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MASSIVE SKYWAVE Haul 6/23/17

N

Nanis

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You're confusing your bands and propagation modes. Tropo doesn't apply to medium wave frequencies either. On AM you have groundwave or skywave.
 
WZZQ/1500 is a good catch at 600+ miles. They are 500 watts at sunrise/sunset.
 
As you've discovered, Nanis, AM band DXing is fun. It's a little more dependable than FM DXing in some parts of the country (like where I am), and usually there is at least something from over the state line to listen to each night. Winters are usually better than summers for AM band DXing, but sometimes you can hear stuff in the summer that may surprise you.

Welcome to the AM band at night time -- enjoy. :)

PS what kind of radio are you using?
 
boombox4 said:
As you've discovered, Nanis, AM band DXing is fun. It's a little more dependable than FM DXing in some parts of the country (like where I am), and usually there is at least something from over the state line to listen to each night. Winters are usually better than summers for AM band DXing, but sometimes you can hear stuff in the summer that may surprise you.

Welcome to the AM band at night time -- enjoy. :)

PS what kind of radio are you using?
Click to expand...

Some random Sony one. All I know is that it is at the underside of a countertop





EDIT: Wow, that didin't take long. its a Sony ICF-CD513 radio. According to the reviews, the wire doubles as the antenna.
 
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Some Sony clock radios and similar models are fairly good on the AM band. Sony put a hot chip in many of those models: the only weakness is the small AM bar antenna inside some of those radios -- others work OK with such an antenna. Using an external tunable loop, which you can set near the radio (or over it) would boost signals considerably.

I have a couple Sony 'Dream Machine' clock radios, and one of them (a stereo one) is pretty good for DXing, the other one has a smaller bar antenna inside it and needs a loop.

The AM antenna in your Sony is probably a 60-90 mm ferrite bar antenna inside the radio, probably mounted directly over the radio circuit board. Depending on how 'hot' the AM circuit is wired, even an antenna like that can pull in a lot of stations.

The 'wire as antenna' is for FM only. It is a common wiring feature in Sony and Panasonic clock radios -- at least the ones I have.

Good DX and have fun.
 
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boombox4 said:
Some Sony clock radios and similar models are fairly good on the AM band. Sony put a hot chip in many of those models: the only weakness is the small AM bar antenna inside some of those radios -- others work OK with such an antenna. Using an external tunable loop, which you can set near the radio (or over it) would boost signals considerably.

I have a couple Sony 'Dream Machine' clock radios, and one of them (a stereo one) is pretty good for DXing, the other one has a smaller bar antenna inside it and needs a loop.

The AM antenna in your Sony is probably a 60-90 mm ferrite bar antenna inside the radio, probably mounted directly over the radio circuit board. Depending on how 'hot' the AM circuit is wired, even an antenna like that can pull in a lot of stations.

The 'wire as antenna' is for FM only. It is a common wiring feature in Sony and Panasonic clock radios -- at least the ones I have.

Good DX and have fun.
Click to expand...

I woulden't be able to put in a loop no matter how much I would want to. There is no space to go and put one. It was preinstalled when my family moved in.
 
Nanis said:
I woulden't be able to put in a loop no matter how much I would want to. There is no space to go and put one. It was preinstalled when my family moved in.
Click to expand...

You might be able to set it atop the counter, above the radio (moving it around a little to find the spot where the internal antenna is) and tune and turn the external loop that way.

External loops can affect a radio up to half a foot away -- depending on the radio and the type of internal antenna. I've had external loops at least 5-6 inches away from Sony Walkmen and the external loop still boosted the signals. An external loop could possibly work with the Sony counter radio, depending on how thick the counter is, and what sort of antenna the radio has inside.

I just mentioned the external loop as an option. It could always be used with another radio, should you get one.
 
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