Thanks for the tip. I'll check tomorrow. A week or two ago I was getting the NOAA station from Cleveland on my weather radio.

Fitz wrote:

BTW whenever there is a tropo for some reason I get a distorted signal for CHFI at 87.7.  Would anyone know why that is ?

You might be picking up an image frequency of CHFI's signal on 98.1 MHz.  Subtracting the 10.7 MHz intermediate frequency in the radio tuner would put it close by at 87.4.

Dxers here and everywhere 800 miles radius from here have been having a blast with the tropo. I had just shy of shy of Kansas City and others from Missouri, Iowa, etc...Sept 1-2. This afternoon/evening Niagara area DXers had NC SC and Virginia. New Jersey had Illinois. Distances normally achieved via e-skip came in by tropospheric ducting. Lots of closer in stations in the 200-400 mile rage were also strong; that's what you folks (above) tapped into. About a week prior I pulled an all-nighter at Snowball ON (Dufferin and Hwy 9) and  had as far as Memphis!

turkeytop wrote:

Fitz wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

Thanks for the tip. I'll check tomorrow. A week or two ago I was getting the NOAA station from Cleveland on my weather radio.

Might be gone by Tomorrow. Right now I am listening to Eagle 107.5 from Wheeling West Virginia. 
 

So, what are you using? Right now I'm in the basement with only a portable radio with no outdoor antenna. Not picking up anything unusual.
 

Yes you will  need to get out of the basement and get a better tuner.  I am on the second floor and using a Sony HD radio that has excellent sensitivity and selectivity. I have a pair of rabbit ears connected to an amplifier. A twist of the antenna has gotten me more distant stations on common Buffalo frequencies like 104.1 and 98.5 and I even got something from the US on the Move FM frequency in Niagara,

In fact on 98.5 I even got a RDS reading and the HD indicator was blinking but never locked in. The station is from Cleveland. I have gotten it before a few years ago.

Tried a few times to post a pic of the RDS but no luck. May be a carryover problem from the one the site experienced earlier in the week.



 

Last edited by Fitz (September 3, 2023 10:58 pm)

With Proud 103.9 permanently off the air, there's Woodstock's 103.9 or Erie's Star 104.  Either one will now be easier to pick up, I gather...

Radiowiz wrote:

With Proud 103.9 permanently off the air, there's Woodstock's 103.9 or Erie's Star 104.  Either one will now be easier to pick up, I gather...

For me downtown, 103.9 is now CBC Music Peterborough.
 

So, I tried it today outside. Nothing really long haul. I got stations from Erie PA, Youngtown OH, Anarbor MI and Wingham ON. Not exactly rare catches around here but it isn't typical. This was rare. I tried it this evening and I was getting CJRT. The first time I've ever got it out here in London.

Today I discovered by accident that reception is really enhanced when the radio's whip antenne is in contact with the metal umbrella pole.


 

And so the question has to be asked - what is your location? Are you in the GTA or just outside of it where there's perhaps less interference? And have you hooked this up to an outside antenna? I've tried to get what you're getting but most of it is just static.  

Anyway, congrats on pulling those in. Very impressive. 

turkeytop wrote:

I'm going back out right now to try for that one.
 

Oops. forget that. We have a local on 106.9.

Fitz wrote:

A good radio and antenna are essential but a car radio may also produce surprising results.


 

Before I retired, I spent a lot of time driving the 401 between London and Windsor. That two hour drive time was my DX time on the car radio. I quite often got some rare DX catches.
 

When I was just west of Hamilton, I could frequently get 107.3 when they were Smooth Jazz out of Ohio. Also 91.9 (used to be Bob FM) out of Lindsay would come in as would 98.9 from Kingston, 94.9 from Wingham, as well as many of the London stations.

107.5 Dave is actually out of Cambridge/Kitchener not London.

Fitz wrote:

6. Magic 105.7 Cleveland 
 

Impressive. CHRE comes in like a local for me downtown.

turkeytop wrote:

Fitz wrote:

I will probably post a few clips of the DX catches recently.

This one is from Sept 2 and 3. Consists of stations mainly from Ohio, some on frequencies that have other nearby signals.

1. Rock 106.9 Canton Ohio WRQK
2. WFXJ The Fox Ashtabula, Ohio
3.. Jack 102.3 London
4. WNCX Cleveland 98.5
5. 106.9 WMIT The Light FM. Black Mountain, North Carolina
6. Magic 105.7 Cleveland 
7. Q 104.1 WQAL Cleveland
8. WREQ 97.1 Light Mix FM  Ashtabula, Ohio
9. CKSY 94.3. Chatham Kent

audio quality on the first station is not great but some come in quite well.

Will post more clips as time permits

Sept 2 and 3 DX
 

What's your QTH?
 

Pickering, almost at the border of Scarborough.

turkeytop wrote:

Fitz wrote:

 
Pickering, almost at the border of Scarborough.

Wow. That's pretty impressive, then.
 

This was really the first time I had tried to DX this summer and I would have probably missed this opportunity had it not been for the fact that I got 93.9 from Windsor while driving on Saturday afternoon. Last summer there was one day I was getting stations from Nebraska and North Dakota playing farm reports and I thought I was recording them but I did not press the record button on the reel to reel.

The pattern seems to have changed now and all that's available the last time I checked was Kingston, Brockville, Erie and various parts of NY state.

This is my current DX set up BTW. I am no longer able to post photos properly on the board so here is a link:

DX Setup 

 

Last edited by Fitz (September 5, 2023 11:14 pm)

turkeytop wrote:

This is indoors, inside your house?

Yes a temp set up which I move sometimes  and right now it is on the second floor. 

I see you had the same problem in posting the pic. Only an enlarged partial image appears.