Great DX Locations

[Mike-CT]

Here are a couple of places you might like to check out someday.

The photo on the left is Hogback Mtn, about 12 miles west of Brattleboro, VT on Route 9. As you can can see, there's a wide parking lane, a gift shop, long distance viewers that cost you 25 cents a pop to check out the view. You are looking east on 9, across the CT River Valley, deep into New Hampshire in this photo, to the right of the store you'll see an observation deck and behind that is Mt. Wachusett north of Worcester, MA. Boston is strong there, but so is everythng else and that day I had WKCI New Haven with not much trouble in the car. This spot is 2,500 feet asl.

It's just a short hop on the new/improved Rt9 west to Bennington, then south to Williamstown MA, then east on Rt 2 through N. Adams, then east through the hairpin turn then up out of the valley to the western end of Rt2, the Mohawk Trail, when you reach a gift store at the top of the grade. This photo on the right was taken looking west to N. Adams. The airport and Williamstown is in the distance. Albany FMs are gangbusters from here eastward along the Trail towards Greenfield. WJIV is constant much of the way. This is also 2000+ ft asl.

The photos taken in May 2005. By me.

[CharlyQC]

If you ever "lose" yourself in the Quebec area just north of the New Hampshire/Maine border, you will likely find this majestic mountain. Mont
Mégantic stands at 3600 feet, far from any urban development,
pollution, etc. It is known for its observatory. A steep paved road
leads you all the way to the top (better check your breaks!).
As far as I know, the only transmitter there is used by Environment
Canada (162.55), there might be a limited number of other PSB users as well but
no TV and no FM! I haven't been there in more than a decade and I have misplaced the FM log I did up there (argh) but I can tell you that EVERY frequency was active with Boston, Montreal, Quebec City, etc.... Can't imagine what one would get under enhancement.

"Parc national du Mont-Mégantic is located in the enchanting village of Notre-Dame-des-Bois, approximately 75 km to the east of Sherbrooke. Do not confuse it with the City of Lac-Mégantic, located roughly 50 km northeast of the park. Here is the distance in kilometres between the main urban centres and the park:"

Montréal: 225
Québec City: 250
Sherbrooke: 75

http://www.sepaq.com/En/index.cfm

Click on "List of Parks" on the left and then choose Mt Mégantic

"From Sherbrooke: Via Highway 10, take Route 112 to East Angus, Route 253 to Cookshire, then Route 212. Via Lennoxville, take 108 East to Cookshire, then take the 212 to Notre-Dame-Des-Bois."

Picture of Observatory taken by me early 90s

Check out the pictures on the sepaq web site, they're quite nice, especially the auroral borealis ones!

[Mike-CT]

Well, here is another good spot. It's Aunt Carrie's in Naragansett, RI. It's at the south end of Rt108, where the road turns left to Scarborough Beach. The backside of the restaurant has some dunes which lead to the beach and the ocean.

I had Q-104.3 and Hot 97 (NYC) very good on my Toyota car radio for at least three miles from this restaurant crawling up 108 towards Rt1 yesterday. Also WHOM covered 94.9 and WKLL Utica was also in with active rock.

Actually, any place along the Rhode Island shore is great for FM DXing, but here you can eat scallops or lobstah (lobster) roll while you DX, and this place would make a good day mini-convention sometime. There are picnic tables and a decent sized parking lot (not shown)available. Pt. Judith is 5 minutes away. Photo taken 5/29/06.

[KW4RZ]

I've made quite a few road trips out west and there are places where there is almost nothing on the FM dial to be heard so you can imagine Es, meteor possibilities..
Here's some views of some of the most rural yet easily accessible areas in the country from January 2003.


Between Salina, UT and Green River, UT on I-70 there is absolutely NOTHING but wild open land. Red sandstone cliffs sparkle with mica covered with juniper and other desert flora, canyons, high plateaus, dry plains and hills, and distant mountains. Not so much as even a service station or a cell phone tower for 110 miles. At least not when I last drove it in 2003. This is the longest stretch of interstate I've ever noted without cell service. There's only a few lower powered FM's in the distance in this area so your FM dial is wide open to catch just about anything that would come in.


