NOAA Weather Radio Tropo Logs June July 2018

Loggings > VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes

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Davep:
For many years I have noticed ducting of VHF Noaa Weather Radio stations that generally occur along the Oceanfront anytime during the year but mainly during the spring and summer . This is a common occurrence here at my qth , I am not sure how prevalent these are inland . I will attempt to document the ducting , which is usually caused by the difference in sea and air temps , esp cooler sea temps that are commonly overun by much warmer air some height above the cooler air. This allows the vhf to travel beyond the line of sight , sometimes for hundreds of miles outside normal listening area. This can be all north, all South or both of conditions allow, rarely West. Generally these are best during times of no wind, although not as a strict rule.
Radio used is a Unimetrics Seahawk model 24 Marine radio, 12 feet above sea level using only a 12 inch jumper clip as antenna . That way eliminates any possibility of reception due to elevation. The orientation of the wire seems to be more important than the quality of the antenna.
These can disappear and reappear at any given minute. Closer stations in the path may not be heard at all.
Home station is KHB37 Driver Va on 162.550 mhz.
The temps will be for my location. The mileage is straight line or flight distance
I realize this is an obscure and possibly location based DX target , but if you notice any out of area stations please note.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/coverage/station_listing.html

6/17/18 KHB38 162.400 Mt Holly Nj / Atlantic City. Strong /flight dist 193mi Sea temp 71/ air 84.9 slight breeze 1604UT
Gone 1723 Ut
------------------------------------':------------
Sea temp 71/ air 77.9 calm 340 UT
6/18/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD / Delmar strong / FD 109mi 340UT
6/18/18 Unid. 162.475 weak 340 UT
6/18/18 KEC83 162.400 Baltimore MD / Pikesville / moderate /FD 179mi 358 UT
6/18/18 WXJ94 162.550 Lewes Delaware/ Green Hill / strong over KHB37 / FD 140mi 434 UT.
6/18/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/Delmar/ moderate / FD 109mi 1310 UT calm Air 80.1 F
6/18/18 KHB38 162.400 Atlantic City NJ/ Mt Holly /weak / CD 193mi 1314 UT
6/18/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack Va/ Onley / moderate, weak/ FD 60mi 1349UT
6/18/18 WXM80 162.475 Upton NY/Riverhead/ strong / FD 289mi/ fcst Hartford,New Haven, New London 1653 UT
6/18/18 WXM57 162.400 Heathsville Va/ moderate / FD 78mi 2154 UT[/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea Temp 79 air 77.3 calm
6/19/18 WWH26 162.425 Mamie NC/ Outer banks / weak / FD 59mi 0024 UT faded 0046 UT 300watts
6/19/19 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/Delmar/ moderate/ FD 109mi 0041UT
6/19/18 310 UTC no stations

Sea 75 air 83.1 calm
6/19/18 WWG33 162.450 Margarettsville NC / Margarettsville/ weak/ 76mi 1213 UT 300wts southwest
6/19/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD / Delmar/ moderate/FD 109mi 1216 UT
6//19/18 WWH26 162.425 Mamie NC/ Mamie/ strong/ FD 59mi 1220 300wts
no stations 1400 UT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea 76 Air 78.4 winds briefly up to 40mph around 2300
6/20/18 KIG77 162.475 Cape Hatteras NC/ Buxton / weak / FD 112mi 201 UT
Also Accomack and Heathsville very weak back up after storm listed Out of Service
no other Stations

6/20/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/Delmar/ weak fading/ FD 109 mi/ 1229 UT
no other stations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------color
Sea 76 Air 75.2 calm
6/21/18 KIG77 162.475 Cape Hatteras NC/ Buxton / strong/ FD 112mi 404 UT
6/21/18 WWH26 162.425 Mamie NC/ Outer Banks/ moderate w fading/ FD 59mi Faded 410 UT
6/21/18 Unid 162.525 garbled
6/21/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack Va/ Onley/very weak/ 60mi 430 UT
Very nice South with armchair copy KIG77
Sea 81 air 83.7
6/21/18 No Stations 2300 UT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea 78 air 80.4 Thunderstorms http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/contour/natlanti.cf.gif
6/22/18 WWH26 162.425 Mamie NC / weak 59mi 115 UT faded 130 UT
6/22/18 KIG77 162.475 Hatteras NC weak/ 112mi 125 UT faded 130 UT
Very short duration , faded to noise at the same time
no other stations

