Perdido Key, Florida Daytime Bandscan Highlights February 2022 - Part 3

[cyberdad]

The herd sort of thins when you get to the upper end of the dial......

1180: R. Rebelde Cuba Fair
1190: WMEJ Bay St, Louis, MS Fair 5kw 115 miles (saltwatrer path)
1230: WDWR Pensacola, 1kw Fair-weak 16 miles (land path)
1230: WBOK New Orleans 1kw weak under WDWR 160 miles (salt water)
1250: WHNZ Tampa Weak 25kw 330 miles (salt water)
1260: WFTW Fort Walton Beach, FL 5kw 49 mi fair-good (salt water
1280: WODT New Orleans 5kw fair
1310: WHEP Foley, AL 5kw fair-weak (land path) 16mi
1330 : WEBY Milton, FL (Pensacola) 25kw 26 mi good (land path...mostly)
1340: WTAN Clearwater FL - 1kw weak (and alone) This one amazes me
1350: WWWL New Orleans 5kw fair-weak
1360: WMOB: Mobile 9kw 38 miles fair-weak (salt water) One source shows this as silent, but I've been hearing religion on 1360. So I'll investigate/
1370: WCOA Pensacola 5kw fair-good (land path) 21mi
1380: WWMI St. Petersburg, FL 9.8kw - weak (ex WLCY)
1410: WNGL Mobile, AL 5kw weak 49mi
1450: WBSR Pensacola 1kw weak 21 mi
1620: WNRP Gulf Breeze, FL (Pensacola) 10kw fair 23 mi

 

[PTBoardOp94]

1360: WMOB: Mobile 9kw 38 miles fair-weak (salt water) One source shows this as silent, but I've been hearing religion on 1360. So I'll investigate

WMOB filed for silent authority in December. The owner of the station died in 2017. His widow apparently planned to shut the stations down for good in November 2020 (https://radioinsight.com/headlines/201586/pair-of-mobile-ams-to-cease-operations/). Their return to the air (briefly?) in 2021 appears to be unreported on, and the licensee's web site is years out of date.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Just a few muses and memories, CyberDad and others ......

WDAE was on 1250 for the longest while. Now I'm a rock-n-roller, but they were the station I listened to most back then. WFLA 970 and WSUN 620 were similar A/C formetting. WDAE was so directional away from the north at night that I wound up hearing them exactly ONCE up in Queens NYC, very faint.

WLCY 1380 was a frequent Sunday morning catch around sunrise, despite it having a signal very similar to WDAE 1250's. NYC's two share-time stations on 1380 always seemed to have problems getting their shoelaces and wiring untangled at the time of any switches between transmitter sites.

WTAN 1340 had a small but beautiful standalone building and tower right on a cove at the bay in Clearwater. Here's that N8FM map of 1340. It might require some magnification and adjusting.

http://nf8m.com/pattern_maps/current/DAYTIME-UNLIMITED/DAYTIME-UNLIMITED_1340KHz-1.html

Is 1470 Tarpon Springs FL still on the air?

Earlier notes from your first bandscan, Cyber :
No WVLG 640 from Lady Lake / Wildwood FL? They do put a salty tongue into the Gulf.
WRZN 720 Hernando came into the Folks' place in The Villages 'okay'. Back in the Nineties they'd make the lower end of the Gainesville-Ocala ratings with their older-line approach to the Standards. And they used to sign off at 10 PM! That couldn't have anything to do with Chicago's WGN, where they don't have sunset at 9:00.
WSUN 620 also was another overnight 'regular', faint but steady with local WVNJ having signed off.

As ever, fine and memorable bandscan lists! Very welcomed palm-tree / hammock / martini stuff with Spring five weeks away.

 

[cyberdad]

Thanks, Steve. Let's take 'em one at a time (as best I can)......

WDAE: I remember them on 1250. But not much else about them.

WLCY: I remember them as top 40. I knew a guy in college from Chicago
,but his family moved to Tampa. He used to bring casettes of WLCY back to school with him after breaks. I thought it sounded really good.

WTAN: The map is right in line with my own experiences. Hugs to the Gulf coast all the way to the Alabama-Mississippi border. But doesn't go inland. Still, it's an impressive GY channel signal any way you look at it.

Tarpon Springs 1470: I'm not aware of it being on, but I'll check it out. Off the top of my head 1470, daytime is pretty empty here (on the beach). I've made a couple of tries for WMBD at night since I've been here, but so far no trace of it.

