by Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Thu May 31, 2012 11:53 pm
Hi Everyone,
Read with great interest about this topic. Thanks for letting us all know about this Dan!!!! Yes still in Ontario and dx conditions on both AM and Fm are just fantastic near Cobourg, Ontario. I was talking to Frank Merrill last night in Illinois on our unlimited long distance phone service here. He was telling me that FM and TV skip are rolling in and he had Monterrey, Mexico on TV this past week in Macomb, Illinois. I told him I will be on the lookout for E Skip on the FM Band here since we are now in that season. He does not consider Tropospheric Bending which is reception out to maybe 1000 miles real skip. Its E Skip he looks forward to each season. Unlike the Am Broadcast Band Fm and Tv over the air long distance E Skip happens each year but it definitely is not a nightly event like AM DX on the 540 to 1700 Khz. broadcast band is. At least most nights with a few exceptions this is the case.
Getting back to this threads topic I have been to Point Roberts a lot of times in the 1990s but not recently, I remember the Reef tavern down there and the nice beach area with the lighthouse. Yes Dan I also remember the rural farmland area. I am kind of surprised the FCC approved the KRPI application to boost to 50 kw. and change transmitter site to Point Roberts considering all the previous info. a few months ago from Jon and others about IndustryCanada'sprotection for silent but possible future Canadian channels like 1570 AM on the island or possibly a future move to the Greater Vancouver area.
Guess Industry Canada and/or the CRTC slacked off a bit and gave the FCC more flexibilty to allow this. However this decision by the FCC has really got me wondering what will happen to 1110 in Oak Harbor which we discussed several months ago on Radio West. As you all might remember this is virtually no South Asian listening market in Oak Harbor or Skagit County but that little daytimer continues to with that format. Just before I left for Ontario I was listening to them with Jim VE7ROX and several other radio friends at my storage location in Langley City. Hardly any commercials on, just South Asian music with a little East Indian announcing between a few songs with much dead air also between songs. Did not sound very professional broadcasting at all!!!! Now with KRPI 1550 moving even closer to Greater Vancouver I see absolutely no need for the Oak Harbor station to serve the Greater Vancouver market. However as Dan pointed out several months ago Abbotsford might be another matter!!!! I noticed recently that the KRPA 1110 website indicates a office and/or studio location in Mt. Vernon but absolutely no indication of South Asian format. They just mention something about foreground talk programs which sounds a lot like their old talk format. However the website for KRPA 1110 is updated to indicate it is current. No program schedule and nothing indicating South Asian programming or advertising info. rates etc. Kind of strange. The wikipedia profile on KRPA does indicate South Asian format and ownership though, website does not!!!! Speaking of 1110 AM I just found coverage maps here in Baltimore, Ontario house near Coboug for KJTT and a KJTT business card as well, thats going back to the late 1980s. Nice to find it among the 4000 different radio station coverage maps here. Oh Dan I found a few more stickers from stations that I did not remember I had here including WFLR 1570 Dundee, New York. They also sent me a really nice T Shirt last time I was here back in 2001! Dundee, New York is in the finger lakes area of New York state south of Lake Ontario and Cobourg by about 70 miles or more. I can get WFLR 1570 here in the daytime, they use much low power at night, used to be a daytimer.
There are more daytimers from New York state that I can receive here than in the Fraser Valley. WUFO 1080 Amhearst-Buffalo, New York is one of my favorites with a Black Gospel and very local format!!!! Yes I can get the Toronto expanded band stations between 1600 and 1700 Khz. in the daytime and at night here too fairly well. 1650 from Mississauga CINA with South Asian format and local is quite strong day and night, CHTO 1690 Toronto with Greek format and English at 8 PM daily comes in quite good here day and night. A little fading at night sometimes. The WEAKEST signal is from 1610 CHHA Toronto with the Spanish Format, they are quite weak in the day here, a little stronger at night but not anywhere nears as good reception as 1650 or CHTO 1690. Out in Langley, B.C. I have heard CHTO 1690 at about 3 AM PST a few times in the apartment on my Grundig radios there. I have never heard CHHA 1610 or CINA 1650 in LANGLEY THOUGH! Try as I did I could not receive CKDO 1580 Oshawa in Langley either. However here in the Cobourg area they are my strongest semi-local. CJBQ 800 Belleville, Ontario is listenable but really not that strong here especially at night. I can null them quite easily to hear other stations from the USA on 800.
So congratulations on hearing CHHA 1610 in Greater Vancouver!!!!! That is a fantastic catch considering they are not very strong day or night in the Cobourg area which is only about 60 miles east of Toronto!!!! With the lower power they are using that is truly amazing. I am curious what type of radio receiver and/or antenna you used to hear them???? I have loop antennas both in Langley and here but when I heard CHTO 1690 in Langley I was not using an external antenna. Signal about 3 AM was listenable but not that strong, maybe an S3 on the Signal strength meter scale or just below average in signal strength.
Anyway thought I would just post something as this thread caught my interest. All is going well in Ontario, will be here for about two months or so. Doing lots of catch-up, I had 3 feet of electronic company catalogs and flyers from the last 10 years to open and sort!!!!! Some nice stuff, one parts company sent me a bag of plastic parts, knobs and a DVD about the company and their parts for radio and electronic assembly and projects!!!!!
On the FM Band here on many frequencies you can swivel the telescopic antenna on the portables one way and get one station maybe from the USA, swivel it the other way and a totally different station is there. Example is 93.7 I can get WBLK FM Buffalo and when I turn the telescopic antenna in a different direction from upstairs in the house I can get Owen Sound CKWC 93.7 with Country Format. Quite a few other frequencies are like that here on the FM Band as well. Almost like dxing on the AM Band, quite amazing as I don't get that out in Langley very often. Maybe with FM Skip you might.
Better post this, take care everyone hope you are having a good spring out in B.C. or where you are!!!! 73s, Eldon