Strange (but long) Trop

[Robert Grant]

I wonder if anyone else got in on the trop opening after, about 0001 to at least 0500 EDT 17 august.
From Temperance, MI (EN81fs), had KCRG-9 from Iowa under CBET, KATV-7 and KARK-4 in Little Rock, AR (the last two were seen under WXYZ and WDIV, respectively). With these kinds of distances (The AR stations represent my personal longest tropo, and I've been DXing for about 30 years!), one would think this was a "super opening" - quite the contrary! These were the only stations out of the ordinary! Channel 8 had only a typical summer signal from WJW Cleveland with typical QRM from WOOD in Grand Rapids. The UHF band was more or less devoid of tropo, only the Fort Wayne stations at 97 miles were stronger than usual (the lack of tropo on UHF was frustrating, as my digital TV DX total is stagnant). Interestingly, KARK was stronger than WTTV (also zero offset, seen under WDIV almost every night), even though KARK is almost exactly the same direction from here as WTTV (3 degrees off).

[Mike-CT]

Maybe you should talk to Saul! This is what he posted on the tvfmdx list earlier today. Nice going to both of you!

Nothing interesting at all, FM band completely normal, not even any enhancement from the usual suspects such as Cleveland or Detroit. The only thing that stood out during my brief DXpedition to Snowball (just northwest of Toronto) was that Pembroke and Ottawa and Kingston ON seemed stronger than usual as I was driving out and parking the car. Lured by maps showing forecast tropo to MI and IL, and actual ham contacts being made from southern Ontario to IL and (as one DXer noted on one of the DX lists just before I went out) AR. Well, with Brockport NY and Cleveland OH completely dominating 104.9, was I ever shocked to get a brief fade-down of these signals, and a fade-up of country music. Then repeated IDs as "104.9 Super
Country 105" followed by a web site www.supercountry.com (http://www.supercountry.com/). Then, while I was wondering who it might be, and too lazy to pick up my FM Atlas next to me, I heard -- at 0457 EDT -- "KHPA Hope-Prescott". That's southwest AR, very close to Texas! I'm sure this is my farthest tropo ever. It will surely eclipse the 955 miles of York NE (also 104.9, my most open channel). Anyhow, all this came in as I was parking my car a driveway that sometimes does well for me to the southwest. Once I got a separate rig, with 12-foot mast, up and running, there was nothing much happening. I heard a bit of Sault Ste. marie, North Bay and Sudbury ON were above normal. Detroit was weaker than usual despite the maps forecasting activity that direction.

I'm a bit surprised there was nothing else, but then the 104.9 was never all that strong, though it was fairly steady, and only in for maybe 5 to 6 minutes (I caught the tail end of a slogan - Country 105" and had to wait through a song before the next round of IDs).

[fmerrilljr]

Good Lord! That's totally nuts...that 104.9 beats anything I've had in my 44 years, I think. (Gee, I sure hope that it wasn't a **RELOG** of something already heard on skip...or, worse, were you in a place too far away to even count it?) And as far as KARK-to-Michigan on LOW BAND, that's pretty cool too. But on 8/17 I was in North Carolina, so I couldn's partake, even if anything notable was going on.

:jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump: :jump:

[Robert Grant]

Actually - I've wanted to log the same station by trop and skip for more than 25 years, a goal that continues to elude me. KARK should be a realistic target for Es from Temperance, I have two more summers to log it that way and I will be trying.
I have logged KARK by Es at other regular DX sites (in fact, Manistique, just last month).
I got a very close Es, WSTM-3, Syracuse NY, From Detroit east side, in 1983, but never got them by trop (I did get channel 5 Syracuse by Tr from there, however).
I did get WWMT-3 by Tr at all my regular DXing sites, and by Es, in Colorado Springs!