Tropo on FM

Posted at 10:23AM on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 in dx and fm.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007, 1330-1355 utc. Nice tropospheric ducting this morning on the FM band, allowing for the reception of stations in the regional area on unused channels not normally heard here.

Thanks to Glenn Hauser and an article in the latest DXLD for reminding me that this phenomenon is not "sporadic E."

  • 87.7 WTVR TV 6 Richmond VA (presumed; may also be WSYX TV 6 Columbus Ohio but Richmond is more likely): 1355: Commercials for Olive Garden restaurant, "Nasal X" allergy medication with truly frightening potential side effects, end of the Dr Keith Ablow show.

  • 89.5 WSCL Salisbury MD: nonstop classical music, very strong signal.

  • 93.5 WZBH Georgetown DE: song by Metallica, ID "935 the beach" and blurb for the GT and Steel show at 1332

  • 94.3 WINX Cambridge MD: Commercial for John Deere and into country music with "winks" ID.

  • 96.7 WCEI Easton MD: annoying commercials for McDonalds, Macys, Preston Ford Lincoln/Mercury, ad for "spence and Katie" morning show, WCEI ID. (I don't know how anyone can listen to this station for more than 15 seconds, given the endless annoying commercials!)

  • 97.7 WYRX Lexington Park MD: "Southern Maryland's rock station" ID, music by Collective Soul, ad for 977therocket.com, morning guy signing off "Mojo gotta go."

  • 103.1 WRNR Grasonville MD: Adam Sandler Tangerine/Magazine/Vasaline song, RNR IDs, competing with the Ugly Music station (WAFY) in Frederick MD. First time I've ever heard WRNR this far west.

  • 103.3 WARM York PA: Comemrcials for a Massage therapist , an appliance dealer called LHB in or near Lancaster PA, Embarq high speed internet, Elizabeth Jones College

  • 104.7 WAYZ Hagerstown MD: Maryland Lottery commercial, Clint Black ad for Colgate Country Showdow, caller contest advertising WAYZ, NBC25 weather

  • 105.3 WKUS Norfolk VA: ID, "KISS FM," urban/rap music.

KSCR Benson MN via Sporadic E Skip

Posted at 1:30PM on Friday, May 11, 2007 in dx and fm.

Friday, May 11, 2007, 1717, 93.5. KSCR, Benson, Minnesota, with ID and local news. Weather report at 1718, 71 degrees there. "Good weather for the fishing opener tomorrow." "America's broadacsters..." PSA from the NAB at 1720, and into detailed local track & field results with frequent mention of the "Fighting Braves." Solid stereo signal. Sources indicate KSCR runs 25 KW. This is my first +1000 mile skip of the season; KSCR is about 1200 miles from here.

FM Mystery solved

Posted at 7:05PM on Friday, May 4, 2007 in dx and fm and tv.

Last weekend a couple of us in the Washington metro area were hearing spanish language programming on FM 87.7. I sometimes get skip from some distant channel 6's here and even on the car radio, but it appears this one is a new local station. According to dcrtv.com:

4/30 - DCRTV hears that the DC area has a new TV station. It's a low-powered operation on channel 6, W06CJ. It's IDing as "UTN6 Washington DC" and owned by a group called Signal Above DC. It's said to be relaying programming from the Spanish language Unison Network, with shows from Ecuador and Argentina. The station is licensed to Fairfax, has its transmitter in North Arlington, and beams its signal toward DC.....

FM opening to the shore

Posted at 10:41AM on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 in dx and fm.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007, 1400. This morning there's a very nice DX opening to some somewhat distant FM stations. On my drive to work, I logged the following stations in my truck's stock Delco FM receiver.

  • 90.7 WSDL Salisbury, MD. NPR News, ID after news, in-house ad referring listeners to website at publicradiodelmarva.net (124 miles, 18.5 KW)
  • 91.3 WESM Princess Anne, MD. Nonstop jazz, ID at 1420. (114 miles, 45 KW)
  • 93.5 WZBH Georgetown, DE. Hard rock, frequent IDs for "Delmarva's rock station" and "93.5 the beach" (117 miles, 11 KW)

Excellent signal on all stations.

Winterfester 2007 airchecks

Posted at 8:48PM on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 in am and fm and hf and pirates and winterfest.

2007 Winterfest loggings

Posted at 3:49PM on Sunday, March 11, 2007 in fm and hf and pirates and winterfest.

2007 Winterfest loggings

Wednesday, March 7, evening. 90.3 FM, all sorts of classic pirate airchecks. 89.1 FM, music "Grits Radio," live fone call from Kracker with studio guest Tony Straka at 2300. 91.5 FM, music, "voice of bozo," Commander Bunny Time/Life bit, Michael Ketter shows.

