Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What's the farthest station you've ever picked up....
on AM?
on FM?
on Weather Radio?
On AM, it would have to be 530 RVCI (Radio Voz Cristiana Internacional) from Turks & Caicos, about 2,110 miles away. I used to hear it regularly on winter nights with my ICF-2010.
On FM, one has to make the distinction between tropo and E-Skip. Via tropo, I've logged 94.7 KHBZ Oklahoma City, OK, "The Razor". At the same time I had signals from Missouri, Illinois, and Nebraska, and closer by, pouring in like crazy. E-Skip is an entirely different mode of signal propagation that uses the E-Layer and normally bounces signals distances of 800 (but not less) to 1,300 miles. I've heard a Tucson-area station 1,410 miles via that.
On WX, the farthest I've ever gotten was WXM251, from South Shore, SD, 251 miles away.
I'm in western Kentucky and used to be up a lot after midnight. I can't remember where, but I listened to a station in Iowa several times. I have a cousin who used to have a sports program in WBAP in Dallas/Ft. Worth in the afternoons. I could pick it up but at times it would fade in and out.
My high school years, in the 70s, we used to ride around listening to WLS in Chicago and occasionally WSB in Atlanta.
I'm on the Illinois river right in the heart of central Illinois some of my latest DX hits are........ Winnipeg Canada on AM band, Beijing, China on shortwave,
Havana, Cuba on shortwave, Houston Texas on AM band and many, many other stations all over America and the world.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,468,595 times
Reputation: 12187
Kentucky stations rarely pick up more than 30 miles outside any bigger city. Seems like that's not the case in other states, especially in the South. I just went to North Carolina and listened to the same modern rock stations from Wadesboro (60 mi east of Charlotte) to Marion (100 west of Charlotte)
By comparison in my car radio I pick up several Nashville TN stations as far north as Elizabethtown KY (130 miles north). I can pick up several Louisville stations on higher elevations in Central and Southern KY at a distance of up to 75 miles away.
Dxing is always fun to do and challenging at times when you have to deal with issues just to hear the station of choice. I would fill out a reception report and get QSLs from the stations or a letter of verification that I did hear it on a particular date and time. I still have a box of old items from years ago that are in the closet some place.
The best one I picked up was a temporary broadcast for one hour only with information about the station location and where to send reception reports. I provided the needed information about the signal quality characteristics during the time I was listening and received a QSL from them several weeks later. They were located on an island in the West Indies but I can’t remember much more then that right now.
I used to DX the AM broadcast band, and could sometimes hear a station in Cali, Colombia on 660 kHz. I never tried DXing the FM BCB much; it doesn't skip like medium-wave signals do. and here in DFW there are very few open spaces. I got a weather radio station about 130 miles away when I was in San Antonio once; as I recall, it was in Port Aransas, TX.
I'm not including shortwave AM stations, as there is actually hardly any distance limit with those.
DXing, I love it. This is something few people enjoy these days.
I'm in Sacramento, CA. I've done most of my DXing throughout Central and Northern California. So, this is what you can hear if you have a good receiver.
On AM, Radio Luxembourg on 1440 Khz sometime in the 80s. Radio Luxembourg is no longer around and I don't know what is on that frequency now. Several AM stations from Australia, Japan, the Philippines and KUAM from Guam. Within North America there is a religious station on 800 Khz (PJB3) from Netherlands Antilles. There are quite a few stations in Mexico to be heard if you can understand enough Spanish to figure out where they are from. And of course, Central and Western Canadian stations can be heard here too.
On FM, Tropo of XETRA-FM into Fresno, CA. Tropo from an unknown station several years ago from Salt Lake City into Sacramento. Tropo from 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles heard on most of the way home from Red Bluff to Sacramento. I've also heard several Oregon and Idaho station. Tropo on NOAA weather radio, Various stations from San Diego into Sacramento. A few Nevada stations, several Oregon stations.
Es (sporadic-E) - I've been doing this for years, so I've heard many stations from Canada. AB and SK seem to be the most frequent into California. It is mainly a function of distance, latitude, and direction. Anyway, stations come in from Vancouver, BC and north into BC. Regina, Edomonton, Calgary, then south into the US where SD, NE, MO, then southinto TX and into Mexico. Every summer I end up hearing KBAT out of TX at least several times. I once heard a station from MS while in Fresno. While on a camping trip I heard a station Orland, which was a double-hop.
TV-DX - very much the same pattern as FM as far as Es. Stations from Sonora, MX, TX, NE, and AB/SK in Canada were the usual locations. It will be interesting to see what I can receive now that mainly low-power stations are on low VHF. I got to see Video from a TV station from New Zealand, which was their channel 1 on 45.25 Mhz and audio on 50.75 with F2 propagation. I've heard the audio from several Australian TV stations on 51.75 Mhz, F2 again. Ham Radio operators often listened for the video carriers of the New Zealand and Australian TV stations as an indication for an opening on 6 meters. I think both New Zealand and Australia may have moved television off these frequencies. I'll have to check.
TV DXers will like this link. It is a recording of BBC received here in the US by way of F2 propagation. The UK used 405 line definition on their first black and white system back then.
Kentucky stations rarely pick up more than 30 miles outside any bigger city. Seems like that's not the case in other states, especially in the South. I just went to North Carolina and listened to the same modern rock stations from Wadesboro (60 mi east of Charlotte) to Marion (100 west of Charlotte)
By comparison in my car radio I pick up several Nashville TN stations as far north as Elizabethtown KY (130 miles north). I can pick up several Louisville stations on higher elevations in Central and Southern KY at a distance of up to 75 miles away.
That's because of FCC regulations. In the densely-populated Northeast and Great Lakes states, transmitters are allowed no more than 50,000 watts of power, and a lower height above average terrain than those in other states. This is done to avoid co-channel and adjacent-channel interference between cities. The large cities in northern Kentucky are included in the territory of reduced signals due not only to their proximity to each other, but also to big cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis. This is why FM stations in Louisville have to make do with 50,000-watt signals while stations in Nashville get to transmit at up to 100,000 watts.
I would like for there to be some exemptions in 50,000 watt land, however. Areas like central Pennsylvania, for example, would benefit from 100,000-watt signals, which would not only be stronger across difficult terrain, but would also broadcast across several small cities at once. A 100,000-watt transmitter near Altoona could provide a strong signal in Johnstown and State College as well. Likewise, a 100,000-watt transmitter near Harrisburg could provide a strong signal in York and Lancaster.
Here in Las Vegas the furthest AM stations I was able to pick up were WLS/Chicago and WHAS/Louisville.
During a Sporadic E season I clearly picked up FM stations from Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Lake Charles LA.
DXing stations from far away used to be a hobby of mine. But now in the internet age where you can hear stations from anywhere in the world the thrill is gone. Although I would still search for out of state FM stations during the next Sporadic E conditions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
