west coast low band skip.

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Dispatrick

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This question is for the east coast members... any low band stations on the west coast (CA, OR, WA) that come in frequently? I made a group of all the CHP low band frequencies and stuck them in my base scanner which is on 24/7 and connected to a roof antenna, to see if I can get anything. nothing so far. I've heard it is entirely possible to receive some stations from there on a good day.. I have received stations from about 2/3 across the country but hoping to finally hit the coast.
 

reconrider8

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I was picking up stations last week up in New England from nc great but I havnt heard a kick out of chp in a while. I'm wondering if they are still operating on lowband
 

sparklehorse

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This question is for the east coast members... any low band stations on the west coast (CA, OR, WA) that come in frequently? I made a group of all the CHP low band frequencies and stuck them in my base scanner which is on 24/7 and connected to a roof antenna, to see if I can get anything. nothing so far. I've heard it is entirely possible to receive some stations from there on a good day.. I have received stations from about 2/3 across the country but hoping to finally hit the coast.

A helpful tool for low band skip is the MUF ES map for North America at dxmaps.com (you'll have to click a few tabs to get to it, start with 'VHF & up'):

https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php

The MUF ES map gives a good indication of where the summer sporadic E clouds are located. To receive CHP from the east coast you'd need to see a lot of 40 and higher indicators on the map over much of the mid section of the US. I've checked the map quite a few times in the last few weeks and the E clouds have almost always been confined to the U.S. southeast and mid-Atlantic states, occasionally drifting as far west as Iowa or so. I haven't seen a pattern that looked good to me for coast to coast lo-band propagation. I can receive CHP pretty well from Oregon when the E cloud pattern is right, but I haven't seen that yet this season. I haven't been watching constantly either though.
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sparklehorse

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You'll need a good lo-band antenna too for any hope of receiving CHP. Single hop Sporadic E only extends out to maybe 1400-1600 miles, so CHP would be a double hop. A loop or a dipole cut to 40 MHz would be good choices. Most current scanner antennas are not designed to be efficient for lo-band because very few public safety agencies operate there anymore.

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217

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PGMAN89, two weeks ago I got about 30 minutes of some CHP. :) Around five years ago when I had more time to listen, I regularly received CHP here in NC when the E's made it possible. I crafted a dipole using 10 gauge audio cable and junk RG6. I cut the dipole for 33.4, so I only monitored CHP 39MHz. You may wanna put 39's in the banks if you haven't already.

Another station that was a regular was WQJW689 33.42. located in Sammamish, Washington. Do not know if it still broadcasts.

After six years the antenna has the ugly green looking cable :)
 

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mm

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46.42 MHZ Fire pager channel is still very active in YAMHILL COUNTY OREGON, Southwest of Portland.

There are also some logging ops on 44.34 MHZ and a utility contractor who operates in the 48-49 MHz range still using vhf low but none of these others are as active as 46.42MHZ which is a very busy pageout frequency.
 
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