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Heavy DXing/Tropo This Morning

R

RadioDoogie

Leading Participant
Lots of distant stations coming in this morning around the metro area. What was special about today’s weather that caused this?
 
One was WQIL/Chauncey, GA which is a top 40 station near Dublin, GA. WOOF in Dothan was actually trying to fight with Q100. US101 in Chattanooga. WDOD 96.5/Chattanooga. WSSL was wrestling with Rock 100.5. However something else was wrestling with 100.5. Was playing Don Henley’s “Heart of the Matter.” I had a hard time finding a surrounding 100.5 station elsewhere. Possibly WOYS/Apalachicola, FL or WQPD/Marion, SC or WJRL/Dothan. These don’t put out a lot of power though.
 
I was driving west of Atlanta this morning in Cobb County and WTVY out of Dothan, Alabama was completely covering up WSBB at 95.5. Not one squeak from WSBB! It didn't get better until I was at I-285.
Dothan is 250 miles south, southwest of Atlanta...
 
wavo said:
I was driving west of Atlanta this morning in Cobb County and WTVY out of Dothan, Alabama was completely covering up WSBB at 95.5. Not one squeak from WSBB! It didn't get better until I was at I-285.
Dothan is 250 miles south, southwest of Atlanta...
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Yeap! My commute is from Duluth to Alpharetta (North Point Pkwy) and as I turned off of Old Milton onto North Point Pkwy, in the trees, I noticed 95.5 started to pop a bit. Listenable but I remember wondering if they were on reduced power this morning.
 
Driving up 515 this AM all the Atlanta FM signals struggled and died just north of Jasper. 106.5 (Chattanooga) and 106.7 were pure static. 97.1 was not working either. 106.9 stopped my radio’s scan. They were playing classic rock. I assume it was WBPT Homewood (Birmingham). They were very strong from the 101.1 tower to Blue Ridge.
 
If classic rock was on 106.9 could have been a station in Americas? WGSW-FM 106.9 MHz Americus, Georgia "My FM". Also you were getting WQIL in Atlanta? What about their sister WMCG 104.9 Playing Classic Country? There antennas are on the same tower on a dirt road between Dexter and Chester GA. They also have the another station WQZY 100,000 Watts on 95.9 in Kite Georgia. I have been on south side of Atlanta on 285 east and heard WQZY trying to come through. I would love to be ontop of Brasstown Bald when this is going on and see what I can pick up. I was outside of Columbus Georgia on HWY 96 going east and was picking up 98.3 in Savannah and 93.1 in Savannah. It was in may or June of 2017 around 10 am in the morning so some tropo was going on that day.
 
i386 said:
If classic rock was on 106.9 could have been a station in Americas? WGSW-FM 106.9 MHz Americus, Georgia "My FM". Also you were getting WQIL in Atlanta? What about their sister WMCG 104.9 Playing Classic Country? There antennas are on the same tower on a dirt road between Dexter and Chester GA. They also have the another station WQZY 100,000 Watts on 95.9 in Kite Georgia. I have been on south side of Atlanta on 285 east and heard WQZY trying to come through. I would love to be ontop of Brasstown Bald when this is going on and see what I can pick up. I was outside of Columbus Georgia on HWY 96 going east and was picking up 98.3 in Savannah and 93.1 in Savannah. It was in may or June of 2017 around 10 am in the morning so some tropo was going on that day.
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When I was on Clingman’s Dome last September, I could receive most all of the Atlanta/Athens radio stations and they were crystal clear.
 
Last time I went to Clingman's Dome, I don’t remember any catches from Atlanta, but I got almost every station from Charlotte that wasn’t covered by a full power Knoxville station. Heading in further into NC toward Cherokee, they continued to come in. Funny thing was that I lost them very quickly after heading back into Tennessee.
 
Kent said:
Last time I went to Clingman's Dome, I don’t remember any catches from Atlanta, but I got almost every station from Charlotte that wasn’t covered by a full power Knoxville station. Heading in further into NC toward Cherokee, they continued to come in. Funny thing was that I lost them very quickly after heading back into Tennessee.
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Yes, I noticed the same thing depending on what side of the dome I was on. WGMG 102.1 in Athens was coming in clear as well and WWST 102.1 was only 30 miles away.
 
I'd love to get up to Clingman's Dome with a good portable. I've gotten to Newfound Gap but car trouble didn't make for much of a DX session. 102.5 in Crossville sounded like a local. Made it to Lookout Mountain and got 95.5 and 106.7 from the Atlanta market, 97.5 and 100.3 out of Knoxville.

