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AM Frequency of the Week: 670

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cyberdad

cyberdad

(FYI... I'll occasionally be posting the AM F.O.T.W. threads on Saturdays during the coming summer season due to gatherings with friends and family, along travel, etc.)

Crystal Lake, Illinois...

Days/Nights: All WSCR 24/7. Chicago's strongest groundwave signal emanates from a tower about 22 miles southeast of my home location. (Diplexed with WBBM).

Other locations: At our Gulf Front location near Pensacola, 670 is R. Rebelde is weak, but still the strongest of a handful of Cuban signals by day. At night it's Rebelde usually getting the better of a battle with WSCR, During my visit this past February, WSCR did manage to rise to the top from time to time, but only for a few minutes. That had been a pretty rare occurrence on previous visits.

We had a priest at our church who was also an Air Force chaplain who pulled active duty twice a year at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama. He was also a big WSCR fan. He liked to do the trip down there as an overnight drive. One day we were talking about that, and he told me that WSCR was usually listenable on a car radio until about Nashville before Cuba would start taking over.

For the better part of three decades, I was travelling to the west coast for both vusiness as well as to visit friends and family. In So-Cal 670 was KIRN during daytime. Then KBOI at night just about everywhere from San Diego to Vancouver.
 
cyberdad said:
(FYI... I'll occasionally be posting the AM F.O.T.W. threads on Saturdays during the coming summer season due to gatherings with friends and family, along travel, etc.)

Crystal Lake, Illinois...

Days/Nights: All WSCR 24/7. Chicago's strongest groundwave signal emanates from a tower about 22 miles southeast of my home location. (Diplexed with WBBM).

Other locations: At our Gulf Front location near Pensacola, 670 is R. Rebelde is weak, but still the strongest of a handful of Cuban signals by day. At night it's Rebelde usually getting the better of a battle with WSCR, During my visit this past February, WSCR did manage to rise to the top from time to time, but only for a few minutes. That had been a pretty rare occurrence on previous visits.

We had a priest at our church who was also an Air Force chaplain who pulled active duty twice a year at Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama. He was also a big WSCR fan. He liked to do the trip down there as an overnight drive. One day we were talking about that, and he told me that WSCR was usually listenable on a car radio until about Nashville before Cuba would start taking over.

For the better part of three decades, I was travelling to the west coast for both vusiness as well as to visit friends and family. In So-Cal 670 was KIRN during daytime. Then KBOI at night just about everywhere from San Diego to Vancouver.
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In the near north Chicago burbs it’s all WSCR day and night. When out west it’s usually Kboi. Sometimes Cuba interferes with WSCR even in the east.
 
From the west side of Houston TX, daytime there's nothing.

Nearing sunset, both Radio Rebelde and WSCR start to come in. Who's on top depends on conditions. I've also heard KHGZ "Caddo Country" from Glenwood Arkansas. Once in 2021. with conditions favoring the south, I was hearing what seemed to be Radio Progreso //640 etc. However, MWList doesn't show Progreso on this frequency, so not sure what I was hearing.

Nights it's Rebelde and WSCR.

At sunrise, after Cuba fades, KHGZ is sometimes heard, along with KLTT in the Denver area.
 
Mysterious, inscrutablle frequency, 670 is -- both here in NE PA and back in Queens,
WLUI Lewistown PA (formerly Oldies WIEZ) has a pretty good signal here days.

WLUI-AM Radio Station Coverage Map

radio-locator.com radio-locator.com
We're between the 's' in Pottsville and the 'H' in Hazleton.

WSCR Chicago (logged as WMAQ) is the night occupant. Every so often, Rebelde from Cuba woud be loud, // 690.

670 back in Queens was equally unrewarding. Back when they weren't so noisy, 660 WNBC was nullable enough to get 'WMAQ'. In fact, I suspect that WNBC must've been off the air for me to log TIJC 675 from Costa Rica. Pretty much straight water-path for that one, as I look at the globe now.
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

It's WSCR (nee WMAQ), with transmitter in Bloomingdale on Army Trail Road., unless the station has a silent period. The last one of note was for the addition of WBBM 780 to the tower.

