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A day in the life of a lamptimer
- Thread starter DrAkbar
- Start date
Same ol' same ol' at the Lumberyard--the lamptimer drifting :11 every 24 hours,
putting tonight's (October 11) carrier dump at 6:01:05 PM. Not quite late enough
(yet) to capture the TOH ID from the automation--give it a few days. Tonight didn't
quite get to the end of a Searchers song, call it Love Potion Number 8 1/2.
Anyone been paying attention to a few stations that used to be known around here
as "illegal power aliens"? Tonight's 6 PM power down at KayFuNN 1510 did not occur
until 6:02:36. I guess that's close enough...maybe...perhaps...sorta.
The real test will be starting next month and a 5:30 power down, while "Mo Money"
is still on the air.
putting tonight's (October 11) carrier dump at 6:01:05 PM. Not quite late enough
(yet) to capture the TOH ID from the automation--give it a few days. Tonight didn't
quite get to the end of a Searchers song, call it Love Potion Number 8 1/2.
Anyone been paying attention to a few stations that used to be known around here
as "illegal power aliens"? Tonight's 6 PM power down at KayFuNN 1510 did not occur
until 6:02:36. I guess that's close enough...maybe...perhaps...sorta.
The real test will be starting next month and a 5:30 power down, while "Mo Money"
is still on the air.
Today the Lumberyard almost got the sign-off perfectly synchronized with the computerized legal ID. The legal ID played at the top of the hour (around 6:01 P.M.) and then began "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians ???. The song went, "Too many teardrops, for one heart, to be..." and then the lamptimer did its thing and dumped the carrier. To be what? Continued? The suspense is killing me Sandusky!
All in all, I consider that some good timing by our friends over at the Lumberyard. I think Julius Genachowski and company over at the FCC will let this pass as a proper sign-off! ;D
All in all, I consider that some good timing by our friends over at the Lumberyard. I think Julius Genachowski and company over at the FCC will let this pass as a proper sign-off! ;D
asugeorge1 said:Today the Lumberyard almost got the sign-off perfectly synchronized with the computerized legal ID. The legal ID played at the top of the hour (around 6:01 P.M.) and then began "96 Tears" by ? and the Mysterians ???. The song went, "Too many teardrops, for one heart, to be..." and then the lamptimer did its thing and dumped the carrier. To be what? Continued? The suspense is killing me Sandusky!
...we'd be lyin' if we didn't say cryin' Now why the carrier gets dumped on that, Nurse Jeff and I don't know. You'd think Mrs Gumpdusky would take exception to the sanitized title of that nugget, if you catch our drift
4:45 PM Friday: Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb).
We're now on full alert status for My Way.
We're now on full alert status for My Way.
Dr. Akbar said:
You can't have a Lumberyard night without 52 watts! And one has to wonder about your
suggested Big 'BSZ night, too...I don't think you can hear the 50 watts from A.J. at the
Madhouse on McDowell.
So how about a Lumberyard day? Or maybe "an hour at the Goldmine"? We'll do it from
10-11 AM, in between jock talk and the food show. Kim Amidon and Don can be live on
location from the fair, giving out that tasty lamptimer on a stick to the first 20 people who
come up to the KAZG prize van and sing "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop."
Why is it that I have this picture now running aimlessly thru my head with that comment posted???oldiesfan6479 said:<...> giving out that tasty lamptimer on a stick to the first 20 people who come up to the KAZG prize van and sing "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop."
http://imcdb.org/images/003/277.jpg
;D ;D ???
Why is it that I have this picture now running aimlessly thru my head with that comment posted???
http://imcdb.org/images/003/277.jpg
;D ;D ???
[/quote]
All that van needs are the KAZG call letters spelled backwards across the hood! Our fezes would go vertical if Nurse Jeff and I saw that in the Gremlin's rear view mirror!
http://imcdb.org/images/003/277.jpg
;D ;D ???
[/quote]
All that van needs are the KAZG call letters spelled backwards across the hood! Our fezes would go vertical if Nurse Jeff and I saw that in the Gremlin's rear view mirror!
