50,000 Watt Stations on North American Clear Channel Frequencies

[Schroedingers Cat]

Quite a lot of people either a) don't understand the principle of sovereignty, b) think it's a one way street, or c) seek to intimidate people who they don't think will don't know the difference. I suspect c) in this case.

Here's a for instance from the AM Query for all Class A allotments in Ecuador.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?stat...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

Like you said, David, Regional Channels in the US appear on the list.

I will look for applications that protect South American allotments.

 

[davideduardo]

Quite a lot of people either a) don't understand the principle of sovereignty, b) think it's a one way street, or c) seek to intimidate people who they don't think will don't know the difference. I suspect c) in this case.

Here's a for instance from the AM Query for all Class A allotments in Ecuador.

That's an amusing list. No station in Ecuador drops power at night, none run 100 kw, either. While these are likely just some kind of notification, they are not real in a single case... in fact, a couple of them are no longer on the air! (Ecuador has seen a considerable number of stations call it quits and close) One, 660, used to be half mine, and I know it is running 10 kw today... never had more than that.

I will look for applications that protect South American allotments.

It would be interesting if any US station is protecting that kind of notification or assumption, considering that I have never heard of a South or Central American station protecting a US station.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Like I said, in most cases it is not a big deal, since protection of US stations limits them far more than the Central and South American allotments do. But the Canadian allotments, even Class B, which remain in the database are often major stumbling blocks to applications, including those which have vacated the AM band and are unlikely to return to it or be used in the future. Sometimes a substitution is possible, but not always. Some US stations are highly directional or low power because of them.

 

[cyberdad]

Here's a for instance from the AM Query for all Class A allotments in Ecuador.

Interesting. Just out of curiosity....and at the risk of asking a dumb question. Whatever happened to the 805 that the FCC claimed was being a pest? Hard to imagine that anything less than a class A in South America could possibly be a problem in the U.S.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

There was a station I used to hear in the 1980s that was in Central America on 835 kHz. I also remember back in the 1960s an AM preamp project using a 6U8A tube as I recall in Popular Electronics that boasted that with the preamp you could hear that station on 835 kHz. I think that's gone also, but David is infinitely qualified to tell the story about 805 kHz. I don't think that's a dumb question at all.

I think many times when the FCC claimed the Cuban stations had increased power it was only partially true. It would seem that it would be difficult to keep superpower transmitters running at full power in Cuba for a variety of reasons. I think that propagation conditions were usually the cause of the sudden rattling of transmitters from Cuba. And the propagation conditions would also be the cause of hearing Central and South American stations. Most DXers use WWL signal strength as a first indicator of DX from that region.

 

[fangio28]

Back in 1974, when I lived in Lighthouse Point, FL there was an Ecuadorian
on 1345 HCPB6, Ambato 3500 watts...terrific indicator of conditions...some
days at "armchair levels", other times non-existant. Had a sign-on around
0445 I believe. My beacon to SA/CA....nice clear frequency.

 

[jd]

There was a station I used to hear in the 1980s that was in Central America on 835 kHz.

Are you sure about that frequency? Radio Belize was on 834 for many years and was a fairly easy catch here in Texas. They shifted to 830 sometime in the 80's, then went off the air in the late 90's.

 

[fangio28]

JD: Re Ecuadorian on 1345...
I have a QSL card and a postmarked envelope clearly stating frequency.
QSL card lists 3500 watts; envelope says 5000 watts on 1345 kc.
I must have heard them 100 times back then.
Ron Schiller

 

[jd]

Well, that's great but I was replying to Schroedingers Cat.

 

[fangio28]

oops

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

It could have been 834 kHz.

 

[davideduardo]

Here's a for instance from the AM Query for all Class A allotments in Ecuador.

Interesting. Just out of curiosity....and at the risk of asking a dumb question. Whatever happened to the 805 that the FCC claimed was being a pest? Hard to imagine that anything less than a class A in South America could possibly be a problem in the U.S.

With the operation of Bonaire on 800 at 500 kw, I would get a heterodyne audible just outside the city every night. So, simply, I moved to 810 and stayed there... the government had no monitoring equipment, and we bothered no other domestic station. That was the end of that.

I also did one of the first move-ins I know about. In 1966 I bought HCSP1 on 595 in Amaguaña, Pichincha Province. I "arranged" (cough, cough) to move it about 60 km to Quito and put it on 590 to avoid what I already had experienced with 805. That meant, of course, I had 570 and 590, both licensed to the same city.