Thursday, March 8: 90.3 pirate airchecks. 89.1 Grits Radio. 91.5, various radio shows, Church of the Subgenius, etc. 650AM, Radio Clandestine and rock music mix, alternated frequency to 6925AM.

Friday, March 9: 90.3 pirate airchecks, 89.1 Grits Radio, 89.1 Unid (two stations on the same frequency, heard at various locations nearby), 91.5 various radio shows and music, old time radio later. 650AM, rock music mix, Timtron doing 867-5309 and Allan Weiner Worldwide radio shows from room 412 at 2300 (sadly, Allan and Jennifer couldn't make the fest). 6937 Radio Azteca.

Saturday, March 10. 90.3 WBZO, Bozo sightings and periodic updates. 91.5 Susie the Floozy radio shows. 89.1 Grits Radio. 6937 Radio Azteca. 650AM, rock music, Lumpy Gravy at 2300, Radio Timtron Worldwide at 0000, extended Timtron at 0100, Lost Discs Radio Show at 0300, Michael Ketter Show at 0400. 6925AM, 90.3, 89.1, Panch Villa at 0500.

WGMS flips to 'George' and WETA gets back into classical

Posted at 1:55PM on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 in broadcast media and fm and rants.

I noticed this morning that WETA 90.9 has indeed dropped all news/talk and switched to classical, and that the former WGMS 103.9//104.1 has adopted a Jack-like format called 'George' and is playing nonstop crappy pop hits from the eighties and nineties.

There's no sign of change on WAMU 88.5 as yet. However the shuffle has only just started, since a number of people lost their jobs at both 103.9//104.1 and WETA yesterday.

WGMS’s owners had been in talks with upcoming media mogul and Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder recently. Snyder's Red Zebra sports network has gobbled up a number of lower powered AMers with weak DC metro signal coverage and Snyder is seeking to expand this drivel onto the FM band. However word is that WGMS gummed up the deal by asking too much money for WGMS and blabbing to the Washington Post as negotiations continued. So the new 'George' format may only be a temporary stunt while the real goal is to further destroy the FM band here with non-stop meaningless testosterone talk about the intricacies of professional sports bordered by commercials for all sorts of junk. After all, we already have a classic-rock station in WARW 94.7, a pop-leaning classic rock WBIG 100.3, and a “hot AC” WRQX 107.3, all which would appear to compete in some way with the new WXGG.

All this gossip is documented on the very fine dctrv.com website.

I’m glad to see classical survive on WETA. I was always baffled at why WETA switched to exactly the same news/talk format as WAMU, especially since we also have WCSP 90.1 doing non-stop “public affairs” programming as C-Span Radio on 90.1 (not to mention the liberals on Pacifica’s WPFW 89.3). However the realization that a stupid sports network may take up all that bandwidth on the FM dial is very disillusioning, and such an outcome makes sense only for the megabucks corporations that own the public airwaves here.

Oh, and I thought WETA was a public broadcasting station. Sure, they don’t run “commercials,” but they’re engaging in “cross-promotion” with the former WGMS? I guess you need to consult a lawyer as to the definition of what constitutes a “commercial” on a “non-commercial” radio station.

More FM repeaters, given to commercial interests

Posted at 7:45PM on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 in broadcast media and fm.

Fron the outstanding dcrtv.com:

Bethesda Boost For WGMS - 11/28 - DCRTV hears that the Federal Communications Commission has approved a 25-watt Bethesda repeater for WGMS on 104.1 FM. "Starting this morning, Bethesda has its own licensed classical music station," says an area radio source. "It should make for a much stronger WGMS all around downtown Bethesda, maybe some of the surrounding areas as well." The WGMS signal has suffered in lower Montgomery and northwest DC since January, when owner Bonneville flipped the classical station from DC-based 103.5 (now all-news WTOP) to Waldorf's 104.1 and Frederick's 103.9.....

While I applaud efforts to get classical music station to more listeners, I can reliably receive the existing 104.1 and 103.9 here with reasonable signals from both. I find it dismaying that WGMS can get a license for a commercial repeater in the dense Washington suburbs, but available airspace for non-commercial low power community FMs is non-existent anywhere in the region.

Satellite radio FM loggings

Posted at 3:52PM on Monday, June 5, 2006 in broadcast media and fm and rants.

