AM Bandscan Highlights, Hays Kansas (Midway between Denver and Kansas City)

[cyberdad]

Roadside Hotel off I-70. Rerlatively (but not completely) noise free. 5/13/21. C Crane skywave. (Hays is a prairie town of about 25,000 enjoying a robust oil boom).

580: WIBW. 200 miles to the east of my location, but still probably skywave.
640: KFI. Very week, but on top of a couple of other weaker signals
670: WSCR. Weak but alone
680: KNBR, Weak....I expected the signal to be better
690: KGGF. Fair and alone.
700: WLW. Weak
720: WGN. Good, but something underneath that I couldn't ID. (KSAH?)
780: WBBM. Fair...definitely weaker than WGN
800; XEROK. Weak, but on top
820: WBAP. Blasting
830: WCCO, Weak
840. WHAS. Weak
850: KOA. Fair at best...probably convergencd
870: WWL. Fair...a mild surprise
880: KRVN, Fair
890: WLS. Fair
990: KRSL. Fair...30 watts from 25 miles away (Russel, KS). Strong enough to be on top of CBW in the background
1000: KTOK. Fair with XEOY underneath. No trace of KOMO or WMVP
1030: Spanish. Couldn't identify. Fair. Any guesses? XEQR?
1040: WHO. Good
1050: XEG, Good...best Mexican signal
1070: Mix of weak signals,,,was looking for KNX, which may have been one of them
1080: KRLD. Good
1120: KMOX Good
1170: KFAQ. Fair
1200: WOAI Good
1210: KGYN Good....and perhaps not even cheating!
1520: KOKC Good

 

[radioman148]

Thanks for the report. Always enjoy your road scans.

 

[MarioMania]

I love road trips, Haven't been on one for 11 years

 

[DXBob]

Thank you for the report from Hays, Kansas. Some of your results there mirror my DX listening results [i.e. WBAP, XEG, etc.] in Overland Park, Kansas. It would appear that Hays is in the nighttime ground wave contour for WIBW:

WIBW-AM Radio Station Coverage Map

Bob

 

[schmave]

Having never visited that part of the country, is that about the realistic eastern extent of where the California blasters such as KFI and KNBR can be heard?
Nice catch with XEROK. Don't see them in many DX reports anymore.
I remember XEG as the strongest Mexican skywave signal when I lived in Houston. Others could be heard, but they peeled paint at night.

 

[crainbebo]

KOMO is too far away from Hays for reliable nighttime listening, I'm afraid. And you have KTOK much closer, even WMVP is closer than KOMO (which is about 1300 mi from Hays). The opposite happens with KSTP-1500 because 1500 is a very clear channel in the left half of the country (outside of KSJX San Jose CA). Once you get a thousand miles east or southeast from KOMO, there are other stations mixing.
I have only heard ONE Kansas station in all my years of AM DXing. That station is KVGB 1590 in Great Bend. It gets out very well at night. It is way easier on FM during Es season when western and central KS is pretty common. I have at least 20 stations logged from KS on FM. Including Hays on 88.9, 100.7, and 93.5. 88.9 KPRD was heard in Yakima and I have a local (KCSH) here in Ellensburg, so 88.9 is now blocked.

 

[radioman148]

KFI used to be a fairly regular catch in Northern Illinois until WMFN came on the air. Now there no chance to get it here.

 

[gar hi]

Nice report, cyberdad! Thanks.

Looks like that's a perfect location in the country where you can hear stations from both the eastern half and western half on a regular basis.

In most parts of the continental US now, the dial at night is usually all from one half of the country or the other.

 

[brian1610AM]

Roadside Hotel off I-70. Rerlatively (but not completely) noise free. 5/13/21. C Crane skywave. (Hays is a prairie town of about 25,000 enjoying a robust oil boom).

580: WIBW. 200 miles to the east of my location, but still probably skywave.
640: KFI. Very week, but on top of a couple of other weaker signals
670: WSCR. Weak but alone
680: KNBR, Weak....I expected the signal to be better
690: KGGF. Fair and alone.
700: WLW. Weak
720: WGN. Good, but something underneath that I couldn't ID. (KSAH?)
780: WBBM. Fair...definitely weaker than WGN
800; XEROK. Weak, but on top
820: WBAP. Blasting
830: WCCO, Weak
840. WHAS. Weak
850: KOA. Fair at best...probably convergencd
870: WWL. Fair...a mild surprise
880: KRVN, Fair
890: WLS. Fair
990: KRSL. Fair...30 watts from 25 miles away (Russel, KS). Strong enough to be on top of CBW in the background
1000: KTOK. Fair with XEOY underneath. No trace of KOMO or WMVP
1030: Spanish. Couldn't identify. Fair. Any guesses? XEQR?
1040: WHO. Good
1050: XEG, Good...best Mexican signal
1070: Mix of weak signals,,,was looking for KNX, which may have been one of them
1080: KRLD. Good
1120: KMOX Good
1170: KFAQ. Fair
1200: WOAI Good
1210: KGYN Good....and perhaps not even cheating!
1520: KOKC Good

The 1030 AM is maybe WGSF from Memphis, TN.

 

[cyberdad]

Thank you for the report from Hays, Kansas. Some of your results there mirror my DX listening results [i.e. WBAP, XEG, etc.] in Overland Park, Kansas. It would appear that Hays is in the nighttime ground wave contour for WIBW:

WIBW-AM Radio Station Coverage Map

Bob

Thanks, Bob. I checked that map out for myself, so that and your comment confirmed what I suspected, Also.... I was a little surprised that 610 was a mess, I thought that would have been all Kansas City.

