Anyone have any reception reports of dx'ing KIRO (710) and KOMO (1000) from Seattle? I assume these stations are directional to protect NY and Chicago, respectively, so any Dxing would be to the west or north of Seattle. I wonder if they've been received over the pole, or in the South Pacific? Thank you.
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Dxing KIRO and KOMO
- Thread starter WDAE-FM101
- Start date
Here are the nighttime patterns for KIRO and KOMO. Both stations are non-directional daytime.
I heard KOMO a few years ago in January on the Northern Ireland receiver on Global tuners. Apparently others have heard it over there at times. Their signal does sometimes go over the North Pole in winter.
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rbrucecarter5
Guest
Never heard them in Texas - the patterns seem to exclude our direction. 710 is covered by regional powerhouse KGNC which comes from that same general direction, so there isn't a chance of nulling. 1000 is covered by numerous stations that are closer.
Next trip to LA - they look like good DX targets.
Bruce, do you ever get Chicago on 1000? I imagine Oklahoma City dominates in your direction.
There's a pretty good signal in LA on 710, unless of course you meant Louisiana, at which point I take it all back.
Neither one logged, DAE, back in the more frenzied days of DX near JFK Airport. And that was back when the dial was quieter, of course, and less crowded.
The only WA logging I can recall was from KRKO 1380 one MM at 4:00. And THAT took maybe a dozen stations to be off the air. 1380 was actually a pretty proliferate frequency for us NYCers, even with two time sharing local stations (WBNX and WAWZ).
The only WA logging I can recall was from KRKO 1380 one MM at 4:00. And THAT took maybe a dozen stations to be off the air. 1380 was actually a pretty proliferate frequency for us NYCers, even with two time sharing local stations (WBNX and WAWZ).
Gordon McLendon would have objected if you neglected his KEEL-710 in Shreeveport... back in the day!
Growing up in Austin, Texas in the 1960's I was never able to pull in either KIRO or KOMO. On 710 it was a mix of KEEL Shreveport and KGNC Amarillo, and on 1000 it was a weak KTOK in OKC or XEOY in Mexico City. Never heard what was then WCFL out of Chicago with its directional signal patterned away from us (the other 50kw Chicagoans on 670, 720, 780, and 890 boomed in, and even the old limited-time WJJD 1160 could be heard early evenings prior to signing off at Salt Lake City sunset.)
Interesting thing about 710 reception in Austin: Although KEEL and KGNC collided on an omnidirectional antenna, the two stations were 90 degrees apart in geographic direction. So on a portable radio with a ferrite rod antenna I could completely null out one or the other giving clean reception.
What was then WHB 710 in Kansas City could sometimes be heard way underneath KEEL. However 200 miles north in DFW, WHB dominated, although it could still be nulled to get KGNC. KEEL was poor to nonexistent.
Interesting thing about 710 reception in Austin: Although KEEL and KGNC collided on an omnidirectional antenna, the two stations were 90 degrees apart in geographic direction. So on a portable radio with a ferrite rod antenna I could completely null out one or the other giving clean reception.
What was then WHB 710 in Kansas City could sometimes be heard way underneath KEEL. However 200 miles north in DFW, WHB dominated, although it could still be nulled to get KGNC. KEEL was poor to nonexistent.
I can vouch for the fact that WHB was very strong near Oklahoma City at night in the late 60s.
The Chicago AM1000 pattern is very weak to the west. In the late 60s & early 70s when I went to college about 60 miles west of Chicago, the then "WCFL" sounded like it was a very distant station at night. Quite weak.
Are you able to hear it in Columbus during the day?
Only if there is a skywave event. It's often the last Chicago station to leave in the morning and the first to come back later ... I have heard it as early as 3 p.m. during the winter months. You can barely hear AM 1000 groundwave in the Lima area (90 miles NW of Columbus) during the day.
WSCR and WGN occasionally make it this far, but they are extremely weak if they do. I'm about 300 miles ESE of Chicago.
WSCR and WGN occasionally make it this far, but they are extremely weak if they do. I'm about 300 miles ESE of Chicago.
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rbrucecarter5
Guest
Sorry - Los Angeles. Some people on this board know my daughter is an actress, and I make frequent trips to Los Angeles when she works.
Which brings up a rather specialized topic - TV set DX. First of all, cast parents are not allowed to have a radio with a loudspeaker. Quiet is important. Secondly - even with headphones, you are likely to get asked to turn them off, because even what little leakage coming out of the headphones might be picked up on the soundtrack.
Another difficulty is that all that production equipment screams out RFI, so DX wouldn't work anyway. We all know about modern hotels and how bad they are, so even sitting back at the hotel is not a good option for DX.
Fortunately - a lot of the time - there are parking lots well away from the set. Zoey 101 parking lot was up the side of the hill far away from the outdoor set, I could sneak away for hours of DX'ing as long as my wife stayed on set. Unfortunately - that was the year Santa Clarita had a horrific heat wave, so it wasn't pleasant sitting in the car DX'ing. It was so bad, they revised their scripts so they could shoot at night when it was ONLY 107 degrees. That is when I did some really good DX work. But unfortunately - no Cuba on 530. It was completely blank. I have logs of everything, and the radio in our car was really good. But there are so many stations covering clears now I didn't have a chance at things like Chicago.
