Strange Goings-On
Not long ago I posted about seeing a ghost (well, a ghost hand, anyway) in my apartment. I have since been trying to repeat this phenomenon with no success. But last night I discovered something else I can't explain, so if there are any experts in this partcicular field out there, maybe you can help me.
So here it is:
Last night I'm laying in bed listening to the radio (the same one the ghost turned off), waiting for the ghost hand to appear. The ghost is still absent, so I decide to channel-surf the old-fashioned way on the AM dial to find something interesting to listen to.
That's when I stumble upon a hockey game. Now, I don't like hockey. I have no interest in it. But something made me stop and listen to this game. It was the Dallas Stars vs. the Anaheim Ducks. I figured it for a national broadcast...but it didn't sound national. It sounded local. And it was. I was picking up an AM station from Dallas, Texas.
I live in Waupun, Wisconsin, which according to Mapquest is 1058.44 miles away. I highly doubt that their transmitter is that strong.
I decide to keep surfing. Who knows, maybe I can pick up other stations from other states?
Here's the list of cities I found stations from (and I'd like to point out that I could hear them clearly, with almost no static):
Dallas. Nashville. New Orleans. Indianapolis. Chicago. St. Louis. Somewhere in Iowa. Atlanta.
Cleveland.
By the way, the radio I'm using is a simple Sony DreamMachine clock radio. I paid less than $20 bucks for it at Target. As far as I remember, the manual that came with it never mentioned a Ghost in the (Dream)Machine....
M. PotPie
posted by Monkeypotpie @ 8:29 AM
8 Comments:
It happens because of the nature of AM waves vs. FM waves. FM waves are directed down, towards the ground, so the distance able to detect them is low. The shorter the wave, the better the quality. AM waves, on the otherhand, are directed straight out, or up towards the sky, and because of this do not run into any barriers. (They care more about transmitting messages en masse rather than quality of sound like FM.) The signal can then travel much farther depending on signal strength and weather. If it is generally clear weather through the path it is not unlikely to pick AM stations up 1500 miles away.
I'm a big fucking nerd.
doggrrrrl- No drinks last night, only herb.
jj- a friend of mine wants to perform white noise experiments in my apartment.
indy- I had theorized that because it was cloudy the AM waves were bouncing off the clouds back down. But not only am I over 1000 miles away, I live in a depression, not on a hill. I used the word "theorized". Who's the nerd?
Oh snap, you're a big ol' nerd too!
I will admit that I have my moments of extreme nerdism. I'm hot like that.
Holy crap. I have the same radio!
LBB- Perhaps we share an inter-dimensional bedroom?
The ghost hand digs hockey games. It also digs the fact that you channel surf the AM frequency. The ghost hand thanks you. Word on the herb...
Chicken- I did think of you when I heard the commercials from Dallas. And your mind is in the gutter, as usual..which is why I like you.
Mangey- You know the hand? It speaks to you? Does it have a name? Will it spark a bowl for me?
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