AM Frequency of the week: 910

[cyberdad]

Busy Holiday Weekend, so I thought I'd sneak in here a day earlier than usual while I have the chance. A reminder to any newcomers here, that our current series is focused on what used to the the class 3 (regional) channels>

40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Days: On a really good radio, or on many car radios in an open, noise free area, 910 usually brings up a VERY weak WSUI. 5kw non-directional (days) from Iowa City. The University of Iowa Public radio station. (aka "The Big Pig")

Nights; WSUI sometimes sneaks in on night pattern (4kw), As does WGTO from Cassopolis, MI (Presumably if owner Larry Langford forgets to power down). WFDF from suburban Detroit is more common. But as a practical matter, 910 is usually a mess.

Sunrise/Sunset: Either the beginning or the end of daylight used to be a good time to hear KLCN from Blytheville, Arkansas. But I haven't heard that one ffor quite a while. I think the last time I heard KLCN it was a 5kw non-directional daytimer. I'm not sure what they're running these days.

 

[The New Chico]

Cyberdad, looks like they surrendered the license for KLCN back in 2018.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Daytimes, I'm sort of equidistant from Scranton and York PA, but not co-linear with them, so there is a capacity to null each somewhat. Both WSBA and WGBI are pretty weak.

Nighttimes I'm still sort of equidistant from Scranton and York. The only true night catch so far has been CKLY from Ontario. They sent just a wee back-pattern nub this way when they were on 910.

One SSS -- and with a nice taped ID -- there was an old favourite from back in the Queens NYC days. We had visited WRKL once, when they originally originated from two trailers in Rockland County. We kiddingly discussed getting a truck with a hitch and haulng the entire station back home. There ensured some discussion about the problems of dragging WRKL and its two sputtering towers down the Palisades Parkway and trying to sneak them through the George Washington Bridge toll.

One other retro note : A non-DXing guy in our group once, idly, tried out this 'DX stuff' on his family's kitchen radio. The next day Moose was baffled, telling us he head WMCA in the middle of the dial. And he was confused why the station kept saying 'York' instead of 'New York'.

 

[cyberdad]

Cyberdad, looks like they surrendered the license for KLCN back in 2018.

Thanks for the update. Certainly explains why I don't hear it anymore.

 

[schmave]

Very little around Columbus, Ohio. In some parts of town, it's slop from local WMNI on 920 where its very directional signal is strong enough to spill over.

 

[TXPH97]

DFW, Texas

Local KATH 24/7 with Catholic programming. In a very slight null, I can hear WUBR Baton Rouge in Spanish. Once, with KATH running an open carrier, I was able to hear KNAF Fredericksburg, TX with Country music.

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago suburbs daytime if anything I hear a very weak WGTO. At night it used to be WSBA most often, but now a mess with sometimes WFDF rising to the top. I did hear KLCN a few times years ago.

 

[wildthangjim]

In west Houston, daytime is slop from locals KREH 900 and KYST 920. At sunset, when KREH and KYST drop power, I've heard KATH, KNAF, and KRIO from McAllen. At night it's a jumble with KNAF and KRIO most often heard. I've also heard Radio Metropolitana from Havana on occasion. I've never heard WUBR Baton Rouge.

 

[ZantennaG1]

From Cheyenne Wyoming:
It is KPOF Denver (just over 100 miles) day and night. During the day, the signal is moderate, and much to my suprise, my home HD radio nearly locked on to it. When I had that rental vehicle, it did lock on. At night, I think it gets slightly weaker.

Travel:
I have been close to the KPOF transmitter recently. Otherwise, the daytime signal is okay but staticky in Estes Park, and it is relatively strong in Fort Collins.

There is noticeable splatter in Rapid City, but I've been able to just barely null the splatter from 920 to get KCJB Minot. Capser and Scottsbluff, I couldn't recieve anything. I did try for the 910 in Billings whilst in Sheridan, but no luck. I suspect I would've recieved it in a less noisy environment, since I already snagged 730 and 790 with armchair copy.

During the Night, KPOF steps up to the plate for most my travels.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Does anyone here get or has gotten that 910 tone from 2 times 455 ?

Local WQXR 1560 New York put a since signal (with some whistle) onto 650.
In North Bergen NJ, WWRL 1600 was found easily on 690.
I've heard 'local' stations on the local channel 1490 which put a listnable signal on 580.

Word was that it was the 455 kHz intermidiate frequency that caused this effefct in certain radios. And some real good DX receivers had the same security lapse. As kids we could never figure out why omni super-local WCBS had a faint signal on 850. That was off an immaulate Atwater-Kent.
One of the crew did some math. 880 X 2 = 1760. Subtract 910 from 1760? Volia! 850.

I'm certainly no whiz at electronics. But I read something about manufacturers or engineers changing that 455 kHz to something else.

 

[ZantennaG1]

Does anyone here get or has gotten that 910 tone from 2 times 455 ?

Local WQXR 1560 New York put a since signal (with some whistle) onto 650.
In North Bergen NJ, WWRL 1600 was found easily on 690.
I've heard 'local' stations on the local channel 1490 which put a listnable signal on 580.

