Ever liked a station you DXed?

[davideduardo]

Wow! I actually don't remember this one specifically, but it definitely sounds like the sort of stuff you'd hear before program beginnings on international shortwave services.

Ah, the memory of Interval Signals, a series of repetitive notes or a short composition repeated, often many times, prior to the beginning of a broadcast on a particular wavelength to allow listeners to find the station in the analog dial days. Sometimes called "tune-in" or "tuning" signals, they were distinctive to each service.

http://radiosoundsfamiliar.com/interval-signals.php has a bunch of the more famous ones, and that site has a link to even more.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

E F# A E A F# E D# E F# F# A D# E E D# E F# E D# E A

That's the tone sequence as I recall it with the audio oscillator sound.

 

[cyberdad]

Lots of memories packed into those little clips!

 

[Ai4i]

The cutest interval tuning signal had to have been from Radio RSA,
with those adorable South African birds chirping in the background.

The one I enjoyed listening to most was from Radio Netherlands,
partly because they were my favorite station with a very "NPResque" sound.

 

[AKDXer]

Interesting thread here! For me it's worked both ways: DXing causing me to "discover" stations I would have otherwise never known about, and trying to see how far away I could hear favorite stations.

Let's see...what ones have I "discovered" through DXing? (From Port Alexander, AK)
-570 KVI Seattle, WA
-now-defunct KSRA 580 Petersburg
-620 KPOJ Portland
-something in Seattle on 650
-KNBR 680 Sacramento...although I'd heard of it before I heard it on the radio.
-KIRO 710...same thing...actually my dad remembers DXing them up here in the '80s. (a station he DXed that he liked)
-790 CFCW
-whatever the huge country signal from Canada on 910 is...(liked that one a bit)
-1190 KEX...liked that one...Coast to Coast, I listen to them semi-regularly.
-1300 KKOL
-1600 KVRI Blaine (IMHO, the strangest thing I've ever heard on terrestrial radio, though whoever mentioned the "bagpipe sounds" above would take the cake...

Stations I heard locally and THEN Dx'ed:
-800 KINY Juneau (but discovered CKOR Penditcton while DXing KINY)
-930 KTKN Ketchikan
-1230 KIFW Sitka
-1330 KXXJ Juneau


FM...
Through DX, my I remember my dad discovered KBOX 104.1 Lompoc, CA, all the way up in Atascadero!
-KRKC 102.1 King City, also heard in Atascadero...right on the fringe of their coverage, acceptable signal and I'd listen semi regularly...but it was definitely not a local by any means.
-there was something on 93.7 in Atascadero that wasn't local...might have been the KYNS translator but I don't think so...it was country, IDing itself as "Kiss Country". Anyone remember that? I'd love to know what it was.
-Not sure if he discovered it locally in the Morro Bay/Cambria area locally or in Atascadero first, (I can ask if he remembers) but 94.9 was KOTR in the late '90s and had from what I'm told a very unique rock/AOR/AAA format...my dad bought a yagi specifically to try to get them. I wish I still had that antenna. It's now KPYG AFAIK and is also a weird AAA/country-ish format. I don't particularly care for it, though.
-there was a 95.7 "The Fox" (might have been KPAT Lompoc, now a hip hop station), also audible in Atascadero.
-95.3 KXTZ...this is an interesting one...in '01 they put up a huge signal on 100.5 in Templeton, and I remember thinking it was weird you could, from Atascadero, hear them in 2 different places on the dial!
-96.9 KWAV Monterrey...this was something I DX'ed and liked, it was BARELY audible though!
-99.7 KESC Morro Bay...my mom found this one, it was classical. Definitely on the fringe in Atascadero, though.


I should mention it's been a few years since I left Atascadero so things may have changed. Every time I look at Atascadero in Radio-Locator I see "new" signals...it's quickly getting to the point of "if it didn't have a signal on it a few years ago, it does now"...in other words almost every channel has a station or translator or SOMETHING on it, thankfully many of them less than local, so DXing is still fun there.

Also, the house we were living in was at rather high elevation, meaning reception was especially good for less-than-local FMs. Many that you would never hear at lower elevations came in clearly there, or clearly enough to be listenable.

 

[mimo]

2 corrections. There's nothing in Seattle on 650, there is CISL 650 from Richmond, B.C. KNBR is from Oakland

 

[CTListener]

The cutest interval tuning signal had to have been from Radio RSA,
with those adorable South African birds chirping in the background.

The one I enjoyed listening to most was from Radio Netherlands,
partly because they were my favorite station with a very "NPResque" sound.

