Spring 2026 'conditions'

[audiophile]

Today took a heat wave road trip to Mt.Pleasant and back. Got 3 more catches, 2 more FAR away like Monday's

On I-475 north of Flint near Mt. Morris- on 88.1 had 2 catches, all with a super fuzzy Smile FM signal, had WELH Providence Rhode Island (analog only) coming in alongside a HD radio signal, it had 3 digital channels (HD1-2-3) but the callsign on the HD is not configured right as it only said "HD" for the callsign and then HD1 of 3 ("HD- HD1 of 3") but it was NPR and had Classical 24 as one of the subchannels and after doing some research determined it was WYPR Baltimore Maryland. I first thought it was WVPE Elkhart Indiana but the HD subchannels did not match (hence the programming of the callsign on the digital signal to other than "HD" would be helpful) but WYPR matched on the subchannels.

Next, on US-10 near Coleman, had WIAA on and WEER Montauk New York was chopping in (only identifier was Top of Hour ID)

Another decent catch day. Maybe need to stake out a rural DX spot

I think heard the same station with the HD-1-2-3. The HD3 was NWS.

[hb2]

Today took a heat wave road trip to Mt.Pleasant and back. Got 3 more catches, 2 more FAR away like Monday's

On I-475 north of Flint near Mt. Morris- on 88.1 had 2 catches, all with a super fuzzy Smile FM signal, had WELH Providence Rhode Island (analog only) coming in alongside a HD radio signal, it had 3 digital channels (HD1-2-3) but the callsign on the HD is not configured right as it only said "HD" for the callsign and then HD1 of 3 ("HD- HD1 of 3") but it was NPR and had Classical 24 as one of the subchannels and after doing some research determined it was WYPR Baltimore Maryland. I first thought it was WVPE Elkhart Indiana but the HD subchannels did not match (hence the programming of the callsign on the digital signal to other than "HD" would be helpful) but WYPR matched on the subchannels.

Next, on US-10 near Coleman, had WIAA on and WEER Montauk New York was chopping in (only identifier was Top of Hour ID)

Another decent catch day. Maybe need to stake out a rural DX spot

I think heard the same station with the HD-1-2-3. The HD3 was NWS.

After doing extensive research, I think the 88.1 with the HD-1-2-3 could have been WUWF in Pensacola Florida. The HD1 NPR format matched and the HD2 was classical music from Classical 24. HD3 was the Radio Reading Service.

All I could find on WYPR was that BBC world service was on HD2 and classical 24 on HD3. I picked up Classical 24 on *HD2* for about half a second but the HD signal dropped on HD3 with no text and never returned (WELH was coming in relatively strong at this point)

Again, programming the call sign on the HD signal would have cleared this low importance mixup. Some Detroit stations do the same thing, 92.3 WMXD- "MIX- HD", 95.5 WKQI- "CHANNEL- HD" (when their main tx is working which of late seems like most of the time not), WGPR 107.5- "WGPR HOT 107" (this has both callsign and branding on the HD display).

[paul8539]

TC:

I have been getting WWL New Orleans for years whenever WKAR is off the air.

[paul8539]

Anybody have any TV DX catches they would like to share?

[Marcus]

The E-Skip is back today (June 13). This time I'm hearing New Orleans.

[Splouge]

New record on my NOAA Weather Radio DXing! WXM-72 Hinton, WV received in north Downriver (roughly 330 miles)

This beats my old record, WWG-87 in Fond du Lac, WI (280 miles)

[hb2]

Ok... got a strange catch between both AM and FM this morning that may have exposed a technical flaw on an AM station. Or there's a new AM station (?!?!) in 2026 (very likely not) or a pirate AM station (who knows)?

I was driving up I-75 toward Frankenmuth, I was trying to pick up 96.7 W244EN near Holly where it normally comes in, I had at first WUFN battling CHYR on 96.7 but eventually CHYR took over the further north I went, W244EN was nowhere to be found.

I gave up on the FM "Bridge 96.7" so I went to 1530 to try to pick up WLCO, at first it was WCKY which wasn't a surprise. Then I started hearing hit music on 1530 AM (signal very weak) and they went to break as "Mix 96.7" -on 1530 AM- and aired Windsor-Essex related commercials.... all the while Bridge 96.7 music was fading in and out at times. Song per song, word per word, it was a direct real time simulcast of CHYR on AM 1530. I flipped back and forth a few times and verified it.

I was on I-475 north of Flint and on I-75 north of the 475 junction just before 8AM this morning when hearing this. CHYR was clear or almost clear even up to Frankenmuth. W244EN was picked up for only a few seconds on 475 coming back home in Flint.

Could someone have a pirate AM transmitter and just picked 1530 because 1530 is not in use in Canada and opted to repeat CHYR? I looked online but 1530 AM is not a frequency in use in Canada. It is in the US and a handful of other countries. My only thought on a new station airing Canadian commercials could be that someone bought up the old CFCO site and modified it to run on 1530... but that would certainly be way too close to clear channel WCKY, If the old CFCO site is even still standing.

