Posted by John from Wisconsin on August 14, 2026, 10:36 pm
All stuff Wausau, Green Bay, thus far. Began 1020PM CDT My Loc:Southern Milwaukee County.
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on August 15, 2026, 12:21 am, in reply to "Nice Nite of TROP"
Hi John,
I was getting ALL Milwaukee on the FM BCB tonight > 7PM and still was raging @ 9PM. 100.7 was full RDS, actually in HD too. 99.1 WMYX was full RDS, full separation, no bacon sizzle. The HD2 of METV FM came in briefly. 102.1. was like a local. EMF must've done work on the stick when they got it, but sounded Mono.
In HAM land, 2 meters was wide open. Wisconsin, NW Indiana and all along the Western half of Michigan, in like locals. 220 was slightly open, a few machines from Michigan were full scale like locals. Even 440 was open again North to Wisconsin and the West side of Michigan. I would not doubt 900Mhz was open too, but I have nothing up for that at this time.
Z
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by Jeremy Andrews on August 15, 2026, 8:19 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
I slept through it. Years ago on these boards people would always tell me to go to bed because I was posting about what was happening at 3AM.
When there is DX, West Michigan is very common here. Grand Rapids to South Bend, the signals will completely wipe out the Milwaukee and Chicago locals. 94.5 (WKLQ), 95.7 (WLHT), 103.7 (WCSY) among others. Some of the local signals (Especially Milwaukee) have degraded signals. Not as strong as they used to be. Lack of engineering. This has made it much easier.
A good opening for me would be Madison. Much lesser extent Green Bay. Wausau would be an excellent opening. It happens but it's much more rare.
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by John from Wisconsin on August 15, 2026, 9:53 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
I won't bore everyone with a long list, BUT.... these were all after 1020PM on 8-14. After bringing the dog in, I went to WBBM AM. IDIOT with security light on BUZZZZZZZZING (FCC approved I'm sure) made AM impossible, thus went to FM 107.3 for oldies (WRJM's xlator) and was hearing things out of order! God bless the IDIOT and his light that could light a stadium!
8-14 2220 and later PARTIAL LIST: CC Crane Radio3 Stock 92.7 WIBD WI Kewaunee SS:La Mas Grande. Only fit 93.9 WDORFM WI Sturgeon Bay Brewers 95.3 WBEVFM WI Beaver Dam Brewers 95.9 WKSZ WI DePere weak, but in. KissFM 97.5 WZOK IL Rockford 97ZOK Top40 98.1 WMGN WI Madison AC Delilah, wiping out Kenosha WRJN xlator Magic98 (excellent jingles!!!!!) 98.5 WQLH WI Green BayStar 98 at 98.5 HotAC, sat fed 99.7 WNFL WI Sturgeon Bay LOUD! "WNFL" Sports 101.1 WIXX WI Green Bay wiping out WAUK's 101 Waukesha xlator (This is NOT Top40, but a thinly disgised HotAC, IMHO, but LIVE jock!) 101.9 WDEZ WI Wausau Great Country 101.9 WDEZ 102.3 WQTC WI Manitowoc Classic Rock Q102. Such a good Top40 they tossed years ago (as Q102) 104.1 WZEE WI Madison Z104 sweeper 104.3 WSCRFM IL Chicago 104-3 the Score 105.5 WZSR IL Woodstock LID 11PM CDT 105.7 WAPL WI Appleton-Oshkosh-Green Bay. LID 1100CDT. No sign of local WSSP xlator. Ha! 106.5 WHBZ WI Sheboygan Falls The Buzz. Rock - no sign of Milwaukee WNOV xlator, Ha! 106.7 WPPN IL Des Plaines SS hits 107.5 WDUZFM WI Brillion SPO:Westwood One. Shocking hearing vs WGCIFM- the norm! 107.9 WBCV WI Wausau Big Cheese 107.9 Cl Hits. Old WYCO (sister of 1230 WXCO) Top40 a while
93.9 a no show, but 99.5 was! Wausau 101.9 WDEZ in but not 95.5 WIFC! 99.7 WNFL LOUD! (MidWest has BIG signals) 105.9 WCFS is rarity up here. WKHQ the more common, but after tower collape last spring (winds,ice) not up to full power yet, if I'm correct
Z: HD2 blows my mind. WoW!! You are a dx'er's dx'er! Jeremy: "on these boards people would always tell me" Those idiots are all gone, disinterested by now. You've survived those people. Heck with them. You can't please everyone. I know I couldn't, so I stopped trying. An old boss of mine How should I live my life to make YOU happy? As far as dx'ers, there have been a few who stopped talking to me as I heard something they didn't hear, or slept thru. Guess that my fault, hi! Have met better dx'ers/people! The dog doesn't care, and has more sense! Aside, neighbor (out of the blue) told me how can't take radio any more! Radio seems to be screwing their own product and that is sad! John
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on August 15, 2026, 10:56 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
That is a massive list! Good job.
I always liked CCrane radios. The biggest negative? No RDS!!!!!!
How is the Radio 3 reception on AM and FM? Do you have any other radios you like more? I have read the on/off button and the buttons overall break and wear out on them.
Z
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by detectivetom on August 15, 2026, 12:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Nice work!
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by slowjams on August 16, 2026, 12:38 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
"99.7 WNFL LOUD! (MidWest has BIG signals)"
Not surprised by this one at all. I remember way back in the Wild 99.7 days, I could sometimes hear it when visiting friends and family in Kenosha. Strong signal, like a local, could even hear it on a boombox in my grandparents' basement! Loud and clear, no static.
Is it just me, or has this been a much more active summer for tropo than in past years?
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by John from Wisconsin on August 16, 2026, 7:45 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
"much more active summer for tropo than in past years?" MUCH better for trop Esip for me.
