Just got a G8 :)

[Tincap]

OK, this morning (between 8 & 9am), I stood out in my backyard and made a quick scan, covering the top of the FM band, with some interesting results.

107.9 -WWHT Syracuse NY   Hot 107.9
        - WVPS Burlington VT   VPR

107.7 -CHMY-1 Arnprior ON    MYFM
        - WLKK  Buffalo NY       WBEN simulcast (195 miles to tower, using Daft Logic)

107.5 - CBCK Kingston ON      CBC - Radio 1 

107.3 - CITE Montreal QC      Rouge

107.1 - CJTN Belleville ON     Rock 107
        - CILQ Toronto ON       Q107 (197 miles to tower)

106.9 - CKQB Ottawa ON         The Bear

106.7 - WBDR Copenhagen NY  The Border

106.5 - WKRH Oswego NY         K-Rock

106.3 - WYZY Saranac NY        Y106.3  (serves Burlington/Plattsburgh)
        - CJBC-5 Peterborough ON  SRC-Première Chaîne
        - CFXN   North Bay ON     Moose FM (Probable - awaiting playlist confirmation...210 miles)

106.1 - CHEZ   Ottawa ON         Chez 106

105.9 - CKLY   Lindsay ON         BOB FM

105.7 - CIKR   Kingston ON        K-Rock 

105.5 - WTKV  Oswego NY        TK99
        -  unid

105.3 - CISS   Ottawa ON         105.3 KISS FM 

105.1 - CKQM  Peterborough ON   Country 105

104.9 - CFJR   Brockville ON        JRFM  (local)

104.7 - CKOF  Gatineau  QC        CKOI 104.7 

104.5 - CFLG  Cornwall ON         Variety 104.5   

104.3 - CKWS  Kingston ON        CKWS
        -  WFRG  Marcy NY           Big Frog 104.3 (serves Utica/Rome)

104.1 - CKTF  Gatineau QC         NRJ

103.9 - unid (open carrier)

103.7 - CJPT  Brockville ON         BOB FM  (local)   

103.5 - WUUF Sodus NY            Big Dog 103.5  (serves Rochester)

103.3 - CBOQ  Ottawa ON         CBC - Radio 2

103.1 - WTOJ  Watertown NY     Magic 103

102.9 - WNCQ  Ogdensburg NY    Q Country (local)
        - WMHR  Syracuse NY       Mars Hill Network

102.7 - WLYK  Cape Vincent NY   102.7 The Lake (studios are in Kingston ON)

102.5 - CBOX  Ottawa ON           SRC - Espace Musique
        - WUMX Rome NY              Mix 102.5

102.3 - CIGB Trois-Rivières QC      NRJ  (my most easterly FM catch, 185 miles)
        -  WISY Canandaigua NY     Sunny 102

I'll have to try other portions of the FM band, at other opportune times, but I must say...the FM section on the little thing is pretty darn impressive!

~BG

[mimo]

That same radio allows me to listen to 97.7 CHOM FM while right under CJLL 97.9's transmitter here in Ottawa.  I read somewhere that this is how FM radios will be in the future.  If that is true it's about time.  I always found that the frequency right after a strong station had the most bleedover/splatter than the frequency preceding it.

[spunker88]

There was some pretty good tropo going through this morning, I uploaded a video of what I was getting with a dipole tv antenna in the window. Its north facing so mostly Ottawa and Montreal stuff was coming through. Unseasonably warm weather coming in is bringing some nice tropo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfOE-8niJY

Tincap, surprised you don't have CFGL 105.7 from Montreal blocking out K-rock.

[Tincap]

There was some pretty good tropo going through this morning, I uploaded a video of what I was getting with a dipole tv antenna in the window. Its north facing so mostly Ottawa and Montreal stuff was coming through. Unseasonably warm weather coming in is bringing some nice tropo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfOE-8niJY

Tincap, surprised you don't have CFGL 105.7 from Montreal blocking out K-rock.

Nice scan there, spunker. Many of those signals I pick up, but others are masked by stations more local to you (for example 97.1 or 97.9), but ya, a ton of Ottawa and Montreal snags you've got there.

Regarding 105.7, I am quite a bit closer to Kingston than Montreal. I'll try CFGL with the G8, but if I go for it with the 'tower' (Luxman/FM-6 combo), K-Rock would win, coming through the back end of the antenna, whilst pointed to Montreal.

~BG

[Tincap]

Tropo must've been pretty good this morning, with lots of unusual action on the my Luxman, unfortunately I didn't have much time to play.

However, while setting up 'shop' (marking assignments) I did bag 102.7 CITE-FM-1 (Rouge FM) serving Sherbrooke QC, on my G8. The tower is located on top of Mount Orford (a great place to ski, btw...) at a distance of 175 miles. For me, 102.7 is usually occupied by the semi-local Kingston ON/Cape Vincent NY hybrid, WLYK, so I was pleasantly surprised by the catch.

Happy hunting!

