DX'ing on 101.1 FM

[ScottBurns]

I was DX'ing on 101.1 FM today, and I noticed a station broadcasting in French. I faintly picked up the station in Boynton Beach, but it came in much more clearly closer to the water in Lake Worth. Is it a pirate? Or a low-power FM?

 

[w9wi]

I was DX'ing on 101.1 FM today, and I noticed a station broadcasting in French. I faintly picked up the station in Boynton Beach, but it came in much more clearly closer to the water in Lake Worth. Is it a pirate? Or a low-power FM?

There was an off-season skip opening today; you may well have been hearing Canada.

There are three 101.1 stations in Quebec:
- Sherbrooke 35kw, Chaine Culturelle with cultural & classical-music programs
- Ste.-Anne-des-Monts 91kw, Radio-Canada with mostly spoken-word programs
- Ste.-Perpetue 50w, format unknown

There's also a French station in Edmundston, New Brunswick, 1kw.

 

[ScottBurns]

Thanks for the info. That would have been one heck of an opening, if I was dx'ing Canada.

 

[w9wi]

Thanks for the info. That would have been one heck of an opening, if I was dx'ing Canada.

Such "sporadic-E" openings are not particularly unusual in the early summer, say from mid-May though the end of July. I'd say to expect one about once a week.

They are pretty unusual in October though!

Distances covered are generally between about 700 and about 1,400 miles. (closer-in DX is uaually due to a different phenomonon)

I wonder if, from your location, Haiti or other French-speaking countries in the Caribbean are also a possibility?

 

[ScottBurns]

I would not be surprised if it was indeed from Haiti. The music they played sounded a bit Caribbean, but the station featured mostly talk. It as audible this morning, but by afternoon, it was gone.

 

[Radio-X]

I remember in my twice-yearly visits to Dania to see family and play poker that there are TONS of pirates down there. I recall 101.1 being one of the frequencies I always heard, along with 93.5, 96.1, 99.5, and 97.7.

They were all Haitian, with the exception of 93.5 and a pretty good reggae pirate last time I was down there on 104.7.

I just remember any long-distance listening there was impossible. Maybe it was the proximity to the towers in Miramar or just all the dang pirates down there!

Radio-X