This weekend, I tested the "outer limits" of the KAZG signal and picked up the "ginchiest" of all DX catches out west! ;D
I rented a car on Friday and took a weekend trip out to "El Lay." This was the first time in a long time that I actually had a perfect AM radio in the car that had no static or interference while the engine was running. These ideal conditions allowed me to test the daytime power limits of Phoenix AM radio stations. The Lumberyard, at 5000 watts, came in pretty clear all the way until the Zip Gas Station at Exit 45 in Salome, AZ. The signal started to fade away once I got on the other side of the mountains near Quartzsite, Arizona. I thought that this was the end of my beloved Goldmine. But, what to my wondering ear should appear once I was on the other side of the border in California, the return of KAZG! The Lumberyard faded in and out as I headed west past Desert Center and Chiriaco Summit, CA. It continued to get progressively weaker the further west I headed, especially once I dropped down into Indio, CA. I thought I lost it completely around 6:00 P.M., but then I heard it return as I was driving by Palm Springs. Since 6:00 is the infamous time of KAZG's abrupt October sign-off, I was on pins and needles. Amongst the windmills heading west toward Cabazon, I heard the KAZG jingle with the legal ID and then the beginning of a Jan and Dean song. Then, the carrier dumped, and it was static with a little Santa Barbara 1440 mixed in.
Then, again this morning, I was driving back to Phoenix at the time of full day-time power-up around 6:30 A.M. and could faintly hear yet again the oldies sound of 1440 AM whilst driving east on Interstate 10 in the midst of the marine layer in Beaumont, CA.
So my question to all of you is this: how come the day-time signal of KAZG can be heard so far away, almost able to penetrate the LA Basin? Is this due to the atmospheric condition of this time of year or is this a common occurrence?
Also, as a side note, the Lumberyard was the furthest Phoenix AM radio station I could hear on day-time power as 620 KTAR was over-powered by Mexican 620 around Chiriaco Summit and 550 KFYI disappeared after dropping into the abyss known as Indio. I was able to pick up KTAR again around Whitewater, CA when it went to night-time power and also picked up our little friend from the Mesa Cemetery, KMIK AM 1580. Actually, this little Radio Disney station is probably the strongest night-time Phoenix station that you can pick-up in the L.A. basin area, even stronger than KTAR.
All in all, it was an interesting trip to and from L.A. testing the limits of Phoenix AM radio stations. The day-time winners are the Goldminers over at the Lumberyard. Congratulations Sandusky!
I rented a car on Friday and took a weekend trip out to "El Lay." This was the first time in a long time that I actually had a perfect AM radio in the car that had no static or interference while the engine was running. These ideal conditions allowed me to test the daytime power limits of Phoenix AM radio stations. The Lumberyard, at 5000 watts, came in pretty clear all the way until the Zip Gas Station at Exit 45 in Salome, AZ. The signal started to fade away once I got on the other side of the mountains near Quartzsite, Arizona. I thought that this was the end of my beloved Goldmine. But, what to my wondering ear should appear once I was on the other side of the border in California, the return of KAZG! The Lumberyard faded in and out as I headed west past Desert Center and Chiriaco Summit, CA. It continued to get progressively weaker the further west I headed, especially once I dropped down into Indio, CA. I thought I lost it completely around 6:00 P.M., but then I heard it return as I was driving by Palm Springs. Since 6:00 is the infamous time of KAZG's abrupt October sign-off, I was on pins and needles. Amongst the windmills heading west toward Cabazon, I heard the KAZG jingle with the legal ID and then the beginning of a Jan and Dean song. Then, the carrier dumped, and it was static with a little Santa Barbara 1440 mixed in.
Then, again this morning, I was driving back to Phoenix at the time of full day-time power-up around 6:30 A.M. and could faintly hear yet again the oldies sound of 1440 AM whilst driving east on Interstate 10 in the midst of the marine layer in Beaumont, CA.
So my question to all of you is this: how come the day-time signal of KAZG can be heard so far away, almost able to penetrate the LA Basin? Is this due to the atmospheric condition of this time of year or is this a common occurrence?
Also, as a side note, the Lumberyard was the furthest Phoenix AM radio station I could hear on day-time power as 620 KTAR was over-powered by Mexican 620 around Chiriaco Summit and 550 KFYI disappeared after dropping into the abyss known as Indio. I was able to pick up KTAR again around Whitewater, CA when it went to night-time power and also picked up our little friend from the Mesa Cemetery, KMIK AM 1580. Actually, this little Radio Disney station is probably the strongest night-time Phoenix station that you can pick-up in the L.A. basin area, even stronger than KTAR.
