After several years of dormancy, I decided that it was time to revive my Web site. I made several changes to the site.
First off, I decided to remove the logbooks from the site. It was becoming cumbersome to maintain seasonal logbooks; most of them came from the late 1990s and early 2000s. All of the new stations I've heard over the past several years, especially on AM (MW) and FM broadcast, would take up way too much space. That feature is gone.
Second, I've put my links to my audio files on the front page of the site. I started recording my DX on the computer in 2010, and bought an MP3 conversion module for my Magix Music Maker 2005 program last fall. I've been able to convert the previously recorded DX from Wave files (WAV) to MP3 files, in addition to recording new DX on MP3 files, either directly or from cassette recordings. I use a cassette recorder as the primary method of recording DX, as I've done since the early 1990s when I was DXing from northwest Georgia. It's amazing how much DX I've recorded over the past two decades. My DX recordings are stored on Box, which offers 5 GB of space for free.
Third, I've also redone the Club Links to only include clubs I'm a member of. The longest association with one club has been with St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club; I joined Suburban Radio Club in April 1993; they have since joined forces with the St. Louis Repeater club to form St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club. I've been associated with IRCA (International Radio Club of America), an all-AM broadcast band DX club, continuously since 1994, and have served as an editor, publisher and, at present, Editor-in-Chief. While I've been an off-and-on member of WTFDA (Worldwide TV-FM DX Association) since the mid-1980s, I've been a member almost continuously since 1993, with a few breaks. I've also been an off-and-on member of several other clubs throughout my 30-plus years in DXing, and my nearly two decades as an Amateur Radio operator.
Fourth, I've added a statistics page to the site. The statistics posted, however, are not all reconciled with the chronological log I keep on Microsoft Excel. I have been keeping my logs on a computer since 1992, when I returned to the St. Louis area from northwest Georgia. In all of my statistics by state/province, it's usually Illinois that's tops in the number of stations logged, even though I live in Missouri. My location, on the eastern end of the state, favors the Land of Lincoln over the Show-Me State. I keep statistics for AM, FM, TV (analog and digital; I keep separate logs for ATV and DTV) and NOAA Weather Radio. I haven't been too good with keeping stats on shortwave stations since the early 1990s.
Photo galleries have also been updated; I selected a few pictures from my collection for the site; I did keep the pictures of myself on the air at KCFV 89.5 MHz Ferguson, MO from 1995, and hawking raffle tickets at the Halloween Hamfest in 1998, on the site. I also added a few pics of my shack and an outdoor setup to the album. On my TV DX photo page, I included a few photo highlights from the 2000s, including some of my first DX logs on digital TV.
Take a look at my newly renovated Web site today.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
E-Skip Opening on July 24, 2012
When I turned on my radio and television receivers on the afternoon of July 24, 2012, I was in for a treat. It was just after 4:00 p.m. local time (2100 UTC), after working a few stations on 6 meters in the Mid-Atlantic states, that I turned on my FM receivers. It was filled with distant signals. My digital TV tuner was lighting up E-skip signals on channels 4 and 6. Although the signal on channel 6 was not strong enough to get even some call letter information, the one on channel 4 did give me call letter information. It was my first TV station of any kind from the Garden State. Here's the pic to prove it.
The opening reached well into the FM band...to the NOAA Weather Radio band. I first logged KHB38 162.400 MHz Atlantic City, NJ on the big opening of July 6, 2004. I relogged the station on that opening. But, the best signal of the opening came on 162.475 MHz from KIH28 in Philadelphia. It was just after 5:00 p.m. St. Louis time (2200 UTC) that I pulled in a severe thunderstorm warning for southern New Jersey. I post a lot of my DX recordings to Box, and here's the link for the audio file:
KIH28 162.475 MHz Philadelphia, PA
I also noted my shortest E-skip on this opening: WFHG-FM 92.9 Bluff City, TN. At 470 miles, this shatters the record of 560 miles, set by WMEZ 94.1 Pensacola, FL in 1994 and KQDS-FM 94.9 Duluth, MN in 2008.
WFHG-FM 92.9 Bluff City, TN
I noted several D.C. area stations in this opening; I got a chance to record WMZQ 98.7 and WRQX 107.3.
WMZQ 98.7 Washington, DC WRQX 107.3 Washington, DC
Even a relay of a D.C. station made it in. American University's WAMU 88.5 has a relay station in Ocean City, MD.
WRAU 88.3 Ocean City, MD
By the early evening hours, the action shifted to the southwest. Analog channel 2 had at least three stations coming in; one of those that dominated was XEPM-TV in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, TX. Here's a pic:
A few stations did make it from the Southwest. The farthest one on this opening was from KPXK 98.7 Phoenix, AZ.
KPXK 98.7 Phoenix, AZ
I also had a few Mexicans in; this one is from XHBW 93.3 Chihuahua. This one also identified its AM affiliate, XEBW 1280 kHz.
XHBW 93.3 Chihuahua, CI, Mexico
This E-skip opening is one I'll remember for a long time.
The opening reached well into the FM band...to the NOAA Weather Radio band. I first logged KHB38 162.400 MHz Atlantic City, NJ on the big opening of July 6, 2004. I relogged the station on that opening. But, the best signal of the opening came on 162.475 MHz from KIH28 in Philadelphia. It was just after 5:00 p.m. St. Louis time (2200 UTC) that I pulled in a severe thunderstorm warning for southern New Jersey. I post a lot of my DX recordings to Box, and here's the link for the audio file:
KIH28 162.475 MHz Philadelphia, PA
I also noted my shortest E-skip on this opening: WFHG-FM 92.9 Bluff City, TN. At 470 miles, this shatters the record of 560 miles, set by WMEZ 94.1 Pensacola, FL in 1994 and KQDS-FM 94.9 Duluth, MN in 2008.
WFHG-FM 92.9 Bluff City, TN
I noted several D.C. area stations in this opening; I got a chance to record WMZQ 98.7 and WRQX 107.3.
WMZQ 98.7 Washington, DC WRQX 107.3 Washington, DC
Even a relay of a D.C. station made it in. American University's WAMU 88.5 has a relay station in Ocean City, MD.
WRAU 88.3 Ocean City, MD
By the early evening hours, the action shifted to the southwest. Analog channel 2 had at least three stations coming in; one of those that dominated was XEPM-TV in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, TX. Here's a pic:
A few stations did make it from the Southwest. The farthest one on this opening was from KPXK 98.7 Phoenix, AZ.
KPXK 98.7 Phoenix, AZ
I also had a few Mexicans in; this one is from XHBW 93.3 Chihuahua. This one also identified its AM affiliate, XEBW 1280 kHz.
XHBW 93.3 Chihuahua, CI, Mexico
This E-skip opening is one I'll remember for a long time.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
DXing in Hazelwood vs. Woodstock and Marietta, GA
On June 29, 2012, I reached another milestone; it's been 20 years since I returned to Hazelwood, MO (my present QTH is two blocks away from where I began my DX career back in 1981) after a four-year stay on the Cobb-Cherokee county line in Georgia. From August 1988 to June 1991, I lived on the Cherokee County side of the line in Woodstock. My QTH in Woodstock was on the higher end of an incline down into a cul-de-sac. It would be high enough to pursue FM and TV DXing at that location. From June 1991 to June 1992, I lived on the Cobb County side of the line near Marietta. It was on a high ridge, so it was also conducive to FM and TV DXing.
