Very true, particularly for the lower power stations.
High power community stations eg. 2MBS are about the same on either polarity.
Iām currently on holidays on the Central Coast. This afternoon, I was at Terrigal Beach, where I managed the following catches on my Tecsun:
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Wave FM 96.5 Wollongong was receivable, with no hint of 2CHR Cessnock. 90.9 NewsRadio, 95.7 ABC Classic FM & 98.9 JJJ from the Illawarra were received.
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Port Macquarie stations were heard, including 92.7 Sky Sports Radio, 100.7 MMM & hit102.3. I couldnāt determine on whether or not I had a signal of Max 1073 from Taree.
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Mt Moonbil (Grafton/Kempsey) stations were received.
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I could get 103.9 NewsRadio & 105.5 SBS Radio from Canberra briefly. It was soon replaced by Coonabarabran services, inc 105.5 ABC Classic FM, 106.3 NewsRadio, 107.1 ABC Western Plains & 107.9 RN.
On the AM side, at around 4pm, I could get a good signal of 2GN, as well as 2MG & 2GF. Iāve also received 4AK Darling Downs, but couldnāt get 4KQ Brisbane.
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Some enhancement from the south into Brisbane with Coffs Harbour stronger than usual and the 3 stations in the Grafton area also enhanced. Breeze Tenterfield also coming in (seems to be quite common lately).
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AM Bandscan Boambee Headland NSW 25/04/2019. From 13:15 to 13:55 local time (AEST)
531 FM 93.5 Radio 531 Kempsey
549 ABC Central West Cumnock
567 RNZ National Wellington NZ
576 RN Sydney
585 2WEB Bourne
594 ABC Western Victoria Horsham Vic
603 RN Nowra
612 ABC Radio Brisbane Brisbane Qld
621 RN Melbourne Vic
639 2HC Coffs Harbour
648 ABC New England North West Tamworth
684 ABC Mid North Coast Kempsey
702 ABC Radio Sydney Sydney
711 ABC Southern Queensland St George
720 RN Armidale
738 ABC North Coast Grafton
747 ABC Southern Queensland Toowoomba Qld
756 ABC Mid North Coast Taree
774 ABC Radio Melbourne Melbourne Vic
792 RN Brisbane Qld
810 ABC South East Bega
819 ABC New England North West Glen Innes
846 RN Canberra ACT
864 Triple M Toowoomba Qld
873 2GB Sydney
882 Macquarie Sports Radio Brisbane Qld
900 2LM Lismore
936 ABC News Radio Brisbane Qld
963 4WK Warwick
972 Radio 97 Murwillumbah
981 2NM Muswellbrook
1008 Radio TAB Brisbane Qld
1035 Newstalk ZB Wellington NZ
1044 ABC Newcastle Upper Hunter
1080 2MO Gunnedah
1107 SBS Radio Sydney
1116 4BC Brisbane Qld
1134 2AD Armidale
1143 2HD Newcastle
1188 2NZ Inverell
1206 2GF Grafton
1233 ABC Newcastle Newcastle
1242 4AK Toowoomba Qld
1269 2SM Sydney
1287 2TM Tamworth
1296 4RPH Brisbane Qld
1314 Sky Sports Radio Wollongong
1332 4BU Bundaberg Qld
1341 Sky Sports Radio Newcastle
1368 2GN Goulburn
1413 SBS Radio Newcastle
1431 RN Wollongong
1458 ABC News Radio Newcastle
1476 4ZR Roma Qld
1494 2AY Albury
1512 RN Newcastle
1530 2VM Moree
1548 ABC Capricornia Emerald Qld
1557 2RE Taree
1566 3NE Wangaratta Vic
1593 Sky Sports Radio Murwillumbah
Equipment: Digitech AR1780 receiver and PK HDXXLT AM loop antenna.
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Thatās a great log.
Some impressive catches there for midday AM reception.
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No sign of anything on 558 at that time of day.
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The XHDATA D-808/Digitech AR1780 works great with the PK Loop.
I have a tentative logging from Easter Saturday to report: 1580 CKDO Oshawa Ontario, received from Countegany (east of Numeralla). @dxer2_2000ās XHDATA, my PK Loop.
Distance is 15 880 km/9868 miles. I will not claim the catch as it relies on circumstantial evidence, and we didnāt get a positive ID. However, the evidence is fairly compelling:
- The usual station on 1580 is KBLA Santa Monica. This airs a Spanish religious format, mainly with Spanish language songs and few announcements.
- The station heard on the night featured popular music in English, with George Thorogoodās āBad To The Boneā clearly identifiable. The announcer was a North American female, voice tracked and entirely in English. I have never heard English on KBLA, nor heard them with secular music (hard rock!)
- There is no other good match for this program type on 1580 kHz. Most stations are very low powered at night. Of those that are 1 kW or more, CKDO has the next highest ERP (10 kW). Further, the other stations over 1 kW do not have a music format.
