Author Topic: Radio/DX'ing anyone?  (Read 15515 times)
ace100w120v
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #30 on: March 28, 2015, 10:17:16 PM » Author: ace100w120v
OK, how about this? Alaska (Where I live) could be losing public radio/TV!  State funding cuts just don't support it.  I'll be interested to see how this transpires...it sounds like the two local NPR translators here are in danger of going dark in the new fiscal year.  The FM dial is going to be truly empty if that happens around here!
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #31 on: March 31, 2015, 12:46:20 AM » Author: ace100w120v
OK, heard more today: It sounds like the major public radio stations here will stay on in their main cities/listening areas but bye-bye translators, at least for now! So bye-bye FM radio where I live come July 1st I guess!
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #32 on: April 08, 2015, 11:11:41 PM » Author: ace100w120v
And here's a good YouTube vid of what the radio dial is like (locally anyhow) in Southeast Alaska.  I can really relate to the Sitka stations. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FRY7z_A0Tc

I need to do a video of what it's like in my specific location...it will be rather interesting.
I know a lot about Sitka's stations too: Where transmitters are located, their approximate coverage area going out of town until they fade away completely, etc.
KCAW's transmitter takes over like half the FM band downtown...or at least used to...so much on cheap radios you couldn't hardly even hear KSBZ!
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #33 on: April 19, 2015, 12:00:50 AM » Author: ace100w120v
All sorts of interesting discoveries recently!
-I did some DXing from a single-engine floatplane yesterday between Port Alexander, AK and Sitka, AK.  At that height the other NPR translator that's iffy at my house is clear as a bell and by the time I lose it I can  hear Sitka's KCAW 104.7 already, albeit scratchy.
-I also discovered someone else I know also does DXing! It's nice to have someone only 70 miles away who does the same stuff, as we can always hear the same stations and can thus compare notes with each other (And we did!).  I asked him about the weird airport signal on 530 and he thinks he may have heard it.
And he knows about all the stuff you can hear in SE Alaska after dark on AM very well too...KGO 810 San Francisco, 730 Vancouver Traffic, 1300 KKOL Seattle, and that weird station on 1600 of Blaine, WA that does the Pakistani music.  (Has anyone ever heard any of the stations I mentioned?)
Also while at his house I commented on the vintage Aiwa stereo and vintage Bose speakers, in use at that very moment! And here's an interesting one: I noticed the "Stereo" pilot light was on for KCAW 104.7, a station that is mono from what I've always heard of it! Anyway I looked to see if I could "disable" the stereo to confirm this suspicion but there was no option on that tuner to do so.  We cranked the volume and stood inline with both speakers and couldn't decide if it was stereo or mono though! Another buddy on GOL googled said station (I'd mentioned it before) and said they'd found an article saying they do mono for newscasts and stereo for music...best of both worlds I guess, mono makes for a more listenable signal on the fringe of a station's coverage area, but stereo sounds much better with music! I think I found it too, it was a newspaper clip from 1992 but I'm gonna pay more attention to this station now, this has me wondering!
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #34 on: April 24, 2015, 11:06:21 PM » Author: ace100w120v
Did a LOT of radio listening on this trip, in Juneau, Anchorage, Seward, and Fairbanks.  It's kinda interesting, Seward and Juneau lack rock or classic rock but they have very unique alt-rock outlets instead.  And Anchorage and Fairbanks have a very full FM dial, but all from stations exclusively in that city, you drive out of town and the dial is full but they're all weak and scratchy, then all go away at once, or start coming in at once on the way back in.  Anchorage and Fairbanks sound really good period, all the music stations do stereo and the audio processing is excellent, and they have a clean, professional sound/feel overall.
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #35 on: May 20, 2015, 01:09:59 AM » Author: ace100w120v
On another trip I did extensive "listening" in another area of the state (Prince of Wales Island).  Radio used was a 3M Tekk Worktunes headset "Earmuffs with radio".  Decent little FM radio, and the AM is so-so but I've had better, namely an old Sony WalkMan unit. Flying out there on a flotplane where I live I could hear the local NPR translator quite a ways with no terrestrial obstructions.  When those signals do finally fade they "go" really fast though!
