FM DX

[jon]

Original Subject: FM DX Alert!

It may have passed, but the FM band in Edmonton between 9 and 11 a.m. this morning was the best for DX I've ever heard. But I admittedly don't check that much.

All Regional, but you know things are good when you are still in the garage and the car radio comes on with 7200 watts on 92.9 from Drayton Valley as clear as a local.

Here is (best guesses of) some of what I heard:
93.7 (impaired by 93.9) likely Wainwright, but CKUA Calgary is also 100KW
94.1 CJUV Lacombe like a local, but no sign of Athabasca (CKBA's new frequency)
94.3 CFXE Edson The Fox
95.9 playing Country so likely CKSA-FM Lloydminster
96.5 CKLJ-FM Olds
96.7 CFXW-FM Whitecourt
97.7 light modern rock makes it most likely Calgary, though Grande Prairie is technically possible
98.5 CIBK-FM Calgary
101.3 CKIK-FM Red Deer consistent killer signal except very close to our most populated FM tower (SE corner of Edmonton, right beside the Anthony Henday ring road where I was driving)
101.5 Calgary (ID'ed yesterday)
107.3 ID'ed as Calgary
107.5 has me really scratching my head. Definitely religious, which matches CIAM-7 in Slave Lake, but they are only listed as 30 watts.

Interesting, too, as the University of Alberta gave their first (in a year of operation) Aurora Red Alert at 10 p.m. last night.

[Russ_Byth]

Must've been the total solar eclipse in China!

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Hi everyone, Thanks for the FM DX info. in Edmonton today. Interesting . Did not notice anything unusual on the FM Band with my G5 this afternoon, seemed fairly normal but that can change fast in late spring and summer with E Skip and Tropo openings on the FM band. I*ll try again later tonight.

On a related issue we were doing an FM Dxpedition to Thorne Hill (East Maple Ridge) at 256th Street. Thorne Hill has an elevation of about l000 feet at the top (or over 300 meters). This was on Sunday night July l9th, 2009. VE7Rox and I had not been up there to do any dxing since about l984 or so, thats over 25 years ago!!! Its not that far but just one of those places you overlook. Its a great dx locaton for FM reception as the hill has a straight - line slope facing southward. The street goes straight up with easy access and some parking near the top at the gate! Anyway back in the early l980s we heard and verified KZEL 96.l Eugene, Oregon there. Also heard Portland stations like KPAM 97.l on a regular basis there. Unfortunately the FM band is a lot more crowded now. Even so I got signs of Portland on 97.l with what sounded like rock oldies, I think the station is called KKSN. Also got definite ID on l02.l for KBRC l430 AM, I did not even know KBRC had a relay transmitter (or translator) on l02.l. Since Sunday night we found it operates from Camano Island with about l00 watts. Also heard Centralia, Wash. with country music on l02.9 FM KMNT I believe. Also heard Tacoma with very strong signal on l03.7 KMTT. There was an unident. FM signal on 88.3 which was playing rock and punk-rock music. It sounded like it could be either a college station or a pirate fm from the USA. The only licensed station in my current listings is for 88.3 KBVM Portland but they only use 2kw. or so, not much power so I don't think it was them.

There did not seem to much of E-Skip or Tropo openings on Sunday night when we were there. Normally Thorne Hill is a hot spot for distant dx on Fm. Am isn't too bad either. On the Grundig G5 I had WWL 870 New Orleans coming in fairly well. Before I forget I tried l07.9 FM and had the best reception yet for CFSI Saltspring Island, it was like a local in signal strength. You turn the G5 Portable the other way (towards the Northwest) and you got CFML Burnaby quite strong on l07.9 completely nulling out CFSI. It was almost like AM DXing with nulls and such. This happened on several FM frequencies. We were trying for Forks, Washington KLLM l03.9 but no luck. Apparently their antenna elevation is low. They operate at only 3 KW. ERP with a CP for 6KW . The hillbilly pirate fm (from Whatcom County, Wash.) was in like a local on Thorne Hill at 98.7. No one else on the frequency yet. Also CKAY 9l.7 Gibsons-Sechelt was putting in a strong signal there. CHWK 89.5 Chilliwack (The Hawk) was there with a consistent average signal strength. On l02.3 FM I was getting low power fm station KMRE Bellingham (l00 Watts) in one direction and The wave CKWV Nanaimo in the other direction, again like AM DX nulls!!! Aside from the dxing it was great to take the Albion/Fort Langley Ferry over there before it cuts out at the end of July, last run July 3lst. I had been on it many times in the past but ROX thought he had never taken it before!!! Good to get up Thorne Hill again and long overdue!!! Good FM dxing to you all this summer. Please keep us updated Jon on any further dx from Edmonton or Alberta.

