If I can't sleep, I scan the AM dial looking for something to listen to. I am wondering about the strange noises I hear on 1090. That frequency should be WBAL Baltimore loud and clear. I hear WTAM Cleveland at 1100 clearly, and also WTIC on 1080. But on 1090 I hear pops, whistles, and clicks that completely drown out WBAL. I have heard this every night for months. Is it possible that the 1090 in Boston is leaving the transmitter running at night? I am about 30 miles north of Boston. I don't think the 1090 in Boston has any flea power nighttime authorization.
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1090 signal?
- Thread starter AerieAlso
- Start date
Day only w critical hours.
According to radio-locator they have a CP set
to expire Dec 23 that would take them from nr the Wellington T stop to a site nr Neponset R in Quincy (not sure how accurate)
Current 4800 day, 1900 critical hours
CP 2600 day, 1750 critical
Also have a 94.9 fm trans with Dedham COL pointing west, southwest, and southeast so that helps them post signoff
According to radio-locator they have a CP set
to expire Dec 23 that would take them from nr the Wellington T stop to a site nr Neponset R in Quincy (not sure how accurate)
Current 4800 day, 1900 critical hours
CP 2600 day, 1750 critical
Also have a 94.9 fm trans with Dedham COL pointing west, southwest, and southeast so that helps them post signoff
I think they’ve been transmitting from the Quincy site for several months now.
But are they really transmitting nothing but pops and clicks? Amateurs are told to keep that testing-oriented audio off the air, and feed it into a dummy load (look it up). Why is this station doing the same instead of polluting the evening airwaves?
The question is if the OP heard an open carrier (a signal with dead air) on 1090 or not. Because an AM transmitter will not cause "pops, whistles, and clicks" without a carrier, unless something is horribly wrong. In that case the cause was likely some other source of interference, either atmospheric or electrical. Especially lately here in the Northeast, where the lack of rain has made everything very dry, and thus increased static.
And, there are a lot of sources of man-made electrical interference on AM nowadays, many of them happen to be frequency-specific by chance.
Driving around Somerville last night, I tried 1090 and heard nothing but WBAL, no trace of any other carrier or signal.
Thank you, Eli. The sound I hear on 1090 in Andover must be something local I guess. I described the noise as "pops whistles and clicks" but that may not be a good description. It reminds me of the odd noises you'd hear a lot on the short wave band. Almost like the noise you'd hear from your dial-up modem when connecting to AOL...haha. It's definitely on 1090, 1100 and 1080 are listenable. In my location, I do also have local interference on 1200 that makes it unlistenable, but we determined that is the Haget NDB for the Lawrence Airport which is on 402 kHz. Maybe there's something like that on 1090 also that I am unaware of.
I remember getting harmonics from the "LQ" beacon (382 kHz) when driving over the bridge between Lynn and Revere on Route 1A.
The obvious first question is, have you tried leaving your house and hearing if it is still present? If so, how about one or two streets over?
Naturally, this is after first seeing if it is happening at a reasonable time...8, 9, 10pm! 😎
Driving at night is out of the question right now. My cataracts are still "ripening" before they can remove them, and the glare from oncoming headlights is unrearable
The oncoming lights are indeed unbearable. I am slowly developing cataracts.
>>remember getting harmonics from the "LQ" beacon (382 kHz) when driving over the bridge between Lynn and Revere on Route 1A.
I used to pick up that too on some kind of
AM frequency..on Rt 1A the Lynnway
L dit dah dit dit
Q dah dah dit dah
Twice that is 764 kHz, hmm
>>remember getting harmonics from the "LQ" beacon (382 kHz) when driving over the bridge between Lynn and Revere on Route 1A.
I used to pick up that too on some kind of
AM frequency..on Rt 1A the Lynnway
L dit dah dit dit
Q dah dah dit dah
Twice that is 764 kHz, hmm
I've always wondered why WLYN was assigned to 1360 kHz with WRKO in the same market. If you're heading around Rte 128 listening to WLYN, you'll start getting WRKO interfering as you get near the Burlington Mall, with not a whisper from WLYN right at the Mall. Maybe the FCC couldn't figure out that 2 X 680 = 1360...hahaha
It wasn't "assigned," per se.
New AMs have always been applied for by applicants who seek out available frequencies. The applicants who sought out 1360 in Lynn after World War II did so knowing that then-WLAW already existed on 680 as a high-powered signal.
Would they have preferred a better frequency? Probably, but for the most part they were already spoken for by the time the WLYN application was filed. (They could have tried for 1430, which wasn't yet in use - WHIL started out on 1540 before moving to 1430 a few years later.)
In any event, the FCC rules don't bar stations on second harmonics from being located in close proximity. There's a 1220 near the 610 in San Francisco, 1260 and 630 in DC, 1280 and 640 in LA, 1300 and 650 in Nashville and so on. Binghamton also had a 1360 in close proximity to its 680, come to think of it.
I have never seen nearby second harmonic situations, even in congested Puerto Rico. What might be the negative results of two such operations if just a few miles apart?
I recall the LQ dits and dahs being audible across a broad swath of frequencies on the AM band, not just 760 or 770. Maybe it was a case of front-end overload on our car radios.
Have the surgery as soon as they'll approve it. I delayed mine for years, and a friend (who'd had it) kept telling me I was a moron to wait. I finally had it - and had to admit he was 100% right.
So I was scanning the dial before bed last night (10:30 PM) and instead of WBT on 1110 kHz, I heard Spanish programing. The signal was quite strong, obliterating WBT. It appears only WBT and KFAB should be on 1110 at night in the East.
I was happy to also see that WLLH is on the air. I live half way between the Lawrence transmitter, and where the Lowell transmitter was, and used to hear them interfering (if that is the correct word) with each other. Now with only the Lawrence transmitter, I can hear them clearly.
I was happy to also see that WLLH is on the air. I live half way between the Lawrence transmitter, and where the Lowell transmitter was, and used to hear them interfering (if that is the correct word) with each other. Now with only the Lawrence transmitter, I can hear them clearly.
Was that the Salem NH daytimer still on the air after dark? They have a SPanish format.
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