One of the major differences I noticed between the St. Louis area and metro Atlanta is the ground conductivity values. (Note that there is no such thing as a value of "zero"; the lowest value is 1, up to 30.) In most of metro Atlanta, the ground conductivity is very poor (1). With that in mind, some of the stations you would normally expect to have good signals at 25 miles on groundwave are either very weak or non-existent. The only Atlanta AM to have a consistently strong signal day and night is 50 kW blowtorch WSB 750. WCNN 680 and WQXI 790 beam their night signals southwest; WQXI (1 kW at night), with its transmitter site at the time in midtown Atlanta, had a signal that faded out on I-75 north of Canton Highway in Cobb County; it also has trouble getting into northern Fulton County; on my first visit there, Radio Reloj from Cuba took out WQXI in Roswell and Sandy Springs. WCNN 680 (10 kW at night), with its transmitter site along the banks of the Chattahoochee River east of Roswell, is inaudible in Cherokee County and parts of Cobb County. Most nights, WPTF Raleigh, NC takes them out. The only other Atlanta AM stations who had audible signals in Woodstock at night were WKHX 590 (now WDWD), WGST 640 (and predecessor WPBD) and WAFS 920 (now WGKA), plus WDUN 550 in Gainesville. One advantage 590 had was that their transmitter site was in Austell, in southern Cobb County. The ground conductivity is poor (2) in Cobb County. WAOK 1380, while inaudible at night on the Cherokee County side of the line, was audible with a fair to poor signal at night on the Cobb County side of the line. None of the stations operating with powers lower than 1 kW at night made it past I-285 or Georgia 120. WNIV 970 (39 watts) was audible in the parking lot of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, but not on either the Cobb or Cherokee County side of the line. At that location, Louisville, KY dominated 970. WNIV's night signal did make it to Hazelwood on one occasion. WGUN 1010 (70 watts) was also audible in the parking lot of RSBC, but not on the Cobb-Cherokee County line, where New York and Toronto ruled the frequency. WGUN has been noted in Hazelwood once at Atlanta sunrise. WYZE 1480 (44 watts) was also audible in the RSBC parking lot, but not on the Cobb-Cherokee County line, where Mobile, AL was dominant. WYZE's night signal has also been heard in Hazelwood on one occasion. Even 500-watt WYNX (now WAZX), with a strong signal near downtown Marietta, was also non-existent on the Cobb-Cherokee County line. In those days, 1550 was dominated by Huntsville, AL. By contrast, the ground conductivity in the St. Louis area is very good (15). At night, the only way DX can be heard through local stations on lower frequencies is in a tight null when conditions are very good. Some of the AM stations on higher frequencies are easier to null at night. For example, only a tight null can be put on KTRS 550 (which beams their night signal in my direction) to pull in KTSA San Antonio, TX. It's a bit easier to put a null on KXFN 1380 or KZQZ 1430. I've pulled in Sperry, OK or Millington, TN through the local on 1380; on 1430, I've pulled in Toronto or Indianapolis with The Krazy Q nulled. The lower power stations are either very easy to null or non-existent at night. For example, KSTL 690 (18 watts) is barely audible; New Orleans usually takes them out. KSIV 1320 (270 watts, beamed toward west St. Louis County) can also be nulled out; I most often hear Houston with the local station nulled. KHOJ 1460 (210 watts), even with my QTH being less than 10 miles from their Boschertown transmitter site, is nullable. I've been hearing Goshen, IN and Buford, GA in recent months. Alton, IL is 15 miles northeast of my QTH, yet, WBGZ 1570 (74 watts) is either equal with Mexico or dominant at night. Going west, the ground conductivity drops to good (8) in Warren County. KWRE 730, when they were broadcasting with 120 watts at night (they're temporarily 1 kW non-directional, daytime only) was dominant for the first 90 minutes after sunset before Mexico or some of the Southern stations take over. KMOX 1120, the local 50 kW blowtorch, cannot be nulled at night. When they're not broadcasting in digital, however, DX can be heard on 1110 and 1130; most often Omaha on 1110 and Shreveport on 1130. When I was in Atlanta, I logged St. Louis metro stations on 550, 590, 630, 690, 770, 850, 1120, 1260, 1380 and 1430. Since returning to Hazelwood, I've logged metro Atlanta stations on 610, 640, 680, 750, 790, 920, 970, 1010, 1080, 1190, 1260, 1380, 1480, 1550, 1570 and 1600, plus a few that either moved to new frequencies, such as 1040 in Conyers (they were on 1050 when I was living in metro Atlanta) or stations that signed on since I left Atlanta (such as 1690 in Avondale Estates).
From the perspective of an FM or TV DXer, even the simplest of antennas can be used to pull in DX! One of the advantages Atlanta has over St. Louis is its height above sea level. When I was living in Woodstock and Marietta, the area was over 1,000 feet above sea level. Hazelwood is about 700 feet above sea level. When I started with TV DX, I used a UHF bow tie or loop on good tropospheric enhancement openings to pull in stations from Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville or Kansas City. Fellow metro Atlanta TV DXer John Broomall proved it by using a bow tie UHF antenna to pull in places as diverse as Mobile, AL and Chicago. Before 1994, I had used a pair of rabbit ears for FM DX. My results were good at my original QTH, very good when I lived in metro Atlanta. I pulled in FM DX from throughout the eastern United States and Central America with the setup; after adding a Realistic STA-90 AM/FM/FM Stereo receiver in 1990, I was able to pull in a station on 88.9 from Belize through WMBW. Even a built-in telescoping whip antenna could pull in DX; a radio with VHF-TV audio reception capability was in the kitchen at the Woodstock QTH. Late one afternoon, I pulled in the audio from KENW 3 Portales, NM. I had a boombox with a 4.5-inch black and white TV (a Christmas gift in 1988) at my location, which I took along. On a night in June 1992, DXer Bill Alisauskas in Douglasville informed me about receiving KGAN 2 Cedar Rapids, IA through local WSB-TV. I also pulled in KGAN through WSB-TV on channel 2, and also proceeded to null down WAGA on channel 5 to pull in KFYR-TV Bismarck, ND. While I never logged a St. Louis TV station from metro Atlanta (although KDNL 30 was a possibility after local WPBA signed off, as well as KNLC 24), I did log St. Louis metro stations on 90.7, 92.3, 93.7, 99.1, 102.5, 105.7 and 107.7 (all on one November night in 1988). I've been using an outdoor yagi since returning to Hazelwood (the previous owners of my present QTH) were kind enough to leave a TV antenna mast); I've logged a number of my ex-locals on FM and analog TV (I've yet to log Atlanta on digital TV). On FM, I've logged 90.1, 92.9, 94.1, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 and 101.5 from metro Atlanta, plus 107.1 from the Rome area. On analog TV, I've logged channels 17, 36, 57 (which came on after I left Atlanta) and 69, plus 18 from Chatsworth (near Dalton). Had I started NOAA Weather Radio DXing back in the late '80s and early '90s, I probably would have logged mainly Southeastern or lower Midwestern states (such as southeast MO, southern IL or southwestern IN).
Another aspect of that location was its close proximity to not only Atlanta, but also to Chattanooga, TN (75 miles NW of the Cobb-Cherokee County line). WMBW 88.9, WDYN 89.7, WDEF-FM 92.3, WDOD-FM 96.5 were semi-locals from Chattanooga proper; other semi-locals from Chattanooga were WSMC 90.5 in Collegedale and WUSY 100.7 in Cleveland. WDEF-FM became the station I listened to for Easy Listening music after WPCH 94.9 (now WUBL) flipped to Soft AC in 1990. On the AM side, the best signal out of Chattanooga was WGOW 1150. During the day, I could null out locals on 1260 and 1310 to get Chattanooga stations (WNOO and now-silent WDOD); WDEF 1370 had a decent signal next to WAOK. Even WFLI 1070 from Lookout Mountain was audible next to WFTD on 1080. On the TV side, I most frequently pulled in WRCB 3 or WDSI 61 from Chattanooga. WTVC 9 and WDEF-TV 12 were also regular visitors most days; WFLI-TV 53 was an occasional visitor from Cleveland, TN. The PBS member station in Chattanooga, WTCI 45, would be an occasional visitor, even with WGNX 46 (now WGCL-TV on channel 19) on the air. Since returning to Hazelwood, I've logged Chattanooga AMs on 1150 and 1370, as well as 1570 in Cleveland. On the FM side, Chattanooga stations have been noted in Hazelwood on 88.9 and 89.7, as well as 100.7 in Cleveland. Only WTCI 45 and WDSI 61 were noted in Hazelwood before the digital conversion in 2009. My QTH, by contrast, is in close proximity to Springfield, IL (80 miles NE). I've logged all the AM stations there (970, 1240, 1450), all the FMs except for 88.3, the NOAA Weather Radio station on 162.400, all the full power analog TV stations (20, 49, 55) and their digital successors (13, 42, 44), as well as three LPTV stations (28, 33, 65).
Another contrast is which cities are in tropo range of this particular location. When I was living in metro Atlanta, all of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas was within tropo range, along with most of Florida, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southeastern Missouri, northeastern Texas and the non-mountainous parts of South Carolina. The mountains influence tropo range to the east and northeast, thereby limiting FM DX coming from North Carolina and Virginia. My farthest tropo FM DX noted in Georgia was 99.1 in Fort Smith, AR. By contrast, St. Louis is pretty much on flat and open terrain; all of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Arkansas are within tropo range, along with most of Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, the lower peninsula of Michigan, western parts of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, northwest Georgia, eastern Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota and southern Minnesota are all within tropo range of the St. Louis area. The only influences on tropo reception come from the Ozark Plateau in southwest MO and northwest AR, which explains why I have not heard any tropospheric enhancement propagation from Texas. The Appalachians and Blue Ridge Mountains may have some influence, but I've still pulled in TV DX from western parts of Virginia and West Virginia. Even Buffalo, NY and Toronto, ON has made it via tropo on UHF TV channels.
In the 20 years since I returned to Hazelwood, I've logged a huge chunk of DX. As of July 11, 2012 at 1200 CDT, I've logged 1,319 AM stations, 1,167 FM stations and 567 analog TV stations since June 29, 1992. I started my NOAA Weather Radio log in 2001; I've logged 103 stations. My digital TV logbook started in 2005; that count is now at 145.
Here's my top ten states on each band:
AM: 1) Illinois (108), 2) Missouri (93), 3) Texas (87), 4) Tennessee (85), 5) Alabama (63), 6) Georgia (52), 7) Wisconsin (49), 8) Iowa (46), 9) Kentucky (44), 10) Arkansas (43)
FM: 1) Illinois (187), 2) Missouri (161), 3) Florida (64), 4) Iowa (59), 5) Indiana (47), 6) Texas (43), 7) Tennessee (37), 8) Kentucky (33), 9) Kansas (29), 10) Michigan (21)
Analog TV: 1) Illinois (62), 2) Indiana (48), 3) Missouri (45), 4) Kentucky (35), 5) Ohio (32), 6) Iowa (26), 7) Michigan (24), 8) Alabama (21), 9) Tennessee (20), 10) Wisconsin (18)
NOAA Weather Radio: 1) Illinois (23), 2) Missouri (22), 3) Iowa (11), 4) Kansas (8), 5) Arkansas (6), tie) Indiana (6), 8) Alabama (5), tie) Tennessee (5). Log began January 6, 2001.