NOS (Nick on Sunset) and the nearby Disney studio are right in downtown Hollywood, a lot of interference at those sites. Plus parking is too close to really be able to DX on the car radio. They shot outdoor scenes for Victorious right in the parking lot! Some of the studios in the valley like Paramount and Sony are better, you can get some pretty good DX. Of course - you ARE in a valley - which blocks just about all FM except local. Because most of those sets are indoors, there wasn't a lot of nighttime car DX - they shoot in the daytime. And - they like parents to stay in the studio so they can get genuine canned laughter (ICK).
All in all - I find Los Angeles to be a fascinating and challenging area to DX. FM especially can vary widely depending on where you are, in a lot of cases 50% of the weaker stations are completely different. 30 miles from the LA towers you can be over the mountain and have first adjacents. AM is so cluttered as to be almost un - DX'able even in daytime. Sure, things like that monster station on 690 from Mexico are there, at night San Francisco stations are there, I usually don't have too much trouble with things like KSL and KOA. But it occurs to me that those are stations I was already familiar with because I am from Texas. I am probably missing interesting things from Seattle, etc. that I never have known about. So - next trip I may go out there armed with a better strategy than aiming for Texas and things I know.
KOMO can be heard throughout the west, and has been heard in MN and IL in the past several years, but it is rare and requires a lot of nulling, and a lot of patience.
KIRO is common in the NW but it seems the further east you go, the more you lose it as well. KXMR becomes a problem in the upper Midwest. It WAS heard by Saul Chernos of Burnt River, ON (north of Toronto) back in April 2013, so anything can happen.
KIRO is common in the NW but it seems the further east you go, the more you lose it as well. KXMR becomes a problem in the upper Midwest. It WAS heard by Saul Chernos of Burnt River, ON (north of Toronto) back in April 2013, so anything can happen.
Interesting thread. I'm late to the party, having just come off a month long coast-to-coast road trip. But I'll start with KIRO, which I did hear once in far western Ontario (Kenora), but overall far less frequently than KOMO. The time I did hear KIRO in Ontario, I recall it as just after sunset on a car radio (on my way to or from dinner). I'm assuming KIRO was still on day pattern.
KOMO is a different story. In the So-Cal part of my trip last week, KOMO was a nighttime regular with a good signal, as usual. It also had a listenable signal in New Mexico where I spent one night westbound, and then another eastbound. KOMO's night signal in Gallup (eastbound) was still overall fairly good, but not as strong as in Los Angeles. In Las Cruces (westbound). I did hear KOMO, but XEOY owned the channel. At another westbound stop, College Station, TX, about 100 or so miles north-northwest of where Bruce is, the channel was mostly KTOK with XEOY clearly audible in the background. I also spent a night this past week in Oklahoma City, northwest of town, where KTOK had a good local signal, but I could null it and hear XEOY rather easily. No KOMO or WMVP.
Radioman spoke of DeKalb, Illinois in the 1960s and the problematic nature of (then-) WCFL nighttime reception there. DeKalb is 60 miles west of downtown Chicago, and probably about 35 miles west of the WMVP(WCFL) transmitter site. I spent a week in the summer of 1968 living out of a DeKalb motel for my summer job. I can vouch for the lousy nighttime recption of WCFL. Meanwhile, when I was back at college in southeastern Iowa during those days, WCFL was audible at night, even usually on top of the channel, but not really listenable. CBW and, to a lesser extent, XEOY, were constant pests. I don't recall ever having heard KOMO in Iowa, although I'm sure others have done it.
BTW, WMVP is not non-directional during the daytime. The pattern slightly favors the east.
KOMO is a different story. In the So-Cal part of my trip last week, KOMO was a nighttime regular with a good signal, as usual. It also had a listenable signal in New Mexico where I spent one night westbound, and then another eastbound. KOMO's night signal in Gallup (eastbound) was still overall fairly good, but not as strong as in Los Angeles. In Las Cruces (westbound). I did hear KOMO, but XEOY owned the channel. At another westbound stop, College Station, TX, about 100 or so miles north-northwest of where Bruce is, the channel was mostly KTOK with XEOY clearly audible in the background. I also spent a night this past week in Oklahoma City, northwest of town, where KTOK had a good local signal, but I could null it and hear XEOY rather easily. No KOMO or WMVP.
Radioman spoke of DeKalb, Illinois in the 1960s and the problematic nature of (then-) WCFL nighttime reception there. DeKalb is 60 miles west of downtown Chicago, and probably about 35 miles west of the WMVP(WCFL) transmitter site. I spent a week in the summer of 1968 living out of a DeKalb motel for my summer job. I can vouch for the lousy nighttime recption of WCFL. Meanwhile, when I was back at college in southeastern Iowa during those days, WCFL was audible at night, even usually on top of the channel, but not really listenable. CBW and, to a lesser extent, XEOY, were constant pests. I don't recall ever having heard KOMO in Iowa, although I'm sure others have done it.
BTW, WMVP is not non-directional during the daytime. The pattern slightly favors the east.
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