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AM Frequency of the Week 1630

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cyberdad

cyberdad

40 Miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Day. Occasionally KCJJ, Iowa City occasionally on daytime skip. More common in winter, but sometimes can happen during warm weather months.

Night: KCJJ usually with a good signal

Other location: This month KCJJ makes it to where I am near Pensacola, Florida about as often as not. Conditions this year have generally quite good. but I've also heard KCJJ hre in the past. Signal this year as in past years is usually weak, but listenable. I've also heard other weak signals on 1630, vut to this point, I haven't been able to ID them. ...Not that I;ve made much of an effort to do so. :)
 
East Tennessee: KCJJ can still make it some winter days and of course, nights. Other loggings were KKGM and the now-late WRDW. I had WRDW during the total solar eclipse as the totality went over Augusta. I'm thinking WRDW (or whatever the calls were) was the station that ran a continuous loop of information on Wild Adventures theme park at one time?

Retro/other: Not much different to report, other than KCJJ pretty much staying in all day during the winter in Ohio.
 
From west Houston, days is only slop from WTAW 1620. At sunset KKGM is usually solid w/Black Info Network. I also hear KCJJ at times. I also heard the former KRND in Wyoming when they were "La Jota Mexicana" but haven't heard them since they switched to religious programming.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

KCJJ Iowa City is the usual suspect here at night, but always pestered by the Midway Airport parking garage outlet, WQZM859, with transmitter atop the garage. It just makes it here, and can be heard from just southwest of the Loop. It's dominant with 10 watts for a mile or two around the airport with muddy audio and a loop that repeats every couple of minutes (with ID). This station used to be on 830 but was wiped out by WCCO at night and finally moved.

A new catch arrived last week, KKGM Fort Worth, Tex., thanks to great conditions around midnight, sometimes overriding both KCJJ and WQZM859, with the very identifiable Black Information Network.
 
Two IDed here on 1630, both late at night, both off the Lafayette HA600: (The GE SR2 didn't wanna go that high.)

KDIA Oakland CA -- date unk.
KCJJ Iowa, 12-3-99.

I also have KDIA logged on 1640, with the entry dated 2-10-98. I'll venture that 1640 was the newer one, after KDIA hauled its broadcast equipment all the way up the dial from 1630. Anyone know for certain?

@tv nut : That KKGM from Ft Worth sounds like an honorable pursuit for here in NEPA.

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

Daytime: WQHF741, the O'Hare International Airport TIS with solid signal.
Nighttime: KCJJ rules 1630 at night.

DX/Retro: besides the O'Hare TIS, the Midway Airport TIS was also heard. Way back in 1990's METRA used to operate bunch of TIS stations as well on this frequency. I used to hear the one in Roselle, IL quite well. They are still listed in the FCC database, but I have not heard them in a long time. KVAM (KKWY, KRND) used to be quite common and good way to log Wyoming, but I have not noted it in a while. Others on 1630 heard are KKGM (Ft. Worth, TX) when they they used to be KNAX, and two stations no longer broadcasting on 1630 kHz, WRDW (Augusta, GA) and KXBT (Vallejo, CA). WRDW left the air in 2019 and KXBT moved back to 1640 kHz where it originally started and is now KDIA.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
Two IDed here on 1630, both late at night, both off the Lafayette HA600: (The GE SR2 didn't wanna go that high.)

KDIA Oakland CA -- date unk.
KCJJ Iowa, 12-3-99.

I also have KDIA logged on 1640, with the entry dated 2-10-98. I'll venture that 1640 was the newer one, after KDIA hauled its broadcast equipment all the way up the dial from 1630. Anyone know for certain?

@tv nut : That KKGM from Ft Worth sounds like an honorable pursuit for here in NEPA.

Nice! My GE SR2 seems to have the same problem as yourS at the top end of the band...LOL!

