AM Frequency of the Week: 1520

[cyberdad]

Following up on something that was brought up in last week's thread, KOKC, 1520khz in Oklahoma City is operating with an STA night power of 10kw non-directional while the DA is being rebuilt. I didn't know this, and sure enough, when I tried 1520 last night (around 0400 UTC), KOKC was there with a good signal. Better than any time in in recent memory....if not ever.

So this sets up an interesting dynamic for DX-ers. If you live in most places in the western and west-central part of the U.S. or Canada, KOKC is likely to be weaker than normal and perhaps creating openings for stations you wouldn't normally hear. Alternatively, if you live east of the Mississippi river, this might be your chance to log KOKC if you haven't already. Perhaps also, KOKC is a pest that hadn't been there before.

So the question for this week is what do you normally hear on 1520 and what, if anything, is different with KOKC on nighttime STA?

Here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago....

Days: WLUV, Loves Park/Rockford, IL. 500 watts, ND from about 38 miles west of me. Weak. KOLM, Rochester, MN sometimes sneaks in around sunset.

Night: Normally KOKC and KRHW with fair-weak signals taking turns on on top. And also take turns getting stepped on by either WLAC, WCKY or both. Back when Oklahoma City was KOMA and the channel was less crowded, KOMA would usually be on top and KMPL (now KRHW) would usually be underneath. WKBW occasionally showed up.
I doubt if KOMA/KOKC ever sent more than 5kw in my direction at night, so the STA makes for a significant improvement here.

 

[crainbebo]

1520 is a weak mix of KKXA Snohomish and KXET Portland by day, and the same but stronger at night. With KOKC on STA they aren't even noticeable anymore...when on 50KW they come in quite often.
Wanted on this channel: KKZZ CA (when it returns), KMPG CA and KOLM MN. All 3 may be good targets on the right evening/sunrise session.

-crainbebo

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Best 1520 DX I got after moving here to NE PA was when local WMBT 1530 found itself buried by a blizzard and was off the air. WTRI from Maryland was faint.
Lol -- I had asked somewhere if, since the snow was off the ocean via a Nor'easter, would there exist a frozen salt water path by which places far inland would come in, enhanced, as a result.
I was told 'No,' and left it at that.

With that same local WMBT having gone dark a decade ago, SSS catches (both on tape) have included WCHE Chester PA, and a rare Long Island catch -- WTHE.

WWKBW, of course, is the nighttime regular. I remember one * day *, though, me on a paint job in St. Clair, when WKBW was booming in, louder than both of the local Pottsville AM's.

* * * * * * *

@ crainbebo : Odd story from back in the JFK Airport-area DXing days .....

One Monday morning overnight, maybe 4:00 EST, 'KB was off the air.
KOMA also was off the air. They were a rare catch, usually very weak toward us anyway because they pulled it in, away from the Northeast and 'KB.
So with both those entertainment giants silent, I managed to pull in a very weak but ID'ingly steady KYMN for a while -- no doubt your Northwest neighbor, hi.
The kicker is that my buddy, also listening at the same time, four blocks away, was on 1510, taping a station that turned out to be Australia! 2NA were the calls ; 10000 watts.
I think I was the only one of the group of four DXers who ever heard Oregon.
Needless to say, my pal Vinny was the only one on the group to've heard Australia.
One frequency away. That must have been some night for conditions.






WWKBW, WTHE (4-01-03t), WCHE (4-01-03), WARR (12-13-11), WTRI (1-8-96t),

 

[ContinuousWave]

I doubt if KOMA/KOKC ever sent more than 5kw in my direction at night, so the STA makes for a significant improvement here.

Toward IL, KOKC's pattern plot according to the FCC DB shows about 10kw at 30deg from the site with it increasing towared the north at 100kw ERP due north...the pattern is a "semi" smooth balloon style to the WNW with the nulls at 60 and 135-150 degrees...and a small lobe of 800 watts at 115 or so degrees...

