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AM Frequency of the Week: 650

Nights: WSM with a strong signal. Nulling can yield a weak KGAB Cheyenne, WY when conditions are right. At sunrise, I have heard XETNT Los Mochis, Sin.
XETNT from Los Mochis has been off the air for some time, because its continuity operation was cancelled and it handed over the frequency.

You may have heard XEHEEP-AM, the only AM station in Hermosillo.
 
Seattle Tacoma metro.

Days, static or a very grainy CISL, Vancouver BC.

Nights, mostly KSTE Sacramento, with CKOM or CISL, or both. I've heard WSM a long, long time ago, at least twice. That was before there were a lot of the other stations on the air. I have logged KMTI Manti UT once at least.

Looking at my archaic log listing, I also heard KYAK Anchorage once, a few decades ago, and also KORL, Honolulu (on a DX-160 and 70 ft outdoor wire)
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Away from RFI sources (i.e., outside my house) and using a very sensitive radio, I can hear a weak KIKK in Pasadena, TX.

Sunset: WSM comes up and mixes with KIKK, taking over before the latter signs off. It can be nulled fairly well if I aim NW/SE. When propagation is very good, I'll hear KGAB in Orchard Valley, WY, in the null with a listenable signal before it drops to night power.

Night: WSM has a good signal with occasional brief fades. In the null, a weak Radio Progreso in Cuba can occasionally be heard. More rarely, a very weak XEVG "Radio Fórmula" in Mérida will appear for a bit.

Sunrise: In the WSM null, KGAB and XEVG are heard more often but still briefly. Meanwhile, WSM still dominates until skywave disappears, by which time KIKK is back on the air.

DX/Retro: I've heard CKOM in Saskatoon a few times at night but not recently. Retired stations I've logged in past years include XEEJ "La Patrona FM" in Puerta Vallarta and XETNT "Radio 65" in Los Mochis. Also, I've heard XEPX "La Voz del Ɓngel" in Puerto Ɓngel a few times at sunrise, but it's currently silent per the latest IRCA Mexican Log.
 
Problem is, I can’t get some of the stations that are said to be covering London; for example, Capital Xtra on 96.9 or London Greek Radio on 103.3…and no AMs at all. I was picking up Radio Caroline on 648 better in Leiden, the Netherlands, than in London. This is probably due to the construction of the hotel I’m in, but London-area FM stations also seem to have kind of wimpy signals.
Capital Xtra 96.9 is a 30-watt signal for South London (and has a second signal at 100 watts for North London at 107.1). London Greek is similar, 200 watts to cover part of North London with a Greek population.

The "main" London signals are 2-3kW each from an elevated site in South London. They aren't very exciting, just signals for national network stations, and most of the interesting radio activity in London and the rest of the UK is on DAB these days. With a DAB radio in London, you get all sorts of interesting formats and languages; with an FM radio, variations on CHR and AC (along with a dwindling number of pirates, mostly Black music or Turkish).

Back on topic, 648 is from a site right on the east coast of England, facing the Netherlands. As with a lot of AM, it crosses the sea path a lot better than it gets inland.

As an aside, 107.1 is from an interesting transmitter tower, Alexandra Palace - the site of the world's first regular TV transmissions.
 
Usual Denver location - KGAB Orchard Valley (Cheyenne), WY daytime. Nights are a jumble.

This week’s location - London - 648 kHz, Radio Caroline, not that strong, but apparently more of a presence on DAB.
Now that I'm back in Colorado, I wanted to amend this: nighttimes are a weak WSM. Never very strong, and it fades in and out.
 
The "main" London signals are 2-3kW each from an elevated site in South London. They aren't very exciting, just signals for national network stations, and most of the interesting radio activity in London and the rest of the UK is on DAB these days. With a DAB radio in London, you get all sorts of interesting formats and languages; with an FM radio, variations on CHR and AC (along with a dwindling number of pirates, mostly Black music or Turkish).

Back on topic, 648 is from a site right on the east coast of England, facing the Netherlands. As with a lot of AM, it crosses the sea path a lot better than it gets inland.

As an aside, 107.1 is from an interesting transmitter tower, Alexandra Palace - the site of the world's first regular TV transmissions.
Apologies for being a bit off-topic, but between the Netherlands and the UK, I came to the conclusion that traditional OTA broadcasts aren't very interesting in either country. Caroline is actually an exception but the exception doesn't do me much good if I can't receive it. I found what seems to be a fairly decent used Sony DAB unit up for sale on eBay and it's now on its way to me. The price was right, and it uses standard alkaline batteries so I can just squeeze it into a suitcase for travel. Too late for this trip, but there will be others.
 
Apologies for being a bit off-topic, but between the Netherlands and the UK, I came to the conclusion that traditional OTA broadcasts aren't very interesting in either country. Caroline is actually an exception but the exception doesn't do me much good if I can't receive it. I found what seems to be a fairly decent used Sony DAB unit up for sale on eBay and it's now on its way to me. The price was right, and it uses standard alkaline batteries so I can just squeeze it into a suitcase for travel. Too late for this trip, but there will be others.
I have a portable FM/DAB Sony (XDR-S41D) that I take with me to places. It's okay, it could be slightly more sensitive, but it's fine for listening to the local selection if I travel to a new area and has a reasonable user interface. I have my car radio if I want to do any DX - the receiver in the 2023 Toyota Yaris is a DX monster, it gets low-powered DAB signals from miles away.
 
Central Kentucky:

Days: A weak WSM. Outside with my GE SR III I can get a listenable signal, a little noisy but tolerable. I'll listen to it if I'm outside doing yard work.

If I go 50 miles south, it's like a local.

Nights: A solid WSM. I've never heard anything else on this frequency here.
 
WSM's a monster in the SE.
No other stations on its frequency in the SE at night.
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From the southwest suburbs of Chicago ...

WSM Nashville, the Air Castle of the South, was the first station I DXed, back in 1969, when I was playing with the new six-band Realistic I'd received for a birthday and discovered this unknown NBC station between WTMJ (a regular in Chicago) and WMAQ. And the fun began. Evan caught WSM once on mid-winter DX at noon for a few minutes.

Only once has something else been heard on 650: CKOM Saskatoon on 1/6/2019 at 2:40 a.m., when conditions were topsy-turvy and the Air Castle was nulled for a few minutes.
 
During the day, can usually hear KIKK "The Bet" from Houston, but very weak.
WSM comes in at night often, stronger than KIKK's daytime signal.

Looking at this map of expected propagation, I see the areas NE of Austin aren't in the range.

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