Thank you to those who listened and made various suggestions. We have a winner. I’ll get to that...
First, I should have stated that I checked the FCC TIS site. The problem was that there are several possibilities. I didn’t want to feed any of my own preconceptions to the list. So, looking at the three states where a TIS would mention Michigan's Upper Peninsula, here’s what I thought, based on the FCC list. MI is the most obvious option, and while three of four 530 stations are well away from the UP (Lansing, Holland and Big Rapids), one is in Mackinaw City, right at the UP's base. So I considered this a strong candidate. It’s also closest to me, by far. MN borders MI’s UP, but there's only three MN stations on 530 and they're all in and around St. Paul-Minneapolis, well away from MI’s UP. So I considered MN out of the picture. It’d also be the farthest from me, for what that’s worth. WI has quite a few 530 TISes – Madison, Oshkosh, Keiler, Prairie du Chien, Hudson, Poynette, Mauston and Superior are all well away from the Michigan border, so I ruled them out. (Furthermore, Todd Skaine in MN replied on the IRCA list that Hudson has been dismantled, so that’s a double-whammy against Hudson – too far away from MI and not even on the air). That left TISes in Hurley and Marinette as possibilities. Both are close enough to MI (Hurley is right on the MI border) to warrant mentioning the UP in the kind of detail I heard. So, really, I’d narrowed it down to three stations, WPPD478 in Marinette WI, WNQD828 in Hurley WI, and WNHC787 in Mackinaw City MI. And the winner ... WNHC787 is on the Mackinac Bridge on I-75, on the south end of MI's UP, and DXer Scott Yost of MI nailed it! “It is the TIS at the Mackinac Bridge, 100 miles north of my QTH. Part of the loop is a recap of the pre-bridge history of the Straits area. Also, in recording 3 at the 20 second point they use the phrase “Mighty Mac, the bridge that couldn’t be built”. It's not that my hearing is that good, just that I’ve listened to the loop more than once back when we visited the area with our young sons some years ago. It was a favorite spot.” I know the recordings were weak. That’s 10 watts on 530 for you, and although CIAO Brampton ON was off I am not absolutely certain its carrier was off. The station actually cut in and out over an hour or two just around sunrise. I was thrilled to get a hint of anything on the channel. I listened, and can hear what Scott heard, particularly ‘Might Mac’. Indeed, it carries that moniker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Bridge And there’s an entry for it at Michiguide: www.michiguide.com/dials/amtis/wnhc787.html Finally, Radio Reference tells me there’s a north transmitter and a south transmitter: www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WNHC787 I’ll just log it by the calls and Mackinac Bridge MI. I've also found a contact at the TIS, so I'll mail them a clip. Anyhow, this is a new one for my log, and on a channel I don’t exactly spend much time on (thanks to CIAO). Thanks, Scott, for recognizing the loop, and thank you also to Todd, Russ, Dennis and others for listening and chipping in. Saul Chernos Burnt River ON Saul Chernos Burnt River ON Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 22:31:34 -0500 Subject: Fwd: UNID TIS 530 From: nm8rme...@gmail.com To: sau...@sympatico.ca ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Scott Yost" <nm8rme...@gmail.com> Date: Feb 10, 2014 10:29 PM Subject: UNID TIS 530 To: <irca@hard-core-dx.com> Cc: Saul, It is the TIS at the Mackinac Bridge, 100 miles north of my QTH. Part of the loop is a recap of the pre-bridge history of the Straits area. Also, in recording 3 at the 20 second point they use the phrase ''Mighty Mac, the bridge that couldn't be built''. It's not that my hearing is that good, just that I've listened to the loop more than once back when we visited the area with our young sons some years ago. It was a favorite spot. Scott Michigan _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com