Here's a view from the only rest area near Green River looking south. Moab is off past the distant ridge.

Here's another view with my daughter near the Utah-Colorado line. Nothing but prehistoric sedimentary rock bluffs and desert with distant mountains for as far as you can see.

[Frank Merrill]

^ It would also be hard to find a more BEAUTIFUL area to DX from. However, Tropo would be dreadfully boring from there...

I remember, years ago, thinking that Alexandria, Minnesota had to be the ultimate DX location! That was in the early days before I knew much about translators and such. Once I found out about those, I realized that Alexandria may indeed be good for VHF and especially for skip, but would have been complete Dx HELL on UHF because of so many translators and LPTV's stacked almost everywhere in that state...

I think those of us who have been around for a long time truly know what the best DX location is...the east face of a certain mountain that blocks a lot of the local signals from Monterrey, Mexico - LOL. Fernando Garcia had 1,600 mile nearly-all-overland tropo from there...

[Rory]

I'm looking forward to bringing my XDR-F1HD to my parents' house in Dublin, Georgia later this week. Most of my family lives there but I've never tried DXing there on my trips south. Dublin is about halfway between Atlanta and Savannah, in central Georgia. Should be a great location for FM DX, as it is a rural town with only 4 local FMs (none of which run IBOC). Tropo paths both to the Gulf and up the Atlantic seem to be fairly common from there, based on the APRS maps. Flat terrain and plenty of open frequencies to play with. Much of the country, plus Mexico and the Caribbean are within Es range.

[KC5KBV]

I know of three or four in Arkansas good for FM and TV DX

Inspiration Point west of Eureka Springs AR overlooking the White River from the East.

Mount Magazine which is the tallest mtn in AR, I once logged Tulsa on NTSC and ATSC back in October 2008 at 3PM

Blue Mountain, west of Mena AR is another great location. Location of Queen Wilhelmina State Park (AR) and also hosts the Mena Hamfest in early September (Sat after Labor Day).

Mount Nebo and Mount Nebo St Park (AR) , which is a great location, its also a QTH of a FM radio station, the antenna is located near the visitors center and one can also see the local nuke plant several miles away to the NW. If one DXes at Mnt Nebo, do so away from the FM transmitting antenna (a small 1 bay on a push up pole, nearly stealth) as I found out the hard way.

[OzarksDXer]

Yes, I can imagine that NW Arkansas has a number of good places to DX. It is VERY rural, and plenty of rugged and high hills. Quite easy to find places wit little to interfere with signals. Plus, if you are going to be around Eureka Springs, it is a quaint little place to visit and there are plenty of cheap motels around too, if you want to have a place to stay for a trip just to DX.

[KC5KBV]

There are two TV transmitters near Eureka Springs. Both KNWA 50 (51-1, 51-2), and KPBI 34 (34-1) are located on Whitney Mountain in nearby Benton County. However neither are carried on the local COX cable in ES because KYTV, and KARK (KNWA's sister station in LR) are carried. KWBM (Harrison/Springfield) was carried on COX-ES instead with The WB and MyNetwork programming until being sold off during Equity's liquidation and now is a Daystar affiliate.

Back in 2008, I took a analog pocket TV to ES and KNWA and KPBI would boom into Eureka Springs. KAFT also had a decent signal, at least on the balcony of the Inn Of The Ozarks. However, up on Inspiration Point, I could also see analogs KHOG, KWOG, KODE, KSPR, KOLR, KOZK, KYTV and KSNF. KSPR was tricky because of CCI from KPBI

[Lynn]

I enjoy DXing in Maine and the Maritimes. I had a cool DX experience driving to Bangor on I-95 in September 2006. I picked up a classic rock station from CT! I was surprised, but not soooo surprised b/c it was 9 pm.

The Maritimes are obviously great for DXing. Picked up PEI's pop station in the early morning hours on a drive out of Halifax, NS.

Now that I'm married, I always ask my husband if our trips will include places for me to "play the 'Radio Station Game'." That's what we started calling it! It's good we both like the Maritimes and Quebec, because we can sightsee and DX.