WOMR on the radio again

Yesterday, as I headed out to buy groceries in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport, I hit the button preset for WLNG on 92.1 MHz on the AM-FM radio and drove down the north side of my 1,000-foot mountain, which is not favorable to WLNG, 50 miles to my south-southeast. Yet, WLNG hung in there as I descended the mountain and continued my drive through the relatively flat river valley of ESPN-land.

I was paying more attention to the traffic than the radio, but sitting at a red traffic light about 2 minutes after my descent, it occurred to me that the female announcer now on the radio was not a voice I had ever heard on WLNG. In passing, the announcer mentioned the station's call sign: WOMR, which is on the tip of Cape Cod, about 145 miles to my east-northeast.

After the light turned green and I continued on my journey, WOMR hung in there for about a half mile, then gave up the frequency to WLNG.

For what it's worth, WLNG and WOMR run similar transmitter outputs, 5300 and 6000 watts respectively and neither is line-of-sight by any means in ESPN-land, so there was some enhanced radio conditions yesterday morning.

This is not the first time that I have heard WOMR in my neck of the woods, but it is always interesting when I do.

Winter E-Skip?

When I am in my Subaru and not chasing AM DX at sunrise, the car radio is usually tuned to WLNG on 92.1 Mc, which is transmitting about 55 miles away in Sag Harbor on Long Island. Although I am on the fringe of WLNG’s coverage area, I enjoy listening to the station because it is old school AM radio and features a DJ, Rusty Potz, who I grew up listening to when I was a teenager. (Hear WLNG for yourself on their website).

And since I am on the fringe, I am very familiar with the ups and downs of WLNG’s signal as I drive around my neck of the woods. And this morning, those ups and downs were not normal; in places where WLNG’s is normally solid, I heard other stations competing with LNG’s signal.

At 1350 UTC, I clearly heard the station identification of WLHR. I had no idea where WLHR was located and when I looked it up, I was surprised to discover that it was located in Lavonia, Georgia, 744 miles to my southwest!

Shortly after the station identification, conditions returned to normal. 

My Christmas Present

Sister Gigi gifted me with a C.Crane CC Skywave receiver for Christmas. As the holiday festivities wound down Christmas evening, I had an opportunity to slip a pair of AA batteries into the Skywave to see how it works.

Whenever I try out a new radio, I have two frequencies I tune to first to give the radio a quick check-out: 92.1 Mc and 1070 kc.

92.1 Mc

My favorite FM radio station, WLNG, transmits on 92.1 Mc, 55 miles away on the North Shore of Long Island. Every portable radio I own requires that I fully extend its telescoping antenna and position the antenna just so in order to receive WLNG.

When I tuned the CC Skywave to 92.1, I could hear WLNG clearly when I touched its antenna. By removing the antenna from its cradled horizontal position and positioning it vertically without extending it one iota, WLNG's signal was solid and stereophonic. I was impressed.

1070 kc

1070 is a dead frequency for me. The 50,000 Watt blowtorch known as WTIC is 12 miles away on the opposite side of the valley transmitting on 1080 kc.  Every portable receiver I own only hears WTIC's backwash on 1070, but not 1090 (go figure), and as a result, my AM radio log has no entry for 1070.

Tuning the CC Skywave to 1070, I did not hear any sign of WTIC, but I could hear the weak signal of a station playing Christmas tunes. Repositioning the radio, I peaked the signal to an S-3 level and at 0437 UTC, I heard the station identification: CHOK in Sarnia, Ontario, transmitting 10 kW from Petrokia, Ontario, 488 miles to my north-northwest.

Wow ‑ I was very impressed! A brand new station in the log on a frequency that was previously unusable using the radio's stock internal antenna!

Merry Christmas to me!

Surfin’: Got Tropo?

This week, your Surfin’ contributing editor has deja vu when his car radio begins acting funny again.