WVCG: No trace of it here. 640 here is usually all R. Progreso 24/7, but sometimes during daytime, I hear KTIB underneath it. KTIB here was actually more reliable (albeit weak) when they were on 630,

WRZN: The current incarnation of that particular 720 is audible here daytime. But only barely. In Ocala, the day signal is good. The night signal is lousy and subject to getting blown out by WGN (and previously Cuba).

WSUN/WDAE: The day signal is audible all the way to New Orleans. I've listened to it for the entire distance of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. 23 miles. Once off the bridge and back on terra firma, it fades in a hurry and WJDX (Jackson, MS) takes over

 

[WCJ]

Thanks, Steve. Let's take 'em one at a time (as best I can)......

WDAE: I remember them on 1250. But not much else about them.

WLCY: I remember them as top 40. I knew a guy in college from Chicago
,but his family moved to Tampa. He used to bring casettes of WLCY back to school with him after breaks. I thought it sounded really good.

WTAN: The map is right in line with my own experiences. Hugs to the Gulf coast all the way to the Alabama-Mississippi border. But doesn't go inland. Still, it's an impressive GY channel signal any way you look at it.

Tarpon Springs 1470: I'm not aware of it being on, but I'll check it out. Off the top of my head 1470, daytime is pretty empty here (on the beach). I've made a couple of tries for WMBD at night since I've been here, but so far no trace of it.

WVCG: No trace of it here. 640 here is usually all R. Progreso 24/7, but sometimes during daytime, I hear KTIB underneath it. KTIB here was actually more reliable (albeit weak) when they were on 630,

WRZN: The current incarnation of that particular 720 is audible here daytime. But only barely. In Ocala, the day signal is good. The night signal is lousy and subject to getting blown out by WGN (and previously Cuba).

WSUN/WDAE: The day signal is audible all the way to New Orleans. I've listened to it for the entire distance of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. 23 miles. Once off the bridge and back on terra firma, it fades in a hurry and WJDX (Jackson, MS) takes over

Orange County, TX

Any chance the 1360 you are hearing could be KWWJ, Baytown, TX with a mostly gospel format. There is a saltwater path toward you with their 1K DA nighttime pattern.

 

[cyberdad]

Orange County, TX

Any chance the 1360 you are hearing could be KWWJ, Baytown, TX with a mostly gospel format. There is a saltwater path toward you with their 1K DA nighttime pattern.

Possible, but I sort of doubt it. Unless it could have made it here via daytime skywave, The only Texas stations that I've heard here on more than one occasion have been KLVI, KTRH, and KCTA. All of which are barely audible when they're even present at all. I will, however, try to get a handle on what I heard on 1360. The channel was all but empty yesterday at mid-day. Which actually tells me that what I heard could have indeed been daytime skywave from somewhere.

 

[cyberdad]

Is 1470 Tarpon Springs FL still on the air?

I was out running an errand yesterday around 3pm CST. My route included 5 miles through an open, noise-free area directly on the Gulf. So I decided to check 1470. Absolutely empty. Not a whiff of anything. So I guess that 1470 in Tarpon Springs is probably off. If it were on, it likely could have made the saltwater path hop.

 

[radioman148]

Possible, but I sort of doubt it. Unless it could have made it here via daytime skywave, The only Texas stations that I've heard here on more than one occasion have been KLVI, KTRH, and KCTA. All of which are barely audible when they're even present at all. I will, however, try to get a handle on what I heard on 1360. The channel was all but empty yesterday at mid-day. Which actually tells me that what I heard could have indeed been daytime skywave from somewhere.

Are you ever able to hear KTRH via groundwave mid day? When I used to go to New Orleans often KTRH could be heard with a steady signal during the day when there were no T-Storms. Granted I was closer, but you're on the water.

 

[gr8oldies]

WLCY would make it into Ohio during the top 40 days, along with WMEE, Fort Wayne (whose night pattern missed us), WAOK Atlanta and a few others. It was my only Florida catch for years

 

[cyberdad]

Are you ever able to hear KTRH via groundwave mid day? When I used to go to New Orleans often KTRH could be heard with a steady signal during the day when there were no T-Storms. Granted I was closer, but you're on the water.

Here at the place where I'm staying, It's normally been WMSP from Montgomery. Very weak, but with another signal underneath which presumably is KTRH. There are also beachfront state parks about 2-3 miles from me in either direction. Alabama and Florida respectively each of those is well away from buildings and other noise sources. At both state parks, about 4-5 years ago with what's left of WMSP nulled, I was able to positively ID KTRH. As for New Orleans, there's now a 250-watt local on 750. But before that came on, I used to hear KTRH on the Lakr Ponchartrain Causeway with a good car radio.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I was out running an errand yesterday around 3pm CST. My route included 5 miles through an open, noise-free area directly on the Gulf. So I decided to check 1470. Absolutely empty. Not a whiff of anything. So I guess that 1470 in Tarpon Springs is probably off. If it were on, it likely could have made the saltwater path hop.