[pieinthesky]

Lots of stations coming in clear this morning. Calgary sounded great and so did the 'Hat. 94.1 wasn't bleeding into 94.5 like it does sometimes. Nor did 95.9 and 96.1 FM.

[MIKE FM]

These are the days I like to call lousy for DX'ing. Yeah sure Jon's getting Calgary fine in Edmonton but I'm stuck with CBRI 92.1 Etzikom (CBC Radio 1 repeater) drowning out CJAY here in Lethy. Otherwise Med hat 94.5 96.1 102.1 105.3 were coming in no problems. Also had 95.1 KXEI and 96.7 KZIN come in.
Last night was the real winner, driving around the city and having all of the Calgary FM's clear 5 out 5 quality. These are the times when you barely have to extend your antenna to get the stations - amazing! It was interesting to note that when the northern lights went away at 2 AM last night, so did Calgary radio...
Two weeks ago was another clear winner with ducts from Kansas and Amarillo Texas. I don't know what radiowest's stance is on video's but I'll try to embed my proof.
Here is a sample from July 10th 2009:
KREP 92.1, completely drowned out CJAY
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=KREP
edit: okay so I was unable to embed my video. If anyone cares enough to check it out, I'll post it on Youtube tomorrow after work and you can private message me.

As for tonight at 1:30 AM MST, poorer Calgary, more states:
91.1 FM - NPR, unidentifiable.
87.7 FM - CHAT 6 TV aural
101.1 FM - The FOX Brooks
104.1 FM - CKBF Suffield (rare to get this gem!)
91.3 FM - CKUA Drumheller
92.7 FM - CJPV FM Pincher Creek repeater

and pieinthesky, if you wanna hear some American gems, get away from the city!! Rock 106 has an awful harmonic at 105.7.
Good places to DX in Southern Alberta: Coaldale, Taber, and the top of the cell tower hill in Raymond.

[jon]

Conditions are nowhere near as stable for Regional FM DX as they were yesterday, but I may have heard CHAT-FM Medicine Hat on 94.5 MHz. Country music on the frequency, but never there during the breaks.

As I said, I'm no expert on FM DX, but it didn't sound like local imaging from CISN-FM (our only local FM Country station). And I heard it in enough different places to really reduce the likelihood of it being another car's iPod FM transmitter. Besides, 94.5 is not a frequency one would expect people to use. Plus, I've heard car FM transmmitters before, and they tend to fade out, where this just disappeared suddenly as often happens on FM DX.

[schultz93]

CISN-FM uses the same imaging as CHAT 94.5FM from Medicine Hat, so if it didn't sound like the same imaging it wasn't CHAT and was most likely CHBW (part of CIBW) from Rocky Mountain House (rebroadcaster).

Driving around Richmound, SK (about an hour NE of Medicine Hat) if you flip to 102.1 it goes between the Lounge in Medicine Hat, Rock 102 in Saskatoon, and sometimes even Star 102 in Kansas City (if you can believe it). You'll hear imaging from those three stations.

I know driving between Medicine Hat and Swift Current, 94.1 likes to switch between CJOC in Lethbridge and the Eagle in Swift Current.

Also, I know this is AM but Q-91 in Drumheller you can pick up down at Waterton - that's huge power for AM even.

Plus, on your way between Brooks, AB and Calgary you can pick up stations in Lethbridge like 94.1 the Lounge, Rock 106, and 107.7 the River, which means their 100kW power goes a long way. You can even sometimes pick up, in the right spot, 94.1 the Lounge in places in Medicine Hat.

