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AM Frequency of the week: 1540

cyberdad

cyberdad

40-ish miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Days: Mostly blank. KXEL sometimes sneaks in on daytime skywave. On rare occasions, CHIN makes it in. Either alone or under KXEL.

Nights: KXEL usually blasts in. One of the best skywave signals at my location.

Sunrise/Sunset: CHIN sometimes is strong enough to briefly take over the channel, but this is quite rare.

Other Location: Here where I am at the beach on the Florida-Alabama state line, 1540 is basically empty during the day. At night, ZNS usually turns up, but typically when it does, the signal is quite weak. KXEL is usually absent, but I have heard it a handful of times.

Retro: WPTR was always on my wish list. I'm pretty sure I did hear it two or three times under KXEL, but could never confirm it.
 
Ah yes, 1540. So from North Cheyenne, WY:
Daytime: Nothing.
Sunset: Often times, KXEL Waterloo (I'm about 600 miles away from them) will make a Daytime visit, and it is usually the first to pop up when nighttime rolls in. I can occasionally hear something underneath that I can't identify.
Nighttime: Full blown KXEL, and it is in my top 5 strongest skywave signals just below KSTP, KFAB, and KRVN. This is a signal that has been recorded very far and wide, apparently even Juneau!.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs: days empty unless there's daytime skywave. At night all KXEL strong.
I've also heard CHIN, but never WPTR.
KXEL comes in sometimes on the Arctic and Iceland SDRs in winter when conditions are good.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: WLOI in LaPorte, IN can come in decently right on the lake, but it fades quickly if you go inland.
Critical Hours: Sometimes CHIN in Toronto is heard, and also some days KXEL starts coming in pretty early.
Nighttime: Consistent listenable KXEL
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Days: WLOI LaPorte, Ind., is there occasionally if I work at it. But not there today.

Nights: KXEL Waterloo, Iowa, dominates.

Critical Hours: Now the fun begins. The best time to get WLOI. Along the way, CHIN Toronto, WAOM Decatur, Ill., WSMI Litchfield, Ill., and WCBK Martinsville, Ind., have popped in, the latter three 250- to 1,000-watt daytimers. Special mention: 10-kW daytimer WKVQ Eatonton, Ga., creaking in overnight on 3/30/2021 at 1540.19 with a hetrodyning dead carrier.
 
My younger days were in SE Iowa about 80 miles due south of the KXEL site which put us in the null of their pattern at night. It was weak but readable. Even fifty years ago it seemed KXEL ran paid religion in the evening hours. (As a kid I mistakenly thought KXEL was a 50,000 watt daytimer...now w/KAAY's proposed cutback to 80 watts at night, it might not be much longer for KXEL to make a similar move)
 
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Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: usually nothing, but KXEL and CHIN have been heard in the past during winter. Also WLOI, but not lately.
Nightime: KXEL with solid signal, but CHIN occasionally makes to the top easily identified by the ethnic programming.

DX/RETRO: ZNS1 Bahamas heard couple of times but it's not an easy catch. Used to be reported a lot more back in the 70's and 80's in the Midwest. Others heard on this frequency are KHND (Harvey, ND), KGBC (Galveston, TX), KNNT (Kennett, MO), KEDA (San Antonio, TX), WZAL (Mc Donough, GA on DX Test), , WPTR (Albany, NY), WMBC (Martinsville, IN), WSMI (Litchfield, IL), WABQ (Cleveland, OH), WBRY (Woodbury, TN). In recent months a station was putting a nasty het on 1540. According to reports it's WKVQ Eatonton, GA.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
My younger days were in SE Iowa about 80 miles due south of the KXEL site which put us in the null of their pattern at night. It was weak but readable. Even fifty years ago it seemed KXEL ran paid religion in the evening hours. (As a kid I mistakenly thought KXEL was a 50,000 watt daytimer...)
Click to expand...
Yes, that's correct, KXEL ran paid religion (I particularly remember Southwest Radio Church, where the speaker didn't yell, but spoke in a staccato cadence about the second coming "and this (news item) is another sign that the rapture is occuring soon", I seem to remember them running some white supremacist stuff too.
 
