HFU HF Underground
General Category => Huh? => Topic started by: ThaDood on December 30, 2025, 1847 UTC
-
https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/nicks-signal-spot/the-top-20-u-s-locations-to-scan-the-fm-dial Ya know, one of the neat, but seemingly useless features, put into the digital PLL tuned car stereo, and even a few home stereo tuners, is the SEEK feature. Why??? It may seem like a good idea, but it usually only stops at the very strongest signals that this feature comes upon. Manually scanning, and you may find a ton of full-quieting stations totally listenable that a SEEK feature will simply ignore. So, it's a feature on my stereos that I just never use. However, I suspect that we can all find locations where the FM tuner will never find anything in SEEK mode. Heck, in 1982, with the analog AC Delco stereo in an 82' Pontiac Phoenix, I tuned the whole FM band up in Lyman Run State Park, PA, and found nothing! In the late 1990's Galeton, PA had a Family Life Network station come on-air, and even today, that maybe the only station that you could get there. Maybe, Coudersport, PA's 96.7FM WFRM, but even that might be too weak to SEEK. OK folks, what FM RF deserts have you come across. There a whole sloth of Alaska that there's got to be no FM stations received. The Adirondack Mountains is believable, somewhat, but even there, you could get stations from Syracuse, Utica / Rome, Plattsburg / Burlington, Ottawa, Montreal, and even Ogdenburg. There are FM stations there, like Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. The National Quiet Zone for Greenbank, WV??? If I remember, there were several FM stations receivable there, albeit not too strong. So, this dude's Top 20 list could easily be a Top 100.
-
Hey Dood,
The only somewhat sketchy area that I can recall is the “deep “ valleys around the highest of the White Mountains in NH.
Even there, stations can be heard, just a good amount fewer and tougher.
Any place else in New England ( except maybe the Green Mountains of VT, which I really haven’t tried) is packed on FM. A good Dx location and antenna can get more than one station on some frequencies. Even without any duct/ enhancements.
I used to FM Dx some back in the day, but now probably 25 years or more ago.
I almost never listen to local FM for music. On very isolated occasions , maybe the two local AM station’s translators .That’s it.
de NQC