I live in Germantown, Maryland, and I was flipping around the AM dial one night, and I got to 700, and a Reds game was on. I thought it was weird, the Reds aren’t normally on in DC. Well, I wait for station ID, and they identify it as WLW from Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s probably the farthest signal I’ve picked up, though I once got an FM station from Atlantic City, New Jersey at about 7:30 in the morning, but I’m probably closer to Atlantic City than Cincinnati. What’s the farthest radio signal you’ve picked up? Inspired by a radio thread in GQ.
At one time, I was a DirecTV customer. They use geosynchronous satellites to beam the signal down to Earth. So, 24,200 miles. 
That’s not what you meant, was it?
No.
I picked up some Russian station on shortwave many years ago when I had a boombox that featured SW bands. Being in Canada, that’s a pretty good jaunt. 
One time back in the 80’s while up in the Rochester NY area, I picked up a Cardinals baseball game on KMOX in St Louis.
As a kid in the US NW:
- Regularly listened to KGO in SF (Crane at the Hungry Eye, Coyle and Sharp, etc.) KFBK (?) in Sacramento. I could get the KNBC pair in LA but they weren’t worth listening to.
This was on a crystal radio. Just a diode, cap, tuning coil, audio transformer and earphone. One looong ant.
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With a 5 transistor pocket radio I could get Texas, New Orleans, the usual Mexican high power stations, etc. With a table top set, add in a bunch of central Canadian stations, e.g., CHAT. Once in while could get KDKA in PA. But generally was looking for far off stations that played rock and roll.
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On shortwave, the furthest I got was Radio South Africa. Not very interesting given their politics at the time. But in English. They were trying to dress up their world image so went big time into SW radio. Very powerful.
(I’ve pointed out here before my fave SW catch. During the Gulf War, the Israeli SW radio switched to carrying the domestic service during Scud attacks. Practically like listening to an old WWII “Blitz” broadcast.)
- For TV, once got a “skip” signal for a SD station. Got to watch Sea Hunt early.
It is really easy to get far off signals with fairly basic old time equipment. But modern radios barely get stations across town. I am surprised that sports fans don’t try to get pick up a station carrying their “far off” favorite team, esp. on the east coast. You can hear Blackhawks games out of Chicago in FL.
I picked up KGO just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado in the wee hours, driving along I-70.
When I was a kid, we lived in Cleveland and I would listen to a station out of Michigan every morning before I went to school because I liked the DJ. It came in every bit as well as any Cleveland station. When I was in high school, I worked in a hospital pharmacy and my boss was a Michigan graduate, so we had to listen to the football games every Saturday. Considering we were in the basement of a large building, it was pretty amazing the Michigan station came in loud and clear.
I’m in NC now and if the atmospheric conditions are right, DH can pick up Ohio stations on his car radio at night, which is good for listening to Cleveland sports.
Shortwaves, I think, probably shouldn’t count - I had one in college and got stations from everydamnwhere - but I only listened to the BBC regularly.
Another when I was a kid post:
I remember times riding in the car with my dad. He’d be listening to AM radio and he could get stations out of CA (three states away.)
As a kid we used to listen to a station out of Boston, MA every night at our cabin which is in Northern Ontario. 903 miles according to google maps - less as the crow (or radio signal) flies.
I can get KDKA pretty clearly here in the south Atlanta area. Also, I like to listen to “Coast To Coast AM”, but the station in Atlanta that carries it turns their power down at night to 1,000 watts. (Might as well just shut it down, 1,000 watts might carry 5 miles.) So, I listen to the show from a station in New Orleans.
I’ve picked up the ISS on my HT with a Yagi.
Oh, a subject dear to my heart! I never joined an actual DX club, but I used to love to listen to faraway AM stations at night when I was young.
I lived near the end of Lake Ontario. In that area, there is some radio station at nearly every frequency, all the way across the dial. After pattern change, I could pick up WBZ, Boston to hear the call-in shows of Bob Raleigh and Norm Nathan, both of whom have since passed away. I used to listen to Larry Lujack on WCFL Chicago, which has been The Loop (WLUP) for decades. I got WOWO, Fort Wayne IN, WLW Cincinnati, KDKA Pittsburgh, WCBS New York, and dozens of others. The furthest-away signal I picked up was a station in Salt Lake City, UT. Once I heard a station in Montreal, but mainly the stations we could receive were all south of us.
Here in Tallahassee, the AM band is useless. I don’t even think there are any local stations. If there are, they’re pushing 10 watts or something so puny, I can’t get them in town. I’ve tried to listen to AM at night, but it’s mostly carrier waves and whistles and hums and static. No station comes in strong enough to listen for more than a minute or so. Still, I’ve picked up New Orleans, the station that all the truckers can hear through most of the states. Once I got Jacksonville. Atlanta used to come in, but they seem to have changed direction a couple of years ago. I can get a station in Charlotte, NC periodically.
The furthest-away station from here I’ve heard was in Rochester, NY, on one of those freak weather days. They came in on sky waves just long enough for me to hear the station ID. Being a radio guy, I looked them up on the web and sent the Operations guy an e-mail. He replied, saying that those new transmitter tubes were working better than they thought!
When I lived in Gold Hill, CO, I picked up a station in Kentucky.
Growing up in Arlington, VA, when all was AM in the 1950’s/early 60’s, I used to go to bed listening to the St. Louis Hawks play basketball on KMOX St. Louis. It would come and go, but got pretty good reception most of the time. Going to sleep with Cousin Brucie in New York was no problem.
But St. Louis was 800 miles away.
I think I used to get a Texas station sometimes, but can’t remember much these days.
And, I also remember getting WLS, that’s in Chicago, right?
And why not? If you’re listening to the AM broadcast band you’re listening to mediumwave signals - just shy of the shortwave band. So if you rule out shortwave you must rule out the AM broadcast band.
Here’s one for you. I’m an amateur radio operator. I was over at a friend’s house who had a large beam antenna. Just for the fun of it I turned up his power amplifier to 1000 watts and sent out a call. I released the push to talk button and heard my own voice coming back to me. It was delayed by approximately 1-2 seconds, IIRC.
So a round trip around the Earth. Maybe not a full 25,000 miles, but still an anamoly not too many people can say they heard.
Helluva lot less than that, unless something else was going on (such as a parrot repeater). Travel time for a radio signal to circle the Earth is about .12 seconds. It’d have mostly passed you by by the time you released the PTT.
There is an AM station in San Antonio, TX, that I have picked up when driving in Missouri at night.
We had a tv in 1947. I remember it well. In the early 50’s, right in the middle of a show, some mutha would get on his CB and broadcast. Our TV was taken over at that point. Unwatchable. " K0-GME, this is XX-AQV(Able Queen Victoria)." I can’t remember his first two letters/digits. I think it was the asshole on the next street. But, hey, I was nine years old. What could I do. Later I learned about a “California Kilowatt.” Asshole.
Taking in mind I grew up in Eastern Washington:
–In the early 90’s, I heard an new FM radio station playing Top 40 music. The station mentioned it was in Phoenix, and even gave local traffic and weather. I heard it for about 20 minutes, and never heard it again. Does anyone know what this might have been?
–I could get AM radio signals from Winnipeg and Denver occasionally. KNX from Los Angeles came in well enough to listen to it regularly, and SanFran’s KGO was as clear as a bell.
Ftg, you’re right about older radios tending to give better reception than the newer models. Anyone know a reason for this?