AM DX IN TROUBLE -- FCC APPROVES NIGHTTIME HD/IBOC ON AM RADIO

[PhilJSmith67]

Something was sure blasting hash around WTVN last time I tried to listen. It hasn't been that long... only a month or so since I last checked. Could be another station's noise I was hearing, though I'm not exactly sure whose it would be.

Might it be 620 WTMJ Milwaukee? That's the station that killed WTVN for me. I used to get a faint but audible WTVN in Manteno, IL (50 miles south of Chicago), daytime, on my Electra/Bearcat DX-1000 with an MFJ antenna amp and a longwire. WTMJ's hash makes WTVN, along with 630 KJSL St Louis, impossible for me to get.

 

[schmave]

Good point. WTMJ's hash is very audible across much of northern Indiana. Judging from their daytime pattern, which sends about the same amount of signal strength into Michigan as Indiana, I think it could be 620.

 

[jcolletta275]

Could very well be WTMJ, then. If so, that's one heckuva buzzsaw!

 

[PhilJSmith67]

Unfortunately, even though I get WTMJ quite well, it falls just below the threshold of being able to lock the HD Radio bitstream. The end result for me is two weak stations get wiped off the dial, with nothing on the plus side displacing them. Same goes for 1200 WRTO Chicago wiping out 1190 WOWO, and 1390 WGRB Chicago covering 1400 WDWS Champaign. Fortunately, I can lock HD Radio signals on the Chicago flamethrowers, well... As long as there isn't a small thunderstorm within 50 miles, or a large one within 100 miles.