Digital TV: 1) Indiana (36), 2) Illinois (31), 3) Missouri (30), 4) Iowa (14), 5) Kentucky (8), 6) Ohio (7), 7) Tennessee (6), 8) Michigan (4), 9) Kansas (2), 10) Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, New York, South Dakota, Texas (tied with one apiece). Log began September 19, 2005.
One of the major differences I noticed between the St. Louis area and metro Atlanta is the ground conductivity values. (Note that there is no such thing as a value of "zero"; the lowest value is 1, up to 30.) In most of metro Atlanta, the ground conductivity is very poor (1). With that in mind, some of the stations you would normally expect to have good signals at 25 miles on groundwave are either very weak or non-existent. The only Atlanta AM to have a consistently strong signal day and night is 50 kW blowtorch WSB 750. WCNN 680 and WQXI 790 beam their night signals southwest; WQXI (1 kW at night), with its transmitter site at the time in midtown Atlanta, had a signal that faded out on I-75 north of Canton Highway in Cobb County; it also has trouble getting into northern Fulton County; on my first visit there, Radio Reloj from Cuba took out WQXI in Roswell and Sandy Springs. WCNN 680 (10 kW at night), with its transmitter site along the banks of the Chattahoochee River east of Roswell, is inaudible in Cherokee County and parts of Cobb County. Most nights, WPTF Raleigh, NC takes them out. The only other Atlanta AM stations who had audible signals in Woodstock at night were WKHX 590 (now WDWD), WGST 640 (and predecessor WPBD) and WAFS 920 (now WGKA), plus WDUN 550 in Gainesville. One advantage 590 had was that their transmitter site was in Austell, in southern Cobb County. The ground conductivity is poor (2) in Cobb County. WAOK 1380, while inaudible at night on the Cherokee County side of the line, was audible with a fair to poor signal at night on the Cobb County side of the line. None of the stations operating with powers lower than 1 kW at night made it past I-285 or Georgia 120. WNIV 970 (39 watts) was audible in the parking lot of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, but not on either the Cobb or Cherokee County side of the line. At that location, Louisville, KY dominated 970. WNIV's night signal did make it to Hazelwood on one occasion. WGUN 1010 (70 watts) was also audible in the parking lot of RSBC, but not on the Cobb-Cherokee County line, where New York and Toronto ruled the frequency. WGUN has been noted in Hazelwood once at Atlanta sunrise. WYZE 1480 (44 watts) was also audible in the RSBC parking lot, but not on the Cobb-Cherokee County line, where Mobile, AL was dominant. WYZE's night signal has also been heard in Hazelwood on one occasion. Even 500-watt WYNX (now WAZX), with a strong signal near downtown Marietta, was also non-existent on the Cobb-Cherokee County line. In those days, 1550 was dominated by Huntsville, AL. By contrast, the ground conductivity in the St. Louis area is very good (15). At night, the only way DX can be heard through local stations on lower frequencies is in a tight null when conditions are very good. Some of the AM stations on higher frequencies are easier to null at night. For example, only a tight null can be put on KTRS 550 (which beams their night signal in my direction) to pull in KTSA San Antonio, TX. It's a bit easier to put a null on KXFN 1380 or KZQZ 1430. I've pulled in Sperry, OK or Millington, TN through the local on 1380; on 1430, I've pulled in Toronto or Indianapolis with The Krazy Q nulled. The lower power stations are either very easy to null or non-existent at night. For example, KSTL 690 (18 watts) is barely audible; New Orleans usually takes them out. KSIV 1320 (270 watts, beamed toward west St. Louis County) can also be nulled out; I most often hear Houston with the local station nulled. KHOJ 1460 (210 watts), even with my QTH being less than 10 miles from their Boschertown transmitter site, is nullable. I've been hearing Goshen, IN and Buford, GA in recent months. Alton, IL is 15 miles northeast of my QTH, yet, WBGZ 1570 (74 watts) is either equal with Mexico or dominant at night. Going west, the ground conductivity drops to good (8) in Warren County. KWRE 730, when they were broadcasting with 120 watts at night (they're temporarily 1 kW non-directional, daytime only) was dominant for the first 90 minutes after sunset before Mexico or some of the Southern stations take over. KMOX 1120, the local 50 kW blowtorch, cannot be nulled at night. When they're not broadcasting in digital, however, DX can be heard on 1110 and 1130; most often Omaha on 1110 and Shreveport on 1130. When I was in Atlanta, I logged St. Louis metro stations on 550, 590, 630, 690, 770, 850, 1120, 1260, 1380 and 1430. Since returning to Hazelwood, I've logged metro Atlanta stations on 610, 640, 680, 750, 790, 920, 970, 1010, 1080, 1190, 1260, 1380, 1480, 1550, 1570 and 1600, plus a few that either moved to new frequencies, such as 1040 in Conyers (they were on 1050 when I was living in metro Atlanta) or stations that signed on since I left Atlanta (such as 1690 in Avondale Estates).
From the perspective of an FM or TV DXer, even the simplest of antennas can be used to pull in DX! One of the advantages Atlanta has over St. Louis is its height above sea level. When I was living in Woodstock and Marietta, the area was over 1,000 feet above sea level. Hazelwood is about 700 feet above sea level. When I started with TV DX, I used a UHF bow tie or loop on good tropospheric enhancement openings to pull in stations from Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville or Kansas City. Fellow metro Atlanta TV DXer John Broomall proved it by using a bow tie UHF antenna to pull in places as diverse as Mobile, AL and Chicago. Before 1994, I had used a pair of rabbit ears for FM DX. My results were good at my original QTH, very good when I lived in metro Atlanta. I pulled in FM DX from throughout the eastern United States and Central America with the setup; after adding a Realistic STA-90 AM/FM/FM Stereo receiver in 1990, I was able to pull in a station on 88.9 from Belize through WMBW. Even a built-in telescoping whip antenna could pull in DX; a radio with VHF-TV audio reception capability was in the kitchen at the Woodstock QTH. Late one afternoon, I pulled in the audio from KENW 3 Portales, NM. I had a boombox with a 4.5-inch black and white TV (a Christmas gift in 1988) at my location, which I took along. On a night in June 1992, DXer Bill Alisauskas in Douglasville informed me about receiving KGAN 2 Cedar Rapids, IA through local WSB-TV. I also pulled in KGAN through WSB-TV on channel 2, and also proceeded to null down WAGA on channel 5 to pull in KFYR-TV Bismarck, ND. While I never logged a St. Louis TV station from metro Atlanta (although KDNL 30 was a possibility after local WPBA signed off, as well as KNLC 24), I did log St. Louis metro stations on 90.7, 92.3, 93.7, 99.1, 102.5, 105.7 and 107.7 (all on one November night in 1988). I've been using an outdoor yagi since returning to Hazelwood (the previous owners of my present QTH) were kind enough to leave a TV antenna mast); I've logged a number of my ex-locals on FM and analog TV (I've yet to log Atlanta on digital TV). On FM, I've logged 90.1, 92.9, 94.1, 96.1, 98.5, 99.7 and 101.5 from metro Atlanta, plus 107.1 from the Rome area. On analog TV, I've logged channels 17, 36, 57 (which came on after I left Atlanta) and 69, plus 18 from Chatsworth (near Dalton). Had I started NOAA Weather Radio DXing back in the late '80s and early '90s, I probably would have logged mainly Southeastern or lower Midwestern states (such as southeast MO, southern IL or southwestern IN).
Another aspect of that location was its close proximity to not only Atlanta, but also to Chattanooga, TN (75 miles NW of the Cobb-Cherokee County line). WMBW 88.9, WDYN 89.7, WDEF-FM 92.3, WDOD-FM 96.5 were semi-locals from Chattanooga proper; other semi-locals from Chattanooga were WSMC 90.5 in Collegedale and WUSY 100.7 in Cleveland. WDEF-FM became the station I listened to for Easy Listening music after WPCH 94.9 (now WUBL) flipped to Soft AC in 1990. On the AM side, the best signal out of Chattanooga was WGOW 1150. During the day, I could null out locals on 1260 and 1310 to get Chattanooga stations (WNOO and now-silent WDOD); WDEF 1370 had a decent signal next to WAOK. Even WFLI 1070 from Lookout Mountain was audible next to WFTD on 1080. On the TV side, I most frequently pulled in WRCB 3 or WDSI 61 from Chattanooga. WTVC 9 and WDEF-TV 12 were also regular visitors most days; WFLI-TV 53 was an occasional visitor from Cleveland, TN. The PBS member station in Chattanooga, WTCI 45, would be an occasional visitor, even with WGNX 46 (now WGCL-TV on channel 19) on the air. Since returning to Hazelwood, I've logged Chattanooga AMs on 1150 and 1370, as well as 1570 in Cleveland. On the FM side, Chattanooga stations have been noted in Hazelwood on 88.9 and 89.7, as well as 100.7 in Cleveland. Only WTCI 45 and WDSI 61 were noted in Hazelwood before the digital conversion in 2009. My QTH, by contrast, is in close proximity to Springfield, IL (80 miles NE). I've logged all the AM stations there (970, 1240, 1450), all the FMs except for 88.3, the NOAA Weather Radio station on 162.400, all the full power analog TV stations (20, 49, 55) and their digital successors (13, 42, 44), as well as three LPTV stations (28, 33, 65).
