FM & AM DXing from Northern Virginia
January 25, 2010 3 Comments
1668 Total FM stations logged from 6 countries as of 10/9/11.
DXing is the hobby of logging distant radio and television signals. I am a DXer based in Woodbridge, Virginia, grid square FM18. I have been DXing for over 11 years. This website focuses on DXing the FM, and AM radio bands. View the various pages of my website by clicking the links on the top of the page.
May 27, 2012
May has proven to be a very quiet month for DXing in Northern Virginia.
With a week left in the month, there has not been one observed FM E-Skip opening in my area. At least one to two mid-band FM Es opening is usually received by the 25th, based on my records dating back to 2007.
But I’m not alone. FM Es has been quiet for most DXers, according to the Worldwide FM-TV DX Association email list. In the past week or two, only a handful of low-band TV Es was observed, with an occasional FM logging noted—few to the top of the band.
The lack of Es in late May is concerning. Usually by May 26, DXers in the Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Florida areas have reported at least two strong Es openings, but none have been seen yet.
The 2011 Es season was devastating. Es started about a month and a half late locally—on June 25. All openings, with several having a MUF of 107.9 MHz, were weak, short and lacking in terms of states and stations logged. The season ended around the normal time, on July 24. But two small, 20-minute openings to 93.1 and 96.1 FM were received out-of-season on Aug. 8 and Sept. 13, respectively. Read more about Es season 2011 in my review.
This comes on the heels of an equally-disappointing Es season 2010. FM Es officially dropped out locally on July 3, 2010—a month before the traditional end. July has proven, in previous years, to be full of top-of-the-band, marathon openings. I even received Es past 200 MHz, or TV channel 10, during the infamous July 6, 2004 opening. Yet there were none in July 2010 at all. Thankfully, 2010 was saved by a few good, strong openings.
I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that Es season 2012 will go down in the record books as well as the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons did, but I’m afraid what we’ve seen so far, based on the past two years, is par for the course.
February 6, 2012
We’re more than halfway through the off-season for E-skip here in Northern Virginia, and I figured it was time to do some very early pre-spring cleaning on various pages throughout the site. Among the updates are as follows:
-> Local FM stations page: three local FM format changes:
::: 99.1 from Spanish WLZL to news WNEW.
::: 105.9 from classic rock WVRX to conservative talk radio WMAL.
::: 107.9 from religious WFSI to Spanish WLZL.
-> Woodbridge, VA FM Screenshots page: new HD radio from Read more of this post
October 9, 2011
It is a rare treat that a ‘regular’ tropo opening (with signals in over 200 miles) occurs here in Northern Virginia. When it does–usually once a year–I always get the same, tired relogs from Norfolk, Raleigh and Coastal North Carolina. It is a more coveted reward to get 1 new station out of these openings, let alone 5 new logs, like I did on October 9. What surprised me was how weak some of these new logs were, for example, one log was 450 watts. And, two were heard over local signals, one of them (92.7) with full quieting stereo. On top of the new logs, I received new RDS and HD Radio decodes from relogs, seen further down in this post and on the RDS/HD Screenshots page.
New logs:
89.1 WNIA Tarboro, NC, 191 miles, 950 watts, 6:45 a.m., “89.1 Big Bang Radio” – college, with ID and ads from Nash Community College
89.9 WHRJ Gloucester, VA, 109 miles, 450 watts, 3:10 a.m., “WHRO” – classical, //WHRO 90.3 Norfolk in at same time
92.7 WBNK Pine Knoll Shores, NC, 265 miles, 11.5 kw, 2:48 a.m. “92.7 The Big Fish” – ccm, over local WWXT
99.9 WCMC Holly Springs, NC, 218 miles, 26.5 kw, 5:18 a.m. “ESPN Radio” – sports
101.1 WQZL Belhaven, NC, 234 miles, 31 kw, 5:40 a.m. “Rock 105 & 101″ – rock, over local WWDC
New RDS/HD Radio screenshots from relogs:
94.5 WRVQ Richmond, VA @ 87 miles (new HD display minus “-FM”) Read more of this post
September 14, 2011
There was a brief post-season Es opening Sept. 14 into central and south-central Florida heard between 7 p.m. and 7:20 p.m in my car while driving in Bristow, VA., about 15 miles west of my home. MUF for the opening was 96.1 FM. There were no new logs, but I did catch the following relogs:
92.3 WWKA Orlando, FL @ 731 mi.
92.9 WIKX Charlotte Harbor, FL @ 862 mi.
94.1 WLLD Lakeland, FL @ 809 mi.
94.5 unID classic rock, suspect WARO Naples, FL @ 890 mi.
