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London, Ontario AM Bandscan Highlights

cyberdad

cyberdad

A couple of nights in London Ontario this week, and the good fortune of being in a relatively noise-free hotel. Not to be confused with the good fortune of being here for a tour of Western Ontario craft breweries (fun and informative). London is about midway between Detroit and Toronto....about 115 miles from each. Here are a few nighttime highlights...

580: CKWW 500 watts via groundwave. Signal is fair (at best), but comfortably on top
610: WTVN-good
630: CFCO-good, I would have thought they'd have a little more protection for CFMJ (640), Toronto and/or the now-defunct CJET (630), Smith Falls
650: WSM-good
660: WFAN- fair
670: WSCR- good. No trace of Cuba. The other Chicago blowtorches were also good....WGN, WBBM, WLS, and WMVP
680: CFTR getting trashed by sports talk
710: WOR- weak, with what sounded like the Cuban Chorus underneath
730: CKAC- weak
740: CFZM fair to good...convergence.
760: WJR-same as CFZM
770: WABC-fair
820: CHAM-good
830: WCCO-good
840: WHAS-monster!
850: WKNR- good
860: CJBC-fair. A little surprising
880: WCBS-good. Strongest New Yorker
950: WWJ-barely on top
1010: CFRB fair with WINS underneath
1020-1040: KDKA, WBZ, WHO all good
1060: KYW Good
1100: WTAM - mostly good, but some convergence
1130: WDFN and WBBR mixing
1180: WHAM good, but Cuba audible underneath
1210: WPHT - monster
1540: KXEL - monster. CHIN barely audible underneath.

Those are some of the highlights. Let me know if you have specific questions.
 
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Nice report ... have always wanted to visit that area and now a tour of craft breweries sounds like a good reason to get up there.
Glad to see my hometown blaster WTVN included. Not surprised at all considering how much power they send north at night, although the heart of their lobe is pointed more toward Toledo and Detroit, but still nice to see.
Going to guess you were in the null that CKLW sends toward Montreal?
Not surprised to see convergence with WJR and WTAM either. With the latter, 1100 fades in and out quite a bit at night (more so in the summer than in the winter) in Conneaut where my future in-laws live.
Speaking of Conneaut, did you happen to hear WWOW? I remember you saying you've caught that before in that part of Ontario.
 
Schlep82 said:
Pretty good report from big, and small stations. What is happening with WLW and WCKY in that location?
Click to expand...

Both were good. But not as strong as WHAS. My time was limited this morning, so I couldn't report everything. As for WTVN it wasn't an "overpowering" signal, but it was a little stronger than I expected, knowing that I wasn't in the center of their lobe to the north.

CKLW. Was there, but weak at best. I also presumed it was the null.

And finally, OT. I'm back home now. And yes, I highly recommend taking a day or two to visit the craft breweries in that area of western Ontario. Fun and informative tat the same time. The hosts couldn't be nicer, or more knowledgeable, and they treat you like they're really glad you stopped in to visit. I have some favorites up there, so I set up an itinary for the two of us, and it worked out great.
 
Since I was up against the clock when I originally posted, I'll try to fill in a few blanks....

590: CJCL-very weak and mixing with a couple of other signals. I'm guessing WVLK was one of them,
690: Montreal. The sports station. I forget the new call letters
750: WSB-Surprisingly weak
810: WGY-Fair
870: WWL-Very weak, but I didn't hear R. Reloj underneath, either
900: CHML-Fair
1080: WTIC-very weak, but on top
1220: Cleveland-Fair
1250: Oldies with a steady signal. Never caught and ID
1270: WXYT-good, as well as on top
1410: Used to be a local here-apparently. 10kw, iirc. Apparently not any more. The two remaining locals are on 980 and 1290.
1500: WFED-fair
1510: WLAC-fair (stronger than WFED)
1520: Sports talk on a fair signal. Did KOKC flip to sports?
1580: CKDO-good
1630: KCJJ-fair to good.

As stated previously. Questions and comment always welcome!
 
fybush said:
Pretty sure you're looking at Buffalo's WKBW (er, WWKB) as your sports station on 1520, cyberdad.

And yes, 1410 was CKSL in London for many years before it went dark in the summer of 2016:

https://www.fybush.com/site-20170217/
Click to expand...

Thanks, Scott. WKBW (er...WWKB) had crossed my mind, but I was thinking they were news-talk. On the drive from Toronto to Detroit, I used to lose WWKB's day signal around Kitchener-Waterloo. But I guess there's enough nighttime skywave for a weak WWKB to make the hop to London.

I also had thought that CKSL going dark was a fairly recent development. I was in London during spring 2016, and remember hearing them.
 