~BG

[mimo]

Have you had a chance to check out the longwave portion of the tuner?   Some early reviews say it's very po0r, yet the one I bought a year ago seems to be just fine.  Then again I don't have anythiing to compare it to.  I get all the local beacons plus a few from Montreal, Maniwaki, Brockville, Smith's Falls and Pottsdam, New York.  I've had traces of audio from overseas broadcasters, but not much more.  Anyone else who has one want to chime in and say anything about that part of the tuner?  Maybe they did some improvements in newer models.   Since you live not to0 far away, Tincap, how has your experience been compared to other longwave tuners you have used?

[Tincap]

Have you had a chance to check out the longwave portion of the tuner?   Some early reviews say it's very po0r, yet the one I bought a year ago seems to be just fine.  Then again I don't have anythiing to compare it to.  I get all the local beacons plus a few from Montreal, Maniwaki, Brockville, Smith's Falls and Pottsdam, New York.  I've had traces of audio from overseas broadcasters, but not much more.  Anyone else who has one want to chime in and say anything about that part of the tuner?  Maybe they did some improvements in newer models.   Since you live not to0 far away, Tincap, how has your experience been compared to other longwave tuners you have used?

I'll give LW a go, mimo, but (given the ferrite bar size) I can't imagine it being better than the DX-440. Didn't you pick up a beacon along the shores of the Hudson Bay (small Quebec community airport) with your G8? Not too shabby, I'd say.

~BG

[crainbebo]

Have you had a chance to check out the longwave portion of the tuner?   Some early reviews say it's very po0r, yet the one I bought a year ago seems to be just fine.  Then again I don't have anythiing to compare it to.  I get all the local beacons plus a few from Montreal, Maniwaki, Brockville, Smith's Falls and Pottsdam, New York.  I've had traces of audio from overseas broadcasters, but not much more.  Anyone else who has one want to chime in and say anything about that part of the tuner?  Maybe they did some improvements in newer models.   Since you live not to0 far away, Tincap, how has your experience been compared to other longwave tuners you have used?

MW on my G8 unit is not great, with that soft mute. That's why the G8 is my FM DX radio, and the Grundig G5 is my AM/SW/secondary FM DX radio.

-crainbebo

[mimo]

Have you had a chance to check out the longwave portion of the tuner?   Some early reviews say it's very po0r, yet the one I bought a year ago seems to be just fine.  Then again I don't have anythiing to compare it to.  I get all the local beacons plus a few from Montreal, Maniwaki, Brockville, Smith's Falls and Pottsdam, New York.  I've had traces of audio from overseas broadcasters, but not much more.  Anyone else who has one want to chime in and say anything about that part of the tuner?  Maybe they did some improvements in newer models.   Since you live not to0 far away, Tincap, how has your experience been compared to other longwave tuners you have used?

I'll give LW a go, mimo, but (given the ferrite bar size) I can't imagine it being better than the DX-440. Didn't you pick up a beacon along the shores of the Hudson Bay (small Quebec community airport) with your G8? Not too shabby, I'd say.

~BG

 

I did, and I go it again last night on 334 khz.  I have heard it completely barefoot as well.  I'll have to research how the DX-440 is on longwave.  I've read that if the ferrite is aligned just right on the G8, the longwave isn't to0 bad.   Maybe there are some qc issues in the earlier models that have been adressed.   I read one person say it doesn't hear anything below 360 khz while I get two local beacons at 236 khz, 344 khz and one from Montreal at 248 khz, day or night.  The Montreal beacon does require some external help though to be heard, like putting it up against a metalic fence post.  If I don't do that, then I have to be in an absolutely clear spot without any phone lines nearby to hear even a faint trace of it.  Even with the help, the signal is very weak.

Altogether it picks up about 11 or 12 beacons, 4 of which are local.

[Tincap]

Well, I did a little about of playing around this afternoon, with the little Grundig (trying to avoid marking assignments, lol). I attached a small piece of thin speaker wire, from the base of the G8's antenna, into the male F plug in the back of my old Realistic FM booster, which in turn is hooked up to my AntennaCraft FM-6 (normally I've got my Luxman R-1070 hooked up to this set-up). The FM-6 is sitting on a 30FT pole and I had it directed towards Toronto, from my location here, just north of Brockville ON.

The results were rather surprising. First off, I must say that I continue to find the selectivity and separation of the FM signals, in this little Grundig, to be quite impressive! I heard not a peep out of my locals (91.9 CBOB, 102.1 CBOF FM-7, 103.7 CJPT & 104.9 CFJR) when on adjacent frequencies. Secondly, I don't know what this afternoon's tropo conditions are/were like, but I've made a couple of surprising catches.

The catches of the day were Tillsonburg ON's CKOT 'Easy 101' (50 kW @ 452 KM/281 miles - IDed OTR) fighting it out with Rochester NY's WRMM 'Warm 101.3' and Woodstock ON's CKDK 'More 103.9' (52kW @ 443 KM/275 miles - IDed through playlist on website, Sarah McLachlin's 'Possession', followed by Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love'), jostling with Peterborough ON's CBBP 'CBC Radio 2'. I was able to hear the latter two, without a hint from my local 100kW monster on adjacent 103.7... . My MW DXing has been poor this season, hopefully things are looking up in the FM band!

~BG