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AM Frequency of the Week: 1500

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburbs of Chicago....

Day: A weak signal from WPJX from Zion, IL. 250 watts with a "figure 8" pattern that hugs the Illinois-Wisconsin state line (and provides entertainment for loads of fish in Lake Michigan). Distance from my location is about 27 miles.

Night: WPJX drops to 2 watts and disappears. That leaves 1500 relatively empty, with a weak KSTP audible most nights.

Sunrise-Sunset: Sometimes WFED turns up on day pattern. Otherwise KSTP is the most common day pattern visitor.
 
If I'm not mistaken, AM Frequency of the Week and "Most Wanted" should intersect this week.

East Tennessee: Daytime-nothing unless a random signal skips in during the winter.
Sunrise/Sunset: Generally WFED or KSTP
Night: A mishmash but usually WFED is part of it

Retro/other: Dayton, OH. A local in WBZI, Xenia. Otherwise pretty much the same as Tennessee. Lafayette IN area would see a weak WBRI.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs 1500 is basically nothing during the day, maybe a faint whisper from Zion.
At night KSTP is usually there, but not very strong most of the time. I’ve heard Washington now WFED, previously WTOP A few times during critical hours.
 
by day, poop squat here in Laramie, WY

At night, all KSTP and loud!

I did, however hear KJIM Sherman, TX at sunrise, Sat Oct 26.
 
Chicago near the lakeshore:

Daytime: Not a whole lot. On certain favorable sections of Lake Shore Drive I can pick up KPJX in Zion, IL. My car radio often gets some combination of WGN 720 and WBBM 780 on this frequency (presumably since 720 + 780 = 1500) so it makes it challenging to identify weak signals. I have gotten this mysterious station (I think) that plays oldies which may be the latest version of WAKE in Hobart, IN but I am not too sure because of all the interference.

Critical Hours: WSTP St Paul, MN is the most likely, followed by WFED in Washington DC.

Night: Again WSTP is the most likely. I've gotten WLQV in Detroit a few times also.
 
West Central Georgia

Days: Mostly nothing, occasionally hear WDPC Dallas GA 5kW Days (Southern gospel)

Nights: Usually hear weak WFED from Washington DC

Dawn/Dusk: Have heard WQCR Alabaster/Birmingham AL 2.3kW Days (Spanish)
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago near the lakeshore:
I have gotten this mysterious station (I think) that plays oldies which may be the latest version of WAKE in Hobart, IN but I am not too sure because of all the interference.
.
Click to expand...

I'll guess WAKE. Oldies/nostalgia format. Very directional, and about to become even more so, if they aren't already. They recently got a CP to drop from 1kw to 250 watts from a new 3-tower site and throw all of their signal east. Which means even less...if any....signal beyond the Illinois state line.

I've never heard even a whiff of WAKE here at my location.
 
cyberdad said:
I'll guess WAKE. Oldies/nostalgia format. Very directional, and about to become even more so, if they aren't already. They recently got a CP to drop from 1kw to 250 watts from a new 3-tower site and throw all of their signal east. Which means even less...if any....signal beyond the Illinois state line.

I've never heard even a whiff of WAKE here at my location.
Click to expand...

This was during the springtime (of this year). I couldn't find it on radio-locator.com at the time so it was something of a mystery. I'd hear it in only in places where there was no interference from 720/780 or WPJX which made it very hard. Eventually I just gave up trying to figure out what it was, and I wasn't 100 percent sure it wasn't an artifact like 720/780. But later I saw the new WAKE on radio-locator and surmised that's what it probably was...
 
In the day, it's WFED, weak but steady.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFED&service=AM&h=D

The DX den here is a little north of Pottsville PA. I'm actually closer by a few miles to the Maryland border than to the New York border. But the GE Superadio II insists on this traditional 'clear' station being the only one on 1500. When I want to hear fake news from them anymore, lol, I go to the WTOP website.

New Jersey's great WGHT (formerly WKER) was one I nabbed one sunset.

* * * * * * *

Ha! To Cyberdad and others! I guess my somewhat misguided DOWN the dial adventures, vis-a-vis his UP the dial shenanigans, already have met.