Knoxville and the valley portion of Sevier County haven't been good for DXing. I can think of 3 good tropo openings, one of which got me several Savannah stations, another into Jackson Miss and Birmingham (you could see that inversion on the National Park cameras), and Memphis/Eastern Arkansas then into Dayton and Portsmouth Ohio.
It was strange as we were starting a long trip on I-40 going west I caught one of the Charlotte stations as soon as we hit the Cumberland Plateau. Normally not available in Knoxville.
 
gr8oldies said:
I'd love to get up to Clingman's Dome with a good portable. I've gotten to Newfound Gap but car trouble didn't make for much of a DX session. 102.5 in Crossville sounded like a local. Made it to Lookout Mountain and got 95.5 and 106.7 from the Atlanta market, 97.5 and 100.3 out of Knoxville.

Knoxville and the valley portion of Sevier County haven't been good for DXing. I can think of 3 good tropo openings, one of which got me several Savannah stations, another into Jackson Miss and Birmingham (you could see that inversion on the National Park cameras), and Memphis/Eastern Arkansas then into Dayton and Portsmouth Ohio.
It was strange as we were starting a long trip on I-40 going west I caught one of the Charlotte stations as soon as we hit the Cumberland Plateau. Normally not available in Knoxville.
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Growing up in Memphis, I was able to get WCTE PBS 22 in Cookeville, TN one night back in the 80s. That was 300+ miles from home. In 1996, one night the tropo was so heavy it was bleeding into the ingress on the crappy CATV wiring in the house. WDEF 12 in Chattanooga was fighting with CATV 12 (then MediaOne now Comcast). When going to Panama City a few years back, while facing west on the 13th Floor of the condo we stayed in, I could get most of the FMs along the gulf coast up to Biloxi. With no 99.7FMs between here and Memphis, WMC FM100 will come in while fighting with WOOF in Dothan the few times Q100 went off the air. Also I remember getting WMC as far north as the Ozarks in southern Missouri in the 80s. When I was 14, I remember using my radio and TV in the airplane and it was incredible what I could pickup there. The radio would lock onto stations and stay there for several miles. While flying over Memphis, I could receive TV from St. Louis to Jackson, MS. We may get many opportunities to DX with the TV repack if several transmitters go down for maintenance over the next few years.
 
I remember with wsb tv 2 turned off their analog signal in 2009 that I was able to pick up WFMY out of Greensboro NC. Nashville blocked by mountains I guess and Dozier AL may have already been off. Charleston just too low elevation and Orlando just too far away.
 
Probably not spectacular, but a guy from Dalton, GA checked into a 2 meter repeater housed on the Pigeon Forge tower that also is the transmitter site for WIVK.

TV-DX wise, when I was working in Lafayette IN at WLFI, we had such strong tropo (not huge distances but intense) that we couldnt monitor ourselves off the air due to the channel 18 in Milwaukee.
 
not completely off topic...posted this in June 2007

DX from Lookout Mountain
I had a few hours to kill today in Chattanooga...so I drove up to Covenant College atop
Lookout Mountain...and made a list of what could be heard on FM on a standard Toyota Corolla unit.
For specifics...12n - 1:30pm eastern...I was parked in the shady lot next to the Covenant private cottages: moving elsewhere on campus provided different results...not reflected below.


