Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! The week we have a "regional frequency before we go to the final remaing four "1-A clears", then onto the locals and more regionals. So this week, it's 1150. Here in the far northwest Chicago suburbs......
Days; Basically splatter from local WYLL (1160), a 50KW directional behemoth.
Nights: WYLL is slightly weaker here and splatter is less of an issue. For a period of about five years or so, CKOC was the most likely station to climb on top of the mess, but that all stopped a couple of years ago, when CKOC apparently fixed their pattern and restored their null in this direction. Nowadays, WHBY is fairly reliable on top of the channel.
Retro: Before what amounted to a significant realignment of southeastern Wisconsin AM frequencies in 1965, WISN (Milwaulee) was on 1150. The were running 5kw with the same pattern day and night, protecting (then) WJJD/1160. The result at my location (12 miles east of where I live now) was that WISN couldn't usually break through the WJJD splatter during their hours of operation. But when WJJD signed off at Salt Lake City sunset, WISN reliably came through and was typically on top of 1150 with a fair signal.
Also, there was a nice little 500-watt top-40 daytimer, WJRL, on 1150 in Rockford, IL. About 30 miles west of my (current location), but since they also were protecting WJJD (and WISN) with a highly directional pattern, I could never hear them. I was probably about 10-15 miles beyond their ability to penetrate the WJJD splatter.
Days; Basically splatter from local WYLL (1160), a 50KW directional behemoth.
Nights: WYLL is slightly weaker here and splatter is less of an issue. For a period of about five years or so, CKOC was the most likely station to climb on top of the mess, but that all stopped a couple of years ago, when CKOC apparently fixed their pattern and restored their null in this direction. Nowadays, WHBY is fairly reliable on top of the channel.
Retro: Before what amounted to a significant realignment of southeastern Wisconsin AM frequencies in 1965, WISN (Milwaulee) was on 1150. The were running 5kw with the same pattern day and night, protecting (then) WJJD/1160. The result at my location (12 miles east of where I live now) was that WISN couldn't usually break through the WJJD splatter during their hours of operation. But when WJJD signed off at Salt Lake City sunset, WISN reliably came through and was typically on top of 1150 with a fair signal.
Also, there was a nice little 500-watt top-40 daytimer, WJRL, on 1150 in Rockford, IL. About 30 miles west of my (current location), but since they also were protecting WJJD (and WISN) with a highly directional pattern, I could never hear them. I was probably about 10-15 miles beyond their ability to penetrate the WJJD splatter.