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AM Frequency of the Week: 930

cyberdad

cyberdad

What's up on 930 where you are?

Here at "you know where" daytime, it's Catholic Radio WKBM (until recently WAUR) with a fair-good signal from about 40 miles south of me and 2,500 watts.

At night, WKBM dials it up to 4,200 watts and aims it right at me. The result is a somewhat better signal, but still not quite strong enough to prevent me from hearing stuff underneath. Pretty much unidentifable, however.

Before this semi-local 930 came on in the 1980s, I used to occasionally catch snatches of 5kw WBCK from Battle Creek during the day. Most common at night was WLBJ from Bowling Green, KY. Less common was an occasional whiff of WTAD from Quincy, IL. I sometimes tried for WKY, but offhand, I don't think I was ever successful.
 
Pretty much the same all the way around here in the near north Chicago burbs. WBCK was a daytime regular before the station in Sandwich, Il came on.
One difference, I did catch WKY a few times in the 60s and early 70s.
 
In the Daytime in SE Michigan, you could get WBCK and WEOL by turning the radio and nulling the other one out, if you were far enough away from the pre NRSC sidebands of WFDF and WWJ. Otherwise, you might just get either WBCK or WEOL depending on location.
 
If you're in Sevierville, TN, you get a dead carrier from WSEV 24/7. The transmitter has been running with no programming for approaching 2 months. WSEV "Smoky Mountain Radio" has had a silent STA since August but is still transmitting a dead carrier. Other than that, in East Tennessee nighttime reception has brought WLBJ. In Knoxville sometimes WSEV was barely there at night even when they were programming it.

I did get WTAD, Quincy once in Middletown, Ohio with a high school football game
 
gr8oldies said:


I did get WTAD, Quincy once in Middletown, Ohio with a high school football game
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The Quincy Blue Devils are big stuff in their hometown. Football and even more so, basketball. Not a whole heck of a lot else to do there.
I could see where WTAD might have been on "football power".
 
How close are you to WSEV's transmitter, gr8oldies? The oscillator or exciter from some transmitters can blot out cochannel signals for 1/4 to 1/2 mile or so. 100 mW getting to the antenna would put out an inverse field of almost 2 mV/m at 1 mile. Losses are proportional to the applied power. Losses are not constants as I have heard people suggest for the last 40+ years. The reason why a hobbyist's 100 mW transmitter doesn't get out nearly that far is that it uses a very inefficient antenna system with huge losses, unless it's a Part 15 maximized antenna, and even that is very inefficient.
 
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Not much here around Columbus, Ohio.
930 is next to our local WMNI on 920, but WMNI is so directional at all hours that it barely puts any slop onto 930 in my location about 15 miles east-northeast of the towers. If anything came in here, it might be WEOL from Elyria, but that pattern doesn't favor us and it's only 1,000 watts.
WKBM, the former WAUR, sticks out from visits to see relatives in the west suburbs of Chicago 20-25 years ago. I even remember their slogan, "The Fox Valley's Great AM." Came in well in Naperville at all hours. I didn't realize they weren't WAUR anymore, but when I'm out there I am usually listening to 670 if anything at all.
 
radioman148 said:
Has anyone figured out why WSEV is transmitting a dead carrier. If you're out of money why run up the electric bill?
Click to expand...

Beats me. It was completely off for the first couple of weeks. My guess is when September (and new sunrise/sunset power change times were in the computer) it turned itself back on and nobody connected with the ownership is aware of it. Maybe when that several thousand dollar electric bill lands on someone's desk someone will ask why.
 
cyberdad said:
The Quincy Blue Devils are big stuff in their hometown. Football and even more so, basketball. Not a whole heck of a lot else to do there.
I could see where WTAD might have been on "football power".
Click to expand...

I suspected that. WTAD was briefly one of my locals when I lived there in 1985-86
 
North of Atlanta, its WGAD Gadsden AL day and night. I have heard a few others, but WGAD makes 930 mostly a "pass by" channel here.
 
I had thought about it being the oscillator when I first heard it back on, and my workplace is line of sight from the tower. However, I have detected the carrier in Seymour and Knoxville at the level I would normally have had them. Short of having a meter to measure it, the evidence shows WSEV is on full power.

Schroedingers Cat said:
How close are you to WSEV's transmitter, gr8oldies? The oscillator or exciter from some transmitters can blot out cochannel signals for 1/4 to 1/2 mile or so. 100 mW getting to the antenna would put out an inverse field of almost 2 mV/m at 1 mile. Losses are proportional to the applied power. Losses are not constants as I have heard people suggest for the last 40+ years. The reason why a hobbyist's 100 mW transmitter doesn't get out nearly that far is that it uses a very inefficient antenna system with huge losses, unless it's a Part 15 maximized antenna, and even that is very inefficient.
Click to expand...
 
Warminster PA(Philadelphia area):

Daytime: WPAT Paterson NJ/New York(very weak)
Night: mess of stations, including WBEN Buffalo NY(not to be confused with our WBEN-FM, 95.7 Ben FM)
 
Yakima WA - Day and night, KYAK Yakima (Religion). They are 10KW days, and drop to 127 watts late at night.
If I can find a null, usually KSEI Pocatello ID shows up with oldies. Also have heard in the past - KBAI Bellingham, WA (Progressive Talk), KHJ Los Angeles (Catholic Radio), KTKN Ketchikan (Hot AC), CJCA Edmonton AB (Religion), KAGI Grants Pass OR (NPR/Jefferson Public Radio) and KMPT East Missoula, MT (Talk).

Wanted stations - KROE Sheridan WY (News/Talk), KRKY Granby, CO (Country), KAFF Flagstaff, AZ (Country), and KKXX Paradise/Chico, CA (Religion). Never know why KKXX doesn't make it - they should be!

-crainbebo
 
From sunrise until after sunset here, it's local news-talker KLUP, "The Answer." The station is roughly 13 miles to my east and runs 5 kW day and 1 kW directional at night.

The only other station I've been able to hear on 930 (from San Antonio) is a weak XEQS, "Romántica," in Fresnillo. That's in a partial null of KLUP and only well after sunset.
 
Days: Regional WHON (Centerville) Richmond IN.

Nights: WTAD Quincy Ill, WGAD Rainbow City AL, WRVC Huntington WV

Transition Time: Hagerstown MD, Bowling Green KY, Sevierville TN, and once, poplar bluff MO.
 
crainbebo said:
Yakima WA - Day and night, KYAK Yakima (Religion). They are 10KW days, and drop to 127 watts late at night.
If I can find a null, usually KSEI Pocatello ID shows up with oldies. Also have heard in the past - KBAI Bellingham, WA (Progressive Talk), KHJ Los Angeles (Catholic Radio), KTKN Ketchikan (Hot AC), CJCA Edmonton AB (Religion), KAGI Grants Pass OR (NPR/Jefferson Public Radio) and KMPT East Missoula, MT (Talk).

Wanted stations - KROE Sheridan WY (News/Talk), KRKY Granby, CO (Country), KAFF Flagstaff, AZ (Country), and KKXX Paradise/Chico, CA (Religion). Never know why KKXX doesn't make it - they should be!

-crainbebo
Click to expand...


Interesting you should mention KTKN! When did you hear them and how strong? Any airchecks/recordings you'd be OK with sharing? I can occasionally (But not what I'd call "regularly") hear them at night about 200 miles in the opposite direction, up in Port Alexander, AK. That's on small, cheap radios. On a good antenna, however, they're audible in the daytime. Not sure about night but I imagine quite well with a good antenna setup.

As for format, I'd also refer to them as "full-service".
 
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