720 AM - not what i wanted to hear

[Rob]

I'm trying to hear chicago on 720 but all i hear is either mexican or cuban crap. can anyone identify what this station is?

i know very little spanish and it doesn't sound cuban at all.

-rob

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I'm trying to hear chicago on 720 but all i hear is either mexican or cuban crap. can anyone identify what this station is?

i know very little spanish and it doesn't sound cuban at all.

-rob

If you're around Boston, there's a Spanish pirate on 720. I don't think it's strong enough to do much of any distance skipping on skywave, though.

 

[Rob]

boston? no. Fort Walton Beach, fl (hence my name)

 

[MikeStandardsFromIndiana]

then my guess is your getting a cuban spanish on 720,

 

[Rob]

that's cuban? sounded mexican to me. that was heard all the way up on the Illinois dxtuner.

let me guess it's running 150KW on a russian transmitter.

 

[nd2023]

that's cuban? sounded mexican to me. that was heard all the way up on the Illinois dxtuner.

let me guess it's running 150KW on a russian transmitter.

It interfered with WGN in Illinois? Must be some serious juice!

 

[davideduardo]

I'm trying to hear chicago on 720 but all i hear is either mexican or cuban crap. can anyone identify what this station is?

i know very little spanish and it doesn't sound cuban at all.

What does "Cuban" sound like?

In any case, there is supposedly only one low power Cuban on 720. In all probability, given your location, you are getting either the very widely heard Emisoras Unidas (20 kw) in Barranquilla or, maybe, the Venezuelan (10 kw) at Porlamar on the island state of Nueva Esparta, with a beautiful saltwater path to you.

 

[davideduardo]

that's cuban? sounded mexican to me. that was heard all the way up on the Illinois dxtuner.

What does "Mexican" sound like? There are 30 or more different radio formats that are predominant in Mexico, and only a couple sound "Mexican" while as many as don't play US pop and AC and rock!

let me guess it's running 150KW on a russian transmitter.

The foreign transmitters in Cuba are Czech, from the 60's. They came in 30, 60 and 120 kw versions... there was one 300 kw rig, too.

 

[Rob]

and why do they need so much power! to ruin the north american stations? were screwed at 50K max while the other countries just flip their middle finger and go for it. looking at cuba on a map, I wonder if a 50K station would be enough to cover most of the cont. I was told they have 1KW daytimers down there, too.

The FCC is null and void anyway since the XM merger.

-Rob

 

[davideduardo]

and why do they need so much power! to ruin the north american stations?

Almost alone in the world, the USA has the concept of pushing much of the power of the citizens to the most local level, from which we get the "Town Hall" concept. Our regulatory agencies, like the FCC, created the concept of local radio by limiting the number of higher power stations (and limiting them to a meager 50 kw) and creating thousands of 250 watt (now 1000) Class IV stations and daytimers.

Elsewhere in the world, government is much more centralized and the concept of localism is of vastly less significance. So the regulatory bodies, whether it be in France or England or Colombia or Korea, opted for the efficien

were screwed at 50K max while the other countries just flip their middle finger and go for it.

"We" were not screwed. Our government, on its own, made a decision for localism while just about all the rest of the world went for higher powers; stations in the range of 500,000 watts to 2,000,000 watts are common in much of the rest of the world, as is national networking of nearly all program content.

Nobody forced the USA to establish the system of classes and allocations that we developed. Moves for higher power were thwarted many many times, from the late 30's to as late as around 1968, in the name of small local stations by the hundreds.

You might want to reconsider saying that the rest of the world flipped us the bird... that's the kind of thinking and statement that gave rise to the image of the Ugly American on the world scene. And in this case, each nation decided what was right for it... because in less developed economies, tiny local stations can not exist while large, regional or national ones can. That's just the way the world is.

looking at cuba on a map, I wonder if a 50K station would be enough to cover most of the cont. I was told they have 1KW daytimers down there, too.

There are no daytimers in Cuba, or Latin America outside Puerto Rico (USA) and Mexico. Most of the low power transmitters are relays of one of the national networks, or parts of regional networks (the equivalent of a state network in the US).

Cuba is about 800 miles from east to west, and 50 kw can not cover that. Remember that high power today is mostly needed to overcome the high levels of ambient noise (mostly man made) of today's world. 50 kw might cover metro Habana, but to cover the surrounding area needs a bit more power. And that is why there are about 100 stations in Cuba...

Look at Puerto Rico, another island in the Greater Antilles like Cuba, and both with low ground conductivity and lots of mountains. But Puerto Rico is only 100 miles by 35, yet it takes 4 to 5 AM stations in a network to cover most of it adequately!

The FCC is null and void anyway since the XM merger.

In case you did not notice, XM and Sirius together lost about $10 billion dollars in their first 7 years of operation. It was either merge or perish. And with today's economy, who is going to pay for what they can get free elsewhere?