Too, I remember 99-7 the Heat WHET Sturgeon Bay. The amount of newer signal (though not as strong) in Sturgeon Bay is awesome. Many Illinois plates going up North in my travels. Too, nice retirement places.
New since 2000:
93.3 W227CH Sturgeon Bay AAA//106.9WLGE
98.9 W255AQ Sturgeon Bay + 96.9 W245BS Green Bay //92.7WIBD Kewaunee SS:LaMasGrande
102.1 WRKU Forestville Top40:U102-1 1999 s on
103.3 W277BP Sturgeon Bay OLD C&W;:103.3 the Clipper 250w WBDK-HD2
104.1 WRLU Algoma C&W;
105.1 WSBW Ephraim Adult HITS:theGoat (Greatest Hits of All Time) 2007
106.9 WLGE Baileys Harbor AAA:theLodge 2008 This sounds so much like "the Drive"
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on August 15, 2026, 10:42 am, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Jeremy, sleep is a good thing, especially as we get older. =)
If you would have asked me 6 months ago I would have never said this. Jeremy is right, lot of facilities are being allowed to fall apart. You will start seeing the major players selling off FM signals, part of them in a market or the whole cluster First in markets that are small or medium. It will continue to the larger markets, until they are 100% IP based. This will start escalating in frequency on FM. AM will be a rolling snowball.
iHeart I am certain will unload all the non rated or smaller markets first in a fire sale, if they want to survive as a company. Cumulus will not be far behind.
Z
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by Jeremy Andrews on August 15, 2026, 12:02 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
There's a few I can mention.
WLUM. K-LOVE didn't do any improvements on the signal. The previous owner did, last summer after years of a degraded signal. The signal is going downhill again. The transmitter occasionally randomly drops carrier. I figure they will fix it eventually, probably will involve replacing the transmitter.
Across the river, 97.3 WRNW's signal has gone downhill. Used to be able to get a strong signal from it here. It's more complicated now. Their analog RDS is also down. Been down for months. People advertise on the RDS, they might be annoyed but for iHeart, oh well it's just the stream. iHeart in Milwaukee as far as I can tell has not had a full time engineer in over 10 years. Last time they had one who really cared about the facilities there was Scott Tyler (Former afternoons on 103.5) He really had that cluster sounding good. He quit and went to Florida. Felt he was being taken advantage of. That was in 2014. I believe he eventually ended up back at iHeart in Florida and wound up being in that massive iHeart engineering layoff a few years ago. No idea what he does now.
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by Jeremy Andrews on August 15, 2026, 12:07 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Audacy also has had problems in Milwaukee. They rely completely on the Chicago engineers now. I believe they treated their longtime previous engineer poorly and he quit during Covid for another company.
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by John from Wisconsin on August 15, 2026, 1:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Jeremy, The other thing is, the engineers coming in...."Forget it", from what I've been told. The pay too, isn't what it once was.
Z....as far as radio, I don't know. Have always liked CCrane stuff. I believe they're built for geeks. The FM is nice. AM is good, selective. My favorite of all time was the Panasonic RF2200....giving away my age, hi. For FM, basically, I use the Sangean ATS-909X, stock whip.
Icom IC-R75 is what I use, replacing the IC-R70. Nothing new since in the "boat anchor" department. I mean I think I have a few radios in every room. Now you can't even find one.
I'm easily amused! John
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on August 15, 2026, 5:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
John,
I miss my Panasonic RF-B65. Great portable. They are impossible to find. You can pay top dollar but risk them breaking down and it is not worth it. The SDR units from today are seriously hit or miss. Also a lot of "muting" when switching SW frequencies.
The Sangean have degraded through the years. Tecsun are overpriced, massively and the QC is not there. (AC adapter totally has no insulation so they interfere like crazy with the radio). The Chinese SDR's are dime a dozen, vary in quality, unit to unit, along with what I stated above.
Posted by John from Wisconsin on August 15, 2026, 6:43 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Z - I have an RF2600 and a Grundig 5350DL. Panasonic had a portable radio with a turnable loop on top of it. You'd get looked at for that, hi. In my mind, I've got what I've got and had for years/decades. Don't think anything "new" would get me away from what has worked for so long. When you think of it tho, I began dx'ing with a $12 Sony and it's only gotten better..... Always nice Z, John
ASIDE, if I may ask. Was dx'ing this morning. Is 1500 WAKE on???? Heard a 90's oldie, but that got trampled by KSTP.
Too: Seems WGTO has tossed "Oldies" for "Hit Music" as I noted them this morning also. 96-7 97-1 & Super 910 WGTO.
Just bought a Hyundai (Santa Cruz) and Ford (trade in) had MUCH better radio!
End of sermon
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by detectivetom on August 15, 2026, 7:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Several months ago METV FM did not renew with WGTO. not sure of the reason.
John, concerning WAKE, they got an STA to operate with 62.5 Watts during the day and 11 Watts at night. The STA expires on 1/19/2027.
I checked the NW Indiana SDR and there is nothing audible on 1500 during the day. At least not the past two days. Previously they have been heard playing either non-stop instrumental music or relaying WLTH 1370.
Re: Nice Nite of TROP
Posted by Johnny Vegas on August 15, 2026, 10:34 pm, in reply to "Re: Nice Nite of TROP"
Best time of year for tropo. Lots of K-LOVE signals.
WYTZZ95FM (and any other hams) - I chat most nights with a friend who drives a truck from Schaumburg to Mauston, WI on the 146.79 VARA repeater, which is West of Elgin. There's been several nights where hams from Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa have jumped into the QSO. And if my friend still carries the repeater beyond Beloit, we know it's a good night for tropo. Throw your call out between 9:00 and 10:00 and say hi!
on August 14, 2026, 10:36 pm