Propagation

[EJB]

As insomnia keeps kicking my ass lately I took out my 396T and SDS100 to search for distant signals. We had a frontal boundary pretty much on top of us, separating extremely humid Gulf air and drier, but very hot air from the west and the north. I was hoping for anything in the 25-54 MHz Low Band and more than the baby monitor down the hallway.

I scored a goodly number of frequencies, very surprised from what I heard. I have a LARSEN Mag mount cut for FleetnNt and good from the air band to FleetNet to 174 MHz. I'm 18 floors up in the lower city of Hamilton maybe 50-100 feet up from the bay and I face S/SW.

Here's what I snagged:

37.100
31.480
42.060

42.120-CTCSS 203.5. The accent was not thick, I don't think this was the south, the deep south, didn't sound like anywhere in and around the

 

[mciupa]

42.120-CTCSS 203.5.

Maybe this?

Database Home | Missouri​ Search Results for 42.12 in (Missouri) with Tone: 203.5 PL Freq Out Freq In Tone Callsign Description Category Agency/County State 42.12000 203.5 PL KAA243 Police: Dispatch Troop D - Springfield Highway Patrol Missouri Department of Public Safety MO

They have been heard by us up here since the OPP Low Band days.

 

[EJB]

42.120-CTCSS 203.5. The accent was not thick, I don't think this was the south, the deep south, didn't sound like the deep south. Dispatch mentioned Highway 8 and 8A. There is these highways in Western Mass but there is no Troop D in Western Mass. Troop D is in Arkansas and I'm sure they mentioned Bentonville a city in NW Arkansas.

37.100 was clear enough and the man had a thick southern accent. 31.480 was also a male with the distinctive southern accent but no locations.

I see that Lindsay charges us to look up American frequencies and unfamiliar which agency keeps track of the American frequencies lists. Is there an American equivalent to the TAFL list we have?

 

[freqs]

Look in the forums in Skip / Tropospheric Ducting Forum
Tons of info on the skip freqs

 

[mrweather]

Back in the day when OPP was on low band, I often heard Missouri State Police come up on 42.060 (OPP's main base frequency at the time).

 

[IdleMonitor]

Some good conditions this morning. VHF Propagation Map Ontario is looking great today

I'm gonna search around the bands for a bit. Lately from the 11m band (CB), 10m, and VHF Low 30-54 have been great. I hear activity throughout all of them.

I've heard Bancroft FleetNet tower come across as well as VE3 MPC Orleans. Both of which are not in my regular listening range.

Back in the day when OPP was on low band, I often heard Missouri State Police come up on 42.060 (OPP's main base frequency at the time).

I started listening to scanners back in the 90's in my teens. The low band conditions were great to listen to. I always loaded lots of frequencies into my 200 channel analog base scanner with no PL tones. 42.060 being one of them. That 42 MHz band was great as well as around 33 MHz also with the fire depts.

 

[ATCTech]

" I started listening to scanners back in the 90's in my teens."

ARGH...back that up to the early/mid 1970s for me. Now I know I'm old. I'm still working on the "wise" part.

 

[pro2004]

Yes I've logged 42.06, 42.10 & 42.12 MO HP in the last few weeks. Springfield and Lee Summit but sadly no Poplar Bluff...
Like stepping back in time to 1985.

Many 46 MHZ MNR forest firefighting frequencies from NW Ontario have been recieved as well in the last week.
Check the 2021 VHF Low Band logs in the skip/tropo forum for what folks are hearing.

 

[Aviator747]

Even FM radio has been great. I have been picking up stations from Pittsburgh, Chicago, and a few other areas. One frequency even had 4 HD stations briefly.

 

[IdleMonitor]

2 weeks ago I was picking up stations in Mississippi and Tennessee while sitting in a Walmart parking lot.

Even FM radio has been great. I have been picking up stations from Pittsburgh, Chicago, and a few other areas. One frequency even had 4 HD stations briefly.

 

[ATCTech]

Haha, ironic! The south and Walmart go hand in hand, especially Arkansas. (The home of Walmart.)

 

[EJB]

Conditions are pretty good tonight as I type this Stratford's FleetNet tower is booming in. King City is as strong as Brantford or Mowat as well.

The Simcoe tower and the Ballinifad tower are both strong enough to listen in.

And right on, almost strong enough to decide is 142 590 which is Brantford's alternate tower but I'm guessing that Durham in Grey County is what's barely coming in tonight, oh so close!

 

[gary123]

Nice capture on Stratford.
The antenna must be working again. It has an intermittent open connection, but what do I know.

 

[EJB]

Mentioned a few of the east towers in that thread but surprisingly in addition to Aylmer tonight, Cedarwoods is strong enough and London Byron are strong enough.

So I'm doing more than 100km maybe up to 150 km in both directions!