I know at one point I was walking through the Deerfoot Outlet Mall in Calgary, we walked into a store and they were listening to MY 96 from Medicine Hat IN CALGARY, on a REGULAR STEREO!!!!

[Dan Sys]

Actually CHBW 94.5 in Rocky Mountain House broke away from the CIBW simulcast in early 2008 and has been Classic Hits B-94 ever since.
http://www.b94.ca/

[pieinthesky]

The Lounge's transmitter is way out in the open near Lethbridge's westside of town. On a good day from north of Coaldale, AB you can see the tip of the tower. So, I would imagine that in the right places of the 'Hat, you could pick up 94.1 with bits of the Eagle.

Looking online to where the Lethbridge FM towers are located, I've come to the conclusion, that the stations have picked great locations, high elevations in the bald prairie to locate the transmitters.

[jon]

CISN-FM uses the same imaging as CHAT 94.5FM from Medicine Hat, so if it didn't sound like the same imaging it wasn't CHAT

it didn't sound like local imaging from CISN-FM (our only local FM Country station).

Sorry, different meaning to our words "imaging". I was referring to a mixing product of local stations that appears on another frequency. For example, locals on 97.3 MHz and 96.3 MHz might appear (together but with one so dominant, you don't notice the other) on 95.3 or 98.3 MHz.

[MIKE FM]

Looking online where the towers are located around Lethbridge, I've come to the conclusion, that the stations have picked great locations, high elevations in the bald prairie to locate the transmitters.

It's time 93.3 combines with 95.5 at Diamond City on the CISA tower and increase power to 100k.
95.5 has a nice lobe going south towards the boarder where 106/107 has a harder time.

[pieinthesky]

Agreed on that one, however, why did Monarch pick the area near Barnwell to broadcast? I understand at one point the studio was over in Taber, now it's on Mayor Magrath Drive to what seems to be a digital link to the tower with a crappy STL dish on top of the Sandman Inn.

I almost have to DX some days on 93.3 as the signal quality is terrible in Lethbridge.

[MIKE FM]

I'm quite sure it has something to do with the conversion from 1570 to 93.3. They had to emulate the pattern that the AM had. Also, I remember seeing a CRTC document about 106 and 107 combing years ago. The document said Pattison wouldn't intervene as long as Rogers didn't intervene if and when 95 and 93 were to combine.
It's not a digital link either... it's a 900 meg marti.
I've seen Audemat FM explorer tests tracking 93's signal down in the coulee's of Lethbridge and the readings have said they're around 3mV.

[pieinthesky]

Ah, thanks for the information Mike. I'm just an observer, so your input is very helpful.

I did some FM DXing last night and was delighted to find my favorite FM Stations from Kalispell, MT. 98.5 FM being the weakest of 105.1 and 106.3 MHz. I don't have my trusty Panasonic to bring in some more stations, so I used my "Mighty" Grundig G5.

[schultz93]

Sorry, different meaning to our words "imaging". I was referring to a mixing product of local stations that appears on another frequency. For example, locals on 97.3 MHz and 96.3 MHz might appear (together but with one so dominant, you don't notice the other) on 95.3 or 98.3 MHz.

Thanks for clearing that up. Whenever I hear imaging I'm thinking ID's and Jingles. So we'll say this they use the same ID's and Jingles

Actually CHBW 94.5 in Rocky Mountain House broke away from the CIBW simulcast in early 2008 and has been Classic Hits B-94 ever since.
http://www.b94.ca/

Thanks Dan for the info I will be sure to submit it to the website that gave me the info!

Looking online where the towers are located around Lethbridge, I've come to the conclusion, that the stations have picked great locations, high elevations in the bald prairie to locate the transmitters.

OK, but CKMH Rock 105.3 in Medicine Hat (Sister Station to Rock 106 Lethbridge) has picked a very poor spot for a tower. They are on the CKUA tower along with them, 102.1 the Lounge was originally also supposed to go on there, but a deal fell through with CKUA for a 100kW station. You can see where it is located at http://cdbs.recnet.com/fmq.php?canfm=CKUA-FM-3&jaws=0 someone with a portable radio (me included) for walking or something cannot pick it up.