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AM Frequency of the week: 1160

cyberdad

cyberdad

40 (or so) miles northwest of downtown Chicago.....

Day: 1160 is WYLL with a good signal. Not as strong as the other 50kw Chicago blowtorches, but still good. This probably has more to do with the pattern than tower location or dial position. If I'm wrong, SC, Rich, or someone who knows more about this stuff than me can correct me.

Night: Still all WYLL. Still a good signal from their nighttime site, but usually unidentifiable signals underneath. IIRC, WYLL is sending about 30kw in my direction from a site about 25 miles farther south than their day site.

Other location: I spent Friday night at a wedding in Aurora, IL. Much closer to the WYLL nighttime stick than my home, but the signal was much weaker. The sort of thing that happens when you wind up in the middle of a null. (Speaking of which, WIND, WCPT, and WMVP were also each noticeably weaker in Aurora at night than here in Crystal Lake....despite the respective towers being closer to Aurora. OTOH, WLS was noticeably stronger.)

Retro: Before WYLL's predecssor, WJJD, began night operations on 1160, KSL was relatively easy for me, if not quite a regular. Signal was usually weak, but every now and then it would boom in. I also heard what I think was Cuba a few times.

....And let's not forget back in the day, when WJJD would sign on at 4am Central (KSL signoff). And then, during winter, briefly sign off at 7:00am (5:00am in Salt Lake City), when KSL came back on.

I guess if you were a hardcore WJJD fan, that's when you were supposed to shower and get dressed.
 
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Laramie, WY (SE Corner of the state)

KSL, KSL, KSL, KSL And oh, did i say KSL? all night, nothing else.. and some winters during the day as well.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs, WYLL is very strong during the day. I'm only about 6 miles from their day site. At night WYLL is still good, but not as overwhelming as their day signal.

Retro: Way back in the day when 1160 in Chicago was WJJD the signal was very strong. They signed off at Salt Lake City sunset and KSL could be heard here, sometimes pretty well.

Question for Cyberdad, when WJJD/WYLL was on their old night sight with the signal nulled towards you were you able to hear them at night? I know some could not hear them in Waukegan.
 
Yakima WA

See SomeRadioGuy.
Albeit I have heard XEQIN San Quintin BCN (Indigenous Community) a few times, but they sign off around 6-7PM PT. And one night in 2013, WYLL Chicago (Christian) actually did make it. I think they left their day pattern on.
 
In the day here, in the 'new' DX digs of NE Pennsylvania, the regular is from Lehighton, about 25 miles east of me. They're logged here as WYNS from my earlier days at the dial here. Today they are WBYN and are ESPN Sports.

To give you a further glimmer of how long I've lived here in the 'new' DX locale, I have the Chicagp station --taped, too -- logged as WJJD, hi.

WCNS from Homer City, farther west in PA, is a late sunset catch.

There is a tentative, a 'WKDN Morkenson' on tape. I don't count it as a catch because I haven't tracked it down yet.

WVNJ Oakland NJ came in one night, with their standards, back in 1996. Them I have taped. My buddy was the CE there at the time, and occasionally would do some improbable chemistry-set things with their four towers.

* * * * * * *

No KSL here yet ; probably never. In the old Queens NYC DX days, though, they could be a pest. We had thought that their time signal at the occasional TOH was 'the sound of the Novel Bell'. The internet taught us that the sound was from 'the Noveau Bell', or some other Indian-name spelling. It resounded like some old farm spade striking the side of a rusty oil drum. Fascinating for us kids.
 
East Tennessee (Knoxville/Sevierville): Daytime, usually nothing but winter skip can bring in WCFO, East Point (Atlanta) GA. Night: A plethora of signals, at various times including WCVX or WYLL. Have not caught KSL at this point

Retro/other: Dayton, OH area. WCVX doesn't have a bad signal but not a signal for armchair listening either. When WDJO was leasing this frequency, I'd listen in the car in Springfield. WYLL would leave late and come in early, especially in the winter, and some winter days WYLL stayed underneath all day. I remember WYLL as WJJD , and its limited license tied to sunset in Salt Lake City.
 
radioman148 said:
Question for Cyberdad, when WJJD/WYLL was on their old night sight with the signal nulled towards you were you able to hear them at night? I know some could not hear them in Waukegan.
Click to expand...

Short answer is no. At least not in listenable form, although the signal..weak and fade-prone...was usually present. Either under KSL or whatever other slop was on the channel.

When I wasn't on the road or working from home I commuted a few days each month to/from an office near O'Hare. On the Northwest Tollway during hours of darkness I'd start to lose it right after Woodfield Mall. By the Elgin exits, it would be a lost cause.
 
cyberdad said:
Short answer is no. At least not in listenable form, although the signal..weak and fade-prone...was usually present. Either under KSL or whatever other slop was on the channel.

When I wasn't on the road or working from home I commuted a few days each month to/from an office near O'Hare. On the Northwest Tollway during hours of darkness I'd start to lose it right after Woodfield Mall. By the Elgin exits, it would be a lost cause.
Click to expand...

Yes, the old 1160 Chicago pattern was very weak to the NW. I remember years ago as WJJD hearing them signoff one spring evening on the east coast. However, up around Libertyville I'd start to lose it completely.
Now ironically with their current night pattern they put a strong signal to the north. In fact last winter I heard them often on the Arctic receiver.
 
