If this was already a thread, sorry. Is there any AM or FM signals that are semi local or locals that should be coming in perfect that don't. For me it's 1310 WICH and 980 WXLM that are 5-10 miles away and are super directional.
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Local Signals that struggle in your area
- Thread starter Carltheradioguy
- Start date
Every Ancient Modulation station in the Phoenix area has trouble covering the metro as it is today (50 mile radius from downtown Phoenix). The ones that come the closest are KFYI/550 and KTAR/620, and even they have trouble in the far East Valley at night, roughly 30 miles away. No other AM station covers even half the metro at night.
88.5 KYVT (135 watts off Ahtanum) doesn't even cover the eastern half of the Yakima Valley. By the time you get to Zillah, KLRF in Milton-Freewater mixes. And by Sunnyside, KLRF is stomping over them. They run the Northwest Public Broadcasting's News/Info service, which runs several NPR programs on weekends and weekdays that the main KNWY 90.3 doesn't run. Stuff like Here & Now and Fresh Air on weekdays, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Ask Me Another and This American Life on weekends. I'd love for them to boost their power up to 500w or so, but KLRF would probably complain...
The low power was fine when they were a YVTech high school station years ago, but as an NPR station it's unacceptable. And BTW, KWWS 89.7 in Walla Walla which airs the same stuff as 88.5, is still weak in the lower Valley, with interference from 89.5 KSOH.
The low power was fine when they were a YVTech high school station years ago, but as an NPR station it's unacceptable. And BTW, KWWS 89.7 in Walla Walla which airs the same stuff as 88.5, is still weak in the lower Valley, with interference from 89.5 KSOH.
Good thread. We have a few of those that struggle in the market (Charleston, SC). Our translators (250 watts) can usually only be heard within 15-20 miles, meaning once you go north of Summerville or northeast past Awendaw, you lose the signals.
DX during the spring and summer makes those frequencies unusable in a lot of the area, with stations from Savannah, Columbia, and Florida blasting in over them.
One full-power station that struggles here is WWIK 98.9. They are the ESPN station in the market, and have their transmitter about 25-30 miles northeast of Charleston, in order to fit with the station from Beaufort/Savannah on 98.7 and 98.9 from Spartanburg.
I can’t get them on any of my average radios. You have to have a good portable or a car radio to get them here. Even in the car, when there is any tropo, WSPA (over 200 miles away) can overpower them in certain parts of the metro Charleston area. It does do well in Georgetown and almost all the way up to Myrtle Beach, before a translator overpowers them in Myrtle itself.
DX during the spring and summer makes those frequencies unusable in a lot of the area, with stations from Savannah, Columbia, and Florida blasting in over them.
One full-power station that struggles here is WWIK 98.9. They are the ESPN station in the market, and have their transmitter about 25-30 miles northeast of Charleston, in order to fit with the station from Beaufort/Savannah on 98.7 and 98.9 from Spartanburg.
I can’t get them on any of my average radios. You have to have a good portable or a car radio to get them here. Even in the car, when there is any tropo, WSPA (over 200 miles away) can overpower them in certain parts of the metro Charleston area. It does do well in Georgetown and almost all the way up to Myrtle Beach, before a translator overpowers them in Myrtle itself.
Semi-local WKOK 1070 is about 30 air miles WNW of us. They're 10,000 day omni, and drop to 1000 at night, directional SE.
Every map I've seen shows them sending most of those 1000 nighttime watts toward us. But they're never there.
Exhibit A : http://www.nf8m.com/pattern_maps/US-CA_nighttime/N-map_1070KHz.html
I surmise that those patterns are a bit on the generous side, designed to show each station separately, as though no other co-channel existed. WKOK certainly doesn't blanket Philadelphia at night. Not with KYW 1060 next door. Here, we are much closer to WKOK than we are to Philly, and their 1070 signal doesn't exist for all intents and porpoises.
Every map I've seen shows them sending most of those 1000 nighttime watts toward us. But they're never there.
Exhibit A : http://www.nf8m.com/pattern_maps/US-CA_nighttime/N-map_1070KHz.html
I surmise that those patterns are a bit on the generous side, designed to show each station separately, as though no other co-channel existed. WKOK certainly doesn't blanket Philadelphia at night. Not with KYW 1060 next door. Here, we are much closer to WKOK than we are to Philly, and their 1070 signal doesn't exist for all intents and porpoises.
Great comment! I've had similar experiences in my area as well. We have local religious low powered signals that are under 100 watts and oftentimes at night they get blasted over by Boston signals that broadcast at medium power and 80 miles away. The ESPN signals for whatever reason are usually really weak. They never transmit at solid power. I have one 97.9 WUCS from Hartford which is only 35-40 miles away but is in an awful location and it is unlistenable here. The translators are the same way. They get overpowered all the time if there is a signal under it.
Gotta love MW reception maps and direction patterns.
Yeah, we have those too in our area. They are all lower power and they don't transmit for more than 20-25 miles. That is unacceptable but luckily for me, we have about 10 NPR signals and one is literally 2 miles from me and If I walk a couple yards from my house I can see the tower.