Word was that it was the 455 kHz intermidiate frequency that caused this effefct in certain radios. And some real good DX receivers had the same security lapse. As kids we could never figure out why omni super-local WCBS had a faint signal on 850. That was off an immaulate Atwater-Kent.
One of the crew did some math. 880 X 2 = 1760. Subtract 910 from 1760? Volia! 850.

I'm certainly no whiz at electronics. But I read something about manufacturers or engineers changing that 455 kHz to something else.

I will have to try this at home! It's talked about in this video, and the comment section as a joy:

 

[gr8oldies]

East Tennessee: A weak signal from Cumulus News-Talker WJCW, which amazingly enough, doesn't have a translator. Night, a mess. I checked last night and a Spanish language station was dominating, with a station in the background carrying a replay of Hannity at 2am EDT.

Dayton, Ohio: Long time Middletown AM WPFB , 1000 watts day, 100 night and they've been grandfathered in at that power for many decades. Night: I have caught WJCW there in their Southern Gospel days.

I remember the weak daytime signal from WSUI in Quincy, IL

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

WSUI 910 moved to a TL further South, and under the Ratchet Clause had to reduce power to 4000 ((0.9^2)X5000=4050~4000) watts Night to reduce 10% toward KCJB Minot.

I'm surprised no one reported 1000 watt DA-1 KGLC/KVIS Miami, OK. Their pattern is about equivalent to 5000 watts to the ENE and WSW.

I never heard WFDF when it was 5/1 U3 near NWC/ORD. I heard KGLC, very strong. I heard WFDF once with the old facility in Benton Harbor. I heard it in the Racine Kenosha area at Night a few years ago. WFDF booms in near Pellston with 50/25 U4, the second strongest skywave there Nights, more than any Class A, WMVP and WCKY would probably be next strongest. It's about equal to WWJ before Sunset, and about 70 percent of WWJ Nights. Skywave peaks around 7 mV/m Night, 10 mV/m right before pattern change. WWJ peaks at around 10 mV/m Night.

 

[The New Chico]

Does anyone here get or has gotten that 910 tone from 2 times 455 ?

Local WQXR 1560 New York put a since signal (with some whistle) onto 650.
In North Bergen NJ, WWRL 1600 was found easily on 690.
I've heard 'local' stations on the local channel 1490 which put a listnable signal on 580.

Word was that it was the 455 kHz intermidiate frequency that caused this effefct in certain radios. And some real good DX receivers had the same security lapse. As kids we could never figure out why omni super-local WCBS had a faint signal on 850. That was off an immaulate Atwater-Kent.
One of the crew did some math. 880 X 2 = 1760. Subtract 910 from 1760? Volia! 850.

I'm certainly no whiz at electronics. But I read something about manufacturers or engineers changing that 455 kHz to something else.

Back when KIXI Seattle was on 910, announcers occasionally called out the tone as the "KIXI Whistle." Moving to 880 and bumping the power a lot solved that problem of course, along with a few others. And, yes, the more perceptive would see IXI as "sort of" 91 in Roman numerals. Sort of.

 

[wildthangjim]

Does anyone here get or has gotten that 910 tone from 2 times 455 ?

When I lived in Tulsa in the 70's, 910 KGLC (then) was very strong day and night but unlistenable due to the whistle, very strong on my old Realistic TRF radio (this one: https://radiojayallen.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/1970.jpg )

On my Sony ICF-SW7600GR I currently get a strong image on 650 from local 1560 KGOW. Very annoying when I'm trying to catch KMTI or KGAB in the morning before KIKK sign on.

 

[Ke4kls]

Daytime - In Huntsville AL, a weak but audible WEPG in South Pittsburg, TN.

Nighttime - a hodgepodge of signals, need to spend some time on this frequency to pull some of these signals out.

For 910 khz, is this still an issue with radios tuned to this frequency, as it is double the IF of most radios that use 455 khz, or is there better receiver design that avoids the interference?

 

[ente]

South Mississippi:

Day: nothing
Night: mostly WMOG Meridian, MS "Praise 95.9 and 910 AM-Meridian's Gospel Connection", and sometimes WUBR Baton Rouge (Regional Mexican)

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Some digitally tuned radios used 450 kHz and the whistle would have been on 900 kHz, but you didn't hear it because of the PLL oscillator. Before 1941, 910 kHz was only used in Canada, and it moved to 940 kHz. Radio repair technicians would sometimes change the IF frequency to avoid this. Delco and other car radios used a 262 kHz IF frequency. The TRF section was apparently very good, as I don't remember any image issues. The whistle would have been at around 525 kHz, below 540 kHz.

 

[gr8oldies]

Back when KIXI Seattle was on 910, announcers occasionally called out the tone as the "KIXI Whistle." Moving to 880 and bumping the power a lot solved that problem of course, along with a few others. And, yes, the more perceptive would see IXI as "sort of" 91 in Roman numerals. Sort of.

I had that whistle on WPFB all the time on older portables

 

[davideduardo]

I'm surprised no one reported 1000 watt DA-1 KGLC/KVIS Miami, OK. Their pattern is about equivalent to 5000 watts to the ENE and WSW.

My-ah-muh, Oklahoma was a frequent post-sunset signal in Cleveland, Ohio, when I DXed from there in the very early 60's.