When the Commission allowed some AM stations to have low power night service after the clear channel stations lost their exclusise nighttime use of their channel "flea power" was born. I am not sure if regional channels got the same deal at the exact same time. What was the lowest power that was ran making a daytime a 24 hour station.
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AM Flea power.
- Thread starter secondchoice
- Start date
WXVA in Charles Town, WV was a daytimer with 5000 kw non-directional, and a Pre Sunrise Authority (PSA) of 3.2 watts. We ran that from low power on the xmitter (2500 watts) with 2496.8 watts going into a dummy load, and the 3.2 watts going to the tower.
Now, as WMRE, they're full time, licensed for 5kw day and 6 watts night.
Now, as WMRE, they're full time, licensed for 5kw day and 6 watts night.
In your neck of the woods is 690 KCEE at 250 watts daytime, and a measly 3.5 watts at night. The transmitter is in Oro Valley. I would be amazed if anyone in Tucson can pick it up at night.
Are the Canadians using 1550? If not someone might DX WXVA.
That's incorrect.
690 has been on the stick located near Grant and 1st Avenue...since forever, according to what I see here:
REC KCEE Link
Now, that set of calls has bounced around many different stations.
WSQR/1180 Sycamore IL (DeKalb area) runs a whopping 1 watt of raw power at night. I don't know of any station authorized for less.
WRSB Brockport NY (Rochester area) puts out 5 watts at night on 1600. You can barely hear it 10 blocks from the tower.
Any idea how far that signal travels at night from the transmitter site?
I'm ~5 miles away, as the radiation emits from the tower - can't hear it here (at least the last time I fired up an AM radio a few years ago).
They're using it to drive three translators, so don't think there's anyone in the building that cares.
This radio locator coverage map is probably being a little generous with the contour...
Here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, 690 KFXN has 5 watts at night. They have a decent signal throughout the northwestern part of the metro on that supposed 5 watts. I'm about 12 miles away from their tower and they are listenable at night. There's not a lot of co-channel on 690 here except for CKGM (Montrรฉal, QC) who can be clearly heard under KFXN some nights.
Their clock often messes up so you can catch them on day power late, as well as still on night power well past sunrise. They'll fix it after awhile, but a few weeks or a month or two later, the clock will be messed up again.
Their clock often messes up so you can catch them on day power late, as well as still on night power well past sunrise. They'll fix it after awhile, but a few weeks or a month or two later, the clock will be messed up again.
KASA was authorized at 19 watts nighttime until their shenanigans led to their own demise.
KASA: That's a big fat NO!
KASA: That's a big fat NO!
Looks like Arizona has got its own 1 watt flea power at night...1180 KYET Golden Valley (Kingman). A big drop from 6 KW day...WSQR/1180 Sycamore IL (DeKalb area) runs a whopping 1 watt of raw power at night. I don't know of any station authorized for less.
Remember, clear channels (old 1-A and 1-B) "belong" to the nation or nations they are assigned to, and they have to be protected up to that nation's borders.
Good example: 1580 in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico was a 50 kw non-directional clear channel. It is gone, but 1580 still is protected to the Mexican border to the south (and to Canada to the north). Perhaps Mr Fybush can expand on those international protections.
๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐๐/๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฆ โ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ฌ๐บ๐ธ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ โ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ข๐ต 27.6 ๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด โ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณโฆWSQR/1180 Sycamore IL (DeKalb area) runs a whopping 1 watt of raw power at night. I don't know of any station authorized for less.
I know Canada, Mexico, and the US still have their AM protections. But Canada has moved a lot of stuff to FM. They still "own" 1550 at night but is there anyone still using it in Canada? I worked at two 1550 stations in Tennessee. Also worked with the engineer's sister for 1550 Huntsville. There was basically no signal from all three stations going north after sunset. I am sure the protection is intact closer to Canada. My thinking was if the channel is clean in Canada too, a couple of watts could get a skip for a DXer to pick up at a surprising distance.
Canada is still using 1550. After CBE in Windsor, Ontario moved to FM some years back, the CBC/Radio-Canada moved French-language CBEF from 540 to 1550. The 540 transmitter site was apparently in much worse condition than 1550; in any event, CBEF is still there in French with 10 kW on 1550.
1290 CFRW (Winnipeg, MB) went off the air on June 14, 2023, and after more than 2 years, they returned to the air as CJRC. So, these silent Canadian stations can come back.