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I think they went dark on August 14th of 2016.
I was surprised that WSB would be weak down there. The signal in Ottawa is always pretty good. It's stronger than it should be.
KCJJ is barely here at all, so it's nice to hear it reaches London so well.
WWL is usually missing in Ottawa, and only is here once in a while under Utica. I'm not surprised it's weak down there. It was never good in Pennsylvania either. I'd expect more bleedover from CJBC on WWL.
And Montreal's 690 is CKGM. A local signal for all intents and purposes in Ottawa. Some here don't even realise it's not an Ottawa station, the signal is that good.
I always figured London would be that spot where the dial looks more like the midwest than the northeast like it does here and in Toronto.
Considering how close I am to Montreal, CKLW is the most dominant of the 3 800s we hear at night. Considering they have to fight through CJAD and Belleville, I'm surprised it's that dominant.
 
@mimo: Thanks for the info. KCJJ seems to get out better than the other x-banders for whatever reason. As for WSB, I was a little surprised myself that the signal in London wasn't any better. It used to be one of the stronger out of town signals around here at my location.

As for CKGM, I remember those call letters on 990, with oldies. The signal wasn't quite local-quality, but still very listenable in Ottawa.
 
I had heard that station in Fort Wayne when they were top 40.


cyberdad said:
@mimo: Thanks for the info. KCJJ seems to get out better than the other x-banders for whatever reason. As for WSB, I was a little surprised myself that the signal in London wasn't any better. It used to be one of the stronger out of town signals around here at my location.

As for CKGM, I remember those call letters on 990, with oldies. The signal wasn't quite local-quality, but still very listenable in Ottawa.
Click to expand...
 
cyberdad said:
@mimo: Thanks for the info. KCJJ seems to get out better than the other x-banders for whatever reason. As for WSB, I was a little surprised myself that the signal in London wasn't any better. It used to be one of the stronger out of town signals around here at my location.

As for CKGM, I remember those call letters on 990, with oldies. The signal wasn't quite local-quality, but still very listenable in Ottawa.
Click to expand...

It's the same station that was at 990, they applied to move to 690 for a better night signal, as 990 wasn't supposed to adequately cover the English speaking sections of Montreal in the western part of the metro. Truth be told, they weren't going to night pattern in their final years on 990 and were just as loud at night as they were in the day here in Ottawa. 690 is better both day and night. 990 was a bit in and out at times at night but very listenable in the day.
 
How was the interference on WSB (750)? Could you hear any Cubans in there? I can hear Cuba on that frequency when WSB is down for maintenance.
 
mimo said:
It's the same station that was at 990, they applied to move to 690 for a better night signal, as 990 wasn't supposed to adequately cover the English speaking sections of Montreal in the western part of the metro. Truth be told, they weren't going to night pattern in their final years on 990 and were just as loud at night as they were in the day here in Ottawa. 690 is better both day and night. 990 was a bit in and out at times at night but very listenable in the day.
Click to expand...

I used to almost always stay on the West Island when I was in Montreal regularly. (Pointe Claire at the Boul St. Jean exit of Autoroute 40). CIGM on 990 was plenty strong out there, so maybe they were cheating even then...10-20 years ago. I don't remember if the night signal on 990 made it to Ottawa, but the day signal certainly did. (I routinely parked my rental car presets on 990, 1310....and 620/WVMT).

@kf4rca. Nothing on 750 that night last week but WSB. Weak, but no sign of Cuba. I've heard unidentifiable Spanish under Atlanta here at my home location, but only rarely.
 
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Here in Ohio it has to be an aurora to hear anything other than WSB on 750. I remember hearing Venezuela on that channel many years ago (2004?) during an aurora, and hearing that same signal so powerful that it was blocking WSB earlier that year during a vacation to Panama City Beach. But going back as far as the early 90s, when they had the Braves, WSB has always been one of the dependable nighttime signals around here, belying the fact that their local groundwave signal is possibly the worst for any 50K in the country.
 
I caught the Venezuelan once here in Ottawa. I was in a subway in an office tower in downtown eating and listening to a walkman radio. Reception inside the restaurant was very bad, on AM you could hear the locals and only the strongest of out of town signals. It came booming in here for about 2 hours before WSB came in.
 
mimo said:
I caught the Venezuelan once here in Ottawa. I was in a subway in an office tower in downtown eating and listening to a walkman radio. Reception inside the restaurant was very bad, on AM you could hear the locals and only the strongest of out of town signals. It came booming in here for about 2 hours before WSB came in.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the Bolivarian Revolution has intervened in the operation Radio Caracas Radio and it may not be operating. They were accused of demanding explanations for the food shortages and lack of electricity and hospital services. That is anti-Bolivarian thinking, so the station has been intervened.
 
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