GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 As normal, on my way home from work yesterday, I was scanning the radio searching for something to listen to. Most of the normal stations that the scan usually stops on were not coming in very clear, almost all were too staticy to listen to. I did notice that I was hearing more Spanish speaking stations for some reason...I'm not sure where the closest Spanish speaking radio station is but I'm pretty sure it would have to be in the Roanoke area if not down in North Carolina. Anyway, as I was scanning my way to tune in 101.5 WQUT out of the Tri-Cities area, a rock station on 101.3 was coming in loud and clear. I was like "where has this station been?" in my excited amazement. The station was loud and clear all the way to the Comfort Inn area in Bluefield, VA before I lost it. But the thing that blew my mind was, at the end of an Alice in Chains song, a voice comes over the radio and says "4 o'clock four play from C101". It really didn't hit me for a couple of seconds, then I realized, its five after five...this station was broadcasting from the central time zone...and I'm picking it up for the first time, clear as a bell, in the eastern time zone. What the... Anyway, does anyone know of a C101 that plays rock, from the central time zone? And why was I picking it up crystal clear yesterday afternoon? I've done an internet search and found "C-101 Rocks!" which broadcasts from Corpus Christi, TX. The weird thing is, yesterday, after the Alice in Chains four play at 4, "C-101 Rocks!" was the next "voice" I heard then more rock, until I lost the signal. The C-101 Rocks website allows you to listen live, which I've been doing for the last hour or so and it sounds very familiar to what I heard on my car radio yesterday. What I'm trying to figure out is, was I actually receiving a radio signal from Corpus Christi, TX all the way up here in Tazewell County yesterday or is there another radio station closer by that is simulcasting this station??? Anybody got a clue??? There was nothing but static on 101.3 on my way to work this morning...BTW, Stone Temple Pilots "Lady Picture Show" is playing right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Here's the link for anyone craving rock... http://www.c101.com/main.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneWarning 212 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 That is weird!! Maybe it is just one of those unexplained things. I have never heard of a 101.3 station close around the area. Of course my radio is always dialed into classic rock on Sirius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Here's the link for anyone craving rock... http://www.c101.com/main.html There has to be a radio station nearby simulcasting it. It's physically impossible for the FM signal to travel 1700 miles to us. AM signals can travel a LONG way, because they refract off the atmosphere. FM signals pass right through the atmosphere and back out into space. Now, it may have bounced off a satellite and just coincidentally hit Bluefield, but that's a long shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 There has to be a radio station nearby simulcasting it.It's physically impossible for the FM signal to travel 1700 miles to us. AM signals can travel a LONG way, because they refract off the atmosphere. FM signals pass right through the atmosphere and back out into space. Now, it may have bounced off a satellite and just coincidentally hit Bluefield, but that's a long shot. I was thinking all of the above and really couldn't come up with an explanation other than a possible simulcast...but I couldn't get anything but static on 101.3 this morning. Yesterday afternoon, there were some very high cirrostratus clouds and I thought that maybe I was picking up a distant radio station whose signals were reflecting off of them...but not from as far away as CC, TX...and not as clearly as it was coming in. I'm not kidding when I say it was coming in as clear as J104.5 while you're sitting in Hardee's parking lot on Bluefield Ave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 I was thinking all of the above and really couldn't come up with an explanation other than a possible simulcast...but I couldn't get anything but static on 101.3 this morning. Yesterday afternoon, there were some very high cirrostratus clouds and I thought that maybe I was picking up a distant radio station whose signals were reflecting off of them...but not from as far away as CC, TX...and not as clearly as it was coming in. I'm not kidding when I say it was coming in as clear as J104.5 while you're sitting in Hardee's parking lot on Bluefield Ave. The more I think of it, the more a simulcast seems unlikely. Why on earth would a radio station on the WV/VA border be simulcasting a station, good though it may be, from Corpus Christi, TX? Seems too random. I'll ask some of my friends in the know, but my instinct now is that the radio signal has bounced off some satellite or telescope, and by some crazy coincidence landed right on Bluefield, VA. I love odd little things like this! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 The more I think of it, the more a simulcast seems unlikely. Why on earth would a radio station on the WV/VA border be simulcasting a station, good though it may be, from Corpus Christi, TX? Seems too random. I'll ask some of my friends in the know, but my instinct now is that the radio signal has bounced off some satellite or telescope, and by some crazy coincidence landed right on Bluefield, VA. I love odd little things like this! :) Actually landed on the area from Tazewell Country Club to the Comfort Inn in Bluefield, VA...lost it once I got past the CI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhs7695 185 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 I've had the same thing happen on an FM dial as I was on Tyler Ave. in Radford from I81 a few weeks back. I think it was out of Birmingham and I think the dial 93.5 or something close to that. It was a talk radio station and at that time I picked it up they were giving a traffic report. What about these new digital signals that FM radio stations are switching to? Would that have anything to do with it? I know years ago when I had a CB radio, I've picked up guys talking on CB radios that were in the midwest and came through clear as a bell. In the daytime too. I pick up AM radio from everywhere all the time Atlanta, Mississippi, Ft. Wayne, ect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuceswild 15 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) This is some real twilight zone stuff right here. Since we're all sharing our FM ghost stories, I have one as well. Couple years ago in college, I was down with the flu and was sick all