AM Frequency of the Week: 800

[Ai4i]

I remember...the decades I lived in Puerto Rico...the big Caracas and coastal Venezuelan stations like 710, 750, 910, etc.

710?
I would have expected that the Puerto Rican nights back then would have been kept warm by the flamethrower, WGBS.

 

[gr8oldies]

SOmeone posted a copy of TWR's "proposed" map for the new signal. If this is now reality, they are shooting to take in the entire Island of Cuba, with the excess landing in Central Mexico

 

[davideduardo]

710?
I would have expected that the Puerto Rican nights back then would have been kept warm by the flamethrower, WGBS.

No. Western PR was WKJB-710 Mayagüez, and the rest of the island was Radio Capital, 100 kw from Caracas, just about 600 miles away.

WGBS did not even have a good DXable signal... too far off the major lobe. On the other hand, I can recall listening to 'GBS in my car in the late 60's many evenings when driving around Quito, Ecuador.

 

[radioman148]

WGBS could be heard at night on the northern shore of Puerto Rico in the early & mid 60s. Not by me, but I know someone else who was there and able to receive it.

 

[davideduardo]

WGBS could be heard at night on the northern shore of Puerto Rico in the early & mid 60s. Not by me, but I know someone else who was there and able to receive it.

But it was not listening-quality signal. I'd call it an "easy DX" kind of reception, one you could hear by nulling the YV on the channel. I lived for several decades on the north coast of PR, and was a rather active DXer. The prevalent station on 710 was 100 kw Radio Capital from Caracas, not Miami.

And, of course, on the western part of the north coast, local WKJB on 710 blocked WGBS at least until midnight each day.

 

[RyanHoward]

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WTMR Camden NJ(religious station).
Night: also WTMR, with CKLW often overpowering it(used to hear CKLW all the time when WTMR was a daytimer).

And don't forget, Trans World Radio(PJB from Bonaire)was also there at night in Warminster.

 

[davideduardo]

And don't forget, Trans World Radio(PJB from Bonaire)was also there at night in Warminster.

Interestingly, in one of the inauguration videos for the new Nautel 450 kw transmitter, the screen on the transmitter control monitor shows "PJB3" as the calls.

Not that call letters are of any importance in Latin America and the Caribbean, but I thought that had a certain curiosity value.

 

[cyberdad]

Update from my previous post.... Tonight I was able to positively ID "Trans Mundo" Radio on 800. And, unlike yesterday, the content I was hearing was clearly religious in nature. The signal was a little better than last night. Enough to be comfortably on top of the channel, but far from a "monster". Looking at the coverage map on their website, it appears that they are now beaming most of the secondary lobe of their signal west-northwest. Which gives them improved coverage in Cuba, but bypasses Florida and the Central U.S. Gulf coast.

Meanwhile, the main lobe is aimed directly south towards the South American continent.

 

[MarioMania]

I think I heard spanish really faint...

I will DX 800 when I'm in Burbank..But I prob going to get KBFP in Bakersfield

At night they go to 440 watts

 

[davideduardo]

Update from my previous post.... Tonight I was able to positively ID "Trans Mundo" Radio on 800. And, unlike yesterday, the content I was hearing was clearly religious in nature. The signal was a little better than last night. Enough to be comfortably on top of the channel, but far from a "monster". Looking at the coverage map on their website, it appears that they are now beaming most of the secondary lobe of their signal west-northwest. Which gives them improved coverage in Cuba, but bypasses Florida and the Central U.S. Gulf coast.

Meanwhile, the main lobe is aimed directly south towards the South American continent.

The two patterns are not lobes, they are separate "settings" on the directional antenna system of TWR. At certain hours, they run Portuguese for the Brazilian Amazonia region, and at others they send all the power towards Cuba and broadcast in Spanish.

They claim to have three different patterns, and I suspect that the third is non-directional for the Caribbean English service. But that is just a guess. The station has a new name, "Shine 800", which means some programming must be in English.

From what you say, they are using the Transmundial name in the Spanish service.

It's sort of like a US AM station with very separate patters day and night.

 

[davideduardo]

I think I heard spanish really faint...

I will DX 800 when I'm in Burbank..But I prob going to get KBFP in Bakersfield

At night they go to 440 watts

The Spanish you hear in SoCal is most likely (if daytime) XESPN from Tijuana, Cadena 800. At night, it is most likely that you are hearing XEROK from Cd. Juárez, Chih., México.

 

[MarioMania]

Got it

I don't know the time were going on I5

But I'm going to pass Bakersfield, So I'll hear Comedy 800

 

[dlf1]

From Austin, no trace of Bonaire on 800. A weak Spanish language signal (most likely XEROK) popped up out of the static, but nothing else.

Is XEROK running 50 KW these days or much less? At full peak, the 150KW was a regular here.

I have not viewed the Bonaire patterns, but it doesn’t sound like any of the patterns are favorable to this part of the United States.

 

[radiocph]

Here's a clip of PJB, heard in Northern Mississippi in 1982. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FU4GKMKb54

I remember one time back in the 70s, we were in Julian (rural part of San Diego County). XEROK boomed in at night with disco music...

 

[schmave]

From checking the sdr.hu receivers, PJB is getting out pretty well into the States tonight.
I could hear it from the Miami receiver under the slop from their local 790, and it's audible on the Indiana receiver behind a decently (and, to me, surprisingly) strong CKLW. CKLW is comfortably on top, but Bonaire is audible underneath. Darn good reach.
I have yet to see the patterns referenced myself. Where are they available?

 

[radioman148]

>>I remember one time back in the 70s, we were in Julian (rural part of San Diego County). XEROK boomed in at night with disco music...>>

XEROK came in very well into Southern California in the late 70s & early 80s.

 

[davideduardo]

>>I remember one time back in the 70s, we were in Julian (rural part of San Diego County). XEROK boomed in at night with disco music...>>

XEROK came in very well into Southern California in the late 70s & early 80s.

They were running 150,000 watts then. They are now licensed for just 50,000... and reported to be using about half power right now.

 

[Ai4i]

The difference between 50 and 150 is less than 5 dB.
With fading and uncalibrated equipment,
very difficult to notice any difference.

 

[cyberdad]

The two patterns are not lobes, they are separate "settings" on the directional antenna system of TWR. At certain hours, they run Portuguese for the Brazilian Amazonia region, and at others they send all the power towards Cuba and broadcast in Spanish.
.

Thanks for that info, David, I noticed that the TWR signal here (Pensacola area) was somewhat better after 7pm CST. My first thought was that perhaps they had been running at something less than full power earlier in the evening. I almost included that in my previous post, but my next thought was that it was just changing conditions. Indeed the difference was noticeable but not all that dramatic. A mix of other stations was still audible underneath TWR

BTW, no trace of TWR here daytime. 800 is all WSHO, New Orleans, with nothing underneath. WSHO runs 1kw non-directional during the day and puts in a fair-weak signal here 160 miles east via saltwater path. (As posted recently in another thread, all New Orleans AM signals are audible here daytime to one extent or another).

 

[gr8oldies]

TWR only operates something like 5:30pm-8:30am. Not much to cover but fish in the daytime. They have an FM to cover Bonaire and possiblly Aruba and Curacao. From the Indiana and Cincinnati SDR, seems like CKLW is on day pattern the last few nights.

I'm not quite sure about the "Shine 800". They do very little English and wouldn't translate into Spanish or Portuguese. Might be just for U.S. fundraising and PR