AM Frequency of the Week: 1000

[cyberdad]

Far northwest suburban Chicago:

Day: Local WMVP. 50kw from 31 miles to my south-southeast. The directional pattern has a shallow null to the west. The result here is a very good signal, but not as good as the Chicago non-directional 50kw blowtorches.

Night: WMVP's pattern tightens, and the result here is a somewhat weaker signal, although still good. As I alluded to last week, that night signal can occasionally be prone to some moderate splatter from CBW. On even more rare occasions XEOY can be audible either underneath or with WMVP nulled. I've also heard KTOK a couple of times.

Other Locations/retro: During my college years in southeast Iowa during the late 60s, then-WCFL was audible day and night, but not comfortably listenable. Daytime the problem was splatter from now-defunct WCAZ (990) from Carthage, IL. At night there would often be a combination of fading and a battle with XEOY. WCFL usually was on top, but XEOY was still a significant pest.

Fast forward to the current situation at our beach vacation location near Pensacola, WMVP is most often in with a fair (and listenable) signal at night. XEOY usually present underneath. There have been a couple of incarnations of a 1kw daytimer on 1kw daytimer operating on 1000 from a location about 30 miles north from where we stay. Ground conductivity in the area is poor, and the result is a signal at the beach has been fair at best.

 

[DXBob]

From south Overland Park, Kansas:

Day: Nothing

Critical Hours: WMVP dominates when on day pattern, KTOK at times when on day pattern.

Night: Usually nothing but unidentifiable signals buried in the mud. On rare occasion, XEOY.

Retro - 1960s: Growing up in Peoria, Illinois I often listened to WCFL during the day. The signal was not as strong as WLS but I always thought WCFL had better "audio quality." WCFL was present but unlistenable at night.

Bob

 

[schmave]

Pickerington, Ohio ...
Daytime: Nothing.
Night: All WMVP, all the time. The directional signal cyberdad mentions makes WMVP the strongest Chicago 50K here pretty much every night, barring auroral conditions. I am hard-pressed to remember a time any other signal gave WMVP problems.
In the winter months, I have heard WMVP via skywave as early as 3 p.m.

 

[cyberdad]

Pickerington, Ohio ...
Daytime: Nothing.
Night: All WMVP, all the time. The directional signal cyberdad mentions makes WMVP the strongest Chicago 50K here pretty much every night, barring auroral conditions. I am hard-pressed to remember a time any other signal gave WMVP problems.
In the winter months, I have heard WMVP via skywave as early as 3 p.m.

My understanding is that WMVP also has the strongest signal over the City of Chicago 24/7 of any station in the market,

.Retro - 1960s: Growing up in Peoria, Illinois I often listened to WCFL during the day. The signal was not as strong as WLS but I always thought WCFL had better "audio quality." WCFL was present but unlistenable at night.

Bob

There definitely was a difference. To me, WCFL sounded "hotter". I also was under the impression they sped up some of the music. Ever so slightly (if in fact they were doing it at all). Unlike Milwaukee's WOKY (920), which for a time was blatently speeding up the tunes to the point of annoyance.

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago suburbs days are all WMVP with a very good signal. At night at my location the signal is still very good.
When WMVP/ WCFL has been off the air XEOY and KTOK have been heard.

Retro: When I was in college at NIU in De Kalb, Il WCFL was just fair during the day. Significantly weaker than Chicago's other 50KW signals. At night it was very weak and sounded like a distant DX signal without the fading.

 

[cyberdad]

Retro: When I was in college at NIU in De Kalb, Il WCFL was just fair during the day. Significantly weaker than Chicago's other 50KW signals. At night it was very weak and sounded like a distant DX signal without the fading.

I can vouch for that. I spent one week of a summer job living and working out of a DeKalb motel, and the WCFL night signal was almost unlistenable.

I used to frequently take the CB&Q train for trips home from college to Aurora, where either my dad or girlfriend (now wife) would pick me up. On the evening train from Iowa, I couldn't pick up WCFL on my transistor radio until I was almost to the Aurora city limits!

(My most reliable nighttime top 40 go-to for most of the route was actually WIRL. Which didn't suffer from the convergence that plagued WLS for a good chunk of the journey.)

 

[tvnut]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

It's WCFL / WLUP-AM / WMVP all the time. Once, during a Sunday night silent period, while trying to snag KOMO (never happened), in wafted HJHF Manizales, Colombia, on 10 kW. The only other catch on 1000? WMVP from the temporary diplex with WLS in Tinley Park while the main facility in Downers Grove was being rebuilt.

Cyberdad's noting the weakness of WMVP on the back (west) side of the pattern is also true to the south. If you're in Champaign, about 140 miles south of Chicago, you have to get in your car and go to an open area to get a more than a hint of a signal.

 

[RyanHoward]

Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: splatter from local 990 WNTP. Maybe a trace of WRNJ from
Hackettstown NJ(Warren County).
Night: WMVP.

 

[gr8oldies]

East Tennessee: Daytime-splatter from 990 WNML
Night: Splatter from WNML and WMVP

Retro/other: Western Ohio: It seems like WCFL was a little stronger at night than WLS, though I can't actually confirm it. WCFL was a little weaker than WLS during the day, but we were getting the "last breath" of both. Living in Indiana, what was then WLUP was strong enough to hear Steve and Gary, Kevin Matthews, etc during the day. Radio Artemisa, Artesima, Cuba appeared to be the source of a warbling het widely heard, and confirmed through the Key West SDR.

 

[radioman148]

I can vouch for that. I spent one week of a summer job living and working out of a DeKalb motel, and the WCFL night signal was almost unlistenable.

