Here’s a cool video from June 2015. I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Hollins, VA and received WXL-42 all the way from Winston-Salem, N.C. - _71 miles away!_ The National Weather Service was still using the Console Replacement System, or CRS. So you’ll actually get to hear the old Tom, Donna, and Perfect Paul text-to-speech voices.
WXL-42 transmits from the WXII-TV tower on Sauratown Mtn, in Stokes Co., N.C. Their program originates from the NWS in Raleigh. My local NWS office was Blacksburg, VA, so this was one of the only stations outside my CWA that I could receive, the other being KZZ-28 from Covesville.
You can see me holding an external antenna up to the sky in the reflection of the screen
To give you an idea, I was standing near I-81N, mile-marker 145.5, and the closest landmarks were Hollins University and Carvin’s Cove Reservoir. 71 miles is crazy, especially when you consider I was surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Weather radio signals are typically not supposed to travel that far, because unlike traditional FM stations that can push between 50,000 and 100,000 watts, NOAA Weather Radio stations cap out at 1,000 watts. Thanks to near-perfect propagation conditions, I was able to reliably receive this station every time I visited their house.
My dad also used to be able to receive WXII-TV from our house in Roanoke. He just had to rotate the ChannelMaster rotary antenna on the rooftop (remember those?) 102 Jamz from Greensboro (WJMH) is another station that still comes in loud and clear from my house for over 40 years, which just goes to show that several FM stations from the Piedmont-Triad area often have crystal-clear propagation in the Roanoke Valley.
Enjoy the video!