Another contrast is which cities are in tropo range of this particular location. When I was living in metro Atlanta, all of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas was within tropo range, along with most of Florida, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, southeastern Missouri, northeastern Texas and the non-mountainous parts of South Carolina. The mountains influence tropo range to the east and northeast, thereby limiting FM DX coming from North Carolina and Virginia. My farthest tropo FM DX noted in Georgia was 99.1 in Fort Smith, AR. By contrast, St. Louis is pretty much on flat and open terrain; all of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Arkansas are within tropo range, along with most of Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, the lower peninsula of Michigan, western parts of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, northwest Georgia, eastern Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota and southern Minnesota are all within tropo range of the St. Louis area. The only influences on tropo reception come from the Ozark Plateau in southwest MO and northwest AR, which explains why I have not heard any tropospheric enhancement propagation from Texas. The Appalachians and Blue Ridge Mountains may have some influence, but I've still pulled in TV DX from western parts of Virginia and West Virginia. Even Buffalo, NY and Toronto, ON has made it via tropo on UHF TV channels.
In the 20 years since I returned to Hazelwood, I've logged a huge chunk of DX. As of July 11, 2012 at 1200 CDT, I've logged 1,319 AM stations, 1,167 FM stations and 567 analog TV stations since June 29, 1992. I started my NOAA Weather Radio log in 2001; I've logged 103 stations. My digital TV logbook started in 2005; that count is now at 145.
Here's my top ten states on each band:
AM: 1) Illinois (108), 2) Missouri (93), 3) Texas (87), 4) Tennessee (85), 5) Alabama (63), 6) Georgia (52), 7) Wisconsin (49), 8) Iowa (46), 9) Kentucky (44), 10) Arkansas (43)
FM: 1) Illinois (187), 2) Missouri (161), 3) Florida (64), 4) Iowa (59), 5) Indiana (47), 6) Texas (43), 7) Tennessee (37), 8) Kentucky (33), 9) Kansas (29), 10) Michigan (21)
Analog TV: 1) Illinois (62), 2) Indiana (48), 3) Missouri (45), 4) Kentucky (35), 5) Ohio (32), 6) Iowa (26), 7) Michigan (24), 8) Alabama (21), 9) Tennessee (20), 10) Wisconsin (18)
NOAA Weather Radio: 1) Illinois (23), 2) Missouri (22), 3) Iowa (11), 4) Kansas (8), 5) Arkansas (6), tie) Indiana (6), 8) Alabama (5), tie) Tennessee (5). Log began January 6, 2001.
Digital TV: 1) Indiana (36), 2) Illinois (31), 3) Missouri (30), 4) Iowa (14), 5) Kentucky (8), 6) Ohio (7), 7) Tennessee (6), 8) Michigan (4), 9) Kansas (2), 10) Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, New York, South Dakota, Texas (tied with one apiece). Log began September 19, 2005.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
20 Years as a "Ham" Coming Up
It's amazing how time flies when you're an Amateur Radio operator. On October 6, 2012, I will reach another milestone: 20 years as an Amateur Radio operator.
I've come a long way from my first Technician Class license in 1992, when I did all my activity on a handheld transceiver. My first one was a Realistic HTX-202, since I only had privileges above 50 MHz. I got my first exposure to emergency communications during the Flood of 1993, helping out with communications duty in St. Charles County. It made me realize the value of Amateur Radio in emergencies. I added a five-eighths wave ground plane after the flood. I took part in my first Field Day in 1994 with the Suburban Radio Club (now St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club). While my Amateur Radio activity tailed off in the 1998-2002 time period, I still renewed my license when it expired in 2002. As I was a radio announcer, I thought it would be a great idea to promote Amateur Radio on the air, especially Field Day. The first time I did an interview for Field Day was in 1998 at WFUN-FM 95.5, when I interviewed SRC's then-President, Ed Kimble. In 2000, while I was at WSIE, I interviewed Mike Moore the day before Field Day. From 2002 to 2009, I interviewed numerous people involved with the hobby, including Steve Schmitz, another past SLSRC President, along with Bill Coby, a past President of the Egyptian Radio Club, Rich Morgan from the Lewis and Clark Radio Club, and Steve Wooten, the Emergency Coordinator for St. Louis County (an EC heads up the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service, or ARES, group).
I have to admit, I did struggle to learn the Morse Code. I made an effort to learn the Morse Code during the Fall semester of 2006, with the help of a professor at the SIUE School of Engineering, Dr. Andy Lozowski. I mastered twelve Morse Code characters before the FCC did away with the Morse Code requirements for General and Extra Class licenses in 2007.
As I recall, it took two tries to pass the Technician Class exam. I passed Element 2 of the exam at the Zero Beaters Hamfest in Washington, MO in July 1992, but failed the Element 3B. I passed that element the following month at the St. Charles Hamfest, taking the exam in an auditorium at St. Joseph Hospital. After the Morse Code requirement was dropped for General and Extra, I decided to study for the written General Class exam. It took me two tries in June 2007. I failed on the first attempt at the Cliff Cave branch of the St. Louis County Library in Oakville, MO. The following week, after some extra study, I passed on the second attempt. I decided to make it a priority to get my General Class ticket before the question pool changed on July 1, 2007.
I did something different to study for my Extra Class exam...take a crash course. This was offered through the St. Louis and Suburban Radio club at the National Office of Boys Hope-Girls Hope in Bridgeton, MO. I spent one weekend in May 2012 with the Extra crash course after doing plenty of studying. I studied for one more week after wrapping up the crash course before taking the Extra Class exam on May 22, 2012. Unlike with the first two times, I passed on the first try. Again, I took the exam at the Cliff Cave branch of the St. Louis County Library in Oakville.
The equipment has changed over the years; I used a handheld transceiver exclusively as my main station equipment until 2005, first with a Realistic HTX-202, switching to an ICOM IC-2TH Sport when the HTX-202 blew its transmitter. In 2005, I added an MFJ-9402 2 meter SSB transceiver (which blew in 2009), and worked several new states with the rig (driving a Mirage B-34-G linear amp, which I originally purchased for the ICOM HT in 2003, along with a Diamond five-elemebt beam, vertically polarized) and a second Diamond five-element beam (horizontally polarized). The following year, I added a 6 meter station, with a Kenwood TS-60 (which is NOT for sale!) and a halo (which I later donated to the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club for Field Day operations). The six-meter station was purchased from a fellow Ham in Kirkwood. In January 2007, I added a Cushcraft three-element beam for 6 meters in time for the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. I added an HF rig, an ICOM IC-745 purchased at the Winterfest (sponsored by SLSRC) in January 2010. The antenna I use for HF is an MFJ-1778 G5RV antenna, which I purchased new at Winterfest in January 1997 for shortwave listening applications. I built a dipole for SWL use to replace the G5RV in February 2010.
My experience as a shortwave listener, AM and FM broadcast band DXer and TV DXer prepared me for the experiences I have had as an Amateur Radio operator. If anyone asked me who my influences were for Amateur Radio, I would have to credit two people. One is Vern Jackson (WAØRCR) of Wentzville, MO. When he was living in Florissant, he ran the Gateway 160 Meter Net in AM mode from a shack in back of his mother's house. I could hear his station on the image frequency of 950 kHz. After I got the Realistic DX-200 in October 1982, I could also hear Vern on his regular frequency of 1860 kHz. The signal became somewhat weaker after he moved the station to Wentzville. My other influence is on my mother's side of the family. When I was younger, I would occasionally go with my family to the Springfield/Branson area. A second cousin on my mother's side, Jim Marshall (WAØQEV), had an excellent setup when he was living in Rogersville, MO. He even got me hooked on Ctizens' Band radio (his handle was Alligator Man...I was Alligator Boy at first, but after experimenting with several others, I settled on Alligator Junior) back in the 1970s while visiting him in Hollister (near Branson). On a trip to Red Top Mountain State Park, GA in the spring of 1992, I witnessed him operating a Heathkit HF rig with a mobile antenna and a small antenna tuner calling CQ on 75 meters. I've also talked to a few of my fellow DXers on the Amateur bands, such as FM DXer Fred Laun (K3ZO), FM/TV DXer Pat Dyer (WA5IYX), VHF/UHF DXer Peter Baskind (N4LI) and noted AM broadcast band DXer Wayne Heinen (NØPOH).
I'm very fortunate (and proud) to be part of a fraternity that includes country singer Ronnie Milsap, former Oakland Athletics player Joe Rudi (from the World Series champion teams in the early 1970s), rock guitarist Joe Walsh, and audio guru Bob Heil. A radio-related hobby is also a great way to keep a teenager out of trouble...it did in my case.
