Your Best Daytime / Missing Local Station DX

[Steve Green NEPA]

In Queens NYC we had a full dial of AM NYC locals, so I'd imagine that this inquiry would be more appropos to those in the large markets. But even the smaller markets would have yielded some fun stuff, no?
One fine early afternoon, WPAT 930 was missing. A weak WCNR from Bloomsburg PA was there, faint but steady (oddly, I now live about 18 miles south of Bloomsburg).
And on another afternoon, 1010 WINS was silent. No carrier, no teletype, no nothing. Instead was a faint but steady WSID Baltimore, with R&B. I forget its omni power back then -- 1965? It was real low -- but they also sent it all the way down the Chesapeake into Norfolk VA where they would come in on a GE clock radio.

WOLB-AM Radio Station Coverage Map

radio-locator.com

Anyone else here been in ecstasy upon finding a local off the air in broad daylight ?
Perhaps an adjacent-channel surprise?

 

[Miss Tuned]

In recent years, there have also been a few surprises when nearby AMs have gone silent permanently and distant stations that have been covered up for 40 years reveal themselves. A couple of years, I started to be able to get a couple of London ethnic AMs from 200 miles away (which have stuck around a bit longer than a lot of other AMs) when two locals went off the air.

 

[cyberdad]

Anyone else here been in ecstasy upon finding a local off the air in broad daylight ?
Perhaps an adjacent-channel surprise?

Yhe two experiences that come to mind for me both involve first adjacents...

One afternoon when local behemoth WBBM (780) was off for some reason, WSGW from Saginaw, Michigan camein fully audible and with a positive ID on 790. It didn't hurt that WSGW's highly directional signal favored my location.

On a smaller scale... When local 850 went dark a few years back, 250-watt WNOV from Milwaukee on 860 was right there to fill the void with a weak but listenable signal,

 

[gr8oldies]

When WKVL went off the air after losing its lease on the towers, I caught WKNR, Cleveland at 1pm. Even with WKVL at full power, WKNR was often in during critical hours, but this was midday.

 

[jim-satx]

Like Cyberdad, my best experience involved a first adjacent. During the two days of rare heavy snowfall and sub-teen temperatures in San Antonio in February 2021, several locals were off air for a couple of days.

I didn’t hear anything on the uncovered frequencies during the day, but with nearby local 810 KYTY off air, I discovered that 820 WBAP in Ft. Worth puts a solid daytime signal into San Antonio.

 

[cyberdad]

I didn’t hear anything on the uncovered frequencies during the day, but with nearby local 810 KYTY off air, I discovered that 820 WBAP in Ft. Worth puts a solid daytime signal into San Antonio.

My experiences in San Antonio have been fairly limited (unfortunately). But a little more than an hour up the road in Austin, WBAP has always been pretty solid daytime.

I'm probably telling you something you already know....LOL

 

[davideduardo]

The best "missing local station" happened during the several CONELRAD national tests I was able to take DX advantage of. With all US stations off the air except the rotating 640 and 1240 operations, I got, over several tests, about 20 Canadian stations from my location in Cleveland, Ohio. I prepared a target list of what was available on every channel, eliminated the ones I had already logged and looked for the rest.

My best was a station from Manitoba, a good daytime distance! The tests were, IIRC, at around noon, EST.

Most loggings were ones like 1490, blocked by a local always and relatively close by.

 

[cc333]

The best "missing local station" happened during the several CONELRAD national tests I was able to take DX advantage of. With all US stations off the air except the rotating 640 and 1240 operations

That hasn't happened in, what, 60 years?!

It's interesting to think what would happen if, because of some unforeseen disaster or something (like a nationwide power blackout), most or all US radio stations go dark (but not stations in other countries). I'm sure it'd get pretty interesting out there, not only because the stations would be dark, but because there wouldn't be any electrical noise.

I can't even imagine what conditions were like during the first voice experiments in teh late 1910s and 20s. It must have been incredibly quiet for stations operating at only a few hundred to maybe a thousand watts at most to be heard half way around the world.

c

 

[davideduardo]

That hasn't happened in, what, 60 years?!