This is from fmqb.com via DX Listening Digest 6082:

Report: XM & Sirius May Halt Radio Production, May 30, 2006

Due to a small issue with FCC transmitter compliance rules, both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio may have to temporarily halt production on certain radios in order to address recent inquiries from the FCC. "The FCC issue could be more pervasive than previously believed," wrote analyst Jonathan Jacoby, according to a report from Forbes. "We believe that XM and Sirius could temporarily suspend retail shipments of certain radios, but the fix would be relatively quick and inexpensive and likely would not lead to stock-outs at retail."

So far, the devices in question are XM's SKYFi2 and Audiovox Xpress. The FCC has said that the transmitter for these devices is not in compliance with the operating bandwidth specifications of the commission's rules or the related emission limits. Other XM devices along with some from Sirius could possibly have compliance problems as well, says Forbes...

I was in Germantown, Maryland last Friday afternoon to run some errands, and as I've learned in this somewhat upscale and overdeveloped suburban area, there are many Part 15 FM transmitters that are continuously spewing forth all kinds of interesting programming onto the airwaves. While exiting the Box Store Lot onto Maryland 355, I caught something rare for the local FM broadcast band: profanity Yes, it was horrible, evil, profanity: Howard Stern's Sirius radio show spewing forth on FM 87.9 with a nice strong, clean signal. As I trudged my way up Frederick Road from Germantown to Frederick, I listened to the banalities of Howard's radio show for a half hour or so, about 20 miles up the highway until my satellite-equipped fellow commuter in traffic nearby made a turn and went quickly out of range.

Now this was a serious little so-called Part 15 transmitter. There were no fuzzies or fadings for the whole drive, just a smooth, clear and solid signal of Howard and his stories about trophy models and getting wasted and having hangovers in the big city at various parties and night clubs and feeling sorry for himself because his wife was on the west coast and he was all in a tizzy because he just spent eight million dollars on a house.

This had to have been the worst radio program I've listened to in a long while, not because of the frequent use of the word "fuck" and other profanities, but because the subject matter was incredibly stupid, banal, and utterly lacking in content of any type. Somehow, though, it was strangely compelling -- an escape, if you will -- from the endless sad stories of death, destruction and horror about the stupid meaningless war and the endless depths that Randi Rhodes goes to every weekday trying to make people wise up about the evil behind it.

Stern, it seems, is now the ultimate in junk food radio, kind of like Doritos for the mind. He can discuss absolutely nothing with his cronies and synchophants for hours on end and people are entertained, simply because his show's content is largely disposable. It's easily heard, easily forgotten, is absolutely meaningless, and largely irrelevant. It seems his broadcast does have a place. I'm not sure it's worth what Sirius paid for it, though.

Some FM DXing: WZBH

Posted at 10:06AM on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 in fm.

This morning at 1313 UTC (9:13am local time) I was surprised to hear a very strong signal on 93.5 FM from "93.5 The Beach" WZBH in the driveway at home in Mount Airy. It's between 140 and 150 miles from WZBH's 11KW transmitter to where I live, and I've never heard this station before west of the Bay Bridge. Perhaps this is the season's first occurrance of really good tropospheric ducting?

Wednesday, April 11, 2006, 1313, 93.5 FM. "93.5 The Beach." Asking listeners to call in to 1-800-234-9350. Mentioning the "topless drive through." Morning hosts Rex and Smitty with the "Hollyweird Report" at 1315. Talk about Brittney and K-Fed's baby being dropped on it's head by the nanny (host said "S happens"), a report that Madonna and Guy Ritchie are "probably going to get divorced;" and that Richard Hatch of Survivor fame is in jail for tax evasion. AC/DC's "Back In Black" at 1323 and a song by Pearl Jam at 1326. Several commercials at 1321, "Movie time" brought to you by Outback Steakhouse, a Gilligan's Island-themed commercial, a Sierra Mist commercial, and a commercial for breakfast at Arby's. A commercial for Circles night club mentioning the "Lingerie Ball" at 1328. Station ID, "The Power-to-rock station, 935 the beach" at 1335 and a song by Blind Melon at 1340.

This FM DXing was done in my truck on the way to work. I started in Mount Airy at 1315, made it to Damascus by 1323, Sunshine at 1338 (coffee break), and Aspen Hill by 1355. WZBH was very strong most of the way, with interference in the northwest coming from a 20 watt Frederick-based translator of the religious station WFSI Annapolis, and in the southeast from another religious translator advertising "Virginia's positive hits 89.9 and the new 90.5." I believe the "positive hits" station is W228BA, a 10 watt translator for WPER. For the most part the "hot" modulation and rock music on WZBH completely smashed the pontificating and sugary pap on the religious translators.