When I was going to the west coast regularly on business trips....KDIA was a pretty easy catch more or less everywhere from Vancouver to San Diego, I never heard them at home in the Chicago area, however.​
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From what I recall in the beginning of the expanded band, KXBT started using 1640 in March of 1996. Shortly after that FCC released the initial expanded band assignments placing KXBT on 1630 with the station moving to this frequency. Then in 1997 FCC revised the list again and moving the station back to 1640.
 
Tyler, Texas:

Daytime yields a weak but audible signal from KKGM in Cow Town. BIN affiliate serving DFW.

Nights are a mystery to me. Never have I been able to sniff out KCJJ from up north, and I lose the signal from Ft. Worth when it powers down to 1kW. I have a mystery signal, in Spanish, that I can not get identified. Some nights it's there, some nights it isn't. I'm rather astonished with @wildthangjim 's report. On paper, KKGM's lobe seems to favor my QTH more than his. I must suffer from some cancelation effects as it makes its way down I-20. Interesting to read that it packs a solid night time signal into west Houston.
 
rosecitymedia said:
Tyler, Texas:

Daytime yields a weak but audible signal from KKGM in Cow Town. BIN affiliate serving DFW.

Nights are a mystery to me. Never have I been able to sniff out KCJJ from up north, and I lose the signal from Ft. Worth when it powers down to 1kW. I have a mystery signal, in Spanish, that I can not get identified. Some nights it's there, some nights it isn't. I'm rather astonished with @wildthangjim 's report. On paper, KKGM's lobe seems to favor my QTH more than his. I must suffer from some cancelation effects as it makes its way down I-20. Interesting to read that it packs a solid night time signal into west Houston.
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Note that I said "At sunset KKGM is usually solid w/Black Info Network". At night KKGM is much weaker but still there. In fact, they were much stronger at night a year ago than now. Not sure if that's something to do w/the transmitter or just related to the generally inferior conditions this season.

I would be interested in hearing if you ID the Spanish station. I think I've read of receptions of Radio Elohim in El Salvador with preaching in Spanish. With the apparent auroral conditions this week, might be a good time to try for this.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Normally nothing. I did hear KKGM once in 2019 during daytime skywave (in August, no less) back when it played southern gospel music.

Sunset: KKGM comes up strong.

Night: KKGM is still strong but subject to brief groundwave/skywave cancellation fades. Occasionally I'll hear KCJJ in Iowa City underneath. Less often I'll hear a very weak KFBU (formerly KVAM and KRND) in Fox Farm, WY, underneath when aiming NW/SE (which weakens KKGM a bit).

Sunrise: Similar to nighttime with KCJJ popping up more often until KKGM goes to day power/pattern.

DX/Retro: I caught XEUT "UABC Radio" a few times at night before it was retired.
 
Northeast Essex, NJ. Used to be a weak TIS station from Clifton. Had community updates then turned into NOAA weather around 10 years ago. As of now, I believe it is off air
 
Correcting something posted Feb. 27: The Chicag Midway Airport parking barker on 1630 used to be on 860, not 830. It was CJCL that wiped it out, not WCCO. So much for relying on memory rather than my log. Carry on.
 
tvnut said:
Correcting something posted Feb. 27: The Chicag Midway Airport parking barker on 1630 used to be on 860, not 830. It was CJCL that wiped it out, not WCCO. So much for relying on memory rather than my log. Carry on.
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I remember hearing the Midway Airport and O'Hare Airport TIS testing on 870 kHz in 1995 and than moving to 800 kHz in 1996/1997. Not sure exactly when they moved to the current 1630 kHz frequency, but my first log of them on 1630 is in 2007.
 
CADXER said:
I remember hearing the Midway Airport and O'Hare Airport TIS testing on 870 kHz in 1995 and than moving to 800 kHz in 1996/1997. Not sure exactly when they moved to the current 1630 kHz frequency, but my first log of them on 1630 is in 2007.
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So they’ve been all over the dial. Seems like 1630 is the best spot for them. KCJJ is there at night but not to the extent of a 50 kW blowtorch.
 
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