I like a particular radio station from my hometown Omaha called 89.7 The River. But, I go to school in Connecticut. I'd like to be able to somehow hear this station, oh so far away, from CT. I checked their official website, but they don't offer a webcast of it. Are there any options for something like this? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!
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Getting Radio signals from other states
- Thread starter tsumake
- Start date
lordofduct
Established Member
have someone from your home town broadcast it over the web for you.
there isn't much else to do, those radio signals only reach so far. Omaha is very far from CT. Why the hell did you go all the way from nebraska to CT? Unless you got into Yale, I see no reason to go that far.
(im from CT, East Windsor, I have room to judge! I was there just last week, OH DEAR!)
there isn't much else to do, those radio signals only reach so far. Omaha is very far from CT. Why the hell did you go all the way from nebraska to CT? Unless you got into Yale, I see no reason to go that far.
(im from CT, East Windsor, I have room to judge! I was there just last week, OH DEAR!)
Sometimes with the proper weather conditions you can receive radio signals from quite a distance. However, it's relatively hit or miss and considering how crowded the FM band is I doubt you'll be able to get it.
I suppose if you could mount an extremely directional antenna ( perhaps a sattelite dish) high enough up to clear any obstacles between you and Omaha and you pointed it exactly at the radio stations transmitter (no small feat at that distance) you could probably pick up the station that way. Of course that's incredibly impractical.
I suppose if you could mount an extremely directional antenna ( perhaps a sattelite dish) high enough up to clear any obstacles between you and Omaha and you pointed it exactly at the radio stations transmitter (no small feat at that distance) you could probably pick up the station that way. Of course that's incredibly impractical.
I don't know. You might be able to modify a canister or parabolic antenna, with a 6-10ft satellite dish, and point it just right.. I've heard that small canister antennas can reach up to half a mile, and 10"-11" parabolic antennas can reach up to 25 miles. So, if you get a 6-10 footer, maybe mount it high off the ground, to minimize tree and house interferance.. Who knows.. Would it be worth it? probably not, but hey, it just might work. If not, you could always dual mount. :/
lordofduct
Established Member
you know omaha is in NEBRASKA... and CT is all the way up north of New York City!!!! 1300 miles away. Unless he is referring to omaha, Arkansas. Then its just a mere 1200 miles away. Hrmm, I don't see getting an antenna to reach that far. Especially with the appalachian mountains in the way. Let alone the FM interference given off by New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia and a number of other huge cities between the two. This kid is smack dab in the middle of a valley in between the white mountains and i forgot what the east side mountains are called.
If I'm not mistaken (and I may well be; do we have any honest-to-goodness hams here?) I think even with a large roof-mount corner reflector antenna and amp FM reception tops out at about 75 miles or so for a typical broadcast configuration. It would be different if you had something extremely directional like a satellite dish at the transmitting end, of course, but you don't really have any control over that...
lordofduct
Established Member
Sorry but I deleted this post because its just a jarbled mess of I don't know what that aint even intelligeable.
lordofduct
Established Member
Ok, this topic seems to be getting quite some interest. Ill give you a tip if you REALLY want to try.
First things first.
The FCC implemented high frequency signals of FM so that one station in one locale would not interfere with that same station in another locale. FM signals are thought to only reach the horizon because the frequency it resonates at passes right through the ionosphere.
These frequencies are those above 30Mhz. That is why AM is easy to get from long distances with fandangle antennas and cannisters and BS like that. This stuff isn't really gonna help you with FM. Actually all you really need are a couple bunny ears and a WHOLE LOT OF PATIENCE.
Things the FCC didn't expect was weather. They based there studies on normal weather patterns. Especially not anything going on way up in the ionosphere. Well sometimes of the year and even day something happens up there (don't ask me what, im no freakin' scientist, im lucky i know this much) and the ionosphere will occasionally reflect FM back to the earth. This basically giving it an infinite distance around the earth. As long as it keeps hitting these spots.
Another thing is certain weather. Something about fronts and temperature in the air doing strange things. Its again not common but occurs daily for moments. These occurences will also send FM signals off farther then usual.
Now the problem, first its not stable. It only occurs every so often. Also you have to sit there and fiddle with the FM tuner back and forth in micro movements along the station you want. Its nice if you have a digital tuner like on a really expensive stereo. It is kinda like in ham where it gives you the frequency followed by .005 and you can raise it up and down. Well these very minor changes will pick up signals further away. (the wave kinda vibrates as at travels further, staying fairly close to the original just with a very minor error. same reason why you will hear 98.7 on 98.6 if your stereo let you go there.)
