Sarnia Traffic

[MattM]

They did get new radios about a month ago. The first couple weeks, they sounded like a restaurant drive through speaker. A lot of echoing also. They seem to have them adjusted to sound much better.

[Paul D]

I think what you are experiencing is "Tropospheric Ducting", where atmospheric conditions cause radio waves to travel longer distances than the normal "line of sight". It is more common during the summer and is technically different from "skip", although the result is the same to the listener.

The last few days here in Holland I've heard some ship traffic from the southern Lake Michigan Gary area. And usually when this happens I can also hear talk from northern Indiana on the railroad channels I monitor.

[BigRiver]

I am hearing them loud and clear in the Soo now too

[Guest]

Does anyone know if Sarnia Traffic has been testing a new radio or transmitter lately? I live in Clinton Township about 50 miles away from Sarnia and have never been able to pick up the vessel traffic from my table top scanner. But lately, especially at night and early morning, I have on occasion been able to hear Sarnia Traffic quite clearly only to not be able to pick it up for the balance of the day. I thought that maybe it was due to weather conditions, but this has been occurring in all types of weather with the only common trait being the late night and early morning hours of reception. When I do hear the calls they are crystal clear with no static and there is no period where they get weaker or broken up before they cut off. I was just wondering if they are beta testing a new transmitter or radio at certain hours of the day.