All in all, it was an interesting trip to and from L.A. testing the limits of Phoenix AM radio stations. The day-time winners are the Goldminers over at the Lumberyard. Congratulations Sandusky!
asugeorge1 said:
Every Friday at noon, water is diverted from the canal into the tower yard behind the shack for
30 minutes, to "irrigate" the copper radials.
OK, you come up with a better explanation. Paging the Old Gringo, Professor Fybush...
First section of listening was true groundwave coverage and died out exactly as expected.
1440 is high enough on the dial to skip skywave and be heard if there's nothing to fight with.
This time of year, with temperature inversions, it seems to me that all AM skywave behavior goes though different "aspects".
That was also a pretty good radio, too, to be sensitive enough to pick up daytime AM, which is usually pretty weak.
Did the car have a whip antenna, or what?
Ginch-ville, man. 8)
1440 is high enough on the dial to skip skywave and be heard if there's nothing to fight with.
This time of year, with temperature inversions, it seems to me that all AM skywave behavior goes though different "aspects".
That was also a pretty good radio, too, to be sensitive enough to pick up daytime AM, which is usually pretty weak.
Did the car have a whip antenna, or what?
Ginch-ville, man. 8)
Leave it to the Goldminers to do everything they can as the ground system at Lumberyard 14~Forty is like the floorboard in our '76 Gremlin - pretty much non-existent. The Nurse and I are surprised that 14~Forty in Riverside didn't make an effort to repel the Gumpdusky intruder from their turf. Of course they're running the All Comedy Radio format which everyone knows is a joke! ;D
Tom Wells said:
It was one of those antennas built into the rear car window, but the rear window was huge on the Mercury Grand Marquis I was driving. I too was surprised at how good the antenna performed, but it worked wonders. For example, on the way back from California, I was still able to pick-up AM 640 KFI on day-time power all the way until entering the town limits of Buckeye, AZ. Around Arizona 85, there was too much interference from KTAR to pick-up anything from KFI.
Dr. Akbar said:
Actually Doc, you’re correct. 1440 Riverside was another station fighting it out with our beloved Lumberyard around the Palm Springs area, in addition to lots of interference from Palm Springs 1450, KGAM. The interference from Palm Springs 1450 started to go away heading west once I got past the windmills around Whitewater. I do recall hearing some stand-up comedian pretending to be funny, but I thought it was Santa Barbara 1440. So both Comedy 1440 out of Riverside and Santa Barbara 1440 were fighting it out with the Lumberyard down that stretch of Interstate 10 going from Palm Springs to Cabazon. But, the dominant station, at least right before sign-off around 6:02 P.M., was the Goldmine. Good thing the lamptimer wasn’t too far off of local sunset time for the month of October or else we would have some angry comedy radio fans out in Riverside! ;D
asugeorge1 said:
Isn't than the original Steve McGarrett car? How many times did you say "Book 'em Danno!" ;D
Since KT'R has pretty much had its I-CRAP turned off recently, ya think maybe the interference
was more likely from a clandestine transmitter's antenna--disguised as a giant fez--along I-10
in Buckeye?
Ah, I see Mrs. Lumberyard is tuned in this afternoon.
"That's life, that's what all the people say..."
"That's life, that's what all the people say..."
What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports will be goin' on at Lumberyard 14~Forty come Monday, November First-est? Will the Goldminers be capable of firing up the 500w pre-sunrise xmttr at at 6am and bump it to 5kw at 7am? And can they pull off the infamous Gumpdusky carrier dump (music in progress, no legal ID) at 5:30pm? Inquiring Middle Eastern Minds want to know!
And a sidebar for the Mesonians at KFuNN 15~Tin: just because Mo Ansari is paying top dollar for his show does not mean you can ignore local sunset. It's quite obvious when you're at 100 watts compared to your day pow-pow-power of 22kw. tsk. tsk. tsk.
And a sidebar for the Mesonians at KFuNN 15~Tin: just because Mo Ansari is paying top dollar for his show does not mean you can ignore local sunset. It's quite obvious when you're at 100 watts compared to your day pow-pow-power of 22kw. tsk. tsk. tsk.
Dr. Akbar said:
Last night, on a ghoulish Halloween night, the Lumberyard signed off just as the legal ID was beginning to play. The Lovin' Spoonful had just finished "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," and then at 6:01 and 24 seconds, the carrier dumped just as the legal ID music was beginning to play. Close, but no cigar! Now with a 5:30 P.M. sign-off in November, there will be no chance of timing the computer automation legal ID with the lamptimer. Well, there's always next year! ;D
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