I'm with Snoopy

WTIC on 161.76 MHz

Wednesday evening, I was listening to the local NOAA weather station on 162.4 MHz (WXJ42 in Meriden) with the ELAD FDM-S2/SW2. The waterfall display showed activity on all seven NOAA weather channels, which is typical from my location. I also noticed another signal down the band a ways... on 161.76 to be exact.

I tuned in the signal and was surprised to hear the voice of Joe D'Ambrosio, who does a sports talk show on WTIC AM (1080 kHz). It sounded like he was doing the show on the air, but on FM instead of AM and on 161.76 instead of 1080. So I grabbed the nearest transistor radio and tuned it to WTIC AM. Lo and behold, there was Joe D doing his show, but delayed by about 15 seconds from what I was hearing on 161.76.

My initial thought was that I was hearing a radio relay from the WTIC studio to the WTIC transmitter.  The studio is in the valley below my QTH about 6 miles away, while the transmitter is 12 miles away.

I revisited 161.76 MHz Thursday evening and the signal was still there, but now the volume of the signal's audio was low. After about 15 minutes, the volume of the signal's audio jumped up in strength as its contents changed from talk radio to news. This just confused matters.

Researching the mystery, I found in the 1994 edition of the Connecticut Scanner Guide that 161.76 was assigned to Chase Communications. Chase was the previous owner of WTIC, so that made sense.

How they are using 161.76 is still a mystery. I am sure there is a simple explanation, but I don't know what it is.

Late November Loggings

New loggings since my last post:

Nov. 17, 2016, 0600 UTC: WEKZ on 1260 kc transmitting 19 watts from Monroe, Wisconsin, 854 miles to the west-northwest.

Nov. 22, 2016, 2355 UTC: YXK on 373 kc transmitting 25 watts from Rimouski, Quebec, 520 miles to the north-northeast

Nov. 28, 2016, 2100 UTC:

WZSK on 1040 kc transmitting 4 kw from Everett, Pennsylvania, 304 miles to the west-southwest

WCRW on 1190 kc transmitting 50 kW from Leesburg, Virginia, 297 miles to the west-southwest

WNWW on 1290 kc transmitting 490 watts from West Hartford, Connecticut, 14 miles to the north-northeast

Equipment used: ELAD FDM-S2/SW2 SDR receiver/software and 80-meter inverted Vee antenna

Time for Three

My first desktop radio. I sold the radio 30 years ago,
but still have the manual. (I wish I still had the radio.)

Sometimes, life gets in the way and hobbies take a back seat. That's my story and I'm sticking with it, yet I managed to add three new stations to the log since my previous post.

WWJZ on 640 kc in Mount Holly, New Jersey, transmitting 950 watts, 146 miles to my southeast.

W218AV, a translator for WMNR on 91.5 Mc in Warren, Connecticut, transmitting 250 watts, 22 miles to my west-northwest.

CFNV on 940 kc in Montreal, Quebec, transmitting unknown power, 269 miles to my north-northwest. This is a new station and is reportedly running tests at this time (mostly French music, occasional French voice station identifications and no commercials). This station is strong; not only did I log it from the home station, but I heard it clearly on my car radio throughout my sunrise 35-minute commute this morning.

Equipment used: ELAD FDM-S2 / ELAD FDM-SW2 receiver, an 80-meter inverted Vee for the AM/MW band and an ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna for the FM band.

Six Twenty

Tuned to 620 kc on the way to work today and found a cacophony of stations vying for dominance of the frequency. I heard bits and pieces of various stations, but the one station that stood out from the rest for the longest period of time was a new one for me: Stephen King's WZON transmitting 5 kW from Bangor, Maine, 304 miles to the northeast. Equipment used was the excellent stock radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport.