AM Frequency of the Week: 1030

[cyberdad]

40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Days: WNVR. 10kw from a tx site about three miles northwest of my house. Aimed right at me. As well as right at the city of Chicago.

Night: Here's where it gets interesting. WNVR's night operations are sporadic to put it mildly. They don't operate at night, at least as often as not. They just feed programming to their translator. When they do bother to stay on, their night pattern of 130 watts has me in the null that protects Boston. The result at my location is a reasonably good signal, but I can easily null it and hear WBZ just fine. There seems to be no pattern to whether or when they'll operat the AM signal at night. Can't say as I blame them, however., The translator covers their target audience better (ethnic Polish), much better than the AM.

Other: WGSF, a Spanish language station from Memphis, sometimes "forgets" to power down (from 50kw) and trashes WBZ, as well as WNVR (if they're on). Most recent occurance being about two hours before sunrise this morning.

Other location: At our beach location near Pensacola, A very weak KCTA from Corpus Christi, TX usually is able to make daytime hop across the Gulf....albeit barely. Very weak, but I've still been able to positively ID it,

 

[ZantennaG1]

Yay it's finally here!

From atop a hill in Cheyenne, WY...

Daytime: A weak KTWO comes in, and is readable once you get to the early afternoon.

Critical Hours/Evening: When KTWO switches to their westward pattern, I can detect Country music which ks either KBUF out of Garden City Kansas or KCWJ from Missouri.

Night: All KTWO, all the time, usually strong.

On the road: It has showed up in Rapid City, Sheridan, Gillette, and Estes Park at night. K2!

No WBZ yet

 

[gr8oldies]

East Tennessee: Daytime: Nothing but splatter from WJBE on 1030.
Sunrise/sunset: When WJBE was off the air, WNVR would have a strong signal on 1030 an hour or so before sunset. Night: mostly WBZ. Last night I checked and got Spanish, I have a feeling it was Memphis,, but KCTA is a possibility


Retro/other: WBZ was and is a constant nighttime presence everywhere I've lived. In Ohio, KCTA would sometimes make it in around sunset. I have heard WBZ at high noon in suburban Dayton, Ohio during the winter a couple of times. WBNN was a short-lived daytimer in Union City, IN/OH. The application was in the files for years as a Troy-licensed CP but never built there. WBNN had 180 watts of raw-savage power and I picked it up in Lafayette IN. WNVR paid the owners to shut it down so it could do its upgrade.

 

[MichaelTheZ]

Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: WNVR in Vernon Hills, IL, broadcasting in Polish.

Critical Hours: I've gotten WUFL in the Detroit before they go off the air at night.

Nighttime: WBZ Boston is the norm. A few days ago I got WNOW in the Charlotte NC area because they forgot to turn off at night. This might be the Spanish language station people have been hearing lately.

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago suburbs it's WNVR during the day. At night WNVR disappears and WBZ dominates with the strongest east coast signal at my location.
I've heard KCTA at critical hours before sunset and Memphis a few times also during evening critical hours.

 

[tvnut]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Day: WNVR Vernon Hills, which was 1 kW originally as "News Voice Radio." Can't pick up their night signal.

Night: WBZ Boston, which booms in beginning maybe 75 minutes before local sunset. Didn't understand why WBZ was so much stronger and sooner to appear than nearer KDKA or WHO until I found out about the voluntary directional array. Must be ERP of 80 kW or so coming my way. Others on occasion: KCTA Corpus Christi, Tex., KTWO Casper, Wyo., and WNOW Mint Hill, N.C., first in March and again the other night. Have never heard WUFL or WGSF, so there's a reason to park on 1030.

 

[K8PLW]

From 20 miles west of Detroit, MI:

Day: Local 5kw daytimer WUFL.
Critical Hours: WBZ begins to creep in, often an hour or two before WUFL goes off the air.

Night: Solid WBZ. I occasionally hear some other signals on the frequency, weak Spanish language programming. Assuming it may be WGSF on day power, but I've never been able to ID.

I've never heard KTWO here, although I haven't made a serious attempt for them.

 

[radioman148]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Day: WNVR Vernon Hills, which was 1 kW originally as "News Voice Radio." Can't pick up their night signal.

Night: WBZ Boston, which booms in beginning maybe 75 minutes before local sunset. Didn't understand why WBZ was so much stronger and sooner to appear than nearer KDKA or WHO until I found out about the voluntary directional array. Must be ERP of 80 kW or so coming my way. Others on occasion: KCTA Corpus Christi, Tex., KTWO Casper, Wyo., and WNOW Mint Hill, N.C., first in March and again the other night. Have never heard WUFL or WGSF, so there's a reason to park on 1030.

Back in the day I also didn't know why WBZ was so much stronger than the other east coast signals. Another one that is strong in the midwest is 1060 in Philly. When I first heard it the calls were WRCV.

 

[ZantennaG1]

Back in the day I also didn't know why WBZ was so much stronger than the other east coast signals. Another one that is strong in the midwest is 1060 in Philly. When I first heard it the calls were WRCV.

It is so unusual that WBZ uses a permanent directional pattern inwards for being a clear channel.

 

[radioman148]

It is so unusual that WBZ uses a permanent directional pattern inwards for being a clear channel.

Like WWL they wanted most of their signal to go over land. I think WNBC 660 did this also until many more people moved out on Long Island in the early 60s. The thing about WBZ is their signal still gets into Europe. During the winter months they can be heard on many of the SDRs from Iceland into the UK.

 

[davideduardo]

It is so unusual that WBZ uses a permanent directional pattern inwards for being a clear channel.

Not unusual, just practical; it puts more power over the market and less out over the ocean, becoming effectively more than 50 kw where the listeners are.

WWL in N'orlins does the same thing so as not to waste power over the Gulf.

 

[WCJ]

Orange County, TX, Nights at times a listenable WBZ mixed with Spanish language, Days KCTA.
Last few weeks the noise floor has been so high that DXing MW & SW has been almost impossible.

 

[wildthangjim]

In west Houston, KCTA puts in a local quality signal. After they're off for the night, it's a mix between KFAY Fayetteville, AR, WBZ, and XEQR.

In Tulsa in the early 70's 1030 was an interesting frequency, with WBZ, XEQR, and KTWO all in there at night, at least in the winter.

In the spring of 2017 on vacation on the west coast of Costa Rica, WBZ was the strongest US station I could hear, maybe an effect of their directional pattern and oceanside location?

 

[ZantennaG1]

Not unusual, just practical; it puts more power over the market and less out over the ocean, becoming effectively more than 50 kw where the listeners are.

WWL in N'orlins does the same thing so as not to waste power over the Gulf.

Sometimes I forget that there's 5000 mS/m in the ocean but no one around. Huh, I always thought WWL did that to protect Latin America, or something.

 

[cyberdad]

WBZ and WWL using directional antennas.....

Not unusual, just practical; it puts more power over the market and less out over the ocean, becoming effectively more than 50 kw where the listeners are.

WWL in N'orlins does the same thing so as not to waste power over the Gulf.

In the case of WBZ, the ground conductivity around Boston, like most of New England, is pretty bad. So directing more power away from the ocean and over land helps compensate for that. As it is, even with the extra push, WBZ's day signal barely makes it to the New York state border. Which, if memory serves, is about 125 miles. In most parts of th U.S. and Canada, 50kw on 1030 would do better than that. For many years, WBZ operated a 1kw booster in Springfield, MA. The FCC made them shut it down in the 1960s, when it ruled that the operation of WBZA was in violation of station ownership rules then in effect.

WWL's DA, OTOH, takes what would have already been a very good day signal along the Gulf of Mexico and turns it into a monster. Audible basically from Naples, FL to near Galveston, TX. Between that, and the ability to operate on generator power the result in times of emergency historically has been invaluable in a hurricane-prone area. A role WWL has always taken very seriously.

An example of the power of the WWL signal is that, where we vacation on the beach near Pensacola, Florida, WWL has one of the strongest....if not the strongest....signal on the local dial. From a distance of about 160 miles (via mostly saltwater path).

 

[ZantennaG1]

An example of the power of the WWL signal is that, where we vacation on the beach near Pensacola, Florida, WWL has one of the strongest....if not the strongest....signal on the local dial. From a distance of about 160 miles (via mostly saltwater path).

That is all very fascinating. It is unfortunate that the ground Conductivity isn't huge, in the east but at least you got those water paths. The plains states have some awesome GC's in the 20s and 30s, allowing a 5kw on 550 to go about 250 miles or more.

 

[cyberdad]

In my prior "life after radio," I had a major customer in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. "TRF" had (has) a station on gravweyard channel, 1230/KTRF. I also had customers in Winnipeg, which was 130 miles away. On those visits, KTRF/1230 typically during daytime would trip the scan button on a car radio as I drove around Winnipeg between appointments.

 

[ZantennaG1]

In my prior "life after radio," I had a major customer in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. "TRF" had (has) a station on gravweyard channel, 1230/KTRF. I also had customers in Winnipeg, which was 130 miles away. On those visits, KTRF/1230 typically during daytime would trip the scan button on a car radio as I drove around Winnipeg between appointments.

Sweet! Speaking of Winnipeg, how far does 990 CBW make it during daylight hours for you?

 

[cyberdad]

Sweet! Speaking of Winnipeg, how far does 990 CBW make it during daylight hours for you?

My usual biz trip run back during the 90s and 2000s was Minneapolis-Thief River Falls-Winnipeg. CBW's day signal along that route makes it to roughly the central part of Minnesota (around Little Falls). CJOB, the Winnipeg 680, is similar. Lower on the dial, but with a "mild" null to the south. Going directly south on I-29, both CBW and CJOB are listenable to the area around the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

 

[The New Chico]

Here in far NW WA state, KTWO dominates nights. Get KMAS (Shelton WA) very weekly days. Syndicated show host Delilah has purchased the dormant station where she got her start, and just got it back on the air Monday morning. 1030 KDUN (K-Dune) Reedsport on the central OR coast. Of course most of that signal goes out to sea on a ND 1 tower array, but will be curious if we get any leakage around sunset/sunrise up and down the left coast. Only 630 watts nights. K2 is a big night and winter dusk signal in these parts.