WJJD used to be 50 kW with their Day pattern until Sunset at KSL. It really boomed in in SE Michigan during the post Sunset period, with almost no detectable interference from KSL. About 1985, new stations on 1160 to the East complained about the interference, and the FCC started making them change at LSS to 5 kW with Night pattern. The Night pattern from Des Plaines protected the phantom 1160 assignment in Thunder Bay, ON as well as KSL. WYLL had duTriel, Lundin, and Rackley propose a substitution to 1170 for the phantom Thunder Bay, ON assignment, and upgrade WHBY 1150 Kimberly, WI to 20/25 U4 and accept more interference, allowing them to go North with 50 kW from Lockport.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
WJJD used to be 50 kW with their Day pattern until Sunset at KSL. It really boomed in in SE Michigan during the post Sunset period, with almost no detectable interference from KSL. About 1985, new stations on 1160 to the East complained about the interference, and the FCC started making them change at LSS to 5 kW with Night pattern. The Night pattern from Des Plaines protected the phantom 1160 assignment in Thunder Bay, ON as well as KSL. WYLL had duTriel, Lundin, and Rackley propose a substitution to 1170 for the phantom Thunder Bay, ON assignment, and upgrade WHBY 1150 Kimberly, WI to 20/25 U4 and accept more interference, allowing them to go North with 50 kW from Lockport.
Click to expand...

Interesting that WJJD was forced to lower power because of new stations on 1160 in the east. WJJD was there first. At one time KSL & WJJD were the only US stations on 1160. A guy who worked at WJJD told me about a QSL card that they sent to Northern Africa. This was before WJJD had full night authorization.
 
Orange County, TX-Days a weak with fading KRDY San Antonio, nights a mix of KRDY, KSL & KBDT Highland Park, TX with each taking over at times.
 
In west Houston, days are mostly the weather station WQFX528 down in Stafford, TX, about 7 miles from me, sometimes mixed with KRDY in San Antonio. At sunset, KRDY and KBDT in Dallas are on top. That situation continues into the nighttime, with the frequency becoming more of a jumble when the two Texans power down.

Retro, in Tulsa in the 1970's, my house was just a few miles from the KVOO-1170 towers, so 1160 was impossible. If I moved about 20 miles away, I could overcome the slop and hear KSL at night (and WJJD around sunset). With my old Realistic TRF, KVOO slop killed everything from 1140 to at least 1190.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

Daytime: WYLL from the Des Plaines, IL site using only 2 of the 4-tower array
Nightime: WYLL - slightly weaker during nighttime, but still dominating the frequency

DX catches: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT) dominant when WJJD used to sign off at night. Another regular catch in 1980's used to be a 300 kW transmitter from La Julia in Cuba broadcasting Voice of Cuba/Radio Taino. In 1995 I managed to log WAMB (Donelson, TN). That's about it for this frequency.

Retro: In between WJJD and WYLL this frequency was also used by WSCR with sports talk programming (1997-2000). WSCR left 1160 sometimes in August 2000 and the frequency was used simulcasting WXRT FM 93.1 until CBS sold it to Salem, which turned it into WYLL.
 
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CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

Daytime: WYLL from the Des Plaines, IL site using only 2 of the 4-tower array
Nightime: WYLL - slightly weaker during nighttime, but still dominating the frequency

DX catches: KSL (Salt Lake City, UT) dominant when WJJD used to sign off at night. Another regular catch in 1980's used to be a 300 kW transmitter from La Julia in Cuba broadcasting Voice of Cuba/Radio Taino. In 1995 I managed to log WAMB (Donelson, TN). That's about it for this frequency.

Retro: In between WJJD and WYLL this frequency was also used by WSCR with sports talk programming (1997-2000). WSCR left 1160 sometimes in August 2000 and the frequency was used simulcasting WXRT FM 93.1 until CBS sold it to Salem, which turned it into WYLL.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly just before WSCR moved to 1160 from their original frequency of 820, WJJD simulcasted WJMK-FM for a short time.
 
CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

In between WJJD and WYLL this frequency was also used by WSCR with sports talk programming (1997-2000). WSCR left 1160 sometimes in August 2000 and the frequency was used simulcasting WXRT FM 93.1 until CBS sold it to Salem, which turned it into WYLL.
Click to expand...

IIRC when CBS purchased Infinity Broadcasting, WJJD and WJMK (ex- WJJD-FM) were part of the deal. A condition of that sale being that the FCC mandated that CBS sell one of the two. By this time, CBS found itself with both WXRT and WJMK, each of which had a brief run as being simulcast on 1160 in addition to WSCR's longer term occupancy of the channel before Salem took it over.
 
West Central Georgia:

Day: WCFO Atlanta 50000/160 Catholic Radio - good signal

Night: No sign of WYLL
Graveyard channel here in Georgia with reception of WYDU Red Springs/Fayetteville NC 5000/250 Christian Programming and WRLZ St. Cloud/Orlando FL 2500/500 Spanish Christian
Programming breaking through from time to time - wonder if they are still on daytime power
 
Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: WOBM, Lakewood NJ(Ocean county, very weak).
Night: WYLL, Chicago. Heard KSL a few times years ago.
 
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