East Tennessee: Daytime: Nothing unless WKVQ, Eatonton GA and its het makes it in. I have noted the het being gone a few times, but checked on the Athens GA receiver and it was off the air. WKVQ was on the air today, het and al.
Night: KXEL and CHIN.
EXTRA: On Eclipse Day in August 2017, KXEL was my first "out of the ordinary" station of the day (this whole event was like the sun rising from west to east.
Retro/other: In Western Ohio, KXEL was another indicator of daytime skip. Before the Tustin, MI SDR'ws AM reception was disabled, I caught KXEL pretty much full blast around 12noon Eastern.
 
From DFW, Texas:
  • Daytime: Nothing since local KZMP (University Park, TX) went off the air in early December.
  • Sunset/Nighttime: KEDA (San Antonio, TX) strong with Tejano music. Mostly Spanish with some ads in English.
  • Sunrise: Still KEDA mainly, but KGBC (Galveston, TX) is sometimes heard and will often give ID in English at day pattern change. XESTN (Monterrey, NL) also makes an appearance.
  • Heard once: KXEL (Waterloo, IA) late afternoon, before pattern change weakly under KEDA. KMPC (Los Angeles, CA) early morning with distinctive Korean while KEDA was running an open carrier. KDYN (Ozark, AR) at 10:00pm one night in KEDA null, listed as 1 watt, but most likely on day power.
 
Moses Lake, WA
Daytime: If anything, very weak KXPA Bellevue/Seattle
Nighttime: KXPA is dominant, although on good nights KXEL Waterloo might take over like it did last night
 
West Houston, daytime is KGBC Galveston, with KEDA often audible underneath. Sunset, KEDA gets stronger, but still mixing w/KGBC. KXEL is an occasional catch, but overall a noisy frequency here. There is also a fairly strong buzz on this frequency, maybe someone off-frequency or having transmitter trouble?
 
wildthangjim said:
West Houston, daytime is KGBC Galveston, with KEDA often audible underneath. Sunset, KEDA gets stronger, but still mixing w/KGBC. KXEL is an occasional catch, but overall a noisy frequency here. There is also a fairly strong buzz on this frequency, maybe someone off-frequency or having transmitter trouble?
Click to expand...
That's WKVQ, Eatonton GA which is off frequency
 
I'm near Seattle-Tacoma. Mostly local KXPA, which is a brokered station. They play a little bit of everything, Spanish language, Asian and Russian language programs, sometimes Classic Hits and Standards late nights, and recently I've heard a lot of Brother Stair latenights.

In KXPA's very tight null I can hear KXEL if DX is up. On good nights it will be stong enough to be readable.
 
Only three 1540 stations have been logged here for quite some time in the 'new' digs.

'WNWR' from Philadelphia was, I imagine, the weak daytime occupant. That must've been in a WMBT 1530 null, I figure. WMBT's stick was about 5 miles N of our house.

WPTR and KXEL at night. That's the lot.

Retro question : Back in Queens NYC, The Old Country, ZNS Bahamas was a tough haul. And I always remember them being really low audio. Even when I was in Florida vacationing, ZNS' s signal and sound wasn't great. Does anyone know if they eventually were told about processing ?

(@ Gr8 Oldies and others : True about those higher-band stations having thrown in the towel. Only since I've moved out here, and within range of 'here', 1290, 1450, 1530 and 1590-ers have become silent.)
 
Honolulu or Los angeles for me.. but i have to check the stream, as both are korean and sound alike
 
Pickerington, Ohio ...
Nothing daytime and usually a solid KXEL at night.
When I was a kid and up into the 1990s anyway, 1540 was WNRJ from Circleville, about 25 miles south of me. I can't remember the format or when it went off the air, but I think it was around 1994. I think it was a daytimer. Those call letters now are on 103.9 FM in Vienna, West Virginia, about two hours southeast of Columbus.
 
Carmichael, CA

Daytime: Slop from KFBK Sacramento
Nighttime: Weak KMPC. Los Angeles within the slop

In Vallejo

Daytime: Weak Slop from KFBK Sacramento
Nightime: Weak KMPC Los Angeles
 
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