Last Tuesday I was waiting in the driveway to pick up a friend in Southington, Connecticut (just outside the downtown area) I picked up CHML 900 from Hamilton, Ontario at 12:15PM. This is quite possibly my farthest daytime AM DX. I'm a regular listener to CHML in the overnight hours for Dr. Joy Browne (2AM-5AM), but when I picked them up in the daytime last Tuesday their audio was lower than the local AMers and most certainly lower than when I pick them up at night. Usually all I get during the day on 900 is bleed-over from WLAT 910, which has its towers in nearby Farmington. (at least WLAT turned off their IBOC).
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900 CHML at 12:15PM
- Thread starter MarcB
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Picked up CHML in Bristol, Connecticut
I was able to pickup CHML(Hamilton, Ontario) at 900 AM here in Bristol, Connecticut. Though this station comes clearly in my Car's AM. But at my home this comes clearly only in the evening hours after 6:30 PM EST. I have not
listened to it continuously but when i checked randomly it signal was reasonably listenable at around 10:30 PM EST as well.
I was able to pickup CHML(Hamilton, Ontario) at 900 AM here in Bristol, Connecticut. Though this station comes clearly in my Car's AM. But at my home this comes clearly only in the evening hours after 6:30 PM EST. I have not
listened to it continuously but when i checked randomly it signal was reasonably listenable at around 10:30 PM EST as well.
Daytime reception of CHML is almost certainly daytime skywave. Daytime skywave is far less common that nighttime skywave, but is most likely to happen in cold weather months when there are fewer hours of daylight. CHML has a major lobe of its directional pattern that's aimed right at southern New England day and night.
I don't know if visionaries have re-named the Mid Winter Anomaly as anything more, uh, IPad friendly -- like 'Mmwaa' or 'Monalmy' -- but it's certain that's what you were experiencing. That's a terrific catch during lunch hour. Marc!
This reception of mine was from the opposite direction, but it was two years' back when I had, at some paint job in St. Clair PA, the barefoot GE Superadio II carelessly tuned to an Oldies station on 1220. It was about maybe 1:30PM. I didn;t care what it was.
It was WGNY Newburgh NY. At times they were so loud they were splashing onto the usual staunch occupant at those spots on the dial -- WPHT 1210.
The distance is listed as 130 miles. That isn't as robust as Hamilton Ontario wrecking the mid-dial of Connecticut radio, but this Mid-Winter daytime skip is a lot of fun, isn't it ?
This reception of mine was from the opposite direction, but it was two years' back when I had, at some paint job in St. Clair PA, the barefoot GE Superadio II carelessly tuned to an Oldies station on 1220. It was about maybe 1:30PM. I didn;t care what it was.
It was WGNY Newburgh NY. At times they were so loud they were splashing onto the usual staunch occupant at those spots on the dial -- WPHT 1210.
The distance is listed as 130 miles. That isn't as robust as Hamilton Ontario wrecking the mid-dial of Connecticut radio, but this Mid-Winter daytime skip is a lot of fun, isn't it ?
I've heard all the same stations here in the Chicago area between 11AM & noon many years ago in the winter. WBZ was before the local 1030 here was on the air. In recent years I've heard WBZ mixing with the local at mid day in December a few times.
Back in December 2010, I went to Clearwater Beach to do some midday DXing but it was too cold for me to be outside for very long with the wind and cold.
So I packed up my stuff and was sitting in my car scanning the AM band and WLW from Cincinnati was coming in with a good listenable signal. It was the Bengals game.
It was a little after 1 pm and there was hardly any fading either. But I couldn't hear any other northern stations at all, not even a trace of WCKY from Cincinnati.
Why only WLW?
For whatever reason, the signal gradually got weaker as I drove back to Tampa and it was long gone when I got back.
After that, I listened a lot for it again daytime in Tampa and never heard anything.
Maybe the proximity to the water enhanced the skywave?
So I packed up my stuff and was sitting in my car scanning the AM band and WLW from Cincinnati was coming in with a good listenable signal. It was the Bengals game.
It was a little after 1 pm and there was hardly any fading either. But I couldn't hear any other northern stations at all, not even a trace of WCKY from Cincinnati.
Why only WLW?
For whatever reason, the signal gradually got weaker as I drove back to Tampa and it was long gone when I got back.
