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AM Frequency of the Week: 1130

cyberdad

cyberdad

Onward and upward this week, and a stop at 1130 on our AM radio dial. If you get a chance, feel free to put down the fruitcake and egg nog for a moment and let us know what you're hearing there these days!

1130 is one of the more interesting frequencies for me. It's where I experienced not one, but two of my "best-ever" catches. The first was my first exposure to daytime skywave as a teenager in 1964. I was tuning my mom's Magnavox radio-phono console one February morning when I found myself listening to Top-40 on WDGY from Minneapolis. I had never heard the station at night, but here it was at 10:00 in the morning. Perfectly audible with minimal fading. It lasted about two hours.

Then, fast forward 50 years from that point to another winter morning at about 3am on 1130 with a much smaller radio (to say the least). My Sony SRF 37 Walkman. In this case, the unexpected station that was coming in with a perfectly listenable signal was CKWX from Vancouver.

Subsequently, I've heard the Minneapolis 1130 a few times, but not very often, on day pattern at sunset (with WISN powered down). Never again on daytime skywave, and still never on night pattern. I've also heard CKWX a few times, including once in the car just after local sunrise here.

Now "normally"....

Days it's a local-quality signal from Milwaukee's WISN. The stick is about 35 miles northeast of me, and the relatively mild null that I'm in doesn't produce much effect at this location. WISN moved to 1130 in 1965, which explains why I haven't heard any daytime skywave since then.

Night: WISN is allmost completely invisible. Power drops to 10kw and I'm in the deep null to protect KWKH. I'm also in nulls for Detroit, Minneapolis, and KWKH itself. So even in the middle of all these big signals aimed elsewhere, the channel is fairly empty around here. WBBR isn't quite what I'd call a regular, but it's the most likely signal to be on top. I have heard Detroit a few times, as well as KWKH. During the time a couple of years ago when KWKH was on STA with 12.5kw non-directional, it was in nightly with a fair signal, which was good enough for it to overtake WBBR and own the channel.

Finally, at sunrise and sunset when WISN is on day pattern/power there are typically other stations audible underneath for an hour or so. Usually unidentifiable, but I have been able to pick out WDFN and KWKH each a couple of times.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs daytime is all WISN with a very good signal--almost local grade. At night WISN disappears unless there is auroral activity. No station comes in strong at night, but WBBR is heard here most often although weak. Minneapolis sometimes comes in pre-sunset especially this time of year. Detroit comes in pre sunrise. KWKH is rare, but I've heard it a few times.
Way back before WISN moved to 1130 in 1965, Detroit, then WCAR could be heard here during the day on a good radio.
 
SF Bay Area - KRDU, Dinuba, CA most likely to be on top of a mess of stations. CKWX is in there too, with varying strength. KSDO San Diego has been IDed before but not often. I could probably get the Oregon station (which supposedly gives CKWX fits but conforms to US/Canadian treaty) if I tried a little harder, but I'd have to have more patience to listen through that much noise.

That's the problem with AM DX now. It's kinda torturous to put up with the noise on the AM band in order to...extremely rarely...score a new catch. I quickly lose interest and live vicariously through the more active DXers who post here.
 
In the day it's a fairly decent signal here from WBBR, 110 miles to the east. The neighbor across the street was a scanner hobbyist and came across WBBR in the car one day. He thought in was from Bloomsburg PA.

I've gotten WDFN Detroit here a few times around sunrise, the most recent log being 12-22-12.

WDFN (then WCAR) used to chew up WNEW quite often nearing sunrise on Long Island. I distinctly heard them one early morning there with the sun already out. Their day pattern sends some notable signal east-northeast, while the night signal sends next to nothing that way. Perhaps they jumped the gun with the pattern switch those days. It would still be dark out in Detroit when the sun rises in NYC.

Good daytime skywave you've logged there, Cyberdad!
 
WCAR, now WDFN, was authorized 50000 watts with a two tower array in the Daytime before Critical Hours rules were in effect. It sends the equivalent of 50000 watts to the East and West during the Daytime. There are shallow nulls to the South. It is not surprising that you hear it near Chicago and New York City around Sunrise and Sunset, or even in the Daytime in Chicago back when WISN was on 1150. WBBR and KWKH are the Class As on 1130 in the US.
 
In Charleston, 1130 AM during the day is a standards/oldies station from Hilton Head, WHHW ("The Island"). It comes in decently pretty much anywhere within 5-7 miles of the coast with its 1kw daytime. It has a FM translator at 93.5 to cover all of Hilton Head at night, because it has to protect both New York and Shreveport. The nighttime signal struggles in Bluffton, just a few miles away from the transmitter with 500 watts.

We have Camden, SC on 1130, but I have only heard it a couple times in my life, and that was years ago. It is one of my closer unheards. Nighttime and critical hours during the winter, it is usually WBBR. I've heard Shreveport many times as well.
 
Here in Columbus, Ohio, it's a pretty empty channel day and night. At night, it's most likely to be a mish-mash of KMOX's IBOC hash and slop from WRVA. Both of those signals are that strong here pretty much every night and have been about as long as I've been a DXer.
When I attended college in Toledo, 1130 was, not surprisingly, WDFN during the day. The signal was never all that good, especially in comparison to WJR and CKLW that effectively peeled paint in Toledo from about 35 miles north-northeast. 1130's tower farm is not all that far from Toledo, but they definitely tuck in their signal to the south. At night, forget about it. I remember trying for WDFN one night from my dorm at Toledo, and all I heard on 1130 was WBBR. No Detroit at all.
 
