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AM Frequency of the week: 1570

cyberdad

cyberdad

Crystal Lake, IL.....

Days: Another battle of very weak signals. WBGX (ex-WBEE) from south suburban Harvey, IL usually gets the better of it. WFRL from Freeport, IL also present. Both are about 60 miles from me. WFRL is 5kw, WBGX is 1.1.kw. Both have patterns unfavorable to me, but WFRL is more so.

Nights: Usually a mix of weak, identifiable signals. You don't have to go very far west or south of my location to find XERF usually on top, but that's not the case here.

Retro: When XERF was actually running 150kw, it was a regular here ususally with a fair signal. A couple of Canadian stations CFOR, and CHLO were also relatively common underneath XERF from time to time.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs daytime is a weak WBGX from Harvey. At night, the same as cyberdad, it's a mix of weak signals. Back in the day XERF with Wolfman Jack sometimes ruled. Some nights CHLO was fighting it out with XERF at my location.
 
From a guy who has worked at 2 1570s, WILO in Frankfort OH and WPTW, Piqua OH

East TN: Daytime, not much. Something has been drifting in with country music during the day but I haven't IDed it.
Night.;..mostly a graveyard-channel sounding mess but XERF will ocassionally fade up.

Retro/other: In recent years, the same in Ohio and Indiana. I do remember the frequency being clear for XERF, and though I missed the Wolfman years, the bizarre religious programming was definitely there.
 
Since CFOR and CHLO moved to FM, there is clear recaption in Northern Lower Michigan for other stations that used to be Daytime only during Daytime sky wave. WWCK Flint came in clear and alone during Daytime skywave recently near Cheboygan. WFUR Grand Rapids would fade in for a few minutes due to their high angle lobe from their 230 degree tower. Haven’t heard WPTW Piqua though. It was once coowned with WCBY Cheboygan by Mr. Richard Hunt.
 
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Orange County, TX-Days a very weak KLLA, Leesville, LA nights XERF which becomes listenable about 2 hours before local sunset to about 2 hours after local sunrise.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WBGX Harvey, IL with fair signal. Their 4 towers are visible while driving on I-294 near 157th Street.
Nightime: mix of stations, but nobody dominating the frequency

DX/RETRO: one of my most productive frequencies DX wise for me together with the upcoming 1580 AM Frequncy of the week. Gone are the days when XERF was blasting in with Wolfman Jack. Gone are also the Canadians CKLM and CHLO that were frequent visitors. Some of the DX catches include KUXL (Golden Valley, MN), WCLE (Cleveland, TN), WVVW (St. Mary's, WV - DX test), WQTW (Latrobe, PA), WGSR (Fernandina BEach, Fl - DX Test). Finally, gone is also the Atlantic Beacon from Turks & Caicos, which was heard in the Chicago area back 1987.
 
CADXER said:
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WBGX Harvey, IL with fair signal. Their 4 towers are visible while driving on I-294 near 157th Street.
Click to expand...

Thanks for jogging my memory. I've seen those towers many times driving down 294.
 
There are quite a few towers of local radio stations visible driving on I-294.

Starting at Lake Cook Road and ending at I-80 driving southbound you pass:

WKTA (AM 1330)/WEEF (AM 1430) near Dundee Road - 6 towers
WYLL (1160) near Dempster Street - 4 towers
WCKG (AM 1530) at I-88/I-294 intersection - 2 towers
WRDZ (AM 1300) near 115th Street - 6 towers
WBGX (AM 1570) near 159th Street - 4 towers

I have always been fascinated by radio towers as part of my DX hobby.
 
Ellensburg WA

Day - nothing summer, weak KCVR Lodi CA (TUDN Sports) in winter, like right now actually. Apparently they went to TUDN when ESPN Deportes left the air.

Night - KCVR pointing north-south, with XERF Ciudad Acuna pointing east-west. XERF can come in well at times. Sometimes they are lost in the slop. Couple times a year I can get an ID from Bott Radio Network, KBCV Hollister MO (Religion). KVAM Loveland CO (Regional Mexican) was heard once in a while at sunrise/sunset when they were KPIO, and EWTN. WFRL Freeport IL (Country) was logged back in February for the first time, on 500 watts.
KPRO Riverside (Religion) and CKMW Morden MB (Country) were also logged prior to both going defunct.

This is one of my favorite frequencies. Without XERF it would be wide open flea-power. Patrick Martin in Oregon once heard WTRB TN on 53 watts, about 15 years ago. Our own boombox4 (south of Seattle) caught WSCO WI a couple years ago, with 331 watts.
 
CADXER said:
There are quite a few towers of local radio stations visible driving on I-294.

Starting at Lake Cook Road and ending at I-80 driving southbound you pass:

WKTA (AM 1330)/WEEF (AM 1430) near Dundee Road - 6 towers
WYLL (1160) near Dempster Street - 4 towers
WCKG (AM 1530) at I-88/I-294 intersection - 2 towers
WRDZ (AM 1300) near 115th Street - 6 towers
WBGX (AM 1570) near 159th Street - 4 towers

I have always been fascinated by radio towers as part of my DX hobby.
Click to expand...