I've come a long way from my first Technician Class license in 1992, when I did all my activity on a handheld transceiver. My first one was a Realistic HTX-202, since I only had privileges above 50 MHz. I got my first exposure to emergency communications during the Flood of 1993, helping out with communications duty in St. Charles County. It made me realize the value of Amateur Radio in emergencies. I added a five-eighths wave ground plane after the flood. I took part in my first Field Day in 1994 with the Suburban Radio Club (now St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club). While my Amateur Radio activity tailed off in the 1998-2002 time period, I still renewed my license when it expired in 2002. As I was a radio announcer, I thought it would be a great idea to promote Amateur Radio on the air, especially Field Day. The first time I did an interview for Field Day was in 1998 at WFUN-FM 95.5, when I interviewed SRC's then-President, Ed Kimble. In 2000, while I was at WSIE, I interviewed Mike Moore the day before Field Day. From 2002 to 2009, I interviewed numerous people involved with the hobby, including Steve Schmitz, another past SLSRC President, along with Bill Coby, a past President of the Egyptian Radio Club, Rich Morgan from the Lewis and Clark Radio Club, and Steve Wooten, the Emergency Coordinator for St. Louis County (an EC heads up the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service, or ARES, group).
I have to admit, I did struggle to learn the Morse Code. I made an effort to learn the Morse Code during the Fall semester of 2006, with the help of a professor at the SIUE School of Engineering, Dr. Andy Lozowski. I mastered twelve Morse Code characters before the FCC did away with the Morse Code requirements for General and Extra Class licenses in 2007.
As I recall, it took two tries to pass the Technician Class exam. I passed Element 2 of the exam at the Zero Beaters Hamfest in Washington, MO in July 1992, but failed the Element 3B. I passed that element the following month at the St. Charles Hamfest, taking the exam in an auditorium at St. Joseph Hospital. After the Morse Code requirement was dropped for General and Extra, I decided to study for the written General Class exam. It took me two tries in June 2007. I failed on the first attempt at the Cliff Cave branch of the St. Louis County Library in Oakville, MO. The following week, after some extra study, I passed on the second attempt. I decided to make it a priority to get my General Class ticket before the question pool changed on July 1, 2007.
I did something different to study for my Extra Class exam...take a crash course. This was offered through the St. Louis and Suburban Radio club at the National Office of Boys Hope-Girls Hope in Bridgeton, MO. I spent one weekend in May 2012 with the Extra crash course after doing plenty of studying. I studied for one more week after wrapping up the crash course before taking the Extra Class exam on May 22, 2012. Unlike with the first two times, I passed on the first try. Again, I took the exam at the Cliff Cave branch of the St. Louis County Library in Oakville.
The equipment has changed over the years; I used a handheld transceiver exclusively as my main station equipment until 2005, first with a Realistic HTX-202, switching to an ICOM IC-2TH Sport when the HTX-202 blew its transmitter. In 2005, I added an MFJ-9402 2 meter SSB transceiver (which blew in 2009), and worked several new states with the rig (driving a Mirage B-34-G linear amp, which I originally purchased for the ICOM HT in 2003, along with a Diamond five-elemebt beam, vertically polarized) and a second Diamond five-element beam (horizontally polarized). The following year, I added a 6 meter station, with a Kenwood TS-60 (which is NOT for sale!) and a halo (which I later donated to the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club for Field Day operations). The six-meter station was purchased from a fellow Ham in Kirkwood. In January 2007, I added a Cushcraft three-element beam for 6 meters in time for the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. I added an HF rig, an ICOM IC-745 purchased at the Winterfest (sponsored by SLSRC) in January 2010. The antenna I use for HF is an MFJ-1778 G5RV antenna, which I purchased new at Winterfest in January 1997 for shortwave listening applications. I built a dipole for SWL use to replace the G5RV in February 2010.
My experience as a shortwave listener, AM and FM broadcast band DXer and TV DXer prepared me for the experiences I have had as an Amateur Radio operator. If anyone asked me who my influences were for Amateur Radio, I would have to credit two people. One is Vern Jackson (WAØRCR) of Wentzville, MO. When he was living in Florissant, he ran the Gateway 160 Meter Net in AM mode from a shack in back of his mother's house. I could hear his station on the image frequency of 950 kHz. After I got the Realistic DX-200 in October 1982, I could also hear Vern on his regular frequency of 1860 kHz. The signal became somewhat weaker after he moved the station to Wentzville. My other influence is on my mother's side of the family. When I was younger, I would occasionally go with my family to the Springfield/Branson area. A second cousin on my mother's side, Jim Marshall (WAØQEV), had an excellent setup when he was living in Rogersville, MO. He even got me hooked on Ctizens' Band radio (his handle was Alligator Man...I was Alligator Boy at first, but after experimenting with several others, I settled on Alligator Junior) back in the 1970s while visiting him in Hollister (near Branson). On a trip to Red Top Mountain State Park, GA in the spring of 1992, I witnessed him operating a Heathkit HF rig with a mobile antenna and a small antenna tuner calling CQ on 75 meters. I've also talked to a few of my fellow DXers on the Amateur bands, such as FM DXer Fred Laun (K3ZO), FM/TV DXer Pat Dyer (WA5IYX), VHF/UHF DXer Peter Baskind (N4LI) and noted AM broadcast band DXer Wayne Heinen (NØPOH).
I'm very fortunate (and proud) to be part of a fraternity that includes country singer Ronnie Milsap, former Oakland Athletics player Joe Rudi (from the World Series champion teams in the early 1970s), rock guitarist Joe Walsh, and audio guru Bob Heil. A radio-related hobby is also a great way to keep a teenager out of trouble...it did in my case.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
E-Layer Skip Propagation
This form of propagation of VHF signals is most common in the summer months, but can happen at any time of the year. This is where signals bounce off this particular layer of the atmosphere, and land up to 1,500 miles away on a single hop. This form of propagation is called E-layer skip, or what's more commonly known to the Amateur Radio and TV/FM DX communities as "E-skip".
From my location near St. Louis, I most commonly get FM signals via this mode from Florida and New England. When the U.S. broadcast television in analog format, I most commonly got areas to the west (such as the Rocky Mountain states), as well as the East Coast. There are times when I can also hear Canadian and Mexican FM signals. With more Canadian stations converting to digital, opportunities to log new Canadian stations are getting fewer. So, I've been monitoring the lowest open FM frequency for skip conditions (in my area, it's 88.5 MHz, since local KDHX 88.1 is blocking 88.3 with their wasteful "HD" service). With Mexico taking it's time with digital TV, it has made it possible for me to log TV stations from outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Since U.S. full-power TV stations converted to digital in 2009, I've been able to add two new countries to my TV DX logbook via double-hop E-skip (Venezuela and Nicaragua). I've noted only a few openings reaching as high as VHF television channel 7; the last opening above 108 MHz I noted was in 2004, when I logged KHB38 Atlantic City, NJ on 162.400 MHz.
It takes just as much (if not more) patience to get a video capture on an analog E-skip signal than on a digital TV signal via the same mode of propagation or even tropo. Recently, I noted openings into Canada and Mexico on analog TV. This video capture was noted on May 29, 2012 from CKND2 (VHF Channel 2) from Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada. The station it relays, CKND in Winnipeg, has already converted to digital. Note the small "Global Winnipeg" ID in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
From my location near St. Louis, I most commonly get FM signals via this mode from Florida and New England. When the U.S. broadcast television in analog format, I most commonly got areas to the west (such as the Rocky Mountain states), as well as the East Coast. There are times when I can also hear Canadian and Mexican FM signals. With more Canadian stations converting to digital, opportunities to log new Canadian stations are getting fewer. So, I've been monitoring the lowest open FM frequency for skip conditions (in my area, it's 88.5 MHz, since local KDHX 88.1 is blocking 88.3 with their wasteful "HD" service). With Mexico taking it's time with digital TV, it has made it possible for me to log TV stations from outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Since U.S. full-power TV stations converted to digital in 2009, I've been able to add two new countries to my TV DX logbook via double-hop E-skip (Venezuela and Nicaragua). I've noted only a few openings reaching as high as VHF television channel 7; the last opening above 108 MHz I noted was in 2004, when I logged KHB38 Atlantic City, NJ on 162.400 MHz.
It takes just as much (if not more) patience to get a video capture on an analog E-skip signal than on a digital TV signal via the same mode of propagation or even tropo. Recently, I noted openings into Canada and Mexico on analog TV. This video capture was noted on May 29, 2012 from CKND2 (VHF Channel 2) from Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada. The station it relays, CKND in Winnipeg, has already converted to digital. Note the small "Global Winnipeg" ID in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
The next afternoon, I was able to get this video capture from XEFB-TV (VHF Channel 2) from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. What gives this one away is the abbreviation "Mty." That abbreviation stands for Monterrey. This is from an infomercial.
The same afternoon, I got this video capture from XEFE-TV (VHF Channel 2) from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. This is across the river from Laredo, TX. The ID is clearly seen on this newscast.
With the conversion of U.S. television to digital, receiving the few VHF-low band DTV stations via E-skip is even more of a challenge. Very few can hold a signal for a long enough period of time to allow me to identify the station, forcing me to rely more often on the PSIP info on the digital channel. The only digital TV station received by E-layer skip that held its signal long enough to allow me to identify the station was WRGB (VHF Channel 6) Schenectady, NY. This was received in July 2009.
Receiving digital TV signals via E-skip is perhaps the most challenging part of TV DXing in the digital age. All of these video captures used a Hauppauge Win-TV-Go video card, which I installed in my computer in 2005 (since the Win-TV-D card for digital TV had been discontinued). A Zenith DTT-901 was used to receive the digital TV DX.
