Atlanta Radio Reception on Top of Clingman's Dome

I was at Clingman's Dome this weekend and was amazed that WGMG in Athens (Magic 102.1) was clear as a bell and drowned out nearby WWST in Sevierville. I also received with some slight interference all of the Atlanta full power stations. WSRV, WSBB, WWPW, WYAY, and WWWQ were most notable. Amazing that far away.

Lots of signal up there. At 6600 feet you're pretty high. So its mostly line of sight reception. The signal isn't hampered by all that ground clutter causing multipath and blockage.
Airplanes are crawling with all kinds of RF.
Did you know that UHF TV stations actually have mechanical and electrical beam tilt to put more of the signal down on the earth. Otherwise they would shoot right over the target areas into outer-space!

Years ago on an early Sunday morning, I picked up a Panama City station on FM while on top of the Vinings hill. I also picked up South 107 in Rome (when it was 50K watts) on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Lookout Mountain is another great place to pick up FM stations.

I used my Insignia tabletop HD radio up top on the tower. I think I was more amazed that WGMG (Magic 102.1) which is a 10kw station outside of Athens was coming in like I was in Athens and WWST (Star 102.1) is a 15kw station right around the corner and wouldn't come in at all. WWST struggled significantly even in Gatlinburg. It's transmitter is right outside Pigeon Forge.

RadioDoogie said:

I used my Insignia tabletop HD radio up top on the tower. I think I was more amazed that WGMG (Magic 102.1) which is a 10kw station outside of Athens was coming in like I was in Athens and WWST (Star 102.1) is a 15kw station right around the corner and wouldn't come in at all. WWST struggled significantly even in Gatlinburg. It's transmitter is right outside Pigeon Forge.

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A lot of FM stations have multiple bay antennas. They “amplify” the effective radiated power by redirecting the signal that is radiated above the horizon back towards the ground. The FCC web site has them using a 4 bay antenna @ 981 meters (3219 feet) above sea level.* Most of the signal if installed correctly should be radiated below the bottom bay. Not to get technical but beam tilt can play a role too.


If you heard WWST it would "antenna leakage" and a straight line of sight which I doubt is possible in a mountainous terrain, even being over 3000 feet higher that the antenna.

The signal works in Knoxville which is a lower elevation. There are a lot more full-time residents in Knoxville than in the tourist towns. The FCC charts in mountainous areas can be inaccurate. WWST’s revenue comes from Knox county (Knoxville). As with any typical “move-in” except for the station ID, EAS, the early Sunday morning community affairs program, and possibly a client who wants and pays for “whole market coverage”, the actual COL is never mentioned. In Atlanta how many time is Smyrna mentioned on 94.1. The same with 97.1 and Gainesville.

* https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/...&EW=W&size=9&ThisTab=Results+to+This+Page/Tab