Sea 77 Air 80.2 rain wind 13kts
6/22/18no stations 1758 UT
6/22/18no stations 2320 UT
--------------------------------------------------------------

Sea 80.3 Air 87.3 Storms
6/23/18 6/23/18 No Stations 2100 UT
6/24/18 no stations 200 UTC

Sea 79.9 Air 83.3 calm
6/24/18 WNG37 162.450 Washington DC / moderate/ 153mi / 1308 UT
6/24/18 KEC83 162.400 Baltimore MD / Pikesville /strong/FD 179mi / 1310UT
6/24/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD / Delmar/ strong /FD 109mi /1310UT,
6/24/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack Va/ Onley / strong / FD 60mi 1318UT
strong North
__________________________________________________________________
Sea 82.7 Air 89
6/25/18. KEC92. 162.475 Salisbury MD / moderate/ 109mi / 0053
6/25/18 WXM57 162.400 Heathsville Va/ weak / 78mi / 0053 Ut
6/25/18. kJY99 162.525 Accomack Va/Onley/ weak/ 60mi/ 0054 UT

6/25/18 no stations 1856 UT
-----_---------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Sea 77 Air 79 windy
6/26/18 no stations 1544 UT
-------------------------------------------------
6/27/18no stations 402 UT
6/27/18 no stations 1416 UT
-------------------'---'------------------------------------
Sea 78 Air 75.6 w 5kts SE
6/28/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack VA /Onley / strong/60mi 350UT
6/28/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/ Delmar/ strong/ 109mi
6/28/18 Unid 162.475 under KEC92 unreadable
6/28/18 Unid 162.450 unreadable
6/28/18 KEC83 162.400 Baltimore/ Pikesville/ weak/ 179mi / 409UT
6/28/18 no stations 1238 UT
Sea 77 Air 92.1
6/28/18 no stations 2012 UT
-----------------------------------------------------
Sea 79.5 Air 77.7 calm
6/29/18no stations 356 UT
6/29/18 no stations 1243 UT
Sea 79 Air 85.6 breezy
6/29/18 WWH96 162.425 Mamie NC / moderate/ 59mi / 2020 UT
6/29/18 wXM57 162.400 Heathsville Va / weak/ 78mi/ 2020 UT
---------------------------------------_---------------------------------
6/30/18 no stations 2246 UT
------------------------------------------------------------_-------------
Sea 82.4 Air 79.9
7/1/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/ strong/ 109miles 305 UT
7/1/18 WNG591 162.500 Coudersport PA/ Coudersport/ moderate / 357mi Id 328z 600watts
7/1/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack Va/ strong/ 60mi 347UT i
---_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea 82 Air 81.5
7/2/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD / strong/ 109mi 142 UT
/2/18 WWH26 162.425 Mamie NC / weak/ 59mi/142 UT
7/2/18 WXK97 162.500 Sudlersville MD/ moderate/ 162mi /201 UT
7/2/18 KEC92 162.475 Salisbury MD/ strong 109mi / 1142 UT
7/2/18 WWG33 162.450 Margarettsville NC /weak/76mi / 1146 UT
7/2/18 WXM57 162.400 Heathsville Va/ strong/ 78 mi/ 1148 UT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7/3/18 no stations 1421 UT
==============,,=,=======,===============================
Sea 83.7 Air 79.9
7/4/18 KHB38 162.400 Atlantic City NJ/ My Holly/ moderate-weak/ 193 mi/,417 UT
7/4/18 KJY99 162.525 Accomack / strong/ 60mi/ 418 IT
no other stations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------'
7/5/18
no stations 256 UT
7/5/18 No stations 2226 UT
7/6/18 no stations
7/7/18 no stations
7/8/18 no stations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea 78.2 Air 76.8 winds currently 12Kts was 25 -30
7/9/18 KHB38 162.400 Atlantic City NJ/ Mt Holly/ strong/ 193 mi /1655 UT
7/9/18 KIG77 162.475 Cape Hatteras NC/ Buxton/ strong/ 112mi/ 1656 UT
7/9/18 KJY99/ 162.525 Accomack / strong/60mi/ 1659 UT

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7/10/18 Sea 80 Air 85.1 breeze
7/10/18 no stations 1847 UT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea 78 Air 73.0 calm
7/11/18 KIG77 162.475 / Cape Hatteras NC/ strong/112 mi 252 UT
7/11/18 WWH56 162.425/ Mamie NC/ Strong / 59mi
7/11/18 KJY99 162.525/ Accomack / strong 60mi 253 UT7/13/18

