weird radio reception today.

[joatmon]

I understand about radio wave propagation, atmospheric effects, and such, sometimes at night you can pick up an AM station from far away as the signal bounces off layers in the atmosphere, but today I had a weird FM reception. East of DC, about 6 PM EDT, tuned to an NPR station at 88.5 because they usually have decent traffic reprts, and noticed the Vibe radio "INFO" button was lit, never see that for that station, so I hit the info button, and it came up and said KUMR-FM. THe station was coming in really poorly, seemed like three or four stations fighting for dominacnce of the same frequency.This caught my eye, out here by the chesapeake and knowing that only stations west of the Mississippi (and KDKA in pittsburgh) start with a K, turns out KUMR is out of Rolla Missouri. FM isn't supposed to bounce like that, shouldn't carry that far, (820 miles!) and definitely not be strong enough to override a station 20 miles away. As I got closer to home, KUMR won out and was coming in clear for a while.Pretty freaky. Wonder if it's an active sunspot period or something.Anybody else notice any weird radio receptions today?

[Stang2Vibe]

I haven't noticed anything like that today but I have had things like that happen on my CB radio before. Heard a trucker talking in Boston here in Pittsburgh one night. Only lasted maybe 30 seconds. I talked to a guy on the island of Antigua another night on it. Was able to talk with him for about 6 minutes. I don't know if the same thing is possible with FM frequencies, but in CB terms, it is referred to as "skip". People have reported being able to talk with other people for a few minutes over distances that should only be able to be spanned by a HAM radio. Like you mentioned, the atmospheric conditions have to be just right. Solar flares were interrupting cell phone useage in some parts of the US last month, so I guess there are several possibilities.And KDKA here in Pittsburgh has the only call sign starting with a K east of the Mississippi River I think because it was the first commercial radio station to ever broadcast. (Was 1929 if I remember my Pittsburgh history correctly.)

[spoonman]

Quote, originally posted by Stang2Vibe »I haven't noticed anything like that today but I have had things like that happen on my CB radio before. Heard a trucker talking in Boston here in Pittsburgh one night. Only lasted maybe 30 seconds. I talked to a guy on the island of Antigua another night on it. Was able to talk with him for about 6 minutes. I don't know if the same thing is possible with FM frequencies, but in CB terms, it is referred to as "skip". People have reported being able to talk with other people for a few minutes over distances that should only be able to be spanned by a HAM radio. Like you mentioned, the atmospheric conditions have to be just right. Solar flares were interrupting cell phone useage in some parts of the US last month, so I guess there are several possibilities.Also, keep in mind the CB frequencies(channels) that are used fall close to some of the popular HAM bands (CB is technically "11 Meters", which is just below in frequency to the "10 Meter" HAM band). So it is VERY possible to get that kind of distance at times. The only thing that keeps CB from being able to do this more often is the legal power limit that CB radios can run. The low power keeps it more local and "line of site".But back on topic.... that is one of the really cool things about radio in general. It can do some pretty stange things for no apparent reason sometimes.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by spoonman »But back on topic.... that is one of the really cool things about radio in general. It can do some pretty stange things for no apparent reason sometimes.Oh yeah! Pity I didn't get a chance to play around more last night. I just listened to NOAA weather radio from hundreds of miles away. lolVery interesting couple of days for FM. It isn't too often you'll see FM signals travel this far. REALLY surprised a Missouri station could be picked up way out east!Enjoy it while it lasts, folks.

[Stang2Vibe]

Well I thought that your response was entirely on topic and thanks for the explanation, I've never heard that before. The "skip" that I referred to was more attributed to a random reflection of radio waves off the ionosphere when conditions and the locations of the transmitting and receiving radios are just right. The evening that I heard the guy from Antigua, others on the CB channel heard him too and were also talking to him for the few minutes that he came through.I still have my mobile CB and my base station. I was thinking about putting the mobile unit in my Vibe, but I can't think of a good way to mount the antenna. It would be too high to clear many obsticles around here with it on the roof.

[spoonman]

Quote, originally posted by Stang2Vibe »Well I thought that your response was entirely on topic and thanks for the explanation, I've never heard that before. The "skip" that I referred to was more attributed to a random reflection of radio waves off the ionosphere when conditions and the locations of the transmitting and receiving radios are just right. The evening that I heard the guy from Antigua, others on the CB channel heard him too and were also talking to him for the few minutes that he came through.Thanks!! I try to help where I can. The "mysteries" of radio is one of the main reasons I got into HAM radio. I know you don't need radio to talk to someone on the other side of the world these days, but it just doesn't have the same "magic" to it. Do a google on "radio wave propagation" to get more technical info on how this stuff "works". It is some very interesting reading.... JMHO of course...

[Atomb]

could it have been caused by the DC station 're-broadcasting' the signal from Rolla and the 'info' was passed along too?seeing as it was NPR, i can see them doing something like this for specific shows?

[joatmon]

yesterday, pretty much the whole FM band was messed up, today was back to normal. I think it was a skip, there was no KUMR info in the local station's signal today, that local station has never had any RDS info. Probably just a weather induced fluke,

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »This caught my eye, out here by the chesapeake and knowing that only stations west of the Mississippi (and KDKA in pittsburgh) start with a K, turns out KUMR is out of Rolla Missouri.that's fascinating, i never realized that!

[redlava]

I have had that happen to me. It wasn't today, but about 4 months ago I had the radio set to the college station in town, 89.7. They don't have a very strong tower only about a 20 mile radius for clear reception. But I was driving home from work and there was a lot of white noise and in the background I heard the band Disturbed, and KRUI doesn't play music from main stream artists. I listened for a while and after a few minutes I heard "98.7 the River" that station is from Omaha, NE 300 miles away, where my sister lives, so I am very familiar with that station. That is the first time I have ever heard that on that station and so far the only time as well.

[Stang2Vibe]

Time to call in the Twilight Zone I think.

[blake31]

i noticed this problem tuesday night. none of my local fm stations would come in. i could hear them faintly, but there was a lot of interference. my am stations came in fine. must have been solar flares, or maybe HAARP.

[Stang2Vibe]

Oh, interestingly we got a new radio station here about a week ago. Well, it took over an old radio station that was here for at least 15 years that I can remember. The new station's call letters are KROC for K-Rock. Another K station east of the MS river.