 

[davideduardo]

JD: Re Ecuadorian on 1345...
I have a QSL card and a postmarked envelope clearly stating frequency.
QSL card lists 3500 watts; envelope says 5000 watts on 1345 kc.
I must have heard them 100 times back then.
Ron Schiller

Ecuador had, literally, dozens of stations on channels ending in "5" and that one in Ambato was one of them.

 

[davideduardo]

I think many times when the FCC claimed the Cuban stations had increased power it was only partially true. It would seem that it would be difficult to keep superpower transmitters running at full power in Cuba for a variety of reasons. I think that propagation conditions were usually the cause of the sudden rattling of transmitters from Cuba. And the propagation conditions would also be the cause of hearing Central and South American stations. Most DXers use WWL signal strength as a first indicator of DX from that region.

Except for one Soviet 300 kw transmitter, used at least on 600 and 1180 and 1160 on different occasions, the transmitters were almost all Czech made 30's, 60's and 120's. I was offered one of these in Ecuador by a salesperson for the factory that made them...

Sidebar: the Czech salesperson was accompanied by a guy who obviously Politburo (however that is spelled) right down to the horribly fitting cheap suit. That guy said nothing, but of course his job was to make sure the salesperson did not defect or say something antisocial...

I was shown pictures of many of these rigs, using Svetlana tubes that had no Eimac equivalents. "You be buying from us. We always make them ready for you." They were classic big iron rigs, high level plate modulated in humongous cabinets. They offered very nice terms, but I was a little concerned about what would happen if I missed a payment...

Anyway, there were a couple of 10 kw and above transmitters in Cuba before the revolution (no capital "R" coming from me) but I suspect they were out of use in the 60's due to inavailability of parts. So what was heard was mostly the 30's and 60's, as the 120's were dual 60's, and I think they got split to be used separately.

 

[davideduardo]

It could have been 834 kHz.

Yes, it was the lighthouse for hearing Central America. If British Honduras, later Belize, came in well, look for others. Second consistent signal was Ondas del Canajagua on 1045 in Panamá and for South America, 1435 Radio Kelkboom in Aruba. The Costa Ricans allocated every 25 kHz and from 575 on, we had 625, 675, 725, etc. Many were fairly easy catches, as was Radio Chinandega on 1475 in Nicaragua and Radio Managua on 965, also there. The Windwards were full of split channels, too. Best one though was Paraguay on 645 which, IIRC, was a channel also used by Radika in Paramaribo, Suriname.

(All this based on Cleveland, OH, reception in the late 50's and early 60's)

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Central and South American Class As show as primary interfering stations in the NIF calculated of well protected Class Bs even on Regional Channels. But the Cuban stations don't even show up in the NIF calculation, I guess they are excluded under treaty.

You didn't have to get far from Windsor to start getting major PJB interference to Class B (many are surprised that it has always been Class II/Class B) CKLW when PJB was 500 kW. It still is shown in the Region 2 database that way. I imagine you got a lot of interference to CKLW in Cleveland from PJB, or had you left Cleveland by the time they came on with 500 kW, David?

They seemed to get CKLW better from the Minor Lobe on the East Coast and few complained of PJB interference. CKLW on 800 was just far enough away on the dial from WABC 770 that New York City area listeners would often find it accidently. They would hear new songs on CKLW at night and call WABC to ask why they weren't playing it. Even though CKLW uses short towers, the minor lobe is about the equivalent of a typical US Class A with a 195 degree tower. I would guess that part of the reason you didn't get as many PJB problems there was that if a typical portable receiver ferrite rod is oriented toward CKLW, it is nulling out PJB.

 

[radioman148]

The Soviet station in Cuba on 600 used to blast into the Midwest at night.
hearing Radio Moscow on the AM band seemed very strange to me.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I assume that the 600 station is not running anywhere near the power they did at one time. I haven't heard it in a while. It doesn't enter into NIF calculations of US stations, but is required to be protected as a 150 kW Class A, as evidenced by recently filed applications.

How well does WMT come in in your area day and night, radioman148?

 

[radioman148]

I assume that the 600 station is not running anywhere near the power they did at one time. I haven't heard it in a while. It doesn't enter into NIF calculations of US stations, but is required to be protected as a 150 kW Class A, as evidenced by recently filed applications.

How well does WMT come in in your area day and night, radioman148?

I haven't heard the 600 station in Cuba in years. Regarding WMT, I get it very well here in the Chicago area during the day, but not as well at night.

 

[audioguy]

At my location WMT is bothered quite a bit by the hash from WTMJ (second adjacent). And WTMJ itself sounds like crap now; used to be a semi-local here.