I've been an active AM/FM and shortwave listener for years. When I was growing up in Indiana I was able to hear and verify 49 states except Alaska. In addition, I was able to log and verify all Canadian
provinces except Prince Edward Island. Best AM radio catch was KORL 650 kHz in Hawaii. Over the years I got more interested in listening for faraway stations on the FM radio band.
For those that do not know,
there are thousands of people around the world who enjoy listening to the FM radio band to see if they can pick up stations up to 1000 miles away. It's called
FM DX'ing where "dx" means distance. Receiving these stations is best in the spring and summer months and especially when there is a meteor shower.
All it takes is a decent FM radio with digital frequency readout. Car radios work well. Receiver used here is a Philips tuner with amplified rabbit ears. Some people like to install an outside "yagi" antenna mounted on a pole complete with a rotor to turn it. I've used this type of antenna in the
past but my homeowners association has issues with that so I just use my indoor antenna. The truth is, when the fm dx skip is in, an indoor antenna works great.
You might be wondering what is the point to sitting there trying to hear these faraway radio stations and most FM DX'ers will probably just tell you they enjoy
the challenge since they know that most FM radio stations only have about a 90 mile coverage area and when you hear a station from 600 to 1000 miles away it's pretty cool.
This hold true for Ham Radio operators who talk with another fellow ham operator from around the world.
When you first hear "FM skip" it sounds
like an ocean wave coming in and then out of nowhere you hear a station from another state.
