AM Dxing during a power outage

[gar hi]

This is the time of year I seldom DX at all on AM and focus on FM but last night I had an interesting opportunity to do some nighttime AM DXing when our power went out after some nasty storms.

It didn't even occur to me to do this until a couple hours after we lost power which was good because there wasn't too much static from lightning.

But wow! It was so nice to listen to AM without the usual annoying various buzzing, hissing, and other weird noises we have to put up with from the various electronic devices of today.

I didn't have batteries in my Sangean PR-D5, so I listened with my Sony SRF-M37 Walkman.

The first thing I noticed was that on 660, WFAN was completely absent and there was a good signal from WORL near Orlando. That was a first.

The only starion I could hear from the northeast at all was a trace of WCBS but the Cubans weren't strong either.

Even the usual good signals from WLW, WGN, and WBBM were very weak. WSM was too.

The outstanding signal was WOAI from San Antonio. At first, I thought maybe it was spill over from 1250 WHNZ which is only a couple miles away.

The X Banders were all barely audible, except for 1700 from Miami springs. Not even a trace of the usually heard 1640 WTNI Biloxi or 1630 WRDW Augusta.

Anyway, I cherished the time where I could listen to AM inside my home without any interference.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

In the blackout of August, 2003, it was fun for a few minutes to DX, until the reality of security issues and deadlines, wondering when it would come back on, made it impossible to enjoy.

WJLB/WQBH/WDTK 1400 was off, and WSAM was booming in. Many local FMs were also off and first adjacents and cochannels like WKCQ 98.1, formerly WSAM-FM, were booming in. It illustrated how regulatory short spacing created by various paragraphs allowing upgrades over the years reduced the listenable footprint of many stations.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

This is the time of year I seldom DX at all on AM and focus on FM but last night I had an interesting opportunity to do some nighttime AM DXing when our power went out after some nasty storms.

It didn't even occur to me to do this until a couple hours after we lost power which was good because there wasn't too much static from lightning.

But wow! It was so nice to listen to AM without the usual annoying various buzzing, hissing, and other weird noises we have to put up with from the various electronic devices of today.

I didn't have batteries in my Sangean PR-D5, so I listened with my Sony SRF-M37 Walkman.

The first thing I noticed was that on 660, WFAN was completely absent and there was a good signal from WORL near Orlando. That was a first.

The only starion I could hear from the northeast at all was a trace of WCBS but the Cubans weren't strong either.

Even the usual good signals from WLW, WGN, and WBBM were very weak. WSM was too.

The outstanding signal was WOAI from San Antonio. At first, I thought maybe it was spill over from 1250 WHNZ which is only a couple miles away.

The X Banders were all barely audible, except for 1700 from Miami springs. Not even a trace of the usually heard 1640 WTNI Biloxi or 1630 WRDW Augusta.

Anyway, I cherished the time where I could listen to AM inside my home without any interference.

I have been known to create my own blackout by turning off the main breaker at my house! Actually - I sometimes do that to find (and eliminate) the interference makers. CFL bulbs for the most part, we now have mostly LED. Good DXíng with all that networking stuff turned off. Fortunately, aluminum backed insulation panels and radiant barriers make the house a Faraday cage to interference sources. All I have to do is walk out by the pool to DX.

 

[cyberdad]

All I have to do is walk out by the pool to DX.

As I guy who traveled a lot before i (semi) retired, that was always my solution if I was in a hotel loaded with noise sources and really wanted to get in some DX. At the places where we sometimes go for weeks at a time on vacations (St. Pete and Pensacola areas), I can step out onto the balcony and get a nice improvement versus indoors, but still not the same as heading for either the pool or the beach.

Aside from those, my favorite place to "leave the building" was the hotel where I used to stay in London during the 11 years my daughter lived there. The hotel actually wasn't all that noisy or restrictive, but there was a park just steps from the front door. I could sneak over there with my DX-375, find a bench, and hear the LW and MW bands totally open up. Multiple daytime signals from Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany. No problem. A couple of these did penetrate the hotel, but in the park, I could easily hear more than a dozen.

