Had to go out in the second half of the afternoon but I left a tape running on WTIX FM New Orleans and it turned out not too bad. The signal held for a while. I used a metal tape but forgot to engage the metal position or the Dolby when recoding and so I left those off at playback.

Have to have an excuse to use my AM stereo transmitter and so the tape was played via AM stereo. You can pretend this is a DX of an AM stereo air check. DX being the operative word.thanks to a good E Skip.

The station uses some of the imaging and jingles that were used by an AM top 40 station by the same name. Track list is interesting Chicago with the Beach Boys on backing vocals, Sookie Sookie, New Orleans favs The Meters with a fine track and some not so great bubblebum and I say that as a fan of bubblegum.

WTIX FM 94.3 via AM Stereo Jul 19  2026

Last edited by Fitz (July 19, 2026 8:23 pm)

mace wrote:

One thing I have noticed. The stations in Dothan,Ala, Pittsburgh, Ks and New Orleans that were received in the GTA recently are all 100,000 watt blowtorches. Are lower powered FM's, like our Toronto stations affected by e-skip as well? Grand Rapids, Mi has two monster signals that likely make it down south when e-skip conditions arise. 93.7 WBCT [320k] and 105.7 WSRW 265K. Although the latter might be less likely. I can't recall getting e-skip above CHUM FM.

Pretty sure I was getting Latin stations from Florida on 106.7 and 107.5. A few other stations at 107.5 as well. Don't think there's a clear ID on those unfortunately.
 

Yesterday was wild. For an entire hour-plus midday it was wall to wall from Weyburn SK to Kenora ON, at my North Kawarthas site.

NW wrote:

Fitz wrote:

mace wrote:

One thing I have noticed. The stations in Dothan,Ala, Pittsburgh, Ks and New Orleans that were received in the GTA recently are all 100,000 watt blowtorches. Are lower powered FM's, like our Toronto stations affected by e-skip as well? Grand Rapids, Mi has two monster signals that likely make it down south when e-skip conditions arise. 93.7 WBCT [320k] and 105.7 WSRW 265K. Although the latter might be less likely. I can't recall getting e-skip above CHUM FM.

Pretty sure I was getting Latin stations from Florida on 106.7 and 107.5. A few other stations at 107.5 as well. Don't think there's a clear ID on those unfortunately.
 

Around 1 p.m. yesterday in North York I had WXDJ-Fort Lauderdale on 106.7 (matching up to their webstream) and on 107.5 it was WAMR-fm Miami with the "Amor" slogan.
 

Forgot that I got an RDS reading on WAMR.

 

NW wrote:

Fitz wrote:

mace wrote:

One thing I have noticed. The stations in Dothan,Ala, Pittsburgh, Ks and New Orleans that were received in the GTA recently are all 100,000 watt blowtorches. Are lower powered FM's, like our Toronto stations affected by e-skip as well? Grand Rapids, Mi has two monster signals that likely make it down south when e-skip conditions arise. 93.7 WBCT [320k] and 105.7 WSRW 265K. Although the latter might be less likely. I can't recall getting e-skip above CHUM FM.

Pretty sure I was getting Latin stations from Florida on 106.7 and 107.5. A few other stations at 107.5 as well. Don't think there's a clear ID on those unfortunately.
 

Around 1 p.m. yesterday in North York I had WXDJ-Fort Lauderdale on 106.7 (matching up to their webstream) and on 107.5 it was WAMR-fm Miami with the "Amor" slogan.
 

I also caught both of those spanish stations, except I heard them Saturday around 10:30am. There was a brief and sudden opening and they faded before I could get an ID. They were then replaced with stations from central Florida. Both of those faded by 10:45am. Also heard something country-like on 104.1.

This evening, I heard WJCT Jacksonville on 89.9. So far this season, the E-openings I've stumbled upon have been weak.

markow202 wrote:

The wildfire smoke must also be an aid to the tropo.    Buffalo has been coming in all day in Barrie clearly on radio.  Aswell, 97.7 St Catharines has over taken Max 97.7 FM Wasaga Beach it seems. 

You're not the only one who wondered about this. How much is the smoke helping in the amazing DX we've been experiencing these past few days? 

According to a TV meteorologist in Cleveland, it has an effect - but only when you combine it with the high temperatures that come with our recent heat domes. 

“There was no heat dome in 2023. In fact, it was a below-average pattern with an upper-level low and northeast wind,” (WEWS-TV meteorologist Allan) Nosoff explained. “With no heat and humidity to create the initial inversion, there is no layer to ‘trap’ the smoke and amplify the tropospheric ducting."

What Role Does Wildfire Smoke Play on Radio Signals?