I can't say for how WLCO gets its audio feed, but *if* it is just a rebroadcast of the over the air signal of W244EN (which seems like a incredibly easy way of hacking a STL of a primary station but whatever) then the tropo conditions might have brought in CHYR strong enough to get recieved and maybe be rebroadcast unintentionally on WLCO. I would think there would be detection apparatus in use to mute the output if the signal recieved was not the intended signal to be rebroadcast but I am just a consumer using their radio and reporting what I'm hearing. I do not know the engineers or have any insight on how the station is built.

I was certainly scratching my head after this one. Wished I wasn't on the freeway and could have stopped and gotten a video of it. Or that I was closer to WLCO/ Lapeer to affirmatively recieve that signal and know what is actually coming from that site.

[edj]

I was picking up WOMC this morning somewhere west if Portland. 97.1 was booming in west of Lansing. I don’t go out that way much but my memory seems to recall they don't normally reach Lansing.

[fairbankshockeypuck]

Last night west of Saginaw was getting the Detroit FM's including 94.7 WCSX...100.3 WNIC and 104.3 WOMC...I was able to null out 103.1 WGDN Gladwin and got 97.1 ticket rebroadcast on 103.1 WQUS out of Lapeer..on my Sangean ATS-405...

[fairbankshockeypuck]

was also able to get Y102 out of Big Rapids at 102.3 depsite the usual dominance of 102.5 WIOG

[hb2]

Had the usual WCLV 90.3 with perfect HD indoors (like a local) on my sangean HDR-14, wiping out KDTI. It was around mignight last night and did not do a full bandscan

[ChrisWL1980]

Is it even legal for WLCO to be picking up 96.7's audio over the air? Seems to me that means the AM station is relaying the translator instead of the other way around.

In any case, here are a few highlights from this morning (07/07) in Whitmore Lake:

89.9 WRRO Catholic station from NW OH with no sign of CBE
91.5 WMHW and WVAV fighting it out with WUOM's HD still off (hope it stays off)
95.3 WCFX - perfect RDS
101.5 WMJZ - I figured this wasn't WWBN because they were playing Mighty Mighty Bosstones. After the next song I heard the confirming "Eagle 101-5" ID.
103.1 WGDN with limited interference from WWWW, which currently has its HD turned off
104.9 WQBX very strong
106.3 WGLM - Rockwell/Michael Jackson "Somebody's Watching Me" into Queen "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," confirmed by playlist on OnlineRadioBox

[hb2]

WDKL 102.7 and all the Air1 translators are suddenly off air tonight and getting some weak catches from in a few of the voids (which otherwise would exist if these stations/translators did not).

106.3, getting CHKS very weak
107.1, getting WSAQ weak
105.5 static
102.7 static

As for the WLCO bit, that technically isn't legal if it was actually WLCO retransmitting CHYR and not some pirate out yonder putting out an arbitrary signal on 1530 AM, and feeding it the over the air CHYR 96.7 signal for audio, highly unlikely a webcast. Half the time they don't need an audio feed going to WLCO being its a daytimer.... I'm sure there are others out there that feed the AM with its FM translator and get away with it (but also likely havecloser or co-located AM and FM sites than WLCO and W244EN. However WLCO is right on the edge of the mileage limit for the translator if I recall, so if it is an FM --> AM transmission order they are certainly pushing the limits of the translator. It sounded like 2 signals on 1530 (WLCO and a pirate) but it could have been the 2 FM's clashing so rapidly they were blending as one onto the AM output.

Again, I was in a weaker part of the WLCO signal near Flint and the signal wasn't great, it was a broken roughly 10 minutes of hearing "Mix 96.7"on 1530 AM, so I couldn't definitively say it was WLCO transmitting the "Mix 96.7". CHYR 96.7 was definitely quite strong out that direction that morning.

[hb2]

WDKL and its translators remain off this morning 7/12. 102.7 I am getting WCPZ Sandusky Ohio crystal clear like a local with RDS.

105.5 getting the WDEO translator W288DW mixed with CBEF-2-FM. I was also getting other stations too, but nothing long enough to identify.

106.3 is still CHKS but still very weak

107.1 I was getting WSAQ and the WRDT translator W296DY, both were moderately strong.

[hb2]

WDKL is back online, presumably via the Mount Clemens backup transmitter, the signal is spotty indoors but overall strong. Signal is not in HD, and the Air1 translators 105.5, 106.3, and 107.1 all remain offline for the time being. No STA's filed as of yet detailing what happened to the main TX or if this is going to be an extended outage.

Edit: their station finder page is mentioning WDKL off air citing equipment failure. They must be using the backup facility, I bet coverage is abysmal out to the west right now
https://www.klove.com/music/station-finder