I'm now pretty dang sure the 140w translator for KFSK-FM I can barely pick up here is on a Coast Guard VHF-FM marine highsight tower considering that Radio-Locator says it has a weak signal in it's city of license and also how well it gets out, at least marginally, for a little 140w signal! (I live in an area of high mountains/islands, and ocean in between). It's signal was marginal on the way flying over, totally fading at times, and sometimes more or less totally clear and staying in stereo and all! By the time I totally lost it for good I could pick up other NPR translators. It was a Tuesday morning and the APRN's (Alaska Public Radio Network) "Talk of Alaska") was on all but one frequency I picked up, simultaneously. Another was...I dunno...but it was country and in mono.  At one point I had a totally blank FM band though. 
The place I stayed at for the first few days was on the waterline of Thorne Bay, AK (It was actually a floathouse, a duplex, and I was on the upstairs level/unit). There I could hear KBRD translator (KBRD is Ketchikan's NPR outlet), something on 101.1 that was weak, Christian, and falling in and out of stereo. On 927 (For some reason this radio is stuck in 9Khz mode) I could just barely hear 930 KTKN of Ketchikan, which with the same radio I just barely pick up at night here. 
Driving on Highway 925 and 929 to Klawock one day I could hear both KRBD translators for awhile, (one in Klawock, one in Thorne Bay, both on 90.1) but both faded out at times.
Hollis, AK was a totally blank FM band though. 
One night up at the school, I could not only hear KTKN (It comes in slightly better after dark than during the day but still weak compared to many clear-channel stations at night) but at one point in the early morning hours I could hear KINY 800 out of Juneau pretty well, but it didn't last all that long.  I can hear it from home too but it is frequently overpowered by a Canadian on the same frequency. It was thus almost better while it lasted, even being like 100 miles further from it's transmitter site and running only 7.6Kw at night.  During the day, nada, as with here, even though they run 10Kw day.
Flying back...now this was pretty interesting.  Different flight path, and the Thorne Bay KRBD translator lasted a decent while, and when it finally faded I tried the "auto-seek" feature and it "chirped" a lot going through the dial, indicating multiple strong stations.  I think I must have been somewhere that had a good line of sight with all the Ketchikan FMs, they were clear as a bell, several in stereo.  I can say the main KRBD signal sure has MUCH better audio processing than their translators do though! Their translators sound like a bad monophonic AM, on FM!
By this time I could hear that KFSK translator again too, which I mainly listened to the rest of the way.  We did fly past a tower atop a mountain, which may be where the transmitter is, as it was totally clear at that point.  Stayed that way too all the way back here until we hit ground level at which point the signal got poor of course.
So, interesting! I will look up some of my finds in Radio-Locator to learn more about them.
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #36 on: May 23, 2015, 01:30:42 AM » Author: Solanaceae
I have an Emerson AM/FM/FMMPX record player/8track player I bought for a buck at a charity sale. I also hade radioes from the late 50s to late 70s, but I may have gotten rid of them.
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #37 on: May 28, 2015, 01:34:35 AM » Author: ace100w120v
Interesting. Are you into trying to hear distant stations?
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #38 on: May 30, 2015, 10:54:23 PM » Author: Solanaceae
I can get some signal from a station in champaign on clear days. The only DX I'm good with are the DX merc lamps.  :P
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #39 on: June 04, 2015, 08:39:05 PM » Author: ace100w120v
For me it's radio DXing; I don't have any /DX MV lamps though I have a coated 400w MH somewhere that may be /DX.
Are there a lot of FM stations where you live?
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #40 on: June 04, 2015, 10:18:53 PM » Author: Solanaceae
Yeah, but about half are from places away from the city.
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #41 on: June 04, 2015, 10:23:26 PM » Author: ace100w120v
So overall a pretty full dial, but lots of weak, distant stations?
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #42 on: June 05, 2015, 12:23:07 AM » Author: Solanaceae
They aren't weak per se. There a few radioe stations in the little "cow towns" bordering Springfield. The 88-90.1 on the FM tuner is jus a bunch of classical stations condensed together.
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #43 on: June 05, 2015, 12:27:25 AM » Author: ace100w120v
The low end of the FM dial is usually those or the Christian repeaters nobody listens to LOL.  How's the rest of the dial?
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Re: Radio/DX'ing anyone? « Reply #44 on: June 05, 2015, 01:05:20 AM » Author: Solanaceae
It's a good variety of pop, classic rock, alternate and other. The Christian garbaje is terrible in Tennessee and Alabama, there is at least one Christian station for every three of four "normal" stations down there.
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