And how about this haunting folk tune from Radio Norway. Unfortunately, their English programming was minimal -- a 5-minute newscast, then into Norwegian for the rest of the hour; later, all programming was in Norwegian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-OtkipMpN4

 

[crainbebo]

AKDXer - the 910 in Canada is CKDQ Drumheller, "Q91" with country music. They are usually fair to good here, but some nights all I get is Portland (KMTT).
Kiss Country 93.7 would be KSKS Fresno, right at about 100 miles from Atascadero, over hills. 95.7 the Fox is KJFX also from Fresno. Try for the 103.7 next time you end up in Atascadero (if there is not a local), KFBT 103.7 gets out very well.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The "war" to which you refer was not between the USA and Mexico but rather between Mexico and the breakaway Mexican state of Texas. People living in Texas (including a substantial number of Mexican ex-pats) wanted their independence and Mexico objected. Eventually the Texans won and voluntarily joined the USA later. There are other former Mexican territories who accomplished similar things without a war including my old home town of Tucson (and the southern half of Arizona) and almost the entire state of California (the Russians had settled most of coastal Northern CA at that time). The Mexicans of yesteryear came here for much the same reasons they still do today - to find work and raise their families. Central Arizona and much of SoCal can be directly attributed to these pioneers who through hard work and perseverance created cities out of a rather harsh environment. The culture of the modern American southwest is largely defined by their ancestry.

Because we are a nation made up largely of immigrants there are many languages spoken here. Spanish has always been popular but should you visit San Francisco you would find large populations speaking various Chinese dialects and slightly smaller numbers of people who have Italian as their native tongue. In the upper Midwest it is German and Scandinavian tongues and in upper New England French. Coastal Texas/Louisiana and "south of L.A." finds Vietnamese without much trouble. If you are bigoted towards "foreign" languages you are obviously living in the wrong country. Perhaps somewhere like North Korea would be more to your liking. I am pretty sure you fit their tolerance laws just fine.

I've been called ISIS - now North Korean. All I have said is that I don't listen to foreign language stations. Tolerance doesn't mean you immerse yourself in a culture you aren't part of. I've been called intolerant for pointing out that Texas defeated Mexico 180 years ago at the battle of San Jacinto. That is historical fact - not intolerance. No doubt if I were living in San Francisco, I would not listen to Chinese stations. But after my 14 year old daughter, and her 14 year old friend were subjected to seeing a naked bicycle ride the last time I visited that city, it is unlikely that Chinese radio would be the worst thing I would be subjected to out there. The intolerance for conservatives, for Christian moral values, and traditional family structure would make me a complete, total outsider. So be it - I am long past caring what anybody thinks of me.

 

[Icangelp]

The "war" to which you refer was not between the USA and Mexico but rather between Mexico and the breakaway Mexican state of Texas. People living in Texas (including a substantial number of Mexican ex-pats) wanted their independence and Mexico objected. Eventually the Texans won and voluntarily joined the USA later. There are other former Mexican territories who accomplished similar things without a war including my old home town of Tucson (and the southern half of Arizona) and almost the entire state of California (the Russians had settled most of coastal Northern CA at that time). The Mexicans of yesteryear came here for much the same reasons they still do today - to find work and raise their families. Central Arizona and much of SoCal can be directly attributed to these pioneers who through hard work and perseverance created cities out of a rather harsh environment. The culture of the modern American southwest is largely defined by their ancestry.

Because we are a nation made up largely of immigrants there are many languages spoken here. Spanish has always been popular but should you visit San Francisco you would find large populations speaking various Chinese dialects and slightly smaller numbers of people who have Italian as their native tongue. In the upper Midwest it is German and Scandinavian tongues and in upper New England French. Coastal Texas/Louisiana and "south of L.A." finds Vietnamese without much trouble. If you are bigoted towards "foreign" languages you are obviously living in the wrong country. Perhaps somewhere like North Korea would be more to your liking. I am pretty sure you fit their tolerance laws just fine.

I challenge you to find anywhere in the upper Midwest where other than micro-pockets, German or Scandinavian is the primary language, or upper New England where French is primary. Yes, in America there are those of us who understand and can speak our heritage language, but we do not routinely use that language to communicate with others.

Speaking a common language is one of the pillars that has helped meld a nation of differences into a nation of one. We should be proud of that.

Anecdotal it is, however my wife and I were walking to lunch in a local area with a large number of Spanish speaking immigrants, and passed a grade school at recess. Many of the kids appeared to be of Hispanic heritage, and all were speaking English with a a Midwest accent. What a great country we live in.

 

[davideduardo]

Anecdotal it is, however my wife and I were walking to lunch in a local area with a large number of Spanish speaking immigrants, and passed a grade school at recess. Many of the kids appeared to be of Hispanic heritage, and all were speaking English with a a Midwest accent. What a great country we live in.

