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AM Frequency of the Week 1260

cyberdad

cyberdad

This week let's find out what you guys are hearing on 1260....

Here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago daytime it's a very weak WEKZ from Monroe, Wisconsin. 1kw non-directional from about 75 miles away.

At night, WSDZ is one of the more reliable stations on the former "regional" channels, usually with a fair to good signal. This is the former WIBV from Belleville, IL (Saint Louis area with R. Disney)...5kw nights with a figure 8 pattern favorable in my direction. WNDE from Indianapolis is also a sometimes visitor. Also 5kw figure 8....basically oriented north-south.
 
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I have not checked this frequency in a long time, but In the near north Chicago burbs I've heard Indianapolis most often at night. When I first heard it the calls were WFBM. I am old.....LOL!
 
Hey, I get to play this week!

1260 here in Derby, UK is Sabras, a station aimed at South Asian listeners (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Sri Lankan people), from the city of Leicester, about 25 miles away. Leicester has one of the largest South Asian communities in the UK, outside London.

The signal is quite weak, though, and if you turn the radio it's easy enough to ID Smooth 1260 in the background. This is a MOR/soft AC station from Wrexham , about 60 or so miles away.
 
radioman148 said:
I have not checked this frequency in a long time, but In the near north Chicago burbs I've heard Indianapolis most often at night. When I first heard it the calls were WFBM. I am old.....LOL!
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Yes, that makes you old. "Woof Boom" as it was called.

Back in the day, they were playing old people music (now I are one), and heavy on the news.

Here in Southwest Ohio, I hear WNDE in Indy weak during the day, but nothing solid at night.
 
BMR said:
Hey, I get to play this week!
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Indeed you do, and I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying we're glad you're here! I'm curious what the power is of these two stations you mentioned. IIRC, the ground conductivity in most of England is reasonably good. So I'm guessing that the station in Leicester operates at a low power, while the Wrexham station is higher powered, but perhaps not by all that much.

As most of the regulars here know, my daughter lived in London for more than ten years, so between her and having had a couple of sales reps in Birkhamsted who worked for me, I used to get into London once or twice a year. I seem to remember a 1260 that was audible there during the daytime, but I'm drawing a blank on what it was. I also have family in Essex and Manchester. Both of which are better areas for DX than the big city, but I have no specific memories of 1260 in either place. But then again, my time was usually very limited.

Perhaps for the next few "frequency of the week" posts, it might be fun to include channels common to the Americas as well as Europe/Australia/Asia. Hopefully it could encourage others to join the party. (We were doing the 9khz channels here for a while not too long ago, as you may know).
 
In eastern Iowa, I don't hear anything during the day. KDLF Boone, IA and WEKZ Monroe don't have the juice to make it to my area. Nighttimes, I regularly hear WSDZ Belleville, IL (St. Louis area), not all the time, but more than any other stations. WNDE Indianapolis makes it over here sometimes at night.
 
In Western Washington:

Usually during the night it's a battle between CFRN Edmonton and KLYC McMinnville, Oregon. Sometimes other stations pop through, but mostly it's those two, with CFRN dominating most of the time.
 
Eastern Washington! (Yakima)

1260 days - nothing. Sometimes CFRN on a good winter day.

Nights is a big mix. CFRN Edmonton AB is usually the strongest, with sports. I also hear KPOW Powell, WY often in the night with Red Eye Radio, and KLYC McMinnville with their oldies in and out. During Auroral conditions, it's usually KSFB San Francisco with Immaculate Heart Radio. HOWEVER...I have heard XEMW San Luis Rio Colorado, SON on a couple of occasions..."Sonido Zeta".
KMZT Beverly Hills is heard often at sunrise with classical music. Also have heard KTRP Weiser, ID (usually sunset) and KEIR (ex-KBLY) Idaho Falls with their news-talk format.

Most needed/wanted on 1260:
Only one - I'd love to hear KTRC Santa Fe, NM. They are 5KW days with Progressive Talk, and I'm sure on a great sunrise session I can catch them through KEIR and KPOW.
The rest are W-calls or too far for me to reach even on the 3 foot loop. If I had a big beverage antenna, I could probably grab some W-calls on this frequency.

-crainbebo
 
Crainbebo....

Just curious.... Have you ever heard the San Francisco 1260 (the former KYA) at your location? My guess is that you probably have.
 