 

[radioman148]

I haven't checked this freq in awhile, but from my near north Chicago suburban location KOMA/KOKC was the station I usually heard. Usually average sometimes fairly strong. I only heard WKBW/WWKB a few times, usually very weak and well under KOMA, although I can remember one instance when KB was coming in about equal.

 

[boombox4]

Located in W. Washington.

Here at night it's KKXA (classic country) in WA and KGDD (ranchero / regional Mexican) in Oregon. It's a toss up which one is on top of the channel.

I've logged KOMA / KOKC twice. Once long ago, another time in 2012 or 2013.

 

[cyberdad]

Toward IL, KOKC's pattern plot according to the FCC DB shows about 10kw at 30deg from the site with it increasing towared the north at 100kw ERP due north...the pattern is a "semi" smooth balloon style to the WNW with the nulls at 60 and 135-150 degrees...and a small lobe of 800 watts at 115 or so degrees...

As always, I stand to be corrected. I think perhaps my location could be somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees. I'm about 30 miles west of Lake Michigan, and about 20 miles south of the Wisconsin state line. KOKC had become an increasingly difficult catch in the last few years. I realize that some of that has to do with the more crowded nature of the channel and the band. I hadn't been on 1520 here for a while, and what I heard last night was, as I said, stronger than in recent memory. 10kw sounds about right for when I listened to KOMA in college in eastern Iowa. The signal was nowhere near as strong as in Kansas and Nebraska, but still very listenable. Easily overcoming any WLAC/WCKY splatter. Of course, it could also be that KOKC is running a little more than the prescribed 10kw on their STA. Or maybe they're "forgetting" to go to the night power entirely. Seems to be no shortage of that going around these days....LOL.

Crainbebo: Interesting that you mentioned KOLM. As you may already know, their critical hours pattern favors you, and it maintains their full 10kw. I used to have a major customer in far northwest Minnesota, and KOLM would routinely overpower the semi-local 1520 in the area before powering down for the night. (1kw from Mayville, ND).

 

[joebtsflk1]

Toward IL, KOKC's pattern plot according to the FCC DB shows about 10kw at 30deg from the site with it increasing towared the north at 100kw ERP due north...the pattern is a "semi" smooth balloon style to the WNW with the nulls at 60 and 135-150 degrees...and a small lobe of 800 watts at 115 or so degrees...

Sitting in that 60 degree null is KRHW 1520 at Sikeston MO, and its needle-like figure 8 night pattern with 1600 watts http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KRHW&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

I remember doing battle with Sikeston on Saturday winter mornings in the 90s during KOMA's (KOKC) oldies program with Larry Neal when I lived in the Twin Cities. Before Sikeston sunrise, all was fairly good with KOMA. Sikeston would generally be in the background but KOMA would be listenable. Upon Sikeston sunrise came the 5 kW day pattern which generally wiped out KOMA in Minnesota for about 30 minutes until Sikeston would begin to fade for the day. Then KOMA would go to the 50 kW omni pattern upon OKC sunrise, and KOMA would be good for about another 30 minutes until Minnesota sunrise. If the weather was cold with plenty of snow between Oklahoma and Minnesota, KOMA would be OK for maybe another 30 minutes after Minnesota sunrise then KOLM 1520 in Rochester MN would uncermoneously sign-on, mid-song with automation.

 

[cyberdad]

After thinking about this, I'm guessing my QTH (Crystal Lake, IL) may be at about 35-40 degrees from OKC. Probably closer to 30 than 60 (I'm too lazy to actually measure...LOL). Anyway, last night (Sunday 2/15), when I tuned in, KRHW was alone on top. But that didn't last long, and it was all KOKC afterwards. Not as strong as it had been the night before, however. KRHW was in the mix this morning before sunrise, but unable to overtake KOKC. Not sure if KRHW was on their "pencil thin" night pattern or something else.

Also, BTW, @ Steve....great story! That must've been one (heck) of a Monday morning for DX. Those are certainly becoming increasingly rare with the band now more crowded along with the Monday morning sign-offs becoming basically a thing of the past.

 

[dtvdxer]

I think perhaps my location could be somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees. I'm about 30 miles west of Lake Michigan, and about 20 miles south of the Wisconsin state line.