- Recently, WPTX 1690 (Maryland) was heard well in Numeralla. This is an even greater distance than to CKDO. Further, Countegany is slightly superior to Numeralla for North American DX as itās further east and at a higher elevation.
- CKDO can be received well in England and Scotland.
Unfortunately, we didnāt save the recording as no ID was heard.
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Nice research dxnerd. Actually I did save the recording. I just didnāt upload it to my YT channel. The music is primarily blues type music in the recording.
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Might be worth uploading in any case as someone might be able to get something more out of it, e.g. distinguish the Canadian accent, which would almost be a slam dunk.
It may also be worth sending the video link to CKDO.
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Hobart FM RDS is now 7061, for DXers interestedā¦
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Had a radio station come up on 107.1 today here in Renmark S.A, thought it was going to be HIT107.1 Adelaide but it said triple j. Where would it be coming from? Checked my local triple j and the music was different
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That would be from Ballarat.
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As @TV-Expert identified, coming from Ballarat - that means youāve received it because thereās a temporary change in weather conditions that allows this distant reception. Called ātropoā short for tropospheric ducting.
Could also be AS - Aircraft Scatter, e-skip or a few other scenarios.
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Ballarat gets out fairly well- it may even cause the occasional bit of grief for 5SSA in places such as Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge. Lookout Hill, the tx site, is actually midway between Ararat and Ballarat and has a clear view in most directions.
The terrain west of Ballarat is generally as flat as a pancake, with the notable exception of the ex-volcanic Grampians.
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Correct, it could swamp 5SSA at times on the fringe. Have received 5SSA on a cooler summerās evening as far along the A8 as far as Keith, but really until Tintinara unbroken. Mt Lofty is a fantastic TX site.
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Shallow Southern Ocean/Bass Strait fronts undercutting warm, dry air aloft can produce massive tropo in that part of the world.
I had 107.3 Hobart into Portland, VIC at local strength in March 2016. Video is on a Facebook group which Iāll have to figure out how to extract (maybe @matt86 can help; I think it was his group).
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Logged these radio stations in Renmark:
- Hit91.9 Bendigo
- Triple J Ballarat 107.1
- ABC Ballarat 107.9
At night on AM, you could try for 567 2BH Broken Hill - it should last the longest after sunrise and be one of the first to appear (may then be swamped by other signals).
585 2WEB from Bourke too.
On short wave, try for 4KZ from Innisfail on 5055kHz
Hill FM Broken Hill on FM 96.5
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Todayās scan of the FM band comes from Shoal Bay where between other things like enjoying the unseasonably warm Late April/Early May weather (although it must be said, the trip had been planned for some time before then), Iāll be attempting to provide a few local media updates until Friday when Iām back in Sydney.
Any filling of the gaps would be much appreciated! 
87.6: Riot FM Port Stephens
88.0: Bay FM (airing CSAs from the old RTA rather than the current RMS, and some music which is probably older than even some of the songs 2CH play in Sydney!)
91.5: Triple J Grafton-Kempsey
92.3: ABC Local Radio Coffs Coast
92.7: Sky Sports Radio Port Macquarie
93.9: ?
94.7: ? (Buzzy mono signal)
95.1: ABC NewsRadio Port Stephens
95.5: ABC Mid North Coast
95.9: ABC Newcastle, Port Stephens Translator
96.3: Triple J Mid North Coast
97.1: Radio National Mid North Coast
97.5: 2HD Newcastle, Port Stephens Translator
97.9: ABC Classic FM Grafton-Kempsey
98.1: Power FM Muswellbrook (very weak)
98.3: ABC Radio National, Port Stephens Translator
98.7: ABC Classic Mid North Coast
99.5: Radio National Grafton-Kempsey
99.7: Rhema FM Newcastle
99.9 ?
100.3: 2RE Forster/Tuncurry translator
100.5 2RPH Newcastle
100.7 Triple M Mid North Coast
100.9: Port Stephens FM
101.1: ?
101.3: Sea Central Coast
101.5: Great Lakes FM
101.9: ?
102.1: Triple J Newcastle
102.3: Hit Mid North Coast
102.9: Triple M Newcastle
103.7: 2NUR-FM Newcastle
104.5: Star Central Coast
104.7: 2BOB Taree
105.3: New FM Newcastle
105.7: Sky Sports Radio Taree
106.1: Classic FM Newcastle
106.9: Hit Newcastle
107.3: Max Taree
107.7: 2GO Central Coast
107.9: Radio Dungong
FM reception of Newcastle/Mt Sugarloaf stations is considerably weaker here than it was (and probably still is) over the water at Tea Gardens during my trips there. Quite listenable, but not strong enough to receive RDS.
Iād possibly even go as far as saying the ABC FM stations from Middle Brother and Max 107.3 Taree might have better reception in Shoal Bay than the major Mt Sugarloaf stations. Reception of stations with Port Stephens translators seems fine though.
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