Read my post on page 1 - I already have logged KSFB (ex KOIT and KYA). They are Immaculate Heart Radio.
 
cyberdad said:
Indeed you do, and I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying we're glad you're here! I'm curious what the power is of these two stations you mentioned. IIRC, the ground conductivity in most of England is reasonably good. So I'm guessing that the station in Leicester operates at a low power, while the Wrexham station is higher powered, but perhaps not by all that much.
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Hi, Cyberdad :)

Yes, Sabras 1260 is fairly low powered- 290 watts. The frequency was originally used for Leicester Sound, which moved to FM only transmission around 1990 ish. Many AM stations were turned into golden oldie services, but given the high South Asian population in Leicester, the frequency was brought by a group called Sabras to serve that community. Smooth Wrexham is 640 watts by comparison. Despite the weak signal South Asian listeners in Derby used to listen to Sabras on AM as it was the first station of its kind in the UK, perhaps a few still do, despite digital alternatives.

Other areas in the UK with large South Asian communities have similar stations to Sabras- such as Sunrise 1458 in London and XL 1296 in Birmingham. The latter has a 10kw transmitter on a very clear channel and can be DX'd some distance away.

As most of the regulars here know, my daughter lived in London for more than ten years, so between her and having had a couple of sales reps in Birkhamsted who worked for me, I used to get into London once or twice a year. I seem to remember a 1260 that was audible there during the daytime, but I'm drawing a blank on what it was. I also have family in Essex and Manchester. Both of which are better areas for DX than the big city, but I have no specific memories of 1260 in either place. But then again, my time was usually very limited.
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Checking here http://frequencyfinder.org.uk/ it seems there is an Absolute Radio relay in Guildford on 1260. That ought to be audible in London.
 
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Here in San Antonio, I have to off tune slightly or use a narrow filter because of splatter from local KZDC on 1250.

During the day it's a weak-to-fair KLGO, a 1 kW Texas Longhorns-focused sports station in Elgin, which is about 20 miles E/NE of Austin.

After sunset, KLGO disappears while the frequency gets busy. The strongest signals I get are XEL, "La Comadre" in Los Reyes Acaquilpan / La Paz and KSML, an NBC Sports station in Diboll, TX. Sometimes country station KWSH in Wewoka, OK, comes to the fore for a bit.

In the partial null of those stations, I can often get an interesting Baton Rouge station, KBRH, which plays old school "blues and rhythm." Other semi-regulars in that null are XESA in Culiacán and KTRC in Santa Fe.

I logged talk station KSGF in Springfield, MO, one night a year and a half ago but haven't heard it since.
 
The relatively indifferent logbook from here in NE PA is quite different from that of the JFK Airport DX days, but fwiw:

These are all off a Lafayette HA-600a with a four-foot loop.

During the midday, there is nothing.

One sunset, though, WBUD 1260 was there! I remember doing an audition there -- ON THE AIR! (WBUD was a toughie to hear near JFK. Ryan Howard here has their most recent calls). There's a tape of them here as WBUD from September 1994.

WRC Washington (formerly WWDC back in the Sixties) was a nighttime catch.

The elusive WNRK from Newark Delaware was a SSS catch in Feb 1995. If Dave Williams is aboard, he'd remember the time I dropped by in a downpour around 1981 when he was conducting an overnight test broadcast from there.

And WNDR Syracuse is in the log as a taped catch from 1995.

Hard for me to accept that most of this good stuff was from 20 years ago. Maybe I should retire from active DXing and become a DXing coach.
 
You're talking about the Dave Williams who lives in Redmond/Bend, Oregon? He used to live in NJ eons ago. If this is the right Dave, he has logged many FM stations on double-hop Es. He had WKYS 93.9 DC on 7/15/2006 at close to 2300 miles. Plus several IL, MO, IN, MI 2x stations.

-crainbebo
 
BMR said:
it seems there is an Absolute Radio relay in Guildford on 1260. That ought to be audible in London.
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That seems to fit what I recall on 1260. I remember it as a fair to weak signal, but still audible in my usual hotel....a brick building (as opposed to steel and concrete) in Mayfair. The power (500 watts) and distance (about 30 miles, if I'm not mistaken)also seem about right for what the expected signal strength would be. The upper floors of the hotel are relatively free of external noise, so especially considering that it's central London, it's really not a bad spot for DX. The big signals from the continent...621, 675, 747... are very listenable 24/7 in the rooms.
 
cyberdad said:
That seems to fit what I recall on 1260. I remember it as a fair to weak signal, but still audible in my usual hotel....a brick building (as opposed to steel and concrete) in Mayfair. The power (500 watts) and distance (about 30 miles, if I'm not mistaken)also seem about right for what the expected signal strength would be. The upper floors of the hotel are relatively free of external noise, so especially considering that it's central London, it's really not a bad spot for DX. The big signals from the continent...621, 675, 747... are very listenable 24/7 in the rooms.
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675 and 747 have closed now. Mainland Europe is getting out of AM in a *big* way.

The UK is just starting the process,really. Just this week we've have the announcement that another couple of UK AM stations are closing - Ironically one of them is on 1260 in Bristol , although it's not audible here due to Sabras.
 
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