Given that the range of a station on the left side of the dial is larger, what clear channel station with a non-directional signal would be able to cover the most land? I guess Canada could be included.
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What station covers the most land in the contintental U.S. at night?
- Thread starter vchimpanzee
- Start date
That question would have been so much easier to answer 40 years ago when clear channels were really clear channels.
I would have said WLW, WLS, WBBM, which all could be heard on both coasts.
Today, with the dial so jammed, It's hard to think of one in particular.
But if I had to say one, it would be KSL.
It's easily heard out west and even in Florida, it was a nighttime regular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFOt2EGDZjo
I would have said WLW, WLS, WBBM, which all could be heard on both coasts.
Today, with the dial so jammed, It's hard to think of one in particular.
But if I had to say one, it would be KSL.
It's easily heard out west and even in Florida, it was a nighttime regular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFOt2EGDZjo
I think that we discussed this previously and the champ was CBK, Watrous, Saskatchewan. The runners-up were WNAX and KFYR and, IIRC, WMT and maybe WIBW.
The discussion was based on ground-wave coverage, though.
So, given that skywave will skip over an area, to crown an overall coverage champion, we'd have to find a station that not only has tremendous skywave reach at night, but whose groundwave coverage is extensive enough to cover the "skipped" skywave territory. Do any of the AM blowtorches mentioned here qualify?
I think they meant Skywave. Stations generally which are Nondirectional and located near the center of the Continental US probably qualify. WHO and KOA haven't been mentioned. KOA is less "efficient" than almost all the Class As/Is, by whatever means that is accomplished. The FCC record says LIN Resistor. Besides, at Night, the Class Bs/IIIs mentioned and Class Bs/IIs have much higher NIFs, even if its in the 2.0-3.0 mV/m range. There are a few IIIs, but no IIs, that are nondirectional at Night, with any substantial power anyway.
I don't know what the answer is today, but in the 1960s all 4 Chicago clears and WLW could be heard at night via skywave from coast to coast on most nights especially in winter. Today I would guess WBAP might have the largest skywave coverage. With todays very crowded AM band it's much more difficult to determine.
In the Continental United States, I would assume WSM. It's the lowest dial position AM with 50kW-ND nights, a location away from the coast, and no co-channel stations with night authorization east of the Rockies.
Higher channel stations like WLS, KMOX and KSL might work too, largely depending on their co-channels arrangements.
I would assume anything on the coasts -- WABC, KFI, WWL, etc would not qualify due to sending a lot of their signal out to sea.
Higher channel stations like WLS, KMOX and KSL might work too, largely depending on their co-channels arrangements.
I would assume anything on the coasts -- WABC, KFI, WWL, etc would not qualify due to sending a lot of their signal out to sea.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the lower band stations have the same advantage via skywave VS groundwave.
Actually, WWL and WBZ direct their signals inland. There is a loss of land coverage over all land associated with directional vs. nondirectional though.
I was in Puerto Rico about 8 or 9 years ago and WLW had the most consistently good skywave signal of any of the stations in the continental US.
You must have been there during unusual conditions. For the 4 decades I lived or worked there, 700 was almost entirely owned by the Maracaibo, Venezuela, station. Until about 10 years ago, it was also covered by the RJR station on 700, making WLW hearable but always interfered with.
Today, both the YV and the Jamaican are gone, and 700 is surprisingly void of high power Cubans so WLW should not be a very hard catch. Today, in fact, it is the cleanest of the US clear channels in the Caribbean Basin.
I was there in 2011 and WLW was the cleanest signal then from the US. Some nights the east coast stations would come in well, and other nights the midwest stations were in. However, WLW was always there each night.
Even thought WBZ directs most of their signal inland they can still be heard on European SDRs in late fall and winter. WWL can be heard on them too, but some of their signal goes that way.
As you said, CBK got the nod....for groundwave. If we're talking about skywave/continental U.S./nighttime, I'd give it to WHO.
I am another vote for WSM. There aren't any other stations in the Continental US broadcasting 1 KW or higher at night to interfere. There's a 10KW up in Saskatoon Canada but that's not going to interfere *that* much.
When I was growing up in California in the 80's they came in stronger than the other powerhouses at a similar distance (such as WCCO WHO WLS etc). And now that I'm in Chicago they are again as strong as any station at that distance from me.
When I was growing up in California in the 80's they came in stronger than the other powerhouses at a similar distance (such as WCCO WHO WLS etc). And now that I'm in Chicago they are again as strong as any station at that distance from me.
The problem is that there are several stations out west on 650 at night. Even though none of them run high power there are still enough of them to hamper WSM.
I was in Southern Cal last Feb and I wasn't able to pull WSM out of the clutter. Admittedly not scientific. I did notice that I could pull WHO out sometimes even with the station near San Diego on the air.
I remember a discussion here a few years ago when iHeart sold all of its towers that the new owner was selling some of the land surrounding WLW's tower for a shopping center or industrial park. At the time, there were discussions that such a building might have an effect on the station's ground wave. I haven't kept up if that shopping center was built or if it had any effect.
Virtually all of the land that the Voice of America relay station that was near the WLW transmitter was re-purposed, some as Voice of America Park (where the transmitter building and some equipment remains as a museum and meeting space), some as shopping centers along Tylersville Rd, some industrial park area. Wouldn't have a clue about it affecting WLW's coverage, but anecdotally, it seems to go everywhere it always did. I was a regular listener in Fort Wayne and Lafayette, Indiana during the daytime.
If you look at a polar projection map, you can see that WBZ null is actually aimed at NW Africa, and the side of the major lobe, which is in excess of a non-directional 50 kw equivalent, is aimed right at northern Europe and Scandinavia.
Similarly, WWL with a lobe that pushes more power north, aims right at Europe.
Since neither 870 nor 1030 are European 9 kHz separation frequencies, the path for both stations is wide open.
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