weekend and beyond. All the rest of the guys went out to drink and I told them to give me a call later and I would pick them up. There was nothing on TV (Friday night TV blows and for good reason) so I figured I would try to pick up any local football game on the radio in the NRV. I landed on one station and it sounded like a football game. It was somewhere between 97 and 98FM. You could hear the announcers fading in and out and cheers and a band in the background. I left it on there for a second or two, waiting to here them mention the teams involved and thats when I heard.. "..this kid is a fine football player. One of the finest in all of Missouri." Then the transmission faded away. I tried but I couldn't get it back. I didn't have a digital tuner either, so that made it even harder to relocate. One of the crazier things was, our townhouse was horrible for reception of any kind. Local radio stations like 96.3 of Roanoke and 105.3 of Blacksburg would become fuzzy in our driveway and no one could get a decent cell phone signal from anywhere in the house. It was like living on top of the Bermuda triangle or something. So you can imagine how even more bizarre it was to hear something from the state of Missouri make its way to the antenna on my old boombox. Edited July 29, 2009 by deuceswild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham-VT Fan 46 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 There has to be a radio station nearby simulcasting it.It's physically impossible for the FM signal to travel 1700 miles to us. AM signals can travel a LONG way, because they refract off the atmosphere. FM signals pass right through the atmosphere and back out into space. Now, it may have bounced off a satellite and just coincidentally hit Bluefield, but that's a long shot. I think the WOAY TV Channel 4 signal passes right through space too. That station still sucks and I wish there was some way to get it off the Bluefield cable lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGRED 16 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Gman I had the same thing happen to me yesterday at 5:00. I was going south on I81 coming home from work. I had almost all Spanish on my radio. My wife said it happened to her too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BEAVERTAIL Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Easy answer guys, global warming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD4VT 11 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 So I was on my way to Bluefield this evening to shoot the Orioles and I remembered this thread about the time I passed Fort Witten. For some reason I thought GMan said 103.1 so I tuned to that and got "Winnipeg's Hot 103!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swva_fan 94 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 "On July 29, 2009, a strong signal from KPNO (100,000W religious station) FM 90.9 in Norfolk, Nebraska was received on a car radio in Reading, Pennsylvania, at a distance of approximately 1,257 miles." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_and_FM_DX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuceswild 15 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Quick! Lets all add our tropospheric propagation accounts to the Wiki page! We'll be internet famous!! No joke, I'm being serious. What? I don't judge your hopes and dreams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance 228 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 El Nino...Gman called it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 BTW...yesterday on my way home, I checked 101.3 again and it was a station playing "oldies" (late 60's-early 70's...I can call them "oldies" because I'm of the same vintage and everyone here knows I'm old). Anyway, once again, the signal was clear as a bell but would cut out completely every now and then. I listened to it until I got to the Bluefield side of the Divides and then changed the station. I don't know what it is, but something is going on...I blame all the liberals/socialists in Washington, DC... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Ladies and Gents...we've been Wiki'd... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhs7695 185 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Easy answer guys, global warming. Hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) Gman I had the same thing happen to me yesterday at 5:00. I was going south on I81 coming home from work. I had almost all Spanish on my radio. My wife said it happened to her too. There are a ton of Spanish-language stations broadcasting from the Triad and Roanoke. LOTS of them. Edited July 30, 2009 by UVAObserver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted Account 5,203 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 BTW...yesterday on my way home, I checked 101.3 again and it was a station playing "oldies" (late 60's-early 70's...I can call them "oldies" because I'm of the same vintage and everyone here knows I'm old). Anyway, once again, the signal was clear as a bell but would cut out completely every now and then. I listened to it until I got to the Bluefield side of the Divides and then changed the station. I don't know what it is, but something is going on...I blame all the liberals/socialists in Washington, DC... I told you that I'd ask my friend. Here's his response: the ionosphere had the exact right conditions to bounce FM from TX to VA. A bit different, but reminiscent of tropospheric propagation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance 228 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Ladies and Gents...we've been Wiki'd... link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuceswild 15 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
total 12 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 I drive daily from Princeton to Blacksburg... I usually listen to K92. and ONLY on my way home in the evenings, when I'm going through the Glen Lynn area right there at AEP and starting up the hill does it fuzz out and some some other station come in. it only lasts for a little bit, but I'm always wondering where in the world did that signal come from... who is interfering with my Lady GaGa (because that's all K92 seems to play). I'm sure this is a different station, but this happens right around Starbucks too... anywayz - my 2 cents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublue 939 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 There are a ton of Spanish-language stations broadcasting from the Triad and Roanoke.LOTS of them. ATL area.....many on the upper end of the AM dial are.....FM has a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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