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Really not much of anything daytime in East Tennessee. I have received Milwaukee around sunset but that's been awhile. Nights is KWKH.
 
Daytime, usually nothing, maybe a hint of KILJ Mt. Pleasant, IA. Nighttime, usually a weak-to-moderate KTLK (former KFAN, WDGY). Sometimes KWKH appears; also WBBR from time to time. I have also caught CKWX Vancouver once or twice. It's a more interesting frequency than most for me, too. I have a feeling that if I had more persistence I'd make other catches, too, like WDFN or WISN sometime.
 
icybluelake said:
It's a more interesting frequency than most for me, too. I have a feeling that if I had more persistence I'd make other catches, too, like WDFN or WISN sometime.
Click to expand...

Mount Pleasant is where I spent my college days. I had a Hallicrafters S-120 that I had mounted on top of a bookshelf in my dorm room next to a steel roof beam that made for an excellent antenna. This was before KILJ came on, and WISN was doable on a daily basis with a weak, but very listenable basis. Of course, WISN disappeared completely at night.

Point being that with a good radio and whatever is left of KILJ nulled, you should be able to snag WISN at your location. Unlike many big AM signals that seem to have degraded, as far as I can tell, WISN's day signal appears to be as good as ever. They still do quite well even in some of the "noisy" locations in Chicago's north and northwest suburbs.

You also mentioned WDGY. When I was at school in Mount P, they frequently would come roaring in for about a half hour or so before sunset, then vanish without a trace when they went to night power/pattern.

(We had the good fortune of being within range of four Storz top 40 stations in those days. WHB and KXOK during the day. KOMA at night. Then a "sampling" of WDGY evenings as described above. On top of that, occasionally WTIX would turn up at night...especially if CBF signed off).
 
Daylight hours in S.A. is local daytimer KTMR, Spanish-language religious (actually in Converse) .

KWKH dominates at night but can usually be nulled somewhat to reveal XETOL, La Comadre, in Ixtlahuaca. Occasionally XETOL will come up strong for a while. Once in a while, a weak XEYZ, La Poderosa, in Aguascalientes emerges for a bit in the partial null. XEYZ is stronger at sunrise and especially sunset.

Also, there is some splatter from 1140 XEMR during sunrise/sunset and in that null at night.
 
I remember when Mt Pleasant's 1130 first signed on as KKSI, around 1973 or so. (KILJ-FM was first, starting around 1970) Listened to the battle between it and the old WDGY on several winter mornings while warming up the car before school. 50 miles west of Mt. P, WDGY was usually on top of that rumble.


1130 seemed an odd choice for a 250 watt daytimer that was only 300 miles from a 50 kW that pushed a fair chunk of its daytime DA south into Iowa. I'm guessing any other choice would have required a DA, which is rare for a county seat daytimer in Iowa.
 
joebtsflk1 said:
I remember when Mt Pleasant's 1130 first signed on as KKSI, around 1973 or so. (KILJ-FM was first, starting around 1970) Listened to the battle between it and the old WDGY on several winter mornings while warming up the car before school. 50 miles west of Mt. P, WDGY was usually on top of that rumble.
Click to expand...

You just confirmed what I assumed would be the case ever since KKSI came on. Given that WDGY could be a monster during critical hours....especially before sunset. But that said, KILJ/KKSI has a good day signal for 250 watts, and 1130 is relatively open in southeast Iowa at night. When I was there, KWKH was a frequent (but not guaranteed reliable) nighttime catch, but the signal was usually fair-weak at best.
 
This is a bit off topic, but can anyone here tell me how WBBR's night signal compares with other NYC fifty kilowatt, directional signals for covering the market?
I think 1010, 1050, 1190 (30KW), and 1560 all qualify and all of them are near each other in NJ except for 1560 in Brooklyn.
WBBR is the only omni one in the day, but much weaker inland than 660, 770, 880, or even 710, so much lower on the dial.
 
North Georgia has 1130 in Gainesville GA, 10kW at night its a mix. WBBR some nights, KWKH some nights, I have heard WISN on a cold winter night her as well
 
A thumbnail etch here, ai4i, from a former resident of NYC (Queens), former radio employee (26 years) and formerly a more active DXer than nowadays ....

WBBR has a pretty good nighttime presence here in NEPA. All the other 1130's send nothing in this general direction so the reception is effectvely more of a default one. Quite often WRVA 1140 is louder. But any radio listener who craves the overseas market trends at 9PM within the actual metro NYC book knows who they are, and where & when to find them with no problem.

Of the other nighttime directionals you've listed, WINS is the best here (about 110 miles west), then WFME 1560 and WEPN 1050. WLIB 1190 is largely a no-show.

All the stations you've mentioned (omni and directional) are present in the day. WABC and WOR are the loudest.
 
When I was a teenager, I visited some relatives in Carbondale PA, about sixteen miles northeast of Scranton.
I remember listening to WARM and WABC. WABC was solid in the day but had a lot of phase cancelation at night.
WARM was good in the day, but NOT interference-free at night.
I also remember hearing 660, 710, 880, and 1130 (then, standards WNEW).
All I was really interested in hearing at the time were Dan Ingrahm and Cousin Brucie on WABeatleC.

My relatives had a pre-WWII mahogany floor model radio.
It had preset buttons with labels of some NYC call letters, both current at the time, and long-gone.
I do not know whether they were set by pulling and pushing as with car radios of the day.
 
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WBBR's night signal is very good here. 880, 660, 770 then probably 1130 is the order in strength here of the NY clears. 1560 comes in the best of the rest of the New York 50kws. WOR is basically a no-show here. 1010 WINS is iffy with so many other signals on that frequency.
 
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