Cyberdad..

Now that I have your location, I can give you more precise numbers, if you're interested. You are 42 degrees from KOKC, and on KOKC's normal nighttime pattern, you get about 1200 watts. By the way, you are right in WWKB's null, 271 degrees from Buffalo, and receive only 250 watts or less from "KB".

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Here's "Rats In My Room" from YouTube (link below) by Joey Reynolds and Danny Neaverth on WKBW 1520 in 1963. At 0:59 to 1:15 in the video, they pan a scattergram map of WKBW's signal. They show reports in Western Europe, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, but hardly anything West of a few dots in Michigan. The CE of WKBW claimed that in order to be heard to the West, the signal had to go all the way around the earth. Apparently, the high angle pattern and propagation were only known by people like Carl Smith, Bob Jones, Kear and Kennedy, Markley, Mueller, and the like at that time. Joey Reynolds got his first big gig at WKBW in 1963, after a brief gig programming WTRX 1330 Flint, MI. He continued consulting WTRX for another year or so from Buffalo, carrying promo copies and acetates on trips to WTRX occasionally.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbe2c7XysnU

 

[RyanHoward]

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WCHE Chester PA(fair, but listenable)
Night: WWKB Buffalo(strong signal)

 

[W7PAT]

Daytime is KQRR Oregon City/Portland with Russian Christian programming.
Nights KQRR is easy to null and KKXA Snohomish can be heard.

 

[ContinuousWave]

A quick note: the current CE of KOKC is K5WIC, Mike Fields.....I'm sure when he has time, will respond to reception reports (he has been extremely busy with the new DA work)....so if you can catch it before it goes back to the DA, now is the time to do it

 

[schmave]

Is tonight too late to try? Meant to last night and never did. I'm in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio.

 

[ContinuousWave]

KOKC is still on the STA...not sure how far along they are but Jack Sellmeyer is on site for the MOM measurements of the array....the sooner you can log them now, the better.

Mike has been posting updates in the "I Take Pictures of Transmitter Sites" and the "I Love AM Radio" groups on FaceBook, but he has been missing in the last week or two. May drop him a note to see what the time table is now.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

KOMA was a popular nightime DX target from Midland, TX. HS kids don't usually care about DX, except when you don't call it that, the station is reliable, and has the music they want. Just about every car radio had a preset for KOMA - only used at night. I even demonstrated local oscillator interference to someone in a car when I tuned a radio 455 kHz below 1520 and it jammed their car radio.

 

[purpledevil]

I checked 1520 last night, and got a less than normal signal level from KOKC. Usually it is right there when our local class D calls it a night.

That would be our own Bill Turner's KYND Cypress, Texas @22kW, 18kW critical, for topic's sake. Anyway, KOKC was not nearly as strong as typical, but then again, Tulsa's KVOO and Shreveport's KWKH seemed weaker last night as well. Maybe that back door cold front we just had blow through last night is the culprit.

 

[davideduardo]

KOMA was a popular nightime DX target from Midland, TX. HS kids don't usually care about DX, except when you don't call it that, the station is reliable, and has the music they want. Just about every car radio had a preset for KOMA - only used at night. I even demonstrated local oscillator interference to someone in a car when I tuned a radio 455 kHz below 1520 and it jammed their car radio.

I would not call listening within a stations normal interference free night contour to be DX at all. For all practical purposes, KOMA was a local in Midland and in much of the Midland-Odessa market probably had a better night signal than KRIG.

I remember clearly the ads for movies and shows on KOMA in the late 50's and early 60's... a typical one would be "June 11th in Raton, June 12th in Lamar, June 13th in Sheridan and June 14th in Jamestown". KOMA was much of middle America's favorite Top 40 at night, with WLS coming in as second.

 

[boombox4]

Daytime is KQRR Oregon City/Portland with Russian Christian programming.
Nights KQRR is easy to null and KKXA Snohomish can be heard.

I just noticed KGDD flipped to Russian religious programming... Looks like they switched call letters twice, too.