So in conclusion, YES, you can do it. If you want to. But you will constantly be fiddling with it every time you go to tune in cause it is going to change slight frequencies hour by hour. That and it will only occur at certain times of the day.
One more big problem is, is that the frequency you want (89.7) is a low side FM signal. Its a much more durable frequency (lower frequency reflects much better then higher frequency) so if your omaha station happens to bounce your direction one day you are going to have to shuffle through all the stations similar in frequency between you and omaha. Its hard work, frustrating as all hell, and the quality is just not worth it.
Oh, if you try, play it in mono... you can distinguish the sound much better in mono I have found when I was little.
First things first.
The FCC implemented high frequency signals of FM so that one station in one locale would not interfere with that same station in another locale. FM signals are thought to only reach the horizon because the frequency it resonates at passes right through the ionosphere.
These frequencies are those above 30Mhz. That is why AM is easy to get from long distances with fandangle antennas and cannisters and BS like that. This stuff isn't really gonna help you with FM. Actually all you really need are a couple bunny ears and a WHOLE LOT OF PATIENCE.
Things the FCC didn't expect was weather. They based there studies on normal weather patterns. Especially not anything going on way up in the ionosphere. Well sometimes of the year and even day something happens up there (don't ask me what, im no freakin' scientist, im lucky i know this much) and the ionosphere will occasionally reflect FM back to the earth. This basically giving it an infinite distance around the earth. As long as it keeps hitting these spots.
Another thing is certain weather. Something about fronts and temperature in the air doing strange things. Its again not common but occurs daily for moments. These occurences will also send FM signals off farther then usual.
Now the problem, first its not stable. It only occurs every so often. Also you have to sit there and fiddle with the FM tuner back and forth in micro movements along the station you want. Its nice if you have a digital tuner like on a really expensive stereo. It is kinda like in ham where it gives you the frequency followed by .005 and you can raise it up and down. Well these very minor changes will pick up signals further away. (the wave kinda vibrates as at travels further, staying fairly close to the original just with a very minor error. same reason why you will hear 98.7 on 98.6 if your stereo let you go there.)
So in conclusion, YES, you can do it. If you want to. But you will constantly be fiddling with it every time you go to tune in cause it is going to change slight frequencies hour by hour. That and it will only occur at certain times of the day.
One more big problem is, is that the frequency you want (89.7) is a low side FM signal. Its a much more durable frequency (lower frequency reflects much better then higher frequency) so if your omaha station happens to bounce your direction one day you are going to have to shuffle through all the stations similar in frequency between you and omaha. Its hard work, frustrating as all hell, and the quality is just not worth it.
Oh, if you try, play it in mono... you can distinguish the sound much better in mono I have found when I was little.
lordofduct
Established Member
Well like I said for that you would have to have someone back in omaha with a good internet connection who was willing to do this favor for ya.
you need a radio with mini phono out
a male to male mini phono plug
winamp with shoutcast
hook it all up and go for it! Id stay at a low bitrate like 56kb to conserve bandwidth... radio has crappy sound quality so you wouldn't notice it anyway.
you need a radio with mini phono out
a male to male mini phono plug
winamp with shoutcast
hook it all up and go for it! Id stay at a low bitrate like 56kb to conserve bandwidth... radio has crappy sound quality so you wouldn't notice it anyway.
lordofduct
Established Member
you know what this talk of HAM reminds me of. Back in the day me and this kid Alex (he died 🙁 ) had handheld HAM radios and you could actually contact certain handles that allowed you to make telephone calls right over the radio. We would prank call everyone in town.
Scared0o0Rabbit
Established Member
the appalachians are more like big hills than mountains...
Originally posted by ExCyber@Tue, 2005-03-15 @ 10:35 PM
Funny, I thought of the ep of Amazing Stories (I think) where a group of kids invents a super-antenna and they get re-runs of an I Love Lucy remake from another planet. 😀
Wasn't that a movie called The Explorers? Then they build a space ship and end up going up and meeting some of the aliens.
lordofduct
Established Member
yeah i remember that movie... they built the space ship out of some ride from the local fair and used scuba tanks. They used some technology they received from the aliens through there radio to make a protective energy shield around their ship.
I am so getting on a tangent...
I am so getting on a tangent...
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