Funny. Some years back, my youngest daughter was punished for speaking Spanish at recess with a friend outside the classrooms. By the next week, we had found her a place in a school that was proudly bilingual.

 

[gr8oldies]

Those interval signals bring back memories, especially Radio Nederland, Radio RSA (one of the more dominant stations on the dials, amazingly enough) and Radio Moscow.

Bruce, I hope you're retired, because if you're in the business or work world, you either toe that liberal line on subjects like same-sex marriage or transgender bathrooms, or you'll find yourself unemployed/driven out of business. See Brendan Eich and a pizza place in Indiana.

Where I grew up it was a very German Catholic area. When I was growing up, some of my classmates had grandparents who still spoke German at home, but none of my classmates' parents did.

 

[CTListener]

Those interval signals bring back memories, especially Radio Nederland, Radio RSA (one of the more dominant stations on the dials, amazingly enough) and Radio Moscow. .

Radio Australia was another powerhouse, in the morning on 9580. I was always amazed by such strong signals from the other side of the world, even from stations running 100 kilowatts-plus. Of course, when I started to listen to the ham bands, I found myself hearing Aussies with transmitters running 100 WATTS or less!

 

[CTListener]

Bruce, I hope you're retired, because if you're in the business or work world, you either toe that liberal line on subjects like same-sex marriage or transgender bathrooms, or you'll find yourself unemployed/driven out of business. See Brendan Eich and a pizza place in Indiana.

Isn't Bruce still active in Christian broadcasting? I would think that would be one field in which "toeing that liberal line" would lead to unemployment!

 

[Emartz91]

My favorite station I now listen to online actually showed up during a tropo event. It was 93.5 WZBH Ocean City MD. This rock station sounded better than the locals IMO.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Isn't Bruce still active in Christian broadcasting? I would think that would be one field in which "toeing that liberal line" would lead to unemployment!

I will not be drawn into a political discussion. I really will not. Suffice it to say, I am in Texas, and anybody towing the liberal line around here would find themselves unemployed for sure.

Punishing a kid for speaking Spanish is grotesquely inappropriate. That said - English is the international language of science, engineering, commerce, and banking. Anybody in those professions who doesn't have a good command of the English language is severely hampered in their profession. That will not change - political correctness, the UN French mandate, and wishful thinking not withstanding.

One of my favorite DX stations is Spanish language 780, the only possibility is XESFT, but that is 380 miles away. Really good reach for a 5 kW daytimer! Maybe something interesting is going on with ground conductivity in that region, because it is also the general area of XEFD, which is the notorious interferer of KLBJ 590.

 

[landtuna]

That said - English is the international language of science, engineering, commerce, and banking.

You forgot aviation - mandated by international treaties.

 

[Icangelp]

Funny. Some years back, my youngest daughter was punished for speaking Spanish at recess with a friend outside the classrooms. By the next week, we had found her a place in a school that was proudly bilingual.

I trust the kids I heard were also gifted in Spanish. My wife's parents were both born in Italy, but they saw no reason to teach Italian to their children even though they spoke it themselves. They wanted their children to be "Americans". So she took Italian in college, and speaks it well, although not in her parents dialect.

 

[davideduardo]

English is the international language of science, engineering, commerce, and banking. Anybody in those professions who doesn't have a good command of the English language is severely hampered in their profession.

I remember in decades past when NEC and other Asian manufacturers took over close to the entirety of the sale of TV equipment in Latin America.

RCA, with its very polished international sales team, had withdrawn from TV gear sales. And the newer American players did not have an extensive Spanish and Portuguese speaking sales and support staff, often dealing through sales agents.

NEC had manuals in Spanish and Portuguese, and a full support structure.

The American manufacturers thought that if the owners and managers of Latin American TV stations who visited NAB all spoke fairly good English, the rest of the staff would be similarly multilingual. Wrong.

While business at the highest levels will be often conducted in English, and in some professions English will be necessary, local business and commerce will be conducted in the local tongue.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

While business at the highest levels will be often conducted in English, and in some professions English will be necessary, local business and commerce will be conducted in the local tongue.

Of course I don't doubt that. My customers are Chinese, and they can go an entire career without speaking English. But they can't talk directly with American engineering firms without an interpreter. It causes problems from time to time. Chinese appears to be a very efficient, highly compressed language because the Chinese version of my book is much smaller. On the down side - a Chinese man I know tells me it takes years and years to learn the written language. Not surprised considering the levels of alphabet they have - about 3 dozen basic, several hundred regional, and thousands of pictograms from what he said.