Gotta love MW reception and direction patterns
That's pitiful! Sometimes I don't know what is the point of having AM if they are going to be directional and at low power. But we all know the FCC's stances.
When those AM stations first went on the air, mostly between 1945 and 1965, the metro was much, much smaller. Those stations cover the metro as it was when there were only about 500,000 people in the area (Mesa alone is close to that today, and has no AM stations within its city limits anymore).
Off the top of my head, these are them....
95.3 KRTY
95.7 KGMZ
89.3 KOHL ( this one is the most difficult ). Awesome little station that only serves the Fremont / East Bay market. If you are lucky, and in the right spot, the peninsula on the other side of the bay. Here in the southern south Bay region, the signal is impeded by a few little hilltops that are in the perfect spot. The transmitter itself is no bigger than a light pole ( very short ), and sits in a small gully on one of the hills overlooking Fremont. The output isn't the greatest either @ 145 Watts. I can pick it up with my Sangean DT-160, but it struggles dearly. If you are closer to Downtown San Jose ( or vicinity ), the signal is a bit stronger. Occasionally, there is a local High School ( Pioneer ) that transmits on the same frequency. Thank you Pioneer High School radio staff for turning off the station when the day is over.
95.3 KRTY
95.7 KGMZ
89.3 KOHL ( this one is the most difficult ). Awesome little station that only serves the Fremont / East Bay market. If you are lucky, and in the right spot, the peninsula on the other side of the bay. Here in the southern south Bay region, the signal is impeded by a few little hilltops that are in the perfect spot. The transmitter itself is no bigger than a light pole ( very short ), and sits in a small gully on one of the hills overlooking Fremont. The output isn't the greatest either @ 145 Watts. I can pick it up with my Sangean DT-160, but it struggles dearly. If you are closer to Downtown San Jose ( or vicinity ), the signal is a bit stronger. Occasionally, there is a local High School ( Pioneer ) that transmits on the same frequency. Thank you Pioneer High School radio staff for turning off the station when the day is over.
Interesting topic.
A lot of the Knoxville TN area stations with signal problems in the metro were rimshots in the first place.
My nomination will be WOKI, News-Talk 98.7 which got bounced off the big 100kW signal at 100.3 it was LMAing as part of the Citadel bankruptcy and moved to "its own house" at the Oliver Springs-licensed 98.7 at 6kW. Surprisingly, the station still does reasonably well and I can still follow it to Sevierville.
Also-I'm going to go with 850-WKVL, now crippled with 1kW, a far cry from its former 50kW. Even when it was 50kW, its pattern headed straight for the Smoky Mountains and wasn't that great around the city. I'd even heard WKNR-Cleveland underneath it well into the morning (critical hours were even worse).
I can't think of a Knoxville-licensed station that doesn't adequately cover at least the city. Some of the others are a different story. Probably the worst is WFIV 105.3, whose pattern barely hits West Knoxville. It's an alternative/World Music/whatever station that totally misses downtown and the campus area. Get too far east you run into WSEV-FM. At one time this facility was "West 105.3". WJRV "The River" is the same situation...somebody on the west side must listen to it, and they run the occasional TV ad but seem to largely be off the radar.
We don't have a lot of tropo around here but Dayton, OH was a different story. Rimshots like 94.5 and 96.9 can be obliterated by Lexington. 96.9 was a K-Love station (now running Air 1) and I was dating a woman who was a regular listener and donor, bit was getting disgusted with all the interference and was threatening to withold her donation until they got it fixed. I explained what was going on. K-Love has better signals there these days.
A lot of the Knoxville TN area stations with signal problems in the metro were rimshots in the first place.
My nomination will be WOKI, News-Talk 98.7 which got bounced off the big 100kW signal at 100.3 it was LMAing as part of the Citadel bankruptcy and moved to "its own house" at the Oliver Springs-licensed 98.7 at 6kW. Surprisingly, the station still does reasonably well and I can still follow it to Sevierville.
Also-I'm going to go with 850-WKVL, now crippled with 1kW, a far cry from its former 50kW. Even when it was 50kW, its pattern headed straight for the Smoky Mountains and wasn't that great around the city. I'd even heard WKNR-Cleveland underneath it well into the morning (critical hours were even worse).
I can't think of a Knoxville-licensed station that doesn't adequately cover at least the city. Some of the others are a different story. Probably the worst is WFIV 105.3, whose pattern barely hits West Knoxville. It's an alternative/World Music/whatever station that totally misses downtown and the campus area. Get too far east you run into WSEV-FM. At one time this facility was "West 105.3". WJRV "The River" is the same situation...somebody on the west side must listen to it, and they run the occasional TV ad but seem to largely be off the radar.
We don't have a lot of tropo around here but Dayton, OH was a different story. Rimshots like 94.5 and 96.9 can be obliterated by Lexington. 96.9 was a K-Love station (now running Air 1) and I was dating a woman who was a regular listener and donor, bit was getting disgusted with all the interference and was threatening to withold her donation until they got it fixed. I explained what was going on. K-Love has better signals there these days.
