Long Distance FM Now

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Long Distance FM Now

Postby jon » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:18 am

In the last 15 minutes, I've heard KWKM-FM in St. Johns, Arizona, on 95.7 MHz from here in Edmonton, at times with a city grade stereo signal. Power 95.7 with ads for Show Low and Springerville.

That gave way to "95.7 The Fox", which might be Fresno, but they are only 17.5KW.

I've never looked that much, but I've never before heard off air cross-border FM from here.

That was in the car, and I was getting nothing in the house because of my lousy antenna. But suddenly, as I write this, I'm getting a rap station.
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby pieinthesky » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:36 am

At around 12:20 PM MT, I've been receiving signals here in Lethbridge on my Grundig G3 Radio. Channel 92-3 from San Diego, Classical 89 (KYBU) from Provo, UT at the time of writing.

My usual cross border stations that I can hear on a regular basis are KHNK, KBBZ, KDBR, KWOL and KVRO from Kalispell, MT.

- edit: at 1:20 PM, an area from St. George, UT to Las Vegas, NV are coming in. :)
Last edited by pieinthesky on Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby radiofan » Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:19 pm

From 12:15 PDT to about 12:45 PDT, I had a bunch of Wyoming/Colorado/Nebraska stuff coming in ...

KJAC 105.5 (Jack FM) Timnath, CO; KUAD 99.1 K-99 Country Windsor, CO; KRAN 103.3 The Range .. Classic and New Country Warren AFB, WY (Cheyenne Area);
KARS 102.9 Rock 102.9 Laramie, WY; KXKL 105.1 Kool 105 (Oldies) Denver, CO; KOZY 101.3 Bridgeport, NE; KIGN 101.9 "KING FM" Burns, WY;
KOGA 99.7 99.7 The Lake Ogallala, NE.

plus several others that kept fading in and out .. just about any non-Vancouver or Seattle frequency had something fading in and out, many of the Seattle
regulars were mixing with more distant signsld .. A few were totally dominating the frequency.

Summer must be here! :victory:
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby MIKE FM » Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:27 pm

Ding ding ding!!!
Picking up 88.9 KNPR from Vegas in Edmonton... informed the chief engineer and he's tickled pink.
Also have various stations in the 92-97 range.
Weather is clear and sunny, +28C
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby Anotherwpgguy » Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:56 pm

Sounds like a wonderful day for some summertime Sporatic E ionization!

Lots 'O fun isn't it?

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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby skyvalleyradio » Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:06 pm

Gentlemen - during the months of May, June, July and early August a long-distance form of VHF propagation exists called "Sporadic-E" because it bounces signals in the 20 - 150 mHz range off of the E-layer of the ionosphere. Before such long-distance signal conditions can exist on the FM band, they affect long distance contacts on several ham radio bands - the 12, 10, 6 & sometimes even 2 meter bands. Low-band VHF TV channels from 2 - 6 also experience this form of propagation. Before, the US went all-digital and turned off many low-band VHF TV transmitters, receiving long-distance TV signals on blank low-band channels was common. A few TV DXers use digital cards and high gain antennas to receive the few digital broadcasters that use frequencies below ch 6 TV. Sporadic-E propagation has a typical "first hop" of 900 - 1200 miles and requires next to nothing for an antenna. This would explain why you guys had such clear signals listening on car radios. Sporadic-E propagation can sometimes bounce a 2nd time - even more rarely a 3rd or even 4th time although you will not likely experience this with FM radios with modest antennas. For the 50 mHz (6 meters band) ham band, I use stacked, rotatable high-gain yagi antennas, a medium-powered RF amplifier for more output wattage and morse code which will "punch" through the static with a signal too weak for the human ear to detect a voice. So remember to do a dial scan on your FM radios from time to time throughout the summer. Long distance propagation will first start at the low end - 88 mHz and if it builds, will go right on past 108 mHz. Keep DXin' 8-)
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby pieinthesky » Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:07 pm

The only problem is that in Southern Alberta, this type of DXing hardly ever happens.

I do recall one late May back in '92 when I was receiving Chicago, IL from Coaldale, Alberta. I was just a kid and I was baffled at how strong these signals were. Then, in '93 and last time I remember was '94.
Last edited by pieinthesky on Thu Jul 01, 2010 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby jon » Tue Jun 29, 2010 6:20 pm

The UofA just issued an Aurora yellow alert, which may be connected to the FM DX we saw today:
"At polar latitudes, Sporadic E can accompany auroras and associated disturbed magnetic conditions and is called Auroral-E." ref. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_and_FM_DX
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby skyvalleyradio » Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:06 pm

jon - Auroral induced Sporadic-E is quite different than the summertime Sporadic-E although the mechanism of propagation is the same. Clear, easy to receive signals also occur. "Auroral-E" is it's slang term and is always associated with an auroral event. Auroral scatter is a mode of VHF propagation induced by auroras on frequencies of about 25 mHz - 150 mHz, but is so diffused it is difficult to conduct a 2-way voice contact or detect audible sounds from an FM signal or view a usable long-distant TV signal. Morse code CW works best for auroral-scatter. "Auroral-E" occurs mid-way through an auroral-scatter event and is always on an east-west path. Here in the Goofy Islands, typical auroral-E long-distance TV conditions produce the French CBC ch 3 in Winnipeg - an easy catch to identify because of the French language...also CBC ch 4 Moose Jaw (now that KOMO is no longer on 4!!) On another of these DX threads, someone made the comment that summer sporadic-E never occurs in southern Alberta - more likely the distant end of the DX path is also in a rural area with few stations to receive. Sporadic-E should occur all throughout July and into early August at lower Canadian latitudes. It is more common on TV channels 2 - 6 than FM. If you have a clear ch 6 where you live, be on the watch for long distance signals which is an alert that FM 88 mHz will soon experience such DX. Any other clear low band TV channel may yield results if there is an opening between two parts of Canada, where we still have analog TV signals to DX. Keep DXin' 8-)
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby pieinthesky » Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:35 pm

Just a little around 9:32 PM on July 4th, I caught a bit of KTHQ from Eagar/Show Low, AZ. My furthest catch to date! Heard the Q-Country 92.5 imaging by Kix Brooks. For a few moments it almost hit the full mark on my meter. So, like skyvalleyradio says, "Keep DXin' 8-)"
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby MIKE FM » Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:42 pm

Thanks for the update!
Till about midnight, I've had KRYK 101.3 coming in 4/5 signal strength in Coaldale.
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Re: Long Distance FM Now

Postby pieinthesky » Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:44 am

For August 7, 2010 at around 4:00 PM GMT (10:00 AM Mountain/9:00 AM Pacific) - There will be an opening from near Edmonton to the US border. I thought I'd pass this along as we may not get another t-duct for a while. :-o
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