June 11, 2023 was quite a day for FM Es in Kingsport. The action started around 1:00pm EDT with south Texas stations making it in (San Antonio, Kerrville, Houston, Edinburg, Matamoros). Shortly later I began to receive Louisiana and Mississippi. WBYB-98.3 Cleveland, MS was my shortest distance catch of the day at 496 miles. The path then moved back to Texas (Dallas, Corpus Christi), western Oklahoma, and Kansas. Things began to get interesting in the late afternoon to evening hours. Texas continued into the evening but with a mix of stations coming from the west (CO, NE, WY). At 9:45pm EDT on 99.5 I received a fadeup from KFXX 99.5 Klamath Falls, Oregon at 2119 miles. Although the reception was in and out for only about a half-minute, I was able to get a positive ID based on these verbal clues: “Diamond Home Improvement”, “92.5 KLAD”, “Klamath County” and “Tenth Annual Benefit for the Basin” which can be clearly heard in the attached audio clip. I was not monitoring this frequency live as it happened. I only found it by reviewing recordings from this day on June 14th. FM Es diminished about thirty minutes later it seemed.
I like to think that planning played a part in this double-hop reception. Determined to best my previous double-hop distance of 1849 miles, and well before the season started, I began to research which of my open frequencies has the most Es targets and sure enough 99.5 is one of the best frequencies. So, by default, every day before I leave the house, I always record 99.5. I have done this for other frequencies too, so I’m always recording these “best-chance” frequencies. The other part of the equation is leaving one of my antenna masts pointing WNW or NW (around 290°) since there are more densely packed population centers in that direction. At that point it’s just playing the waiting game of perfectly-aligned Es patches, which is what happened on June 11th.
Have a listen at the clip: June 11 2023 KFXX 99.5 2119miles.mp3
This screen grab of the maps was about 15 minutes after my reception.
I like to think that planning played a part in this double-hop reception. Determined to best my previous double-hop distance of 1849 miles, and well before the season started, I began to research which of my open frequencies has the most Es targets and sure enough 99.5 is one of the best frequencies. So, by default, every day before I leave the house, I always record 99.5. I have done this for other frequencies too, so I’m always recording these “best-chance” frequencies. The other part of the equation is leaving one of my antenna masts pointing WNW or NW (around 290°) since there are more densely packed population centers in that direction. At that point it’s just playing the waiting game of perfectly-aligned Es patches, which is what happened on June 11th.
Have a listen at the clip: June 11 2023 KFXX 99.5 2119miles.mp3
Attached Files
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