Funny about this thread (great topic, BTW). I had just been thinking this morning that the Chicago market was one of the few...if not the only...with seven AM signals available 24/7, 560, 670, 720, 780. 890, 1000, 1160.
Last night i was in Kankakee, IL. That's about 80 miles south southeast of where I live. All seven were there with good signals night and day.
But off the top of my head, a couple of daytime signals that used to be adequate to cover the entire market come to mind that no longer "get the job done". 820 and 1110. 5kw non-directional used to be enough. But not really any more. WMBI on 1110 at least has the excuse of being higher up on the dial, and now running 4.2kw. They still have decent signals, and probably cover 80% of the market without getting swallowed up by the ambient noise and/or getting oherwise obstructed.
FM is sort of a different story. Here where I am, 40 miles from downtown, but still within the metro. the full signal stations can present a few issues. Listening on a most car radios is not a problem. Steady with little "picket fencing". But with a cheap table radio, clock radio, or portable, you can expect a lot of hiss without some sort of external antenna. In my situation, the Sangean ATS-505 can usually be positioned to eliminate the hiss without resorting to flipping to mono. But the SRF-37 has a much tougher time. The GE Supe-II does fine, but it's mono only.
Last night i was in Kankakee, IL. That's about 80 miles south southeast of where I live. All seven were there with good signals night and day.
But off the top of my head, a couple of daytime signals that used to be adequate to cover the entire market come to mind that no longer "get the job done". 820 and 1110. 5kw non-directional used to be enough. But not really any more. WMBI on 1110 at least has the excuse of being higher up on the dial, and now running 4.2kw. They still have decent signals, and probably cover 80% of the market without getting swallowed up by the ambient noise and/or getting oherwise obstructed.
FM is sort of a different story. Here where I am, 40 miles from downtown, but still within the metro. the full signal stations can present a few issues. Listening on a most car radios is not a problem. Steady with little "picket fencing". But with a cheap table radio, clock radio, or portable, you can expect a lot of hiss without some sort of external antenna. In my situation, the Sangean ATS-505 can usually be positioned to eliminate the hiss without resorting to flipping to mono. But the SRF-37 has a much tougher time. The GE Supe-II does fine, but it's mono only.
I had mentioned WPPA 1360 Pottsville in another thread. They're the closest and loudest AM local to here -- in the day.
During those sunshine hours, they're a mildly E-W directional station, 5000 watts, a full-service operation that's heavy on sports at night.
At night. Yes.
They drop to 500 watts at sunset, and pull in the wattage severely for the sake of WDRC to the east along with WSAI to the west. Most of those 500 nighttime watts goes south. In Port Carbon at night they have that swooshy directional effect. 'Port' can't be more that 3 miles east of the 5-stick array.
The west null is even more pronounced in Minersville, not quite 4 miles from WPPA. Maybe I was DXing there in the prefect spot, but I managed to hear -- what else? -- both WDRC and WSAI. Once I even heard WASA from MD there (got 'em taped).
Here is their so-called night pattern:
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WPPA&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
There's no way that nub of a back lobe goes that far north. In that wee square area south of Shenandoah's first 'n' is us. From here I've heard WDRC, along with the ever-forgetful WMOB Mobile.
During those sunshine hours, they're a mildly E-W directional station, 5000 watts, a full-service operation that's heavy on sports at night.
At night. Yes.
They drop to 500 watts at sunset, and pull in the wattage severely for the sake of WDRC to the east along with WSAI to the west. Most of those 500 nighttime watts goes south. In Port Carbon at night they have that swooshy directional effect. 'Port' can't be more that 3 miles east of the 5-stick array.
The west null is even more pronounced in Minersville, not quite 4 miles from WPPA. Maybe I was DXing there in the prefect spot, but I managed to hear -- what else? -- both WDRC and WSAI. Once I even heard WASA from MD there (got 'em taped).
Here is their so-called night pattern:
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WPPA&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
There's no way that nub of a back lobe goes that far north. In that wee square area south of Shenandoah's first 'n' is us. From here I've heard WDRC, along with the ever-forgetful WMOB Mobile.
I was about to say that it sounds like a college station (89.3) We have ones just like that, super short transmitters and they don't travel more than 20 miles.
I was about to say that it sounds like a college station (89.3) We have ones just like that, super short transmitters and they don't travel more than 20 miles.
smart by pointing at the smokies LMAO. Interesting comments about those stations! K Love is hit or miss on signals. Some are fantastic and some are 15-20 mile range.
Yeah, 5KW isn't that great in reality on 95% of AM stations. Around here, they get swallowed up due to the electrical interference due to our power not being underground. Luckily for you, you have plenty of signals near Chicago
Bahahah yeah at least 50% of the AM dial at night is a wash of signals hitting each other. That's interesting! WDRC is about 40ish miles from me and during the day it's a meh signal with lots of noise and the nighttime is the same way. But, WDRC I can receive almost perfect when i'm in other parts of New England. The low wattage at night truly kills some signals and it really makes me not understand why they don't just go to Daytime only.
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