After that, I listened a lot for it again daytime in Tampa and never heard anything.
Maybe the proximity to the water enhanced the skywave?
Good questions there, Gar.
And maybe some of the techier folks here can determine a few things.
See, I'm not the most observant or diligent DXer, even on my familiar AM dial. Whatever comes in comes in. I seldom listen at an appointed time, or set aside a day-part (like SRS or SSS).
Some of that informality is apt to change now, with a new shack. But anyway, I'm pretty sure that terrain has a lot to do with that daytime-skip. It might not be the biggest factor. But just about every one of the neat Mid-winter Anomaly catches I've sporadically heard generally followed that arc of the Appalachians.
WKCY 1300 from VA was atop it all at 1:30PM back on Long Island. 315 miles or so
Later that session, WBUC 1460 from WV gave a loud ID.
October 1963 WWHY 1470 from WV was the loudest non-local on the dial (louder than WKBW) for :45 minutes, right around SRS, back on Long Island.
WDJO Cincinnati 1480 was a MWA catch here a year or so back -- 460 miles. In a basement.
WCFR from VT came in at 2PM one lightly-snowing day last year on a portable in a supermarket parking lot while the girls shopped inside.
In other words, each of those catches were off regional frequencies.
Now, those were the only ones this casual DXer *noticed*. So I'm also wondering if the daytime-skip peculiarity works its way up the AM frequencies the way E-Skip climbs up the VHF dial as it deepens.
If so, that might explain why 700 was so loud and 1530 wasn't.
And maybe some of the techier folks here can determine a few things.
See, I'm not the most observant or diligent DXer, even on my familiar AM dial. Whatever comes in comes in. I seldom listen at an appointed time, or set aside a day-part (like SRS or SSS).
Some of that informality is apt to change now, with a new shack. But anyway, I'm pretty sure that terrain has a lot to do with that daytime-skip. It might not be the biggest factor. But just about every one of the neat Mid-winter Anomaly catches I've sporadically heard generally followed that arc of the Appalachians.
WKCY 1300 from VA was atop it all at 1:30PM back on Long Island. 315 miles or so
Later that session, WBUC 1460 from WV gave a loud ID.
October 1963 WWHY 1470 from WV was the loudest non-local on the dial (louder than WKBW) for :45 minutes, right around SRS, back on Long Island.
WDJO Cincinnati 1480 was a MWA catch here a year or so back -- 460 miles. In a basement.
WCFR from VT came in at 2PM one lightly-snowing day last year on a portable in a supermarket parking lot while the girls shopped inside.
In other words, each of those catches were off regional frequencies.
Now, those were the only ones this casual DXer *noticed*. So I'm also wondering if the daytime-skip peculiarity works its way up the AM frequencies the way E-Skip climbs up the VHF dial as it deepens.
If so, that might explain why 700 was so loud and 1530 wasn't.
That's a good point, Steve.
Now that I think of it, when there's better than usual nighttime skip, seems from what I've seen anyway it only covers part of the AM dial at any given time.
But daytime skip isn't as common down where I am as up north.
Though it's about 12:20 pm now and on 740, I'm getting some of that multi path scrambling effect of ground wave mixing with sky wave from a weak WYGM in Orlando.
Yet there's not a trace of 1700 from Miami which usually can be heard all day during winter because the X banders behave almost like shortwave.
Now that I think of it, when there's better than usual nighttime skip, seems from what I've seen anyway it only covers part of the AM dial at any given time.
But daytime skip isn't as common down where I am as up north.
Though it's about 12:20 pm now and on 740, I'm getting some of that multi path scrambling effect of ground wave mixing with sky wave from a weak WYGM in Orlando.
Yet there's not a trace of 1700 from Miami which usually can be heard all day during winter because the X banders behave almost like shortwave.
Maybe Scott Fybush could answer this. I know CHML's AM array is one of the largest in the world in terms of the distance between furthest spaced towers, which is on the order of a half mile, which according to John Kraus's antenna book, would tend to also have the most gain over nondirectional. Is it the largest array? I don't think Bill Dulmage reads these threads, so I can't ask him here.
KNX is still a no show in the day arond 3 pm here in West Sacramento, I try KFI 640...even know I get slop for 650 KSTE
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