I've never heard FM act as crazy as it is today

beat_truck

Addicted Member
I'm on my front steps rebuilding a carburetor, listening to 93.3 out of Meyersdale, PA on a 1980s boombox. It's sitting directly on the driveway plugged into an outlet in the basement. At least four different stations have been fading in and out. One said it was from MN, one from Rochester (NY maybe?), and one from SD.o_O

I've listened to AM stations on skip at night, on stations like 650 WSM from Nashville, TN and 740 and 900 out of Canada, etc but I've never heard FM do it this extreme.
 
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There are 2 basic modes of long distance (DX) propagation for VHF radio signals, Sporadic E skip and ducting.

With E Skip, areas of the E layer of the ionosphere become ionized and return the VHF radio signal to the ground at long distance from the transmitter.

With ducting, the atmosphere forms a duct or tunnel that carries the radio signal a long distance.

According to space weather, there are no sun spots on the earth facing side of the sun today.
 
Sun spots maybe?

No. We're entering the quiet part of one of the quietest cycles. As an HF enthusiast, it's getting difficult to do anything on the upper bands as a result. The next cycle is supposed to be even quieter than the previous...a trend they're saying could continue a few cycles.

Since I wasn't at the computer to look at various maps when this was happening..but the tropo outlook for the eastern US isn't very hot right now...the duct seems to be off the coast. Was probably an E cloud...which would explain the changing stations.
 
Still here ... must have been that burrito I had for supper ...

FYI - solar activity doesn't show any reason for the blips.

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity

Then again, I've having the same sort of issues with my satellite tv the last couple days, which is fairly typical this time of year due to temperature inversion. Shouldn't be an issue with good signal strength and if your antenna is aimed properly. Mine is partially blocked by a tree, so one satellite is pretty borderline on a good day. I suppose I should get it moved someday soon as that tree keeps growing.
 
Carburettor? Boombox? It's not the FM mate,you're stuck in a bloody time warp.

Everything will return to normal when they do the yearly rebroadcast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Halloween,just try to hold on till then:rflmao:

That,or those damned aliens are back again........
 
Carburettor? Boombox? It's not the FM mate,you're stuck in a bloody time warp.

Everything will return to normal when they do the yearly rebroadcast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Halloween,just try to hold on till then:rflmao:

That,or those damned aliens are back again........

I like the alien theory myself. Hmmmm... I need to write a story about aliens visiting Earth because we have the best audio gear in the multiverse. On other planets and galaxies, every AK poster has a following. Our cable disputes erupt in intergalactic war somewhere. Khorns are copied and sold on some planets. Others favor panels. Imagine the ads:

"From a backwards planet where even interplanetary travel is limited to machines only, comes the KEF Blade, a triumph in audio reproduction...'
 
Carburettor? Boombox? It's not the FM mate,you're stuck in a bloody time warp.

Everything will return to normal when they do the yearly rebroadcast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Halloween,just try to hold on till then:rflmao:

That,or those damned aliens are back again........
Leave me alone. I like living in the past as much as possible.:biggrin:

It's a shame I was born in '84 as I missed most of the good times, movies, music, and cars. My teens into my twenties sucked for the most part. Nearly all the vehicles I had access to were late '70s through early '90s junk. Muscle cars and cool trucks were already expensive to own or build. The internet was still dial up and slow as crap. Music and most movies sucked by then, too.

About the only thing good I can say about today is that nearly everything imaginable is available through the internet. And that's not always a plus, though.
 
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...I need to write a story about aliens visiting Earth because we have the best audio gear in the multiverse...

They'd become AK members so they could strike up friendships and gradually pick us off, one at a time and fill their spaceships with our gear. I think they'd be like Han Solo with a creaky old freighter, a few mutant sidekicks and holds stuffed full of vintage gear which they take back to their dusty planet and sell it car-boot sale style, like the Jawa sand crawler droid market in the original Star Wars movie.
 
No aliens in sight from here but I am getting very distant stations as well of late. I live in Georgina Ontario, listen to the local low power commercial free station from Georgina Island. I am getting at times one from Port Elgin, Lake Huron and another from somewhere in the US. Good tunes on the Port Elgin Station, US station, eek talk radio about politics, glad that did not last long. I think it is cool if it does it infrequently. I am sure if I point the antenna in a different position I could eliminate it but it is short bursts so it is not worth the bother to move the antenna.
 
I'm on my front steps rebuilding a carburetor, listening to 93.3 out of Meyersdale, PA on a 1980s boombox. It's sitting directly on the driveway plugged into an outlet in the basement. At least four different stations have been fading in and out. One said it was from MN, one from Rochester (NY maybe?), and one from SD.o_O

I've listened to AM stations on skip at night, on stations like 650 WSM from Nashville, TN and 740 and 900 out of Canada, etc but I've never heard FM do it this extreme.

Was it Sunday, July 8th? Transatlantic FM DX
 
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