WKTA and WJJD both not too far from my QTH.
 
Towers

WIND 560 has an AUX at the WYLL 1160 Day site. And as you leave Illinois into Indiana on one expressway, you will soon encounter the four towers of the main facility of WIND 560. Then the Day facility of WLTH North of that expressway, next to the railroad track. You used to be able to see the old WCFL/WMVP facility from I-294 also, with the old self supporting towers. You cold also see the old four tower WTAQ/WRDZ site further North.

https://www.fccdata.org/?lang=en&appid=1765973&facid=67068
 
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And before driving by WLTH and WIND as mentioned by Schroedingers Cat, there is also the WSRB FM 106.3 tower on the left right before you cross the Illinois - Indiana border.
 
Respective of the way the antenna is pointed, it's either the louder WPGM Danville PA here, or the weaker WISP from downstate Doylestown. That WISP (formerly WBUX) has sent their signal southeast, away from us, too often for decades to be such a daytime regular. But it's always there.
One sunset, that Radio Oz from Towson MD came in.

* * * * * * *

Nothing logged here at night though. Blush. The wife and I spend an inordinate amount of nighttimes listening to oldies internet stations and their chat rooms. It may not be DX, but it certainly is music.
 
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CADXER said:
And before driving by WLTH and WIND as mentioned by Schroedingers Cat, there is also the WSRB FM 106.3 tower on the left right before you cross the Illinois - Indiana border.
Click to expand...

I also remember WEAW 1330 and WIND 560 from their nearby former TLs when both tower arrays were top loaded.

Also nearby in Wisconsin you can probably see WLIP 1050 Kenosha and tower lights at least from WTMJ 620 and WISN 1130 from I-294.

If you know where to look, you can see the WIMS 1420 towers from along that expressway also, I guess it is I-94 there, but I've gone a few different ways. Also WHFB 1060 Benton Harbor, WKLZ 1470 Kalamazoo and 1660 later, WBCK 930 tower lights at Night, two separate WITL 1010 Lansing 3 tower arrays, now both gone, and former WJIM 1240 Lansing, WJIM-TV Channel 6 AUX, and diplexed WJIM-FM 97.5 Superturnstile antenna, along the way.
 
Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Local WISP(EWTN Catholic) from Doylestown PA, both day and night. But back when it was
a daytimer as WBUX, I used to hear French top 40 station CKLM from Montreal at night all
the time!!
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: XERF with a moderately strong signal.

Sunset: XERF is still strong but with occasional groundwave/skywave cancellation. A weak KPYK (adult standards) in Terrell near DFW can usually be heard underneath.

Night: Normally its just XERF (see * below), but during a couple of nights in October 2016 I heard a very weak country music station underneath that I never was able to ID.

Sunrise: KPYK pops up under XERF when it goes to day power. Also, a very weak KTUZ "La Zeta" in Catoosa, OK, can sometimes be heard when it signs on for the day.

* On the night of Dec. 14, I logged KLLA in Leesville, LA, for the first time. It was popping up under XERF, covering KPYK, and coming to the fore briefly during XERF's fades. From the 14th through the 19th I was hearing it at sunrise, nighttime, and sunset. During sunset on the 19th it was even taking over XERF for good stretches. The station must have been running at its daytime power of 630 watts that whole time rather than its nighttime 6 watts. I did not hear it all yesterday or this morning.
 
@ Cyberdad and Schroedinger : Some retro stuff, 60's and 70's .....

In my Queens and (later) Long Island days, the old CKLM Montreal would literally boom into central and eastern Long Island. Back in Queens, only maybe 40 miles west, their signal was wobbly, like that of which we'd hear from, say, WPTR Albany. Both those 50,000 watters are from somewhat up that way North, and both had to protect previous frequency occupants (XERF and ZNS, respectively).

* * * * * *

I had just finished enjoying this long, great, live, quasi-jazz song off CKLM one night, way out on L.I., near the Brookhaven Lab. I called the station to find out what it was. This DJ fellow answers the phone in a torrent of Canadian French. 'Say kay ahll ahmmm /Trottier/Potvin/Lemieux/Bressoud/sacre blue ....' etc
Now, despite my similar ancestry (1/4, hi) I don't speak a sentence of it. Somehow I stammered out a question as to if he spoke English.
'Oh, yeah,' he says. 'Where ya callin from? What's up?'. Sheesh -- he sounded like he was from Brooklyn!

* * * * * * *

The song was 'Ride The Wind' by the Youngbloods.
Do not accept the 7:00 version on their greatest hits LP. Non, m'sieur. You want the 10: or 11:00 *LIVE* version.

73 and, as they would say in Montreal, 'mercy' for the memories!
 
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