DX Alert for night owls

It's just after 1 a.m. here in the Boston area (Stoneham) on Thu. 9/30/2010, and it's been a rather interesting evening on the FM band. Lots of rimshots coming in as locals, and two stations that I've never received before. Here are the highlights of what I've picked up so far over the course of the evening:

89.3 WUMD North Dartmouth (in strong at times)
90.1 WMEA Portland, ME (very clear and listenable, usually very weak when I do receive it, which is often)
90.5 WSMA Scituate, MA (battling it out with WICN Worcester)
91.7 something competing with regular WMWM Salem, but haven't got an ID
93.1 WMGX Portland, ME (very weak, but this is a fairly regular pick-up during times of tropo)
93.3 WSNE Taunton, MA (a regular, but never quite as clear as it is tonight, & with RDS info)
94.1 WHJY Providence (a regular, but first-time ever picking up HD; alas, no sign of the subchannel)
95.1 WXTK Cape Cod (almost never can pick up this station, has been coming in crystal clear all evening)
95.3 Kiss FM from York, ME (overpowered WHRB, first-time pick-up)
95.5 WBRU Providence (in clear tonight, almost always weak or non-existent)
96.3 WEEI Cape Cod (in like at near-local quality, very weak if comes in at all)
97.9 WJBQ Portland, ME (was in strong for a brief time, then faded out)
98.9 WCLZ Brunswick, ME (battling with WORC Worcester, neither come in here very often)
99.9 WQRC Cape Cod (in like a local; received The Wolf from Central Maine either last night or the night before)
100.1 WWFX Southbridge, MA (The Pike, usually very weak, in clearly)
101.1 WFRQ Cape Cod (came in briefly, overpowering usual Rock 101 New Hampshire)
101.9 WPOR from Portland, ME (overpowered Cool 102 from the Cape, first-time pick-up)
102.9 WPXC Cape Cod (has been in like a local at times, other times overpowered by WBLM Portland, which is more frequent here than PXC)
103.7 WEEI from Providence in like a local
103.9 WKPE Cape Country (only comes in during tropo)
104.7 WOCN Cape Cod (in almost like a local)
106.1 WCOD Cape Cod (in like a local, received RDS info for the first time)
107.1 WFHN Cape Cod (in like a local)
107.5 WFCC Cape Cod Classical (crystal clear and loving it)

Well, I guess only my crazy self is up DXing tonight (I have chronic sleeping problems if anyone is wondering.) In the two hours since I posted, I've picked 89.3 WMSJ Christian radio from Freeport, ME; Frank FM 107.5 from Lewiston, ME, has overpowered WFCC; 104.7 W-BACH from Maine is making a rare appearance; also, I picked up WHEB's HD feed and the HD 2 subchannel for the first time ever. Kiss 95.3 from Portland is still doing a number on WHRB, while 95.1 from the Cape has faded out completely.

With what's left of Tropical Storm Nicole heading up the coast it's not surprising.

>>91.7 something competing with regular WMWM Salem, but haven't got an ID<<

More than likely it's the WUMB clone, WNEF in Newburyport. This trop seems to favoring a northwest pattern towards Southern Maine. The only other possibility (though in the other direction) would be WHUS in Storrs, CT (@ UConn). 'HUS is a frequent visitor to this area, during trops. All in all, you've got some really nice catches! Congrats!

A couple of nights ago, it must have been great DXing the AM band, Several listeners of WJIB say that 740's signal was getting creamed in Cambridge locations, by Toronto's "AM 740".

That Toronto 740 is a bleeping blowtorch, I am on the MA/NH border near Salem and it comes in here like the stick is 2 miles away after the sun goes down

JIBGUY said:

A couple of nights ago, it must have been great DXing the AM band, Several listeners of WJIB say that 740's signal was getting creamed in Cambridge locations, by Toronto's "AM 740".

Click to expand...

I must be about 3.5 miles as the crow flies from WJIB. Parts of Cambridge (East Cambridge) must be further away than that. On many nights--especially after about 2:30 or 3:00AM until nearly sunrise--WJIB really gets creamed by CFZM (or whatever the calls are this week). CX may be especially good for DX just now, but it doesn't take especially good DX for Toronto to pretty much knock out WJIB where I live. But hey, what do you expect from 5W? WJIB's day signal is more than 7X as strong as its night signal but I think that, even if you were running 250W all night, the QRM from CFZM would be quite annoying here. Earlier in the evening, it's often not so bad.

On one of my radios, a Sony SW unit, I can tune in 740 AM from Toronto most any night by simply positioning the unit the right way. 740 Cambridge is still the dominant station, but it really struggles many nights. It is not practical to move around my main radio, so it picks up WJIB always unless I play with the attached Terk antenna. This is only about seven, maybe eight miles from their transmitter. Also, it's sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the two stations since they air similar formats. If I'm interested enough in whatever is being played, I check the Toronto 740 web stream. At 250 watts daytime, I don't think it's very fair that WJIB has to power down so drastically at nighttime. The Toronto station is a clear channel, and if it doesn't get into the immediate Boston area at night, so what? At least the people within the target listening area, assuming that to be within the Route 128 belt, should be able to have good reception day and night. But I digress.

Well, there was another good night of DXing forecast on dxinfocentre.com, but there's nothing out of the ordinary going on tonight on the FM band. In fact, some of the rimshots are weaker than usual.

CFZM 740 runs 50 kW into a tower that's a half-wavelength high(665'). Small wonder they have such an immense night signal. I can hear their carrier during Critical Hours beating against WVCH on my car radio.

a safe bet 1660 daytime is skywave, and 880 / 1010 are groundwave?

i noticed 1660 fades out briefly daytime, sometimes for like 5 to 15 seconds - which adds credence too the skywave idea. so maybe 880 and 1010 are too?

1010 WINS booms in to Boston all the time, it was better before IBOC was allowed after 6PM on 1030.

770 WABC is also something I get on a regular basis regardless of atmospheric anomalies

I hear "AM740" and think this must be what Am-radio must have been like (live DJ's) in the 50's just before R&R broke things open in '55. Love this Canadian station and it booms.

We are coming to a max conditions time where KB/1520 wipes out WIZZ and is as close to a station gets to being heard on a 15+ hrs from 500m away.

Half the year (centered around winter), WIZZ comes in at the coast of Maine in mid-days, with no WWKB! WIZZ is there for 3 minutes, then fades for 2 or 3 minutes, then is back.... all the time during the day. It's a different fading pattern (longer periods) than what happens at night to other distant stations..