94.9 WWRM Tampa, FL @ 803 mi.
96.1 unID classic rock, suspect WRXK Bonita Springs, FL @ 883 mi.
August 4, 2011
I experienced a very brief Es opening on August 2 while driving in my car within 5 miles of my home in Woodbridge, VA. Signals were in weakly from about 7:55 to 8:05 p.m., with fade-ups lasting around 10 seconds at a time before disappearing. The only ID I heard was the legal ID from KKYA 93.1 Yankton, SD, a relog at 1088 miles. This also marked the first, and only, 2011 Es opening into the upper midwest–an area that I usually have multiple (and long) openings from. I have updated the 2011 Es season in review to reflect this opening, but logs received after July 31 do not count toward the final grade of the season, since the season traditionally ends on July 31.
July 31, 2011 2 Comments
The 2011 Sporadic E-Skip season has unofficially ended in Northern Virginia on Sunday, July 31.
Straight on the heels of the abrupt ending of the 2010 Es season, which ended locally on July 3, about a month sooner than in previous years, I was expecting a huge comeback for 2011.
I was disappointed.
Instead, the lack of Es seen at the end of 2010 seemed plague the entire 2011 season, with the majority of openings only getting up to the mid FM band, or to the top but with weak, and sparse, signals. Read more of this post
July 27, 2011
There was a very brief Es opening on July 26 in Northern Virginia. It lasted only 20 minutes long, and had a MUF of 96.1 FM. No new logs were received.
Relogs received:
91.7 KOSU Stillwater, OK, 1130mi
92.9 KBEZ Tulsa, OK, 1045mi
93.7 KSPI Stillwater, OK, 1106mi
94.9 KGGO Des Moines, IA, 878mi
Additionally, there was a moderately-strong tropo opening into New Jersey. Although no new logs were received, I did get some new RDS screenshots added to the site from the following stations:
95.1 WAYV Atlantic City, NJ, 158mi Read more of this post
July 25, 2011
The June 24 e-skip opening was great here in Northern Virginia. It resembled a normal Es opening multiple strong signals and at least one local signal being overpowered, unlike many openings this year. The opening started at 5:15 p.m. and ended around 5:55 p.m., and had a MUF of 107.1.
Even with that said, it followed more of the “quality vs. quantity” theme that has been prevalent in numerous 2011 Es openings, with a new station (2nd in 12 years) logged over local blowtorch 95.5 WPGC, as well as my second translator logged via Es.
New logs:
94.3 WBAD Leland, MS, 1170mi, area Es, over local WWXX
95.5 KAFX Diboll, TX, 847mi, playlist match, over local WPGC
96.9 KZMZ Alexandria, LA, 1010mi, RDS hit Read more of this post
July 20, 2011
July 19’s Es opening in Northern Virginia seemed to be indicative of the less-than-impressive 2011 Es season to date. The main part of the opening lasted 15 minutes in FM, starting around 3:30 p.m. About an hour later, it shot into FM again, and stayed there for 5 minutes before leaving for good. MUF for this opening was 102.3 FM, but the majority signals were heard below 96.9.
New logs:
95.1 WBPC Ebro, FL, 740mi, 25kw, 3:27 p.m. local ads
99.5 WKSM Ft. Walton Beach, FL, 779mi, 50kw, 3:31 p.m., playlist match, over local WIHT
101.3 WAGF-FM Dothan, AL, 688mi, 1.15kw, 3:29 p.m., area Es
Relogs:
88.7 WRWA Dothan, AL, 699mi Read more of this post
July 18, 2011
July 17 provided for another weak-ish Es opening into Northern Virginia. The band was open to Halifax, Nova Scotia from about 5:45 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. MUF was 101.3 FM.
New stations:
88.1 CKDU Halifax, NS, 815mi, 815mi, 5:57 pm
101.9 CBAL-1 Allardville, NB, 845mi, 6:02 pm, “Premiere Chaine” – public radio, area Es Read more of this post
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