The Hanover Collaboration

On the north, it is protected by Cannon mtn, and the beautiful Franconia Ridge which before it turns west and becomes the majestic Presidential ridge. On the South, the cliffs of Rumney. To the east, the revered, historic Mt. Moosilauke. To the east roll some of the most pristine mountains of the whites, The Hancocks and Carrigan.

But just as important as the hills are the distances. 50 miles from each Hanover, Concord, Gorham and Saint Johnsbury.

At 100MHz, 50mi is about -110 dB due to free space losses. The thermal noise density in that place is roughly -200 dBW/Hz on a brisk morning such as this. The transmitters that I want to aquire are transmitting 150—3000 Watts at a bandwidth of 100 kHz. So the thermal energy on that channel is -150 dBW while I could hope to receive -75 to -90 dBW of signal were it not for the mountains.

But how can you ignore such mountains! Then add to that the 10 or more dB that I lose due to my budget receiever (which I have working again!). Maybe my electronics could still lock to that low of an energy, but my brain requires an aditional 10 dB for filtering. In the end what you get is a region that is hurting for good radio.

You can always get WHOM transmitting from the blighted summit of Mt Washington. These 48kW are notable for Delilah and Jon Tesh and soft rock that have kept many a cold hiker warm through the night.

But then sometimes, you can get WVNH due to it’s lucky allignment with the valleys.

Today’s was just such a morning and so I was taking in a soulfull. The topic was how Christians in America were beset on all sides. The pastor, described the persecution to which American Christians are subjected, and the degree to which their values are ignored, nay, flouted by the culture and the politicians.

Huh… Man, it must be hard to live with the heathens on one side and the towelheads on the other while getting fed to lions by the government. I’m sure glad I’m not a Christian.