On the FM band, I have been recording more of my E-skip DX on a computer, especially since I added MP3 recording to my Magix Music Maker program. I have stored most of my FM DX on a Box account I added last year. I'm still using a cassette deck to record other FM DX. I don't own an "HD" receiver (and don't really care to own such a receiver, since I have Sirius-XM Satellite Radio), and being 20 miles from the nearest 100 kW FM stations, I can sometimes pull in DX over the digital sidebands of my locals.
My first experience with this type of propagation was in the summer of 1983. I had just added an Archer (Radio Shack) VU-110 to my setup. The antenna was pointed east and in the attic at my original QTH on Lamplight Lane; I pulled in WFSB (VHF Channel 3) Hartford, CT with their 11:00 p.m. newscast. What gave it away was the weather radar centered on the Hartford (CT)/Springfield (MA) area. Later, I was watching "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" on the same channel, and found a commercial mentioning Fayetteville; I thought I was pulling in KYTV in Springfield, MO (which is 91 miles, as the regional jet flies, from Fayetteville, AR). Imagine my surprise when the station IDed as WSTM Syracuse, NY! I would also get such diverse stations as KENW Portales, NM, WEDU Tampa, FL and KIDK Idaho Falls, ID on Channel 3 in the coming years. When I lived in Woodstock and Marietta, GA from 1988 to 1992, I also would get WFSB and WSTM on channel 3. In the Atlanta area, Channel 4 was an open channel. On E-skip, I would get such Channel 4 stations as KGBT-TV Harlingen, TX, KDUH Scottsbluff, NE and even WNBC-TV New York. The last E-skip opening I noted from Georgia, in June of 1992, was quite an experience. Bill Alisauskas in Douglasville tipped me that he was getting KGAN Channel 2 from Cedar Rapids, IA through local WSB-TV. Not only did I pull in KGAN that night, but also KFYR-TV on Channel 5 from Bismarck, ND through local WAGA. I did pull in KGAN one more time from my current QTH in 2008, through local KTVI.
On the FM side, I have had just as diverse of experience with E-skip. I started out with a pair of FM rabbit ears in 1983; the Archer (Radio Shack) Stereo Supreme. One E-skip opening into New England in 1985 gave me one memorable catch: WRDO-FM 92.3 Augusta, ME (with local WIL-FM off). I still have the QSL letter from that reception. I found the address only because the station had an AM affiliate on 1400 kHz. Today, that station is known as WMME (Moose). During the move from Woodstock to Marietta in the summer of 1991, I pulled in a station on 99.1 MHz with Colorado ads. On this frequency back then, I could count on either hearing Macon, GA or Huntsville, AL. The station turned out to be KUAD Windsor, CO. Even Chicago made it in via E-skip while I was in Georgia (WLIT 93.9...even with a local on 94.1). Since returning to Hazelwood in 1992 (it'll be 20 years on June 29), I've even been able to null out my locals to pull in E-skip. For example, I have been able to null out KDHX 88.1 to pull in WJIS Bradenton, FL (June 28, 1994) and KGNZ Abilene, TX (June 27, 1994). More recently, I was able to null out KPNT 105.7 to pull in CIGL Laval, PQ (July 29, 2009). One country I didn't log while I was in Georgia that I've logged in Missouri: Canada. The only other English-speaking country I logged from Georgia was Belize on 88.9 in 1991 (through semi-local WMBW Chattanooga, TN). My having taken one year of college level Spanish and one semester of college level French have helped me tremendously in identifying the Mexican and French Canadian stations.
I began operating on 6 Meters in 2006, after being a 2 meter operator exclusively since I was first licensed in 1992. So far, I've worked some 170 grid squares (2 degrees longitude by one degree latitude wide) on 6 Meters, mainly in single sideband. I've also worked several stations in AM mode, and one grid square each in FM and CW modes. I've worked the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Antigua, Puerto Rico, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic on 6 meters.
This is one of the most interesting forms of VHF signal propagation, in my honest opinion.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
States I've Logged via More than One Mode of Propagation
Of course, there's several different modes of propagation on FM, analog and digital TV. The types of propagation I have logged here have been tropospheric enhancement, E-layer skip (single and double hop), and meteor scatter. I've noted several states that I've pulled in stations via more than one mode of propagation. There are two markets I've pulled in stations via both tropospheric enhancement and E-layer skip: Pierre, SD (645 miles) and Buffalo, NY (665 miles).
Here are the states I've noted via two or more modes of propagation:
ALABAMA - Most stations via tropospheric enhancement, although WZEW 92.1 in Fairhope (a Mobile suburb) was noted via E-skip on July 28, 2009 at 1616 CDT (2116 UTC). All of the other Alabama FMs have been via tropo, concentrated on Huntsville, Florence/Muscle Shoals and Birmingham, with notable exceptions being WHHY 101.9 Montgomery on May 12, 2011 and WZBQ 94.1 Carrollton on July 28, 1998. On analog TV, it's all been tropospheric enhancement, primarily in Alabama north of a Tuscaloosa-Phenix City line, with the only exceptions being WHOA 32 (now WNCF) Montgomery on January 16, 1995 and WIIQ 41 Demopolis on November 11, 2000.
FLORIDA - The first tropo from Florida was noted on May 12, 2011 with the log of WKSM 99.5 Fort Walton Beach at 0015 CDT (0515 UTC). Also noted was NOAA Weather Radio station KEC86 on 162.400 MHz from Pensacola on May 11, 2011 at 2355 CDT (May 12 0455 UTC). 55 FM stations were noted via E-skip before pulling in WKSM via tropo. All analog TV loggings have been on E-skip propagation. Pensacola is another market I've noted via both tropo and E-skip (the other Pensacola station being an FM, WMEZ 94.1, logged on May 14, 1994.)
GEORGIA - I lived in this state from 1988 to 1992, and the one of only two I've received via three modes of propagation. The only meteor scatter log from the Empire State of the South is WSTR 94.1 in Smyrna (an Atlanta suburb), heard on November 16, 1998. The same station was heard again via tropospheric enhancement in the summer of 2005. All of the tropo on FM came from metro Atlanta, save for WTSH 107.1 in Rockmart (now licensed to nearby Aragon), which serves the Rome market. On TV, all tropo has been UHF and in analog, and all from metro Atlanta save for WLTZ 38 in Columbus, first logged in January 1995, along with GPTV stations WJSP-TV 28 in Warm Springs/Columbus (November 2000) and WCLP 18 Chatsworth/Dalton (July 2005). Even over-the-air TBS made it in (then WTBS 17) on November 12, 2006. All of the E-skip logged from Georgia has been on the Atlantic coast (from Savannah down to the Florida line). Only one Georgia analog TV station was noted via E-skip: WSAV 3 Savannah made several visits a year to my suburban St. Louis shack between 1993 and 2009.
LOUISIANA - I have logged one station via E-skip and tropo from the only state where their political subdivisions are called Parishes. That station is WLMG 101.9 New Orleans, logged via E-skip on July 5, 2000 and via tropo in the spring of 2003. The other FM stations in Louisiana have been logged via E-skip. Only one analog TV station was ever logged from the Sportsman's Paradise: KATC 3 Lafayette, noted on June 5, 2005 at 1153 CDT (1653 UTC).
MINNESOTA - All of the FM stations I've logged from the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been via tropo, save for KQDS 94.9 Duluth, logged via E-skip on June 8, 2008 at 1847 CDT (2347 UTC). All of the TV stations have been logged via tropo: KTTC 10 Rochester and three from Minneapolis on UHF. All analog TV stations were logged on August 30, 2000.
NEBRASKA - All but one analog TV station from the Cornhusker State have been logged via tropo, along with all 21 FM stations logged. The only station logged from Nebraska via E-skip was KDUH 4 Scottsbluff, noted on June 5, 2006 at 2000 CDT (June 6 0100 UTC), floating under local KMOV.
NEW YORK - I've logged my fair share of E-skip from the Empire State, but I've also noted one FM and two analog UHF TV stations from Buffalo via tropo. The tropo catches from Buffalo are: WNED-TV 17 on August 23, 1995 at 2145 CDT (August 24 0245 UTC), WUTV 29 on August 16, 1999 at 2022 CDT (August 17 0122 UTC) and WDCX 99.5 on the same night at 2255 CDT (0355 UTC). Via E-skip, the Buffalo stations I've logged were WBUF 92.9 on May 25, 2003 at 1651 CDT (2151 UTC), WGRZ 2 on June 1, 2009 at 1930 CDT (June 2 0030 UTC) and WIVB 4 on the same night at 1931 CDT (0031 UTC), both floating under locals KTVI and KMOV. This state was also where I pulled in my second digital TV station via E-skip: WRGB 6 Schenectady on July 29, 2009 at 1628 CDT (2128 UTC).
NORTH CAROLINA - This is the other state I've logged via three different modes of propagation. Via meteor scatter, I noted WZKB 94.3 Wallace on November 16, 1998 at 2315 CST (November 17 0515 UTC). Via tropo, I noted WMIT 106.9 Black Mountain (Asheville) on June 29, 2011 at 2320 CDT (June 30 0420 UTC). All of the analog TV stations I received have been via E-skip. I have noted WUND 2 from two cities of license: from Columbia on July 6, 1999 and Edenton on June 12, 2009 (the latter after KTVI switched off its analog transmitter at 0000 CDT/0500 UTC). Three others were noted on June 12, 2009 via E-skip: WFMY 2 Greensboro, WBTV 3 Charlotte and WUNC-TV 4 Chapel Hill (Raleigh/Durham).
