AM Frequency of the Week 650

[cyberdad]

40 Miles northwest of Downtown Chicago......

Days. Almost always blank. WSM very rarely on skywave.

Nights: All WSM all the time. Usually with a good signal. I spent many years trying for KORL from Honolulu. No luck, but I know others around hear have heard it.

Sunrise/sunset: Occasionally WNMT from the Iron range of Northern Minnesota sneaks in.

 

[Deleted member 108832]

Tyler TX:

Daytime yields nothing, although I have caught daytimer KIKK Pasadena (then) "CBS Sports Radio 650" at night, on a couple of rare occasions when the sign off didn't occur during the CBS/Entercom days.

Nights is always WSM Nashville, in varying strengths.

 

[wildthangjim]

In west Houston during the day it's local KIKK (now known as The Bet 650). After they go off for the night, 650 is a tough frequency for me. I can hear WSM well while in the car but at home a combination of a local QRM source (possibly from the power pole in my neighbor's back yard) and a spurious signal from local 1560 KGOW make it hard to even hear WSM.

 

[gr8oldies]

Nothing too exciting.
East Tennessee: Days-a weak WSM. Nights, a stronger WSM and sometimes the Cuban.

 

[formula72]

From South San Jose, California

Days..Strong to moderate 21.4kW KSTE out of Sacramento.

Nights...A weak 920 watt KSTE with a hint of 900 watt KMTI out of Utah making an appearance ever so often.

Unfortunately, no sign of 50kW WSM here in California! Like I have said in another post, those of you who can pick up WSM, you are blessed with a wonderful station. Long live WSM on AM 650.

 

[Deleted member 108832]

a spurious signal from local 1560 KGOW make it hard to even hear WSM.

A quick sidebar for you, Jim. Is KGOW on reduced power or something? Used to blast into east Texas after the 2007 upgrade. Nowadays, it's rather hard to receive a signal from 1560, day or night.

 

[dlf1]

During the day in Canyon Lake a weak KIKK from Houston. Around sunset and just after is a reliable signal from WSM; as it gets darker, WSM fades into the mush. Close to sunrise, WSM returns before giving way to KIKK. A few months ago, I did log KGAB from Cheyenne.

The Chicago clears, WSB and WHAS all come in fairly well around sunset and then disappear until sunrise. I would have thought they would be stronger in the dead of night.

 

[tvnut]

From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

WSM was the station that I found one night in 1969 that triggered my interest in AM DXing. I was playing around with the new shortwave radio and clicked to the AM band one Sunday evening, tuning past WMAQ and here was another station between it and WTMJ with NBC Monitor News on the Hour. What? Then came the ID and I was amazed. I still am.

Once I managed WSM on daytime skywave, at noon in the dead of winter. And 650 was a single-station frequency for me until 1/6/2919, when surprising conditions brought in CKOM Saskatoon with 10 kW in the middle of the night, knocking out WSM for a short time. Hasn't happened since.

 

[gar hi]

Now that KPRP Honolulu has gone silent, KENI from Anchorage is there most nights.

 

[radiofan2023]

Here in Kansas, I’ve only ever heard WSM

 

[CADXER]

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

Daytime: nothing but noise and WSCR splatter
Nighttime: solid WSM

DX/RETRO: only 3 other stations besides WSM heard on 650 kHz: WKKQ (now WNMT, Nashwauk, MN), CKOM (Saskatoon, SK), and HRVW, La Voz de Centro America, San Pedro Sula, Honduras. As far as I can remember, I have never noticed WSM off air.

Only 5 kHz above 650 on the split frequency of 655 kHz Radio Nacional, San Salvador, El Salvador used to be a common log in the Chicago area back in the 1980's.

 

[ContinuousWave]

A quick sidebar for you, Jim. Is KGOW on reduced power or something? Used to blast into east Texas after the 2007 upgrade. Nowadays, it's rather hard to receive a signal from 1560, day or night.

It's had xmtr issues iirc...not sure if it's on lower power right now..

 

[Miss Tuned]

Manchester area, UK (648): Radio Caroline, a famous former offshore pop pirate from the 1960s, now playing AAA with a legitimate license. The signal isn't especially strong this far north and west, but it's listenable on low-band AM from an ex-BBC site (and frequency) at Orfordness on the south east coast of England. The signal reaches most of south-east England and its coastal location means it also covers a chunk of the Netherlands and Belgium.

Once a month, they broadcast live from the studios aboard their ship, Ross Revenge, anchored in an estuary in Essex, east of London - visitors can go and take a boat trip out to it and climb aboard for a tour of the historic facility. I've been, it's fascinating and great fun.

 

[WCJ]

Orange County, TX days it's KIKK Houston, nights it's WSM

 

[CentralFL]

15 miles south of Orlando

Daytime - Nothing except some splatter from WDYZ 660.

Nighttime - WSM moderate to weak signal.

 

[CentralFL]

Manchester area, UK (648): Radio Caroline, a famous former offshore pop pirate from the 1960s, now playing AAA with a legitimate license. The signal isn't especially strong this far north and west, but it's listenable on low-band AM from an ex-BBC site (and frequency) at Orfordness on the south east coast of England. The signal reaches most of south-east England and its coastal location means it also covers a chunk of the Netherlands and Belgium.

Once a month, they broadcast live from the studios aboard their ship, Ross Revenge, anchored in an estuary in Essex, east of London - visitors can go and take a boat trip out to it and climb aboard for a tour of the historic facility. I've been, it's fascinating and great fun.

Are they at lower power than when they were the BBC? That frequency used to be strong in London and in Amsterdam. Great to hear there is still some music on MW in the UK.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Are they at lower power than when they were the BBC? That frequency used to be strong in London and in Amsterdam. Great to hear there is still some music on MW in the UK.

It's 4,000 watts at present, omnidirectional (and largely powered by a solar array). I can't remember the specific power used by the BBC on that channel, but it was in the hundreds of kW, and it was on a directional array aimed away from the UK and into mainland Europe.

Caroline are currently in the process of applying for an increase in power to around 16,000 watts on the same frequency, still omni.

 

[TXPH97]

DFW, Texas

Daytime: Splatter from local 660-KSKY.
Nights: WSM loud and clear.
Sunrise: I have heard XETNT Los Mochis, Sin.
One-time catches, heard overnight (winter) with WSM nulled: KGAB Cheyenne WY, WMNT Nashwauk MN, and CKOM Saskatoon SK.

 

[CentralFL]

It's 4,000 watts at present, omnidirectional (and largely powered by a solar array). I can't remember the specific power used by the BBC on that channel, but it was in the hundreds of kW, and it was on a directional array aimed away from the UK and into mainland Europe.

Caroline are currently in the process of applying for an increase in power to around 16,000 watts on the same frequency, still omni.

Hopefully they will be successful. 4,000 watts is pretty good at that frequency, but 16,000 would be better. With the MW band emptying out in mainland Europe and Britain they wouldn't likely interfere with anything, especially considering it's a frequency allocated to the UK and was formerly much more powerful.

As the BBC they were still strong in London even if they were directional towards Europe.

 

[wildthangjim]

As the BBC they were still strong in London even if they were directional towards Europe.

I believe the transmitter site is less than 100 miles from central London.