And yes, I do routinely reach for the Superadio-II when the power goes out here.

Finally, on a personal note, Bruce, I hope you're doing okay with all of the adverse weather and flooding going on in your area. Stay safe, sir!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

As I guy who traveled a lot before i (semi) retired, that was always my solution if I was in a hotel loaded with noise sources and really wanted to get in some DX. At the places where we sometimes go for weeks at a time on vacations (St. Pete and Pensacola areas), I can step out onto the balcony and get a nice improvement versus indoors, but still not the same as heading for either the pool or the beach.

Aside from those, my favorite place to "leave the building" was the hotel where I used to stay in London during the 11 years my daughter lived there. The hotel actually wasn't all that noisy or restrictive, but there was a park just steps from the front door. I could sneak over there with my DX-375, find a bench, and hear the LW and MW bands totally open up. Multiple daytime signals from Ireland, Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany. No problem. A couple of these did penetrate the hotel, but in the park, I could easily hear more than a dozen.

And yes, I do routinely reach for the Superadio-II when the power goes out here.

Finally, on a personal note, Bruce, I hope you're doing okay with all of the adverse weather and flooding going on in your area. Stay safe, sir!

11 inches of rain at my house, but I bought in a subdivision out of the flood plane. I even had a nice easy drive to work that day because so many people were stranded. You learn what roads to take and what not to take in floods - most killed drove into deep water, in spite of "turn around - don't drown" warnings. But thank you for the concern! Obviously, there was not a lot of AM DX during the violent storms, but the temperature inversions led to some nice FM openings.

 

[gar hi]

Those pictures I saw on the national news from Houston were unreal and so sad.

I take it the reason much of Houston is so prone to flooding is because not only is it so flat but they are far enough inland where there's not as much drainage into the Gulf?


As for AM DXing in a hotel, I've found it's become virtually impossible in the last few years because of those annoying CFL bulbs the government has forced on us.

It's part of the reason DXing is a lot more difficult even inside my apartment anymore.

I still stick to my incandescent bulbs but I can hear that my neighbors don't.

 

[1L6E6VHF]

<snip>
As for AM DXing in a hotel, I've found it's become virtually impossible in the last few years because of those annoying CFL bulbs the government has forced on us.
<snip>

You sure got that right. It used to be that when traveling and staying overnight at a motel, I'd make sure to bring a radio and headphones and check the bands to see what was out there (first DX, then settle on a nice oldies, standards, or talk station). It was exciting back then. Which stations would come in, and which ones wouldn't, would always surprise me. Now that i know a bit about ionospheric propagation, soil conductivity, and directional arrays, I can guess who will come in and how strong they will be, but somehow the sense of "magic" is gone.

Nowadays, I can't help notice that motels seem to be the very worst place to try to listen to AM. Worse that any home, basement, office, or underground Tesla coil factory (LOL).

In addition to CFLs, you can blame the shift from wood to reinforced concrete construction, plasma TV sets, and security systems, perhaps other electronics used only by lodging I don't know about.

Sometime in the 1990s, we had made a three-day trip to Benzie County (NW lower MI) with a pop-up for fall color and shopping. The campground had four loops - three electric and one with no electricity. I had my Magnavox D2935, a strange LW/AM/SW/FM radio in which LW and AM reception was via the same whip antenna used for SW and FM. I threw a 30' thin wire into a tree, and clipped it to the end of the whip on the D2935, and things came in like crazy. TISs all over the expansion band, two of them from Texas (DFW airport), stations from Colombia and Caribbean islands booming in, no noise at all (except the white noise from the audio amp in the D2935, which was present even on overwhelming signals, except on FM). BTW, I don't recommend a D2935 - on batteries, it draws about 1.5 A (that is to say, it goes through batteries about 100 times as fast as a Trans Oceanic Royal 1000!)