In the NBC-owned era, WMAQ went off on Sunday night a bit after 1 a.m. (with a two-stanza Star-Spangled Banner), after which KNBR 680 was generally audible. Only twice have I heard other stations on 670: What was listed as 50 kW CMKP (Radio Rebelde) from San Pedro de Cacocua, Cuba, during a WMAQ silent period, and on 10/31/2015, when WSCR was off for tower painting, KHGZ Glenwood, Ark., 5 kW, which I thought was a daytimer. Hmm.

The WMAQ/WSCR (and now WBBM) transmitter site, atop a hill in a now built-up area, is one of the oldest in Chicago. It was first used by Westinghouse, moving KYW from the top of a building at 509 W. Michigan to the then-rural area in 1929. The construction permit was issued July 16 and the transmitter tower was up by October. When Westinghouse had to move KYW to Philadelphia, it sold the property to RCA, which moved WMAQ from Elmhurst to Bloomingdale in 1934, with a new transmitter tower going online the following year. (A new tower was needed since KYW was then on 1020). That tower fell in an ice storm in 1950 or so and RCA quickly brought a spare tower previously used at the New York World's Fair in 1939 until the new (and still used) tower was erected. The current backup tower may be the World's Fair tower.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime & Nighttime: WSCR from their Bloomingdale site just 5 miles away from my location.

DX/RETRO: Any DX is on 670 at my location is possible only if WSCR goes off. These days it's quite rare for WSCR to go off the air. Caught them couple time off during the WMAQ days. In 2019 we had several chances to hear something new since WSCR went off several times while work was being done on the WSCR/WBBM antenna diplex. Unfortunately nothing new was heard by me. Only Radio Rebelde from Cuba, and WWFE (Miami, FL) , but those were relogs. Back on March 10, 2012 WSCR went off air with advance notice and a DX test was arranged with KBOI (Boise, Idaho) to run Morse Code IDs during the WSCR silent period using their non-directional pattern. However the conditions on that day were extremely poor. I thought I heard some beeps while listening, but nothing that would be enough for an actual ID. Besides Cuba and WWFE the only other station heard during one of the rare silent periods was KHGZ (Glenwood, AR).
 
East Tennessee: We used to have a local in WMTY, Sweetwater attempting to rimshot Knoxville. Last format was oldies, which is still being run on their FM, with a very low tower. Nights is either WSCR and/ or the Rebelde chorus. I don't know that I'd count on WSCR for reliable sports coverage. Even as close in as the Edinburgh, IN SDR, Cuba often overtakes WSCR.
There are 12 Cuban Rebelde transmitters across the island listed on MWList
 
wildthangjim said:
From the west side of Houston TX, daytime there's nothing.

Nearing sunset, both Radio Rebelde and WSCR start to come in. Who's on top depends on conditions. I've also heard KHGZ "Caddo Country" from Glenwood Arkansas. Once in 2021. with conditions favoring the south, I was hearing what seemed to be Radio Progreso //640 etc. However, MWList doesn't show Progreso on this frequency, so not sure what I was hearing.

Nights it's Rebelde and WSCR.

At sunrise, after Cuba fades, KHGZ is sometimes heard, along with KLTT in the Denver area.
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We've discovered that sometimes the Cuban government will temporarily flip a network to a different transmitter (especially since there is redundant Rebelde coverage in many areas) if the usual transmitter is down. This happened after the most recent hurricane. I also heard them switch the Rebelde 530 near Guantanamo (NOT the Enciclopedia transmitter) to Radio Bayamos some time back
 
Totally off topic but these threads made me think of the AM frequencies of stations I have worked at:

(In chronological order) 1490, 1310, 790, 1030, 1150, 1320, 1440, 570, 590, 810, 660, 1140, 1480, 1170, 1320, 1140, 1360, 960, 1480, 930, 1300, 1460, 990, 910, 1420, 1430, 1200, 1170, 760, 1280, 580, 600, 1020, 1280, 1200, 560, 710, 1350, 1270, 1010, 1530, 1520, 870, 920, 750.
 
