1560 Reception Wish?

[Steve Green NEPA]

Your car radio is scanning, and stops at 1560 when a weary genie pops out of the glove compartment.

'Oy. You have one wish for a new station on 1560.'

What would it be, folks?

* * * * * * *

There was a real 1560 trove of DX a few Februarys ago when the NYC station was off for a while to switch formats. I would have enjoyed hearing Bakersfield and/or Nashville, but no luck. I heard neither back in the Queens days. The towers of 'WQXR' 1560 were the closest 50,000 watt ones to my den. I have no explanation for how I heard 13 stations there except maybe because I had two good ears back then.
Several of those 1560 catches (including the one from South Dakota) were via special DX test broadcasts.

The NYC station, now WFME, has a real good signal here in NE PA, night and day.

 

[radioman148]

The two stations I would always hear on 1560 in the Chicago area were either WQXR NYC or WDXR Paducah, Ky. Never heard Bakersfield, but would like to.

 

[gr8oldies]

I'm going to go with KGOW.

 

[schmave]

^ Same. Have caught very few Texas signals overall over the years from Ohio.

 

[cyberdad]

1560 was originally designated as a Cuban clear channel IIRC, I can't recall ever hearing anything from Cuba on 1560 at my Chicago area location.

 

[CADXER]

Never heard a Cuban or any other foreign station for that matter on 1560 either. Radio Cayman (Gun Bluff, Cayman Islands) on 1555 used to be a common catch in the Chicago area though.

 

[crainbebo]

WFME New York! I would have chosen KGOW in Houston but nearly everything points away from the NW.
I'll also choose 250 watt KIQS Willows CA, Spanish Rel, never heard. But KNZR is difficult to get around that way I'm afraid.

 

[davideduardo]

1560 was originally designated as a Cuban clear channel IIRC, I can't recall ever hearing anything from Cuba on 1560 at my Chicago area location.

Remember that by around 1962, Cuba had totally abrogated NARBA and had begun putting high power stations on the lower part of the band. 1560 was not of much interest.

Still, by 1958 the only Cuban on 1560 was 500 watt CMZ in La Habana. All the powerful stations were at the bottom of the band as they fully understood propagation.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I did hear KPMC/KNZR once, right after WQXR signed off at 12:07 AM one Night. It was in the 1970s I think.

 

[cyberdad]

Remember that by around 1962, Cuba had totally abrogated NARBA and had begun putting high power stations on the lower part of the band. 1560 was not of much interest.

1961-62 was junior high for me, and I was just starting to get interested in DX (using my grandparents' 1937 vintage Zenith model pictured to my upper left). I remember the Cubans coming on at various places lower on the band, but always wondered why they didn't also take advantage of their "almost shortwave" allocation on 1560.

It's not that they had to had to create additional content. Just plug in to one of their networks to a transmitter on 1560 and let 'er rip. When they got all of those Czech built transmitters later in the decade they could have blasted to all of North and Central America, the Caribbean, and a chunk of South America as well.

 

[radioman148]

1961-62 was junior high for me, and I was just starting to get interested in DX (using my grandparents' 1937 vintage Zenith model pictured to my upper left). I remember the Cubans coming on at various places lower on the band, but always wondered why they didn't also take advantage of their "almost shortwave" allocation on 1560.

It's not that they had to had to create additional content. Just plug in to one of their networks to a transmitter on 1560 and let 'er rip. When they got all of those Czech built transmitters later in the decade they could have blasted to all of North and Central America, the Caribbean, and a chunk of South America as well.

I also began DXing around 1961 when we had a shortwave radio. I remember tuning in Radio Havana Cuba. Their ID included the phrase "Free territory of America".

 

[davideduardo]

1961-62 was junior high for me, and I was just starting to get interested in DX (using my grandparents' 1937 vintage Zenith model pictured to my upper left). I remember the Cubans coming on at various places lower on the band, but always wondered why they didn't also take advantage of their "almost shortwave" allocation on 1560.

It's not that they had to had to create additional content. Just plug in to one of their networks to a transmitter on 1560 and let 'er rip. When they got all of those Czech built transmitters later in the decade they could have blasted to all of North and Central America, the Caribbean, and a chunk of South America as well.

The problem is that Cuba only saw Medium Wave as a domestic service which could also be used to block signals from the US and elsewhere. Even the dreadful high powered Radio Taino on 1160 was intended to block Radio Swan / Radio Americas from Swan Island, even though it was overtly a "come visit Cuba" tourist format at times.

Those Czech transmitters were also pretty dreadful. I remember a salesperson trying to get me to buy one of the 30 kw or 60 kw units in Ecuador; the sales rep was accompanied by a Politburo Russian, in full stereotype Russian bureaucrat attire, including the badly pressed ill-fitting baggy suit that likely could conceal most any kind of weapon. They did offer amazing financing, and delivery via the Russian Embassy of replacement Svetlana tubes... which was, of course, illegal.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I'm going to go with KGOW.

Everyone's favorite ethnic station, Viet Radio 1560 KGOW Bellaire/Houston is completely off the air due to flooding from Tropical Depression Imelda that has "Detrimentally affected the transmission equipment"

They are completely off the air instead of using the seperate day or night site full time like last time when the day site got flooded

This must've just happened a few days ago because I caught them on the air and put them in my log books about a week ago or so.

I should note, of potential interest... the Viet Radio programming on KGOW 1560 has recently been heard simulcast on KYND 1520 before KGOW went off the air

 

[pianoplayer88key]

WFME is one of my desired stations on 1560 from SoCal, and, do it while KNZR is operating normally.

 

[DXingRadio]

Anyone ever heard the AM side of WKIK? It's a 1,000 watt daytimer in La Plata, MD (around 30 miles south of DC) simulcasting their sister FM's country format. I live around 50 miles away and it's nearly a DX catch, faint when it's on. Maybe it had some luck being caught when NYC's 1560 was off.