PENNSYLVANIA - All of the FM stations I've heard from the Keystone State has been via E-skip, and all but one from Philadelphia. The only non-Philly FM noted from this location has been WJTL 90.3 Lancaster on July 7, 2009 at 1725 CDT (2225 UTC). All VHF analog TV stations have been noted via E-skip: two from Philadelphia (KYW-TV 3 and WPVI 6) and one from the State College area (WPSX 3, now WPSU). Via tropo, both Pennsylvania stations have been on UHF analog TV. WPGH 53 Pittsburgh was noted on August 24, 1995 at 0007 CDT (0507 UTC) through WWHO in Ohio. WQLN-TV 54 Erie was noted on August 16, 1999 at 2019 CDT (August 17 0119 UTC) in a pledge break. I would visit Erie four times between August 2008 and April 2010; it's a nice town, although the locals sometimes love to joke about it.
SOUTH DAKOTA - Pierre has been another market I've logged via both tropo and E-skip. Via tropo, I logged KTSD 10 on July 19, 2003 at 0800 CDT (1300 UTC). Via E-skip, I logged KGFX-FM 92.7 on June 18, 2005 at 1121 CDT (1621 UTC). One analog TV station has been noted via two modes of propagation. KPLO 6 Reliance (Pierre) was noted on June 21, 2001 at 1432 CDT (1932 UTC) via E-skip, and on the morning of July 19, 2003 via tropo. Most of the E-skip logs on FM have been from the Rapid City area, while most of the tropo logs on FM have been from the eastern part of the state. Both KOTA-TV and KOTA-DT have been noted at this location: KOTA-TV 3 was first noted on June 22, 1999 at 1850 CDT (2350 UTC), while KOTA-DT 2 decoded its PSIP on the third sub-channel on June 29, 2010 at 1200 CDT (1700 UTC). On the TV side via tropo, it's also been east of Pierre, mostly from Sioux Falls.
UTAH - This is the only state where tropo was NOT noted as the second mode of propagation. It's been E-skip and meteor scatter to Mormon Country. The only meteor scatter I noted from Utah was KURR 99.5 Bountiful, noted on November 18, 2000 at 0136 CST (0736 UTC). The station was also noted via E-skip the following summer. All but four FM stations logged have been from the Salt Lake City region.
VIRGINIA - Yes, I've also logged the birth state of eight U.S. Presidents (from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson) via two modes of propagation. All 17 FM stations logged have been via E-skip, mainly from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Richmond/Petersburg markets and the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. On the analog TV side, I've logged my E-skip on VHF channels 3 and 6. WTKR 3 Norfolk and WTVR-TV 6 Richmond were both noted on the evening of July 6, 1999, while WHSV 3 Harrisonburg was noted on the afternoon of June 10, 2006. Via tropo, both stations noted have been UHF TV stations. WLFG 68 Grundy was noted on August 25, 2003 at 2247 CDT (August 26 0347); WSBN 47 Norton was noted on August 3, 2008 at 2115 CDT (August 4 0215 UTC).
WISCONSIN - All of the FM stations logged from America's Dairyland have been via tropo; some parts of the state are less than 300 miles (as the crow flies) from my suburban St. Louis QTH. 17 analog TV stations logged have been via tropo, mainly from Milwaukee and Madison. One analog TV station was seen via E-skip. That station was KBJR 6 in Superior, noted on June 8, 2008 at 1924 CDT (June 9 0024 UTC).
In addition to the states above, I've logged one Canadian province via tropo and E-skip:
ONTARIO - The first analog TV stations from Ontario were pulled in on the tropo opening on December 26-27, 1994. CKCO3 42 Sarnia was the first one noted, on December 26, 1994 at 1949 CST (December 27 0149 UTC). That was followed by five more on December 27, 1994 between 0100 and 0430 CST (0700-1030 UTC): CICO18 18 London, CIII29 29 Sarnia, CICO32 32 Windsor, CICA 19 Toronto and CICO59 59 Chatham. The first E-skip from Ontario wasn't noted until May 30, 1997, when I noted CKVR 3 Barrie at 1732 CDT (2232 UTC). On FM, all my logs have been via E-skip, save for CJBC-FM 90.3 Toronto on May 29, 2000 at 2140 CDT (May 30 0240 UTC). Most of the E-skip logs on TV came after locals KTVI, KMOV and KSDK shut off their analog transmitters on June 12, 2009.
Here are the states I've noted via two or more modes of propagation:
ALABAMA - Most stations via tropospheric enhancement, although WZEW 92.1 in Fairhope (a Mobile suburb) was noted via E-skip on July 28, 2009 at 1616 CDT (2116 UTC). All of the other Alabama FMs have been via tropo, concentrated on Huntsville, Florence/Muscle Shoals and Birmingham, with notable exceptions being WHHY 101.9 Montgomery on May 12, 2011 and WZBQ 94.1 Carrollton on July 28, 1998. On analog TV, it's all been tropospheric enhancement, primarily in Alabama north of a Tuscaloosa-Phenix City line, with the only exceptions being WHOA 32 (now WNCF) Montgomery on January 16, 1995 and WIIQ 41 Demopolis on November 11, 2000.
FLORIDA - The first tropo from Florida was noted on May 12, 2011 with the log of WKSM 99.5 Fort Walton Beach at 0015 CDT (0515 UTC). Also noted was NOAA Weather Radio station KEC86 on 162.400 MHz from Pensacola on May 11, 2011 at 2355 CDT (May 12 0455 UTC). 55 FM stations were noted via E-skip before pulling in WKSM via tropo. All analog TV loggings have been on E-skip propagation. Pensacola is another market I've noted via both tropo and E-skip (the other Pensacola station being an FM, WMEZ 94.1, logged on May 14, 1994.)
GEORGIA - I lived in this state from 1988 to 1992, and the one of only two I've received via three modes of propagation. The only meteor scatter log from the Empire State of the South is WSTR 94.1 in Smyrna (an Atlanta suburb), heard on November 16, 1998. The same station was heard again via tropospheric enhancement in the summer of 2005. All of the tropo on FM came from metro Atlanta, save for WTSH 107.1 in Rockmart (now licensed to nearby Aragon), which serves the Rome market. On TV, all tropo has been UHF and in analog, and all from metro Atlanta save for WLTZ 38 in Columbus, first logged in January 1995, along with GPTV stations WJSP-TV 28 in Warm Springs/Columbus (November 2000) and WCLP 18 Chatsworth/Dalton (July 2005). Even over-the-air TBS made it in (then WTBS 17) on November 12, 2006. All of the E-skip logged from Georgia has been on the Atlantic coast (from Savannah down to the Florida line). Only one Georgia analog TV station was noted via E-skip: WSAV 3 Savannah made several visits a year to my suburban St. Louis shack between 1993 and 2009.
LOUISIANA - I have logged one station via E-skip and tropo from the only state where their political subdivisions are called Parishes. That station is WLMG 101.9 New Orleans, logged via E-skip on July 5, 2000 and via tropo in the spring of 2003. The other FM stations in Louisiana have been logged via E-skip. Only one analog TV station was ever logged from the Sportsman's Paradise: KATC 3 Lafayette, noted on June 5, 2005 at 1153 CDT (1653 UTC).
MINNESOTA - All of the FM stations I've logged from the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been via tropo, save for KQDS 94.9 Duluth, logged via E-skip on June 8, 2008 at 1847 CDT (2347 UTC). All of the TV stations have been logged via tropo: KTTC 10 Rochester and three from Minneapolis on UHF. All analog TV stations were logged on August 30, 2000.
NEBRASKA - All but one analog TV station from the Cornhusker State have been logged via tropo, along with all 21 FM stations logged. The only station logged from Nebraska via E-skip was KDUH 4 Scottsbluff, noted on June 5, 2006 at 2000 CDT (June 6 0100 UTC), floating under local KMOV.
NEW YORK - I've logged my fair share of E-skip from the Empire State, but I've also noted one FM and two analog UHF TV stations from Buffalo via tropo. The tropo catches from Buffalo are: WNED-TV 17 on August 23, 1995 at 2145 CDT (August 24 0245 UTC), WUTV 29 on August 16, 1999 at 2022 CDT (August 17 0122 UTC) and WDCX 99.5 on the same night at 2255 CDT (0355 UTC). Via E-skip, the Buffalo stations I've logged were WBUF 92.9 on May 25, 2003 at 1651 CDT (2151 UTC), WGRZ 2 on June 1, 2009 at 1930 CDT (June 2 0030 UTC) and WIVB 4 on the same night at 1931 CDT (0031 UTC), both floating under locals KTVI and KMOV. This state was also where I pulled in my second digital TV station via E-skip: WRGB 6 Schenectady on July 29, 2009 at 1628 CDT (2128 UTC).