To get nit picky here.. 1470 is licensed to egypt lake 18 miles from tarpon springs
And WMGG 1470 is HD only.. there is no analog... if you dont have an HD radio, youll hear nothing... or if it doesnt decode, youll hear.. nothing

 

[radioman148]

Here at the place where I'm staying, It's normally been WMSP from Montgomery. Very weak, but with another signal underneath which presumably is KTRH. There are also beachfront state parks about 2-3 miles from me in either direction. Alabama and Florida respectively each of those is well away from buildings and other noise sources. At both state parks, about 4-5 years ago with what's left of WMSP nulled, I was able to positively ID KTRH. As for New Orleans, there's now a 250-watt local on 750. But before that came on, I used to hear KTRH on the Lakr Ponchartrain Causeway with a good car radio.

I think it's safe to say the KTRH ground wave gets out along the gulf coast.

 

[WCJ]

Here at the place where I'm staying, It's normally been WMSP from Montgomery. Very weak, but with another signal underneath which presumably is KTRH. There are also beachfront state parks about 2-3 miles from me in either direction. Alabama and Florida respectively each of those is well away from buildings and other noise sources. At both state parks, about 4-5 years ago with what's left of WMSP nulled, I was able to positively ID KTRH. As for New Orleans, there's now a 250-watt local on 750. But before that came on, I used to hear KTRH on the Lakr Ponchartrain Causeway with a good car radio.

At night have you tried 550 for KTSA as they are directional east?

 

[cyberdad]

At night have you tried 550 for KTSA as they are directional east?

The noise level here is higher at the low end of the dial, but I'll see if I can mitigate some of that noise and give it a try. I am able to null some of the noise and get R. Enciclopedia on 530, so I'll give KTSA a shot. East-west may be harder to null, however.

To get nit picky here.. 1470 is licensed to egypt lake 18 miles from tarpon springs
And WMGG 1470 is HD only.. there is no analog... if you dont have an HD radio, youll hear nothing... or if it doesnt decode, youll hear.. nothing

I don't have a digital radio, so to paraphrase Judge Smales from the ,movie Caddyshack, I'll have to be content to "get nothing....and like it",

 

[cyberdad]

At night have you tried 550 for KTSA as they are directional east?

I tried 550 this morning at around 4:30am CST. I heard a couple of unidentifiable weak signals, but nothing strong enough to rise on top. The noise I'm hearing at the very low end of the dial didn't help matters. As posted previously, I was able to remove about 90% of the noise I had been hearing here by disconnecting a lamp. But there;s another noise source persisting on the very bottom of the AM dial, and so far I haven't been able to track it down.

 

[cyberdad]

Orange County, TX

Any chance the 1360 you are hearing could be KWWJ, Baytown, TX with a mostly gospel format. There is a saltwater path toward you with their 1K DA nighttime pattern.

I've at least solved the mystery of religious programming on 1360 nighttime. It turns out to be WQVN from Miami. I heard it this morning with a TOH positive ID at 5am CST. Signal was good. R-L and Canada/US station lookup page list it as ethnic, but what I was hearing was in English. Distance 544 miles. Probably on 9.3kw non-directional daytime power.

 

[gr8oldies]

I tried 550 this morning at around 4:30am CST. I heard a couple of unidentifiable weak signals, but nothing strong enough to rise on top. The noise I'm hearing at the very low end of the dial didn't help matters. As posted previously, I was able to remove about 90% of the noise I had been hearing here by disconnecting a lamp. But there;s another noise source persisting on the very bottom of the AM dial, and so far I haven't been able to track it down.

550-WAYR (Fleming Island) Jacksonville would make it to Dayton, Ohio under WKRC fairly often with day facilities at night in the late 90s.

 

[ZantennaG1]

As posted previously, I was able to remove about 90% of the noise I had been hearing here by disconnecting a lamp.

Yay!

But there;s another noise source persisting on the very bottom of the AM dial, and so far I haven't been able to track it down.

Grrrr.......
At least there is this fascinating article: https://radiojayallen.com/combatting-am-and-sw-interference/

 

[cyberdad]

Grrrr.......
At least there is this fascinating article: https://radiojayallen.com/combatting-am-and-sw-interference/

Great article. I already tried most of the solutions. I'll keep after it, but I'm at the point where I think my problem on the lower end of the AM band probably resides somewhere outside of the condo I'm in. At least it only affects and handful of frequencies.