Null out WPHT and tell me what you hear right now in the Greater Midwest!
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Check 1210 Right Now! 8-28-19 8-29-19
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
I do hear another talk station fighting it out with WPHT, but it's too noisy for me to ID.
KGYN Guymon OK? They're pretty regular in the southwest. They protect WPHT at night, so if you're hearing them to the east, (1) you either have a good catch, or (2) they didn't switch to their night pattern. They're 10 kW day and night.
I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Are tests still allowed after midnight? I know that few stations do DX tests anymore, and those were when other stations signed off Sunday and Monday. The owners of KLIK 950 back in the 1970s had a regular DX test Sunday or Monday morning when WWJ used to sign off.
Are you a member of the IRCA or NRC? Those clubs still have Courtesy Program Committees which try to get stations to run tests at times they might be heard.
If you are a member, you could join one of the committees and work on tests from stations that would be good DX catches.
If you are not a member, don't expect someone to set up a test because you post on a message board.
The most common tests back into the 70's were frequency checks. They were scheduled, and the radio clubs published frequency check lists.
But yes, the experimental period still exists in the rules, and a daytimer can test in overnights on the full facility, and a DA-N can test on the day facility. But stations don't test as much because the equipment is so reliable and redundant.
The late great Ed Cantelon used to do a lot of those frequency measurements, with his array of Beverage antennas on "Mt. Trashmore", North of Pontiac, MI.
Stations on nondirectional STA that had really restrictive DA patterns are another group heard often. I remember that someone in Iowa heard WTAC 600, in Des Moines I believe, not far from WMT, on an STA. But David probably heard it a lot near Cleveland. That DA was reportedly a Carl E. Smith design. The DA 0.5 mV/m didn't make it to the West to the end of the 27-9 Runway at the annexed FNT, WITHIN THE COL! More recently, as WSNL, they were on 250 watt STA when they moved the TL, and were heard far and wide, including Central Illinois.
Stations on nondirectional STA that had really restrictive DA patterns are another group heard often. I remember that someone in Iowa heard WTAC 600, in Des Moines I believe, not far from WMT, on an STA. But David probably heard it a lot near Cleveland. That DA was reportedly a Carl E. Smith design. The DA 0.5 mV/m didn't make it to the West to the end of the 27-9 Runway at the annexed FNT, WITHIN THE COL! More recently, as WSNL, they were on 250 watt STA when they moved the TL, and were heard far and wide, including Central Illinois.
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Some years ago, I remember hearing that the FCC was beginning to take a dim view of using the experimental period for "DX testing". I don't recall if any stations were cited or got snippy letters, and I'm not sure what would have prompted such an attitude. Maybe somebody got carried away with festivities and aired something they shouldn't have while "testing".
Years ago I ran a couple of overnight tests and I may have played a few Weird Al songs, but that's about as crazy as I got with it.
A test is a test. The FCC has no other restrictions beyond that it be in overnights and contain no commercials.
One can play anything they want on a test, and in the past it was often a few records an engineer had at the transmitter site or some kind of "emergency fill reel". When I tested my own stations, I had a group of songs that I was very familiar with and which were good examples of each station's format so that I could "hear" any artifacts, excessive distortion or the like... a first step in seeing if I needed to hook up a scope or other test gear for deeper measurements.
I never heard the FCC paid any attention to DX tests; those are generally one-time affairs in the right time period and censuring them would involve regulating the meaning of the word "test".
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