101.7 heard in Anacortes

Was on what is called the "Tulip Rallye" on Saturday, it's a gimmick rally where you drive around and answer questions from the clues that are on your sheet. There was a quick pit stop and questions at Sharpe Park just outside of Anacortes. I stayed in the car while my wife and teenage son went out to find the clues. I played with the radio for a minute while they were out and heard a station on 101.7 with very distorted audio. I thought it was surprising that something was on 101.7 so close to the 101.9 stations in Vancouver and Victoria. Any idea of what I was hearing? I heard no ID and there was no RDBS for this station. I didn't listen that closely but it didn't seem to be religious programming, sounded more like a local community affairs show of some sort.

There's K269FX in Port Angeles which is quite a distance away although it's all over water. That's licensed to Radio Assist Ministry and as I said it didn't sound overly religious. There's a new one in Sequim as well but it's supposedly not on yet. CHLY in Nanaimo? The programming for the time I heard them was "Altered Egos" which is a political news magazine show.

Any thoughts on this I'd appreciate it. Again, I was surprised at how distorted the audio was.

Val

If it sounded like community radio, it was likely CHLY Nanaimo. I've heard them along the Puget Sound waterfront all the way down to Edmonds. They air all types of music, from rock to blues to folk. From Anacortes it's about 75 miles.
I noticed you didn't check 102.3, but I used to get CKWV along some areas of Puget Sound and on Whidbey. They are Adult Contemporary and also from Nanaimo. KAWZ used to have a 102.3 translator in Sequim, then they went defunct (probably due to KSTI-102.1 signing on in Port Angeles). OTOH I've never been to Anacortes, we always turned left for Whidbey Island traveling up there in the summer. Maybe one of these summers I'll take a trip up there and head up in the San Juans to do some crabbing.

For what it's worth here is a list of FM station in Western WA and BC.

http://nwbroadcasters.com/fmpage.html

CHLY is pretty well engineered and they don't overmodulate.

I heard something similar on 97.1 in that area last year.

Pirates do occasionally pop up in the San Juans. There was an oldies pirate on 94.5 back in 2001 on Friday Harbor (just before CFBT signed on.) Surprisingly good audio and imaging. Probably about a watt, just enough to cover the town, but to quickly disintergrate into KRXY's ghosty signal 1/4 mile off the ferry dock.

But with these new cheap crappy, unfiltered, absolutely uncertifiable whatsoever FM transmitters from Hong Kong they're selling these days on eBay with insane power levels up to 1kW to just anyone with $2,000+ bucks, I would think if the FCC is ready to get serious about the pirate radio problem, they shouldn't worry so much about the Part 15 block rockers nobody's listening to anyway as they should this potential emergency radio interference nightmare:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-1KW-...629643?hash=item33dda0b7cb:g:-~8AAOSweZJaONbK

Interesting, KRXY made it that far north? That's really good for 830 watts, almost 100 miles. I hardly ever hear them in the immediate Seattle-Bellevue area, mainly due to the White Center translator. I found a null at my old Bothell house that brought in CFBT, but not Roxy.
Did your unID mention any towns or cities? Any reference of Clallam County or Port Angeles would obviously be KONP's translator; references of British Columbia would be CHLY. They used to mix in Marysville when I was last up there 4 1/2 years ago (my goodness...I've lived here on the dry-side that long?!) KONP used to be on 102.1 for a few years, then the new CP for KSTI forced them down to 101.7. And speaking of Port Angeles, KAWZ just had yet another translator approved on 99.1 in Port Angeles, just two weeks ago if that. I haven't been up there in years so I don't know KSTI's coverage area. Radio-Locator has it going out to Whidbey Island but wouldn't the KAPS translator be stronger there?

crainbebo said:

I don't know KSTI's coverage area. Radio-Locator has it going out to Whidbey Island but wouldn't the KAPS translator be stronger there?

Click to expand...

Actually, it's not. K271AH's signal falls apart just as you reach the Swinomish Reservation. Other co-channel things begin to interfere. You could probably find areas that far out that can get K271AH's signal, but not a very usable one. If the HAAT of K271AH were another 100 feet up, they'd probably make it into Anacortes, but the interference backlash from other stations like KSTI would be a problem.

You could hear KRXY all over NW Washington, albeit spotty. But any decent hill would do. They could be heard on Vancouver Island and some coastal parts of the Lower Mainland before CFBT signed on

I didn't get up to Camano Island last summer, but two years ago I took the G8 up there and got a very weak KSTI, not anything to be listenable.

I was killing time checking out my old property near College St and Yelm Highway in Lacey last week, and what did I hear? My 250 watt translator in Aberdeen on 94.7. Listenable.

Cool! I would think KRXY and KUOW HD would block any 94.7 signals. I've heard the KXRO translator (also 101.7) all over the place, even a couple times in Monroe during tropo. We had heavy fog for a few days in early 2013 that sparked some interesting tropo - KSWW was clear for about 2 days straight and I even heard The Quake on 107.9 briefly (before it went to 103.9).
(BTW, I'm glad Sunny is streaming now! I notice Rhys is still there...what happened to Mattniah? Even the jingles are the same from when I was last at Pacific Beach in 2011.) OK...back to the 101.7 topic.

880 watt college station CIVL 101.7 in Abbotsford is also a possibility. They totally dominate the frequency in the Fraser Valley and in the Lynden-Sumas area in Washington.

I thought that moved to 88.5 a couple years ago?

No, CIVL had originally planned to apply for 88.5 but the CBC decided that they wanted the frequency for their new Abbotsford rebroadcaster so CIVL went with 101.7 instead. I have noticed that a lot of radio station directories (including the FCC FM query) list CIVL as operating on 88.5. That is incorrect as CIVL has been on 101.7 since day one.