 

[cyberdad]

Nice report, cyberdad! Thanks.

Looks like that's a perfect location in the country where you can hear stations from both the eastern half and western half on a regular basis.

In most parts of the continental US now, the dial at night is usually all from one half of the country or the other.

Thanks, Gar. The geographic center of the continental U.S. is in southeastern Kansas. Hays is in the west central part of the state. I've stayed in Hays before on biz trips at the old Holiday Inn there which had nice rooms, a good littlw bar and grill, but lousy DX due to noise. That place is now gone, so I felt fortunate to find an equally good hotel ((Fairfield Inn) in a more open area with better DX. I'll trade that for a good bar and grill anytime.....especially given that the place had one of those just accross the parking lot!

 

[roadwonk]

Thanks, Bob. I checked that map out for myself, so that and your comment confirmed what I suspected, Also.... I was a little surprised that 610 was a mess, I thought that would have been all Kansas City.

I wonder if part of the "mess" on 610 was (what was then KRKE) from Albuquerque. In the Denver area, back in the '70s, I could get both WDAF or KRKE, depending on which way I had my boombox turned!

 

[DXBob]

Thanks, Bob. I checked that map out for myself, so that and your comment confirmed what I suspected, Also.... I was a little surprised that 610 was a mess, I thought that would have been all Kansas City.

Sure! During the daytime, WIBW can be heard all the way to the Colorado state line. I am a bit surprised by what you experienced with KCSP on 610 kHz.

Bob

 

[cyberdad]

KOMO is too far away from Hays for reliable nighttime listening, I'm afraid. And you have KTOK much closer, even WMVP is closer than KOMO (which is about 1300 mi from Hays). The opposite happens with KSTP-1500 because 1500 is a very clear channel in the left half of the country (outside of KSJX San Jose CA). Once you get a thousand miles east or southeast from KOMO, there are other stations mixing.
I have only heard ONE Kansas station in all my years of AM DXing.

I would have been surprised to have heard either KOMO or WMVP in western Kansas. I was expecting either KTOK or XEOY, and sure enough....I wound up hearing both. I have heard WMVP in Kansas before. Exactly once. Driving from KC to Wichita just after sunrise at a point a little to the southwest of where Bob is located. On a rental car radio, with WMVP obviously on day patternhe

Kansas isn't exactly easy duty most nights in the Chicago area either. Back in the sixties, I used to sometimes hear KGGF from Coffeeville on 690, KKOW (then KOAM) on 860 from Pittsburg, (Kansad), WREN on 1250 from Topeka, and KFH on 1330 from Wichita. I haven't heard any of those at my home location in at least 20 years.....except for a one off with KKOW several months ago. Otherwise, it's one or all of them being now defunct or unable make it hear due to other signals filling their channels.

 

[cyberdad]

Having never visited that part of the country, is that about the realistic eastern extent of where the California blasters such as KFI and KNBR can be heard?
Nice catch with XEROK. Don't see them in many DX reports anymore.ve
I remember XEG as the strongest Mexican skywave signal when I lived in Houston. Others could be heard, but they peeled paint at night.

I suspect XEROK is on reduced power. I havent heard them in the Chicago area in quite a while. I was hearing them as I traveled around southern California and adjacent parts of the Southwest, but they didn't exactly sound good. Either in terms of signal strenght or audio.

 

[roadwonk]

I suspect XEROK is on reduced power. I havent heard them in the Chicago area in quite a while. I was hearing them as I traveled around southern California and adjacent parts of the Southwest, but they didn't exactly sound good. Either in terms of signal strenght or audio.

I think you're right - XEROK has powered down. Nothing like the 150 kW they ran back in the late '70s! Darn near blew the speaker out of my boombox back then - lived in the Denver area and it came in just as strong as KOA

 

[cyberdad]

I think you're right - XEROK has powered down. Nothing like the 150 kW they ran back in the late '70s! Darn near blew the speaker out of my boombox back then - lived in the Denver area and it came in just as strong as KOA

First of all, welcome to the board. You're always among friends here.
And yeah....on a good night here in my part of the Chicago area, XEROK could almost be right up there with WLS.

 

[roadwonk]

First of all, welcome to the board. You're always among friends here.
And yeah....on a good night here in my part of the Chicago area, XEROK could almost be right up there with WLS.

Thank you! Would you believe that I found this forum by Googling "short-spaced"? I was reading a Wikipedia article on (what was then) WLAC-TV in Nashville, and the article mentioned that it was short-spaced with WMC-TV in Memphis, since both were on (analog) channel 5. Wasn't sure what the term meant, so I searched for it and one of the results was Radio Discussions. I love it

 

[radioman148]

Kansas isn't exactly easy duty most nights in the Chicago area either. Back in the sixties, I used to sometimes hear KGGF from Coffeeville on 690, KKOW (then KOAM) on 860 from Pittsburg, (Kansad), WREN on 1250 from Topeka, and KFH on 1330 from Wichita. I haven't heard any of those at my home location in at least 20 years.....except for a one off with KKOW several months ago. Otherwise, it's one or all of them being now defunct or unable make it hear due to other signals filling their channels.

I also used to hear KGGF sometimes in the Chicago area. WDAF could also be heard from time to time. Welcome to the board roadwonk!