Any FM DXer's out there????

[Guest Barrydor]

Mark, I too know this is not AR, but please allow me to disgress as well. The cassette post bought back some pleasant memories for me regarding the audiophile hobby.

When I lived up North, I owned many analog FM tuners and I always had a large FM antenna with a rotator on the roof. I would often listen to far away, low powered college stations and pirates into the wee hours of the morning. Often, I would be on the phone with the deejay discussing obscure recordings, making requests and recording the shows onto cassettes.

Now that I live in Florida with single story dwellings, hurricanes and deed restrictions, I thought putting up a large antenna would be impractical. So now I settle for a digital FM tuner with a Terk powered antenna which is mounted in the attic. Although I still greatly enjoy FM, my choice of material is severely limited.

I recently ran into a local fellow audiophile who is also a professional musician. He has an Antenna Performance Specialties (APS) antenna with a rotator on the roof. He is using a vintage MacIntosh tuner and also a vintage Kenwood, which he is considering having hot-rodded by APS and then worked over sonically by John Hillig of Musical Concepts.

He speaks highly of his ability to listen to live concert broadcasts any time he wants to. Speaking with him has rekindled my interest in this activity and I am seriously thinking of getting into it again.

Are there any other FM DXer's out there?

Barry

[Guest]

This is one I have always aspired to do, if and when I ever get a house in the country. A friend of mine had a 40 foot antenna that could get Chicago in(TV/radio) from over 100 miles away, very clearly.

FM DX'ing makes you feel special because you have something no one else can get.

Barrydor-What is the phenomena where you get FM stations some distance away? I received Toledo, OH stations in my car in Kalamazoo, MI where I live, over 100 miles away as the crow flies. How did that happen?

I kinda get my "fix" from satellite TV(Directv) now. I know a lot of people have it, but it still makes me feel independent, dunno why. I want a big dish one of these days. I listen to the 800's (Music) channels in every room. Nothing like the 80's channel.

Technology is wonderful.

Chris

[Guest Barrydor]

>FM DX'ing makes you feel special because you have something

>no one else can get.

Yes, it does. And the little college station & pirate DJs are so impressed with how far away you are calling in from that they will usually play anything you want to hear all night

>

>Barrydor-What is the phenomena where you get FM stations

>some distance away? I received Toledo, OH stations in my car

>in Kalamazoo, MI where I live, over 100 miles away as the

>crow flies. How did that happen?

The amateur radio guys call it "skip" - while most of the transmitted signal travels over ground to dissipate 50-100 miles away, some is bounced up into the atmosphere. Lower atmosperic layers reflect the signal like a mirror, it bounces back and appears in a faraway location.

>

>I kinda get my "fix" from satellite TV(Directv) now. I know

>a lot of people have it, but it still makes me feel

>independent, dunno why. I want a big dish one of these days.

>I listen to the 800's (Music) channels in every room.

>Nothing like the 80's channel.

In my last house, I had a DirectTV dish with the 800 channels, but I was leery to connect the audio outputs to my stereo system because of noise & ground loop concerns.

One day I opened the reciever and got data sheets on the chips it used. I found that while the video format was MPEG-2, the audio was SP/DIF! A couple of line drivers later & a kiss with the soldering iron and electric drill found my satellite reciever with an XLR AES-EBU ground isolated output driving my Audio Alchemy DAC about 30 feet away from the TV. I was in heaven. Now I just have stinkin' cable w/ no FM. Hence the dream of a huge antenna.

I have looked at the new satellite radio technology, but so far it looks like crap designed for car audio & I understand the sampling rate is not 44.1 KHz, so I could not use my CD audio processor. I don't know yet, but $10.00 a month for satellite radio seems reasonable.

Barry

[Guest chman]

DXing is a sport that for me has been a long-time weakness, but I think that now with the internet and the ability to tune in virtually any station from around the world, it's rather an outmoded hobby. Still now in Beckley WV at 2,300 ft., I have an FM antenna with a 16' boom and a rotor on my roof. When new, that antenna would extend my mono listening range from Raleigh NC (WCPE) to Columbus (WOSU) to Pittsburgh (WQED), a spread of some 500+ miles. Stations at 100 miles, such as Roanoke (WVTF), were strong in stereo and monaural.

Earlier, while living in Charleston SC on the Intracoastal Waterway, with a less powerful FM antenna, I listened regularly to WMFE in Orlando, and once even got Kingston Jamaica. Not infrequently there wre inversions that allowed stations in Houston TX, Arkansas, and Oklahoma through.

While a teenager, living in Brecksville OH (suburban Cleveland), I recall getting channel 2's from Great Bend, Kansas and KVOO in Tulsa. Once even CMBF (?), channel 4 in pre-Castro Havana, also on channel 2. Go figure!

As I say, this is now a redundant, ancient sport, when one can get CBC, BBC, Classic FM, not to mention Hong Kong and Singapore in crystal clear sound via the Internet, and the same sound quality anywhere driving in the country over Xm and Sirius.

It takes the fun out of what used to be a great sport. Stations, FM and TV alike, always sounded better when they had a bit of static and were situated 100+ miles from home.