A FEW RECENT DX CATCHES ON FM

[stormy01]

For those of you in the Northern Illinois area, I have been receiving WBNH 88.5 Pekin on a daily basis, as well as WDLM 89.3 East Moline, and 89.9 WCBU Peoria. Other mid-state stations heard occasionally include WGLT 89.1 Normal, WBNQ 101.5 Bloomington and WBWN 104.1 LeRoy.

 

[stormy01]

The band conditions are good in the Northern IL region right now!

88.5 WBNH Pekin, IL
88.7 WSRI Sugar Grove, IL
88.9 WWGN Ottawa, IL
89.1 WGLT Normal, IL
89.3 WDLM East Moline, IL
89.9 WCBU Peoria
92.9 KGRC Hannibal, MO
93.3 WPBG Peoria
94.1 WGFA Watseka, IL
95.7 WJDK Seneca, IL
98.1 WZOE Princeton, IL
99.3 WAJK La Salle, IL
101.5 WBNQ Bloomington, IL
106.9 WSWT Peoria

 

[radioman148]

The band conditions are good in the Northern IL region right now!

88.5 WBNH Pekin, IL
88.7 WSRI Sugar Grove, IL
88.9 WWGN Ottawa, IL
89.1 WGLT Normal, IL
89.3 WDLM East Moline, IL
89.9 WCBU Peoria
92.9 KGRC Hannibal, MO
93.3 WPBG Peoria
94.1 WGFA Watseka, IL
95.7 WJDK Seneca, IL
98.1 WZOE Princeton, IL
99.3 WAJK La Salle, IL
101.5 WBNQ Bloomington, IL
106.9 WSWT Peoria

Looks like we've got a little tropo going.

 

[stormy01]

Looks like we've got a little MORE tropo going.

90.9 WILL Urbana, IL
91.5 WCIC Pekin, IL
92.9 WRPW LeRoy, IL
93.7 WTRX Pontiac, IL
94.5 WLRW Champaign, IL
96.5 WAZY Lafayette, IN
98.1 WIBN Earl Park, IN
98.5 WIBQ Paris, IL
100.5 WYMG Springfield, IL
102.9 WXXB Lafayette, IN
103.3 KLOU St. Louis
104.5 WFMB Springfield, IL
107.7 WYST Normal, IL

 

[radioman148]

Looks like we've got a little MORE tropo going.

90.9 WILL Urbana, IL
91.5 WCIC Pekin, IL
92.9 WRPW LeRoy, IL
93.7 WTRX Pontiac, IL
94.5 WLRW Champaign, IL
96.5 WAZY Lafayette, IN
98.1 WIBN Earl Park, IN
98.5 WIBQ Paris, IL
100.5 WYMG Springfield, IL
102.9 WXXB Lafayette, IN
103.3 KLOU St. Louis
104.5 WFMB Springfield, IL
107.7 WYST Normal, IL

Maybe more than a little ;D

 

[stormy01]

Maybe more than a little ;D

I'm actually glad tropo doesn't happen all the time, quite a distraction!

 

[radioman148]

Maybe more than a little ;D

I'm actually glad tropo doesn't happen all the time, quite a distraction!

It's fun when it happens though.

 

[PoisonIvy]

Hi there - my first post, so please be gentle. I've come out of lurking and signed up because I wanted to report what I'm guessing is major tropo. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:45 CT, I caught "99.1 the Planet" on my car radio on Chicago's near northwest side (for those of you who know the city, along Elston from roughly California to about Ashland... lost it closer to downtown). It definitely was classic rock (one song was John Parr's "Naughty Naughty" and another might have been Jimi Hendrix?) came in very clearly for about 4 songs. I tried to hang on to the signal long enough to hear the call letters but couldn't. I looked it up and it looks like it might have been 99.1 KFMM out of Thatcher, AZ. Is that possible?

 

[stormy01]

Hi there - my first post, so please be gentle. I've come out of lurking and signed up because I wanted to report what I'm guessing is major tropo. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:45 CT, I caught "99.1 the Planet" on my car radio on Chicago's near northwest side (for those of you who know the city, along Elston from roughly California to about Ashland... lost it closer to downtown). It definitely was classic rock (one song was John Parr's "Naughty Naughty" and another might have been Jimi Hendrix?) came in very clearly for about 4 songs. I tried to hang on to the signal long enough to hear the call letters but couldn't. I looked it up and it looks like it might have been 99.1 KFMM out of Thatcher, AZ. Is that possible?

Entirely possible, that would be a great catch! Too bad KFMM is so new (or they haven't gotten around to developing their website) Their website has no contact info. - you might want to try [email protected] or [email protected] and see if either email address works, and ask them if they were in fact playing the songs you heard. If not hang onto the day/time/songs you heard and bookmark the site, 991theplanet.com, and email them when they put contact info. on their site. Perhaps when they develop their website you could then email them. Or, if you call them 928-428-0916. If they were on yes.com - they're not as of tonight, I checked (yes.com tracks the songs a participating station plays and comes in real handy for IDing stations)

 

[radioman148]

Hi there - my first post, so please be gentle. I've come out of lurking and signed up because I wanted to report what I'm guessing is major tropo. Yesterday afternoon at about 4:45 CT, I caught "99.1 the Planet" on my car radio on Chicago's near northwest side (for those of you who know the city, along Elston from roughly California to about Ashland... lost it closer to downtown). It definitely was classic rock (one song was John Parr's "Naughty Naughty" and another might have been Jimi Hendrix?) came in very clearly for about 4 songs. I tried to hang on to the signal long enough to hear the call letters but couldn't. I looked it up and it looks like it might have been 99.1 KFMM out of Thatcher, AZ. Is that possible?

That would be a great catch especially with WMYX Milwaukee usually on that frequency on Chicago's north side.

 

[crainbebo]

That's what we call E-skip. Sometimes in the summer, you can get stations 1000 miles away clearly on FM. Why this happens is still a mystery. I've even gotten KATP Amarillo, TX on 101.9 FM, 1360 miles away. So, tune your radio every day in the summer, and wait for that 1000 mile E-skip to pop up.

-crainbebo

 

[stormy01]

The fog this morning must be part of the 'tropo' All kinds of regional regulars between 30 and 150 miles coming in better than usual - logged another new one WIVQ 103.3 Spring Valley, IL "Q 103.3" (83 miles; 4.9kW @ 361'/110m.) 40 miles NW of Chicago.

 

[stormy01]

Tonight about 9 p.m. Central, WEFM 95.9 Michigan City, IN (79 mi.), WNDV 92.9 South Bend, IN (107 mi.), WCOE 96.7 LaPorte, IN (88 mi.)

 

[radioman148]

Tonight about 9 p.m. Central, WEFM 95.9 Michigan City, IN (79 mi.), WNDV 92.9 South Bend, IN (107 mi.), WCOE 96.7 LaPorte, IN (88 mi.)

Yeah the tropo around Chicago is there alright. I noticed some Michigan & South Bend stations in my car tonight coming in much better than usual.

 

[cparkes92]

The classic rock station poisonivy received could also be a pirate.

 

[PoisonIvy]

The classic rock station poisonivy received could also be a pirate.

I've gotten pirate stations around here, but I don't recall any being on 99.1. A few years ago, one on 99.3 was playing uncensored rap. I might have chalked this one up as a pirate, except that it came in clearer than the pirates I've heard; the "99.1 the Planet" ID came in loud and clear; and I found the website for the station with that exact ID and format.

Add me to those who were getting tropo on the 4th. In Chicago, I was picking up 98.3 the Coast, which I believe is in western Michigan. In Rockford, about 7 pm, I could still get WTMX 101.9 out of Chicago. Later that night, around 2-3 am, going back through Rockford, WXRT 93.1 was coming in fairly clearly; a couple of other Chicago stations came in but not as well. Last night, west of the city, I caught a station with call letters that sounded like they might have been WKLH 96.5 out of Milwaukee, and I also picked up WZOK 97.5 out of Rockford (usually drowned out closer to home by some religious translator).

 

[radioman148]

These foggy mornings lately seem to really be helping the tropo around Chicago.

 

[PoisonIvy]

Looks like the tropo around Chicago returned last night about 8:30 pm -- not sure how long it lasted. Just south of downtown, I picked up WMUS 106.9 Muskegon, MI (124 mi.) and WHQG 102.9 Milwaukee, WI (84 mi.). There were a couple of other stations I got also, but I can't remember the frequencies they were on or what they were playing.