I think the last was in 1961. I had to skip school to DX those test occasions, but the new Canadians made it worthwhile and hearing all the US stations off the air was very special!

I can't even imagine what conditions were like during the first voice experiments in teh late 1910s and 20s. It must have been incredibly quiet for stations operating at only a few hundred to maybe a thousand watts at most to be heard half way around the world.

Even back in the very early 60's some of those amazing catches were possible. 5kw from New Zealand, 250 watts from Hawaii, 100 watts from Puerto Rico, all in Northeast Ohio. Even a 250 watt station from rural Ecuador... which only a few years later I bought and moved to a bigger city.

 

[cc333]

I think the last was in 1961. I had to skip school to DX those test occasions, but the new Canadians made it worthwhile and hearing all the US stations off the air was very special!

Indeed! I don't think anything like that can happen anymore, unless it's forced by some kind of mass disaster. I wish I could have been there to experience it as you did!

Even back in the very early 60's some of those amazing catches were possible. 5kw from New Zealand, 250 watts from Hawaii, 100 watts from Puerto Rico, all in Northeast Ohio. Even a 250 watt station from rural Ecuador... which only a few years later I bought and moved to a bigger city.

The world was a much quieter place than it is now.

It was better as recently as 15 years ago. Smartphones, computers, Smart TVs, IoT and the infrastructure to support them all have really messed up the airwaves in recent years.

c

 

[Mark Roberts]

Indeed! I don't think anything like that can happen anymore, unless it's forced by some kind of mass disaster. I wish I could have been there to experience it as you did!


The world was a much quieter place than it is now.

It was better as recently as 15 years ago. Smartphones, computers, Smart TVs, IoT and the infrastructure to support them all have really messed up the airwaves in recent years.

c

Don't forget dimmer switches! They spew noise.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Pal of mine from back in the the 4th grade (we'd probably flunk any of those final exams nowadays has a vacation home on Cape Cod. A year or so ago when he and his wife hung out there, they were instantly and heartily welcomed by the Cape Cod Tourist Board with a blackout for a few hours.
He had brought along a good portable (Radio Shack 390 ?) and had a blast. 'I haven't heard the (AM) dial so quiet for DECADES. It sounded like 1963,' he related.

 

[cyberdad]

My best was a station from Manitoba, a good daytime distance! The tests were, IIRC, at around noon, EST.

No shortage of big AM signals up there. Even to this day. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of any AMs within 60 miles from Winnipeg operating with less than 10kw. Actually, none come immediately to mind for the entire province. It's probably safe to say that those AM stations with lower power in smaller towns have all migrated to FM.

Couple that with fabulous ground conductivity, and you come up with some interesting DX opportunities. For openers, in Winnipeg, there's a Minnesota graveyarder that regularly trips the scan button on a good car radio during daytime (KTRF, Thief River Falls on 1230). Same goes for a pair of 5kw stations from Fargo, North Dakota....more than 200 miles away! (KFGO on 790 And WDAY on 970. Which is now 10kw).

 

[charlestondxman]

Locally in Charleston I’ve had this opportunity a few times. Not with our big local at 1250 (WTMA), but all of the other locals have been off the air for a certain amount of time over the years.

730 AM here was off for a while and I could get Hernando, FL on 720 and Orlando on 740, plus some very interesting night reception on 730. For a several month period, I could hear a sports station from Memphis (licensed to West Memphis, AR) there, at only 1kw.

1340 was knocked off due to lightning about 20 years ago for close to a month, and you could hear Daytona Beach (WROD) almost as clear as a bell for that time. Also whenever 1450 was off. You’d get Myrtle Beach sometimes over there In addition to the Daytona signal.

I could still get stuff on 1440 and 1460 though even with our local 1450 on. One time I got WAJR Morgantown, WV about 90 minutes before sunset with the local 1450 still on.

1250 could be nulled at some points with some of my radios though. There have been a few times I have gotten WHNZ Tampa at critical hours, in nulls less than 10 miles from TMA. Pittsburgh on 1250 would come in at night further inland, mixing with WTMA.