7/13/18 no stations

________________________________________________
7/19/18 WXL59 162.475 Rocky Mt NC/Tarboro/ moderate /109mi /1313 Ut

8/6/18 WXM80 162.475 Upton NY/Riverhead/ strong / FD 289mi/ fcst Hartford,New Haven, New London 2150 UT
-----------------------end of logs-------------------------------------

The reception from Baltimore , Washington DC , inland Maryland and Pennsylvania , these are due North of the receiver if you draw a line and I believe they tropo straight down the Chesapeake Bay.

Hatteras is probably as far South i will hear, because the coastline turns West abruptly at Buxton NC . Although I have heard New Bern NC before, it is rare.

Josh:
When I lived in Omaha, usually every morning there was a tropoduct along the mighty Missouri river up to Sewer City Ia I mean Sioux City Ia. This was nice as you could use their repeaters and have some fun on the drive to work. The trip home did not have such great tropo as the am drive but did sometimes. It also helped that the hiway I used was pretty much the highest ground between Sioux City and Kansas City or something like that.

The tropoduct seemingly followed the river, so I imagine you will hear many stations along the coastline when the duct starts ducting. When your duct starts getting leaky, just apply more duct tape

Davep:
Thanks Josh

ChrisSmolinski:
I have local and semi local stations on all of the channels here I think, but I can give a listen from time to time, especially when the forecast looks promising.

R4002:
Date: 3 August 2018
Time: 1045-1100 UTC / 0645-0700 local
Receiver: TYT TH-9000D VHF-FM mobile transceiver (136-174 MHz)
Antenna: 1/4 wave VHF mobile antenna with Chevrolet sedan ground plane ;)
Location: Richmond, VA

I'm listening while driving through downtown, at points one station would completely blanket the other, then vise-versa. Lots of multipath going on in an urban area - anyone who's been to Richmond knows the downtown / central business district area is full of hills and valleys - add that to the steel-and-concrete around you at street level and yeah, VHF does some interesting things. There's a reason most two-way systems in this area are on 450-470 MHz and the public safety system is on 800 MHz (well, they're on 800 MHz because Motorola wants more money, but I digress...)

162.400 MHz - WXL42 Winston-Salem, NC 1000 watts - heard "Surry County, North Carolina" - weaker UNID station underneath
162.425 MHz - several stations mixing together, heard "North Carolina" in the mud, possible WZ2543 Richlands, VA 300 watts
162.450 MHz - several stations, WWG33 Margretsville, VA 300 watts fighting with KZZ28 Covesville, VA 1000 watts and a third station mixing in at points...I can hear KZZ28 when the band is closed
162.475 MHz - WXK65 (Richmond, VA 1000 watts) SIO 555 local WX station, they're SIO 555 with the antenna disconnected
162.500 MHz - WNG586 (Henderson, NC 300 watts) SIO 333 or so, another UNID station underneath it
162.525 MHz - KJY86 (Halifax, VA 1000 watts) SIO 444 on peaks, then another station (likely KJY99) came in for a few seconds
162.550 MHz - hearing WXL92 (Lynchburg, VA 1000 watts) mixing in with KHB37 (Norfolk, VA 1000 watts) with Norfolk being the winner

I can hear NOAA Weather VHF DX basically every morning during my (short) morning commute that starts at roughly 0645 local time. Antenna is a standard NMO mount 1/4 wave VHF antenna mounted on the trunk lip with good condition (read: removed paint) to the chassis of the car. When the band is open I often check the STARS statewide VHF trunking system frequencies for activity, the go-to one being the Fork Mountain, VA control channel (152.7125 MHz) and that was coming in full scale this morning as well.

WXL42 - 183 miles/295 km
WZ2543 - 240 miles/387 km
WWG33 - 68 miles/109 km
KZZ28 - 73 miles/117 km - this transmitter has some serious elevation - I can hear it with my Motorola MTS2000 and Boafeng UV-5R HTs if I'm outside
WXK65 (local) - 7 miles/11 km
WNG586 - 100 miles / 160 km
KJY86 - 98 miles / 158 km
KJY99 - 98 miles / 158 km
WXL92 - 94 miles / 151 km
KHB37 - 80 miles / 129 km

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