Table 2: 88-108 MHz FM radio reception

Frequency (MHz)	Channel	Call letters	City, Country	Distance miles	Time EST	Date
90.6	250 watts	FM-96	Tavua, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-0-94
91.0	100 watts	RFO Alo-1	Mt Mamati, Futuna Island	2,340	1400	16-1-96
92.1	15 kw	KSBS	Pago Pago, American Samoa	2,739	1400	17-1-94
93.1	1 kw	Yumi FM	Port Moresby, PNG	1,710	1543-52	25-1-99
93.3	60 kw	6ABC FM	Bunbury, West Australia	2,040	1900	25-12-91
94.5	50 kw	6ABC FM	Albany, Western Australia	1,900	1900	25-12-91
95.4	1 kw	FM-96	Lautoka, Fiji	2,000	1400	25-12-93
95.4	500 watts	FM-96	Labasa, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
95.5	3 kw	6ABC FM	Kalgoorlie, West Australia	1,740	1400	00-00-95
96.0	1 kw	FM-96	Suva, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
97.4	1 kw	Navtarang	Lautoka, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
97.7	50 kw	6ABC FM	Perth, Western Australia	2,040	1900	25-12-91
98.0	1 kw	Radio Fiji 1	Suva, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
98.4	1 kw	Radio Fiji	Lautoka, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
98.8	1 kw	Navtarang	Suva, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
98.9	50 kw	6ABC FM	Northam, West Australia	2,000	1900	25-12-91
99.6	500 watts	FM-96	Ba, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
100.1	10 kw	8HOT	Darwin, Northern Territory	1,960	1400	14-1-95
100.2	1 kw	Radio Fiji	Suva, Fiji	2,000	1400	00-00-95
100.9	10 kw	8SBS	Darwin, Northern Territory	1,960	1400	14-1-95
103.0	250 watts	Radio Fiji	Vunatavou	2,000	1400	20-1-96
104.4	1 kw	FM104	Suva, Fiji	2,000	1400	20-1-96
.	.	.	.	.	.	.

Multi-hop Es reception in Australia

Multi-hop sporadic E propagation in Australia is most frequent during the summer months of December and January. Distances received, generally are 1,900-2,700 miles for double-hop, and 3,000-3,900 miles for triple-hop. Four-hop sporadic E propagation has been noted on rare occasions. An example of four-hop Es is the reception of KVZK American Samoa chA2 55.25 MHz video and 59.75 MHz audio in Perth, Western Australia, at a distance of 4,700 miles.

At times it is difficult to decide if 3 or 4 hops were involved. For example, Genting Sempah, Malaysia chE2 48.2396 MHz video and 53.74 MHz audio has been received in Sydney, Australia via multi-hop sporadic E. The distance was 4,100 miles. This reception was either by 3 long ~ 1,400 mile hops, or 4 short ~ 1,000 mile hops.

ABS-CBN chA2 Manila, Philippines has been received via triple hop Es. The 59.75 MHz audio was also present, strong enough for wide FM reception.

Manila is located approximately 500 miles north of the geo-magnetic equator. The vicinity of the geomagnetic equator offers an Es reflection point during the day (equatorial Es). This bridges the hemispheres, and theoretically makes it possible to receive DX via multi-hop Es from the other hemisphere at the solstice at sunspot minimum.

The most frequent reception via double-hop sporadic E is the path from RTQ Toowoomba, QLD channel 0 46.1718 MHz into Perth, Western Australia. The path distance is ~ 2,000 miles.

Reception of New Zealand channel 1 45.25 MHz video is received in Perth every year, via triple-hop Es, at a distance of ~ 3,400 miles.

David Vitek, Adelaide Australia, frequently receives New Zealand TV channels 1 and 2 via double-hop Es (2,000 miles).

With more exotic modes of VHF DX propagation such as multi-hop sporadic E, a VHF receiver that includes SSB is a prime requirement for detecting weak TV signals. The ICOM R7000, R7100, R8500, and R9000 scanning receivers are all excellent in this regard.

Visual identification of band 1 TV signals via multi-hop Es is often difficult because of typical mediocre video quality. This is due to reflections from two or more E layer clouds, causing multi-path and ghosting. Also, signal levels are usually not strong because of losses associated with reflections off more than one E cloud. In these instances, precision frequency measurement of the video carrier is often the only option for identification of the signal. For more information on these techniques: TV video offset database.

My most distant FMDX via double-hop sporadic E is:
Sydney - KSBS-FM 92.1 MHz 15 kW American Samoa: 2,739 miles, or 4,409 Km.

To the best of my knowledge, 3,050 miles is the current world record for FM via sporadic E.

TV sets for reception of weak signal modes, such multi-Es or F2

It is next to impossible to find TV sets, which are both multi-standard, and also suitable for DX TV. The following PDF article explains why: http://homepage2.nifty.com/ffk/d100.pdf

For several years, I have used a Blaupunkt BT 70 -25 VTM, NTSC, SECAM, and PAL 70cm multi-standard color TV. Because of the various reasons, as stated in the previous paragraph, I sometimes use this TV with the D100 TV tuner/converter. However, most of the time I use a Toshiba C-531 5" TV, because multi-hop TV signals are not strong, hence are usually received in black and white.

I use two 5 element band 1 45-70 MHz yagi antennas (one vertical, and the other horizontal). Various RF pre-amplifiers, including a RDX Labs UA-700, and home-built BF981 tunable Mosfet amps are used for low-level signals.

The D100 TV tuner's output at UHF channel 65 can be connected to the Blaupunkt, or any other TV. The D100 TV audio output at ~ 35 MHz or 95-108 MHz (typical), is connected to my Icom R7000 receiver. I use two 110 KHz filters for Wide FM, and 15 KHz narrow FM filter, for monitoring DXTV audio signals. With this set-up, the TV audio sensitivity is far better than found on a standard TV.

Most DXTV receptions via F2 or multi-hop sporadic E are typically not strong. For this reason, I use the narrow IF bandwidth setting on the D100, to improve the signal to noise ratio.

The German companies Grundig and Blaupunkt make good multi-standard TV sets.