NORTH CAROLINA - This is the other state I've logged via three different modes of propagation. Via meteor scatter, I noted WZKB 94.3 Wallace on November 16, 1998 at 2315 CST (November 17 0515 UTC). Via tropo, I noted WMIT 106.9 Black Mountain (Asheville) on June 29, 2011 at 2320 CDT (June 30 0420 UTC). All of the analog TV stations I received have been via E-skip. I have noted WUND 2 from two cities of license: from Columbia on July 6, 1999 and Edenton on June 12, 2009 (the latter after KTVI switched off its analog transmitter at 0000 CDT/0500 UTC). Three others were noted on June 12, 2009 via E-skip: WFMY 2 Greensboro, WBTV 3 Charlotte and WUNC-TV 4 Chapel Hill (Raleigh/Durham).
PENNSYLVANIA - All of the FM stations I've heard from the Keystone State has been via E-skip, and all but one from Philadelphia. The only non-Philly FM noted from this location has been WJTL 90.3 Lancaster on July 7, 2009 at 1725 CDT (2225 UTC). All VHF analog TV stations have been noted via E-skip: two from Philadelphia (KYW-TV 3 and WPVI 6) and one from the State College area (WPSX 3, now WPSU). Via tropo, both Pennsylvania stations have been on UHF analog TV. WPGH 53 Pittsburgh was noted on August 24, 1995 at 0007 CDT (0507 UTC) through WWHO in Ohio. WQLN-TV 54 Erie was noted on August 16, 1999 at 2019 CDT (August 17 0119 UTC) in a pledge break. I would visit Erie four times between August 2008 and April 2010; it's a nice town, although the locals sometimes love to joke about it.
SOUTH DAKOTA - Pierre has been another market I've logged via both tropo and E-skip. Via tropo, I logged KTSD 10 on July 19, 2003 at 0800 CDT (1300 UTC). Via E-skip, I logged KGFX-FM 92.7 on June 18, 2005 at 1121 CDT (1621 UTC). One analog TV station has been noted via two modes of propagation. KPLO 6 Reliance (Pierre) was noted on June 21, 2001 at 1432 CDT (1932 UTC) via E-skip, and on the morning of July 19, 2003 via tropo. Most of the E-skip logs on FM have been from the Rapid City area, while most of the tropo logs on FM have been from the eastern part of the state. Both KOTA-TV and KOTA-DT have been noted at this location: KOTA-TV 3 was first noted on June 22, 1999 at 1850 CDT (2350 UTC), while KOTA-DT 2 decoded its PSIP on the third sub-channel on June 29, 2010 at 1200 CDT (1700 UTC). On the TV side via tropo, it's also been east of Pierre, mostly from Sioux Falls.
UTAH - This is the only state where tropo was NOT noted as the second mode of propagation. It's been E-skip and meteor scatter to Mormon Country. The only meteor scatter I noted from Utah was KURR 99.5 Bountiful, noted on November 18, 2000 at 0136 CST (0736 UTC). The station was also noted via E-skip the following summer. All but four FM stations logged have been from the Salt Lake City region.
VIRGINIA - Yes, I've also logged the birth state of eight U.S. Presidents (from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson) via two modes of propagation. All 17 FM stations logged have been via E-skip, mainly from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Richmond/Petersburg markets and the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. On the analog TV side, I've logged my E-skip on VHF channels 3 and 6. WTKR 3 Norfolk and WTVR-TV 6 Richmond were both noted on the evening of July 6, 1999, while WHSV 3 Harrisonburg was noted on the afternoon of June 10, 2006. Via tropo, both stations noted have been UHF TV stations. WLFG 68 Grundy was noted on August 25, 2003 at 2247 CDT (August 26 0347); WSBN 47 Norton was noted on August 3, 2008 at 2115 CDT (August 4 0215 UTC).
WISCONSIN - All of the FM stations logged from America's Dairyland have been via tropo; some parts of the state are less than 300 miles (as the crow flies) from my suburban St. Louis QTH. 17 analog TV stations logged have been via tropo, mainly from Milwaukee and Madison. One analog TV station was seen via E-skip. That station was KBJR 6 in Superior, noted on June 8, 2008 at 1924 CDT (June 9 0024 UTC).
In addition to the states above, I've logged one Canadian province via tropo and E-skip:
ONTARIO - The first analog TV stations from Ontario were pulled in on the tropo opening on December 26-27, 1994. CKCO3 42 Sarnia was the first one noted, on December 26, 1994 at 1949 CST (December 27 0149 UTC). That was followed by five more on December 27, 1994 between 0100 and 0430 CST (0700-1030 UTC): CICO18 18 London, CIII29 29 Sarnia, CICO32 32 Windsor, CICA 19 Toronto and CICO59 59 Chatham. The first E-skip from Ontario wasn't noted until May 30, 1997, when I noted CKVR 3 Barrie at 1732 CDT (2232 UTC). On FM, all my logs have been via E-skip, save for CJBC-FM 90.3 Toronto on May 29, 2000 at 2140 CDT (May 30 0240 UTC). Most of the E-skip logs on TV came after locals KTVI, KMOV and KSDK shut off their analog transmitters on June 12, 2009.
First E-Skip of the 2012 Season
Over the weekend of May 5-6, I noted my first E-skip of the 2012 season. After a Valentine's Day tropo opening into southwest Missouri and a March opening into Illinois and Iowa, I thought I was due for some E-skip.
May 5 was, of course, Cinco de Mayo. While it provides people on this side of the border an excuse to drink plenty of Cuervo Gold or Corona beer (beer is called "cerveza" in Spanish), it has more of a historical meaning in Mexico, because it celebrates a Mexican military victory over France in 1862.
The E-skip began at 4:00 p.m. local time (2100 UTC), when I pulled in wrestling with Spanish commentary on VHF Channel 2 in analog. The network ID was Azteca 7 (Azteca Siete); checking Fred Cantu's Mexican station list, this is XHTAU in Tampico, Tamaulipas. I also noted another station on VHF Channel 4 in analog, carrying military ceremonies to mark the Mexican victory over France 150 years ago, and to honor those who gave their lives defending Mexico from the French. This was around 4:30 p.m. local time (2130 UTC). The opening reached into the lower part of the FM broadcast band. At 4:05 p.m. local time (2105 UTC), XHMU Tampico, Tamaulipas was heard on 90.1 MHz with a "La Poderosa 90.1" ID, local spots and Ranchera music in Spanish. It's nice to hear someone other than Reynosa or Chihuahua on 90.1 MHz.
On May 6, the E-skip turned to the six meter (50-54 MHz) Amateur Radio band. Over the past several days, I've made it a habit to monitor 50.125 MHz to hear DX as it comes through. On May 5, I heard WD4AB from the Miami, FL area, which I had worked previously. On May 6, I worked my first E-skip of the summer, when I worked N7AMA from the Phoenix, AZ area. When working Amateur Radio stations on the VHF and UHF bands, an operator has to announce the grid square he or she is transmitting from. In this case, my grid square is EM48. Miami is in grid EL95, while Phoenix is in DM33. This map is from an Amateur Radio-related Web site.
So far, besides the U.S., Canada and Mexico, I've also worked the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on six meters, and have all but Cuba confirmed.
The same evening, I officially logged WMSH 90.3 Sparta, IL (55 miles via ground wave) for my 1,150th FM station. I expect to pull in my 1,200th FM station from my present location in 2012. I have a long way to go for my FM totals to catch up with my AM total of 1,312. My analog TV totals still stands at 556, along with 143 digital TV stations and 101 NOAA Weather Radio stations.
May 5 was, of course, Cinco de Mayo. While it provides people on this side of the border an excuse to drink plenty of Cuervo Gold or Corona beer (beer is called "cerveza" in Spanish), it has more of a historical meaning in Mexico, because it celebrates a Mexican military victory over France in 1862.
The E-skip began at 4:00 p.m. local time (2100 UTC), when I pulled in wrestling with Spanish commentary on VHF Channel 2 in analog. The network ID was Azteca 7 (Azteca Siete); checking Fred Cantu's Mexican station list, this is XHTAU in Tampico, Tamaulipas. I also noted another station on VHF Channel 4 in analog, carrying military ceremonies to mark the Mexican victory over France 150 years ago, and to honor those who gave their lives defending Mexico from the French. This was around 4:30 p.m. local time (2130 UTC). The opening reached into the lower part of the FM broadcast band. At 4:05 p.m. local time (2105 UTC), XHMU Tampico, Tamaulipas was heard on 90.1 MHz with a "La Poderosa 90.1" ID, local spots and Ranchera music in Spanish. It's nice to hear someone other than Reynosa or Chihuahua on 90.1 MHz.
On May 6, the E-skip turned to the six meter (50-54 MHz) Amateur Radio band. Over the past several days, I've made it a habit to monitor 50.125 MHz to hear DX as it comes through. On May 5, I heard WD4AB from the Miami, FL area, which I had worked previously. On May 6, I worked my first E-skip of the summer, when I worked N7AMA from the Phoenix, AZ area. When working Amateur Radio stations on the VHF and UHF bands, an operator has to announce the grid square he or she is transmitting from. In this case, my grid square is EM48. Miami is in grid EL95, while Phoenix is in DM33. This map is from an Amateur Radio-related Web site.
The same evening, I officially logged WMSH 90.3 Sparta, IL (55 miles via ground wave) for my 1,150th FM station. I expect to pull in my 1,200th FM station from my present location in 2012. I have a long way to go for my FM totals to catch up with my AM total of 1,312. My analog TV totals still stands at 556, along with 143 digital TV stations and 101 NOAA Weather Radio stations.
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