgary FMs but I think it was on Tropo conditions, normally you cannot get much in the way of Calgary FMs in Medicine Hat from what I recall. AM reception is much different though and you can get the AM stations from Calgary in The Hat. To this day I really like Medicine Hat a lot and even though Terry and his wife have lived in Surrey for a long time now they have made at least one trip back there in the past 5 years. I talked to him and Alma on the phone quite a few times and we did talk about making a trip back to Medicine Hat when he is feeling better, he had a blood clot in his leg in the past 6 months and it is slowly recovering. Would love to try some more dxing from Medicine Hat, it seems like a good location for both AM and FM Dxing!!!!

Take care everyone, safety first and hope you are having a nice long weekend out there! 73s Eldon
Bye . . Mr. CFAY "Frequently On The Frequency"
The CFAY Website: http://cfayradio.wordpress.com
CFAY Radio: http://tinyurl.com/l9qqmh
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby skyvalleyradio » Sat May 18, 2013 10:50 am

jon - the 'hot' conditions WTFDA members reported for eastern N America never materialized here in the west. 6 meters (50 mHz) was barely open yesterday, yet there was a massive Es (sporadic-E) opening in Europe. In fact, as I write this, there is a huge "multi-hop" Es oepning to the middle east and earlier most of Europe was working South Africa on 6 meters. Meanwhile, all of North America is currently devoid of any Es. I very much miss all the decades of TV DX on channels 2-6. Now, very few HD stations broadcast on these frequencies making it more difficult to track the rising MUF (maximum usable DX frequency) into the FM band. The exception is Mexico that still has analog TV on ch 2-6 and so far this year regular single-hoppers XHBC-TV ch 3 Mexicali, XHHSS-TV ch 4 Hermosillo, XHBS-TV ch 4 Ciudad Obregon have all been seen the last few weeks. Es is a strange animal and although there is much that has been established about this VHF DX propagation mode, there is much that is not known and numerous conflicting theories exist about it's characteristics and behavior. :glasses7:
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby PMC » Sat May 18, 2013 8:24 pm

skyvalleyradio wrote: Es is a strange animal and although there is much that has been established about this VHF DX propagation mode, there is much that is not known and numerous conflicting theories exist about it's characteristics and behavior. :glasses7:


Should I put on my tin foil hat ? ;-)
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby skyvalleyradio » Sun May 19, 2013 8:20 am

only if Es (sporadic-E) causes chemtrails, PMC!! :walk:
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:32 pm

Greetings Everyone,
Just wondering how any FM dx has been this summer for Sky Valley or Jon among others. I have not heard much but have done just a little listening. I am sure there have been FM Skip conditions but just have not had any serious listening time. How has it been in Edmonton or Saltspring Island ?

I know August can be a good month for FM DX. In years past we did some serious FM Broadcast Band DXing atop Thorne Hill in Maple Ridge East, B.C. and got some great Trop and skip from Oregon and California. We even got KZEL FM Eugene, Oregon verified with a dx report. Just wondering Sky Valley (Mike) do you send out dx reports to any of the FM radio stations you have heard? I have only sent out a few over the years, many more to distant AM stations I have heard.

Well just got thinking of FM DX this summer and thought I would mention it on Radio West.

73s Eldon
Bye . . Mr. CFAY "Frequently On The Frequency"
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CFAY Radio: http://tinyurl.com/l9qqmh
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Re: Promising FM/TV DX Day

Postby skyvalleyradio » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:09 pm

Eldon - it wasn't an especially spectacular summer for Es (sporadic-E) propagation but there were some good openings. I don't have any notes of specific dates or times - I don't bother logging stations or locations I've received in the past other than the rarities or unusual signal paths. Last week in July a good FM opening into northern S Dakota & Minnesota. Only Canadian signals heard that opening in Estevan, SK Most northern location logged via Es on FM this summer was Lloydminster, North Battleford & very briefly Prince Albert. One double-hop Es opening into a small part of south Texas, but this tends to be a semi-regular occurence...a few new station loggings but nothing special. Longest Es opening was a 2 1/2 hr skip into Salt Lake City, Provo, Orem, St George & Cedar. With KING-5 & CHEK-6 now gone, I continue to concentrate on the 76-88 mHz Japanese FM band during openings to Japan on 6 meters ham band (50 mHz) or strong 49.750 mHz video from Russian or China. These are some of the few analog TV signals left to DX, but I've gotten rid of all my analog TV DX gear. For possible trans-Pacific FM DX I am using stacked 10-element yagis, a tunable bandpass filter that I've added some "windings" to in order to cover 76-88 mHz. I also use an indoor 10 dB antenna pre-amp which doesn't overload my receivers.

Not much tropo (tropospheric) to report - we're just getting into that season now that there is a bit of fog & cooler marine air here in the mornings. KMHD 89.1 (love the jazz!) & KBPS 89.9 Portland on the SUV radio loud & clear driving into town one morning last week for groceries. From this point on, I'll start tuning across FM every morning once up :glasses7:
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