WHB on day pattern after sunset

[cyberdad]

Blasting in here northwest of Chicago on 810 at 9pm CST. Not exactly a routine catch in these parts, but here they were obliterating WGY (no trace of them). Anyone else hear this? 50kw ND is day pattern.

 

[dxtrfn80]

Me too in Danville VA.

 

[crainbebo]

No WHB here last night - condx are AWFUL to the east lately due to that solar activity. Not complete wipeout aurora, but still many signals from Alberta on are gone. KGO only here.

-crainbebo

 

[ftballfan]

A few years ago I remember hearing WHB during the day in Manistee, MI

 

[schmave]

I've only heard WHB once here in central Ohio, and that was back in maybe 2005 or 2006. It was trashing WGY. The only reason I was on 810 in the first place was to listen to Phil Hendrie that night, and that was basically unlistenable because of the two signals fighting.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Certain times of year, sunset times differ enough that there is a significant period between local sunset and WHB sunset under normal conditions, but 9:00 CST is well beyond that. I've heard it at least twice within the last several years. It always seems really clear without WGY interference when I hear it. It's almost like you think it's a Class I/Class A, especially with the three letter call, and it doesn't even faze you at first.

 

[K-Billy]

I wonder why Kansas City didn't get any clear channel stations yet smaller nearby cities like Des Moines, Omaha, and Tulsa did?

 

[schmave]

Timing possibly? That's like Wheeling having a clear-channel, albeit a directional 50K, and Columbus not having one.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I'd say it was partly geography, since you can't put many 50 kW Class A stations in the middle of the country without precluding a large part of the country from using the frequency. And a 5 kW fulltime station like WDAF, being nondirectional at night, and well protected, was good enough. WTVN isn't bad even though very directional at night, as was WTMJ with 5000 DA-N. Really, the mid to high dial position 50 kW Class Is/Class As above 1100 kHz, and particularly above 1500, really start to suffer from smaller groundwave coverage. So even a good 5000 watt low dial position station was good enough. KCSP (WDAF), KCMO, and WHB are certainly facilities that most broadcasters would like to have in their cities, though perhaps not so directional at night.

 

[cyberdad]

KCSP (WDAF), KCMO, and WHB are certainly facilities that most broadcasters would like to have in their cities, though perhaps not so directional at night.

No shortage of other big signals in the neighborhood, either. WOW (now KXSP or whatever), KFAB, KFEQ, WIBW, to name a few...

 

[joebtsflk1]

I suspect KC didn't get any of the old I-A clears since they may not have had as much political pull in the day as Iowa or Minnesota, and Missouri already got a I-A in KMOX. Plus as the other folks have already said, when you've got 5 kW on a low frequency, who needs a middle of the band 50 kW unless you have a real need to rip the ionosphere a new one at night.

 

[1L6E6VHF]

Timing possibly? That's like Wheeling having a clear-channel, albeit a directional 50K, and Columbus not having one.

I wonder of the old FCC tradition of keeping all states in the radio business had a role to play in this one.

AFAIK, no Class I (Class A) had a WV city of license save WWVA itself.

WTVN's home state of OH, in contrast, has three - WLW, WCKY and WTAM. If you take transmitter license into account, they have another - WWVA! (That would still leave Ohio with three, as WCKY has a Kentucky TL)

Another factor to consider is the fact that Columbus as the largest city in Ohio is a relatively recent phenomenon. Since the beginning of the radio age, Columbus' population has roughly tripled, whilst the populations of Cleveland and Cincinnati have actually fallen! While much of this disparity is due to legal tactics (Columbus successfully fought suburbanization, annexing territory as it grew), the Columbus area has grown more in the last fifty years than Cleveland or Cincinnati did.

 

[schmave]

I think the first sentence about the FCC is absolutely why that's the case.
I don't think it's a problem at all that Columbus doesn't have a 50K signal. WTVN might as well be one for as well as it gets out, especially to the north at night. I meant more that a smaller city has one while one that's larger does not. WLW also comes in very well here, basically making itself a semi-local.