From Mountain View, Hawaii it's a weak KPUA from Hilo day and night.

It's only 12 miles away with 10,000 watts and you'd think the signal would be of local quality.

Does lava rock have such a low conductivity?
 
gar hi said:
From Mountain View, Hawaii it's a weak KPUA from Hilo day and night.

It's only 12 miles away with 10,000 watts and you'd think the signal would be of local quality.

Does lava rock have such a low conductivity?
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Usually it has horrible conductivity. About like sand in some cases. It does depend on the mineral content to some extent, but it's not good. Generally, best conductivity is on loamy soil like the great plains, and the worst is in sandy zones like Long Island and the Coachella Valley, and then rocky zones with shallow topsoil like Nashville, Atlanta, etc.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Usually it has horrible conductivity. About like sand in some cases. It does depend on the mineral content to some extent, but it's not good. Generally, best conductivity is on loamy soil like the great plains, and the worst is in sandy zones like Long Island and the Coachella Valley, and then rocky zones with shallow topsoil like Nashville, Atlanta, etc.
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Put a MW site by the sea and it'll keep going forever. It's gone now, but there used to be a 1035 AM transmitter at Aberdeen, way up in the north-east of Scotland, and its signal traveled all the way down the east coast of Britain, only stopped once you hit the very south-east by a co-channel local in London. Go half a mile inland, and it was gone.

My best ever MW DX was on the north-east coast of England, where my car radio(!) at sunset pulled in CNR 1 China on 1377 from Xingyang, well over 5,000 miles away in Henan. Again, half a mile inland, zip.
 
Tyler, TX

I basically mirror the reception report of @wildthangjim other than a little stronger sunrise/sunset signal from "Caddo Country" near Hot Springs. Once they shut down the 5kW, Chicago's "Score" is easily received with little effort, but I can also swing around and pick up a listenable Rebelde, though here I can't completely null WSCR out, like I can Cuba. Adjacent KSKY packs quite a punch here in the daytime, rendering me unable to find KHGZ under the splatter.
 
Miss Tuned said:
Put a MW site by the sea and it'll keep going forever. It's gone now, but there used to be a 1035 AM transmitter at Aberdeen, way up in the north-east of Scotland, and its signal traveled all the way down the east coast of Britain, only stopped once you hit the very south-east by a co-channel local in London. Go half a mile inland, and it was gone.
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I used to go on weekends to the south coast of Puerto Rico to a place called Guánica right on the shore. I'd take my smaller Drake radio, an R4, and a loop. Everything to the north was blocked and so I had everything down to the 250 watt Brazilians signing on before the Venezuelans started popping up an hour later. Also had lots of lower power ones from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay as well as everything from the Windward Islands.

The most fun, as soon as the sun came up, was going out the front door onto the beach and jumping into the Caribbean for an early swim!
 
Miss Tuned said:
You wouldn't do that in Aberdeen 🥶
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Depends.... I recall doing that several times in streams at the snowline on the Cotopaxi at about 16,500 feet a number of times. About the same temperature!
 
DavidEduardo said:
Totally off topic but these threads made me think of the AM frequencies of stations I have worked at:

(In chronological order) 1490, 1310, 790, 1030, 1150, 1320, 1440, 570, 590, 810, 660, 1140, 1480, 1170, 1320, 1140, 1360, 960, 1480, 930, 1300, 1460, 990, 910, 1420, 1430, 1200, 1170, 760, 1280, 580, 600, 1020, 1280, 1200, 560, 710, 1350, 1270, 1010, 1530, 1520, 870, 920, 750.
Click to expand...
That's quite a list. Hard for me to belive, but the only frequency I've "shared with you is 1270. Although i might be guilty of splattering on your 870 when I was at an 860 for a few months. Or perhaps stepping on your1280 or 1300 during my very first gig out of college at a 1290. And speaking of college, I doubt if our carrier current 570 campus station would have been much of a problem for your 560 or 580.
 
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