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

How ironic it is that the bulbs that interfere with AM radio are called CFLs. I guess that they should be called Not So Super CFLs.

 

[cyberdad]

[/QUOTE] In addition to CFLs, you can blame the shift from wood to reinforced concrete construction, plasma TV sets, and security systems, perhaps other electronics used only by lodging I don't know about.

[/QUOTE]

You forgot ice machines, pop machines, elevator equipment, outdoor flood lights attached to the building, kitchen equipment, swimming pool equipment. HVAC equipment. etc. The list goes on and on. Actually, however, you can still find some motels where DXing is not only possible, but even quite good. I'd say the percentage of these is somewhere around 25-35%. Ask for an upper floor room at the end of a hall. This doesn't always work, but your odds are a little better for AM, while being up higher enhances your ability to DX the FM band (unless you're near multiple FM tower sites).

I normally stay in Marriott Branded hotels. I like their hotels and I like earning and cashing in points for rooms and upgrades even better! Marriott has everything from "economy" brands to full-service and upscale office. With the full-service Marriotts, etc., the upper floor may be your only choice for AM signals penetrating the building's superstructure. Especially true in urban highrises. Even in Fairfield Inns and Towne Place Suites, Marriott's two "value" brands, being on an upper floor gets you away from the noisemakers associated with the pool, front desk, security systems, kitchen, etc.

The other thing that works at least as often as not is try your DXing between midnight and 6am when most sensible people (a group which may not include DXers like me) are in bed asleep!

 

[cyberdad]

How ironic it is that the bulbs that interfere with AM radio are called CFLs. I guess that they should be called Not So Super CFLs.

Where's Barney Pip when you need him? He'd have turned the CFL's into peanut butter!

 

[jim-satx]

You forgot ice machines, pop machines, elevator equipment, outdoor flood lights attached to the building, kitchen equipment, swimming pool equipment. HVAC equipment. etc. The list goes on and on. Actually, however, you can still find some motels where DXing is not only possible, but even quite good. I'd say the percentage of these is somewhere around 25-35%. Ask for an upper floor room at the end of a hall. This doesn't always work, but your odds are a little better for AM, while being up higher enhances your ability to DX the FM band (unless you're near multiple FM tower sites).

I normally stay in Marriott Branded hotels. I like their hotels and I like earning and cashing in points for rooms and upgrades even better! Marriott has everything from "economy" brands to full-service and upscale office. With the full-service Marriotts, etc., the upper floor may be your only choice for AM signals penetrating the building's superstructure. Especially true in urban highrises. Even in Fairfield Inns and Towne Place Suites, Marriott's two "value" brands, being on an upper floor gets you away from the noisemakers associated with the pool, front desk, security systems, kitchen, etc.

When traveling, I try to use the same strategy - highest floor on the side or back of the hotel - to reduce potential RFI. Sometimes it's hopeless, though. Last year I stayed at a HIE in Rockport, TX, and AM DXing in the room or anywhere on the property was impossible because of buzzing from very close power lines, as well as the usual hotel RFI.

The other thing that works at least as often as not is try your DXing between midnight and 6am when most sensible people (a group which may not include DXers like me) are in bed asleep!

I always plan for less sleep when traveling for this very reason!

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

When I go to a motel I usually go into the car to DX. Now that I have discovered that I have HD on AM, that can be interesting. The DSP circuitry necessary to decode these signals also results in good effective sensitivity and selectivity. I have seen WWJ and WBZ get an intense enough skywave to activate the call letter display and occasionally go into HD audio mode. Any other cochannel transmitters left on day power and or pattern will prevent this from happening. I have some strong suspicions about some unmodulated carriers that were left on. I could hear the signal herterodyning, but no audio from one interfering station in particular. It remained in the "Acquiring HD Signal" mode, but never even displayed the call letters due to the rapid fluctuation in the signal from the other station's carrier.