for simplicity...I have not always listed COL, but primary market served

92.3 Chattanooga
92.7 WAFN Arab, AL & WBZH Harriman, TN
92.9 Atlanta
93.1 Benton, TN
93.3 Chatt LPFM
93.5 Ellijay, GA
93.7 Ringgold, GA
93.9 Spring City, TN
94.1 Atlanta
94.3 Chattanooga
94.5 Birmingham
94.7 Boynton, GA LPFM
94.9 Atlanta
95.1 Wildwood, GA LPFM
95.3 Cleveland, TN
95.5 Atlanta
95.7 Trion, GA
95.9 Guntersville, AL
96.1 Rossville, GA & Piedmont, AL
96.5 Chattanooga
96.9 Huntsville, AL
97.1 Atlanta
97.3 Chattanooga
97.5 Knoxville
97.7 Rome, GA
97.9 Calhoun, GA LPFM & Nashville, TN
98.1 Chattanooga
98.3 Scottsboro, AL
98.5 Atlanta
98.7 Trenton, GA LPFM
98.9 Chatsworth, GA
99.1 Huntsville, AL
99.3 Lookout Mtn LPFM
99.5 Birmingham
99.7 Atlanta
99.9 Ellijay, GA
100.3 Talking Rock, GA & Knoxville, TN
100.5 Atlanta
100.7 Chattanooga
100.9 West Point, GA
101.1 Cullman, AL
101.3 Wartburg, TN
101.5 Atlanta
101.7 Athens, TN & Scottsboro, AL
101.9 Chattanooga
102.3 Chattanooga
102.5 Atlanta
102.7 Chattanooga
103.1 Etowah, TN
103.3 Atlanta
103.5 Walden, TN LPFM
103.7 Boynton, GA LPFM
103.9 Blue Ridge, GA
104.1 Calhoun, TN
104.3 Huntsville
104.5 Dalton, GA
104.9 Dayton, TN
105.1 Albertsville, AL
105.3 Atlanta
105.5 Chattanooga
105.9 Anniston, AL (?) heard WHMA calls
106.1 Decatur, AL
106.5 Chattanooga
106.7 Atlanta
106.9 Birmingham
107.1 Rockmart, GA
107.3 Florence, AL
107.5 Atlanta
107.7 Knoxville
107.9 Chattanooga

frequencies not listed were covered by locals/splatter
 
romer979fm said:
not completely off topic...posted this in June 2007

DX from Lookout Mountain
I had a few hours to kill today in Chattanooga...so I drove up to Covenant College atop
Lookout Mountain...and made a list of what could be heard on FM on a standard Toyota Corolla unit.
For specifics...12n - 1:30pm eastern...I was parked in the shady lot next to the Covenant private cottages: moving elsewhere on campus provided different results...not reflected below.


for simplicity...I have not always listed COL, but primary market served

92.3 Chattanooga
92.7 WAFN Arab, AL & WBZH Harriman, TN
92.9 Atlanta
93.1 Benton, TN
93.3 Chatt LPFM
93.5 Ellijay, GA
93.7 Ringgold, GA
93.9 Spring City, TN
94.1 Atlanta
94.3 Chattanooga
94.5 Birmingham
94.7 Boynton, GA LPFM
94.9 Atlanta
95.1 Wildwood, GA LPFM
95.3 Cleveland, TN
95.5 Atlanta
95.7 Trion, GA
95.9 Guntersville, AL
96.1 Rossville, GA & Piedmont, AL
96.5 Chattanooga
96.9 Huntsville, AL
97.1 Atlanta
97.3 Chattanooga
97.5 Knoxville
97.7 Rome, GA
97.9 Calhoun, GA LPFM & Nashville, TN
98.1 Chattanooga
98.3 Scottsboro, AL
98.5 Atlanta
98.7 Trenton, GA LPFM
98.9 Chatsworth, GA
99.1 Huntsville, AL
99.3 Lookout Mtn LPFM
99.5 Birmingham
99.7 Atlanta
99.9 Ellijay, GA
100.3 Talking Rock, GA & Knoxville, TN
100.5 Atlanta
100.7 Chattanooga
100.9 West Point, GA
101.1 Cullman, AL
101.3 Wartburg, TN
101.5 Atlanta
101.7 Athens, TN & Scottsboro, AL
101.9 Chattanooga
102.3 Chattanooga
102.5 Atlanta
102.7 Chattanooga
103.1 Etowah, TN
103.3 Atlanta
103.5 Walden, TN LPFM
103.7 Boynton, GA LPFM
103.9 Blue Ridge, GA
104.1 Calhoun, TN
104.3 Huntsville
104.5 Dalton, GA
104.9 Dayton, TN
105.1 Albertsville, AL
105.3 Atlanta
105.5 Chattanooga
105.9 Anniston, AL (?) heard WHMA calls
106.1 Decatur, AL
106.5 Chattanooga
106.7 Atlanta
106.9 Birmingham
107.1 Rockmart, GA
107.3 Florence, AL
107.5 Atlanta
107.7 Knoxville
107.9 Chattanooga

frequencies not listed were covered by locals/splatter
Click to expand...

Not to nit pick but 93.5 was most likely WMPZ Harrison (Chattanooga) They forced WLJA to move to 101.1 several years ago. And Talking Rock’s WNSY is suppose to be on 100.1. They could have had a bad technical day. Pretty soon the FM band will be like the old local AM channels 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450, and 1490.
 
probably a mix of typos...sheer number of stations...and the fact that I was
jotting them down on paper in the car: my handwriting sucks
 
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