I used to frequently take the CB&Q train for trips home from college to Aurora, where either my dad or girlfriend (now wife) would pick me up. On the evening train from Iowa, I couldn't pick up WCFL on my transistor radio until I was almost to the Aurora city limits!

(My most reliable nighttime top 40 go-to for most of the route was actually WIRL. Which didn't suffer from the convergence that plagued WLS for a good chunk of the journey.)

When I was driving west passing Aurora WCFL even during the day would start to be effected by phasing.

 

[radioman148]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

It's WCFL / WLUP-AM / WMVP all the time. Once, during a Sunday night silent period, while trying to snag KOMO (never happened),

I tried several times for KOMO too, but never heard it.

 

[ente]

South Mississippi:

Day: nothing
Night: KTOK Oklahoma City (news/talk) is strongest, WMVP Chicago is there occasionally, and WYBT Blountstown, FL (oldies) comes in during sunset critical hours in winter.

 

[radio 208]

Here in central CA... days-nothing---nights-KOMO, Seattle ( faint signal) and it fades in-and-out like a distant AM would.. but most of the time a decent signal.

 

[schmave]

East Tennessee: Daytime-splatter from 990 WNML
Night: Splatter from WNML and WMVP

Retro/other: Western Ohio: It seems like WCFL was a little stronger at night than WLS, though I can't actually confirm it. WCFL was a little weaker than WLS during the day, but we were getting the "last breath" of both. Living in Indiana, what was then WLUP was strong enough to hear Steve and Gary, Kevin Matthews, etc during the day. Radio Artemisa, Artesima, Cuba appeared to be the source of a warbling het widely heard, and confirmed through the Key West SDR.

I agree with this in my experiences listening from St. Marys. WMVP barely was there during the day but, as in Columbus, the loudest at night.
It's been a lot of years since I've driven from Chicago to Ohio at night, but when I did, I remember WMVP phasing as close as Valparaiso. The other big 50Ks didn't start experiencing cancellation until almost Fort Wayne, then were unlistenable for 40 miles anyway.
The one trip I made to DeKalb, in the winter of 2000, I also remember not hearing WMVP until almost to Aurora. To this day it has bad spots as close as Naperville because of the night pattern.

 

[radioman148]

Here in central CA... days-nothing---nights-KOMO, Seattle ( faint signal) and it fades in-and-out like a distant AM would.. but most of the time a decent signal.

Welcome to the board!

 

[gr8oldies]

I agree with this in my experiences listening from St. Marys. WMVP barely was there during the day but, as in Columbus, the loudest at night.
It's been a lot of years since I've driven from Chicago to Ohio at night, but when I did, I remember WMVP phasing as close as Valparaiso. The other big 50Ks didn't start experiencing cancellation until almost Fort Wayne, then were unlistenable for 40 miles anyway.
The one trip I made to DeKalb, in the winter of 2000, I also remember not hearing WMVP until almost to Aurora. To this day it has bad spots as close as Naperville because of the night pattern.

I don't remember how WCFL did in Quincy, IL/Hannibal MO area but I remember WLS sounding similar to how it did in the St. Marys Ohio area because of that excellent ground conductivity

 

[Bongwater]

KOMO has probably the best AM signal on the West Coast. I've picked it up on SDRs in Norway in the dead of winter and as far as Hawaii. Daytime, you can get it faintly in Spokane, clear down to Portland and way up the BC coast.

 

[CADXER]

Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

Daytime: WMVP
Nightime: WMVP

DX/Retro: In the good old days (1970's-1980's), WCFL used to have a regular silent period every Monday morning, right after midnight. This of course produced some DX opportunities. This used to be the best bet to hear AM station from Washington state as KOMO (Seattle). Heard them several times with WCFL being off the air. My other 3 catches besides KOMO are KTOK (Oklahoma City, OK), XEOY (Mexico City) and HJAQ (Cartagena, Colombia).

Not exactly sure when the regular silent period stopped, but it must have been around the time WCFL became WLUP AM.

Also sometimes in 2006, WMVP operated under STA as a diplex from the WLS site in Tinley Park at a reduced power. If I remember correctly this arrangement was only during daytime hours, so they could work on the replacement towers. During the night they would switch back to the Downer Grove site. See the two pictures for comparison between the original towers and the current towers.

 

[radioman148]

KOMO has probably the best AM signal on the West Coast. I've picked it up on SDRs in Norway in the dead of winter and as far as Hawaii. Daytime, you can get it faintly in Spokane, clear down to Portland and way up the BC coast.

Indeed KOMO gets into Hawaii pretty well and on the Norway receiver in winter. An excellent signal!

 

[radioman148]

Here in Wood Dale, IL (near NW suburb of Chicago):

Daytime: WMVP
Nightime: WMVP

DX/Retro: In the good old days (1970's-1980's), WCFL used to have a regular silent period every Monday morning, right after midnight. This of course produced some DX opportunities. This used to be the best bet to hear AM station from Washington state as KOMO (Seattle). Heard them several times with WCFL being off the air. My other 3 catches besides KOMO are KTOK (Oklahoma City, OK), XEOY (Mexico City) and HJAQ (Cartagena, Colombia).

Not exactly sure when the regular silent period stopped, but it must have been around the time WCFL became WLUP AM.

Also sometimes in 2006, WMVP operated under STA as a diplex from the WLS site in Tinley Park at a reduced power. If I remember correctly this arrangement was only during daytime hours, so they could work on the replacement towers. During the night they would switch back to the Downer Grove site. See the two pictures for comparison between the original towers and the current towers.

View attachment 2118 View attachment 2119

Nice going. I was never able to hear KOMO in the Chicago area when WCFL was off.