Good fun.
 
For me, its the second harmonic of WSB (750) since I am only 5.3 miles from the transmitter site. I'm sure they are within specification for their second harmonic. Besides I use a select-a-tenna which can do some strange things at times.
But when WSB is off for maintenance, I get WFED.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: usuall WPJX, but WAKE is also possible at my location. Both with poor signals
Nightime: normally KSTP but WFED (ex WTOP) possible as well

Retro/DX: when I lived in Chicago (near Montrose & Central) WPJX (ex WDDZ, WNIZ, WRJR, WKJA, WTAU, etc.) was a very difficult catch mostly due to severe splash from nearby WOPA (current WPNA) on 1490 kHz. It was frustrating for me not to be able to hear this station while fellow CADXers who lived north of me were able to hear the station on fairly regular basis. Once I moved to my current location, the reception of WPJX become much easier. Other stations logged on 1500 kHz include WLQV (Detroit, MI) and WGEN (Geneseo, IL)
 
Perhaps someone here can explain why, for the longest while, WFED / WTOP has been a directional 50,000 watts during the DAY ?
I can see why such is the case at night, vis-a-vis KSTP. But at high noon there are at least three stations co-linear with and in between DC and St. Paul. The listing from a 1970-or-so NRC logbook indeed has WTOP as being that 'U-4' facility -- directional day and night ; different patterns.

* * * * * * *

Two Lol's here ....
Poor little WKER Pompton Lakes NJ seemed to've had to sign off somewhat early because of WTOP. Something to do with critical hours, perhaps. And we even heard them sign on well after SUNRISE on occasion. Well, the gang -- four of us - wound up DXing with separate radios one overnight and into sunrise. John, the DXer in the back of the rooms, announced at sunrise that 'WKER just signed off.'

@ kf4rca: I once got smacked with a medium trout on some forum when I mentioned that I'd hear WABC's 'second harmonic' on 1540 while driving past their tower. There were a few shaking engineering headphones. 'No, Green. 1540 is their FIRST harmonic'.
So if what those folks said is true, then WSB's 1500 signal would be their first harmonic. Don't hit me!
For a year or so I lived in northeast Philly, right across the river from the visible WCAU / WPHT stick in Jersey. So naturally, with a nice sensitive radio like the Lafayette HA-600, I also got to enjoy WCAU on 2420, 4840, 9680, and so on ......
 
Here's a way to determine whether the harmonic, whatever number you call it, is transmitter or receiver induced.

Use a tuned radio circuit antenna along the line of a Select-A-Tenna.

Tune the radio to the fundamental, and the TRF antenna. Note the position of the maximum.

Then tune the radio to the harmonic. Retune the TRF antenna to the harmonic frequency. If it gets stronger on the harmonic than the fundamental, it's radiated. If it's stronger tuned to the fundamental, it's receiver induced.

Also works for third order products.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
Ha! To Cyberdad and others! I guess my somewhat misguided DOWN the dial adventures, vis-a-vis his UP the dial shenanigans, already have met.

Good fun.
Click to expand...
in

There was never really "coveted" on 1500. I was a little surprised that i never heard WJBK here back in the day. I'm sure it must've been doable. I also would have liked to have heard KUMU here from Honolulu. 1kw, so I assumed it wasn't doable. Of course David's experiences with Hawaiian stations have proven that it probably could have been done.

Sidebar story..... I met one of the KUMU jocks when I was spending my junior year of high school at McKinley in Honolulu. Blair Rockwell, KUMU didn't really have much of a chance with their top 40 format going up against powerhouses KPOI and KORL. The fact that their audio was muddy didn't help (KPOI was pristine). Anyway, Rockwell was supposed to sign on the station at 5am one Saturday morning, but didn't. He had set his clock radio alarm to KUMU, but it didn't wake him up because it wasn't on the air! Putting it on the air that morning was HIS job! By the time Rockwell woke up, realized his mistake, and rushed to the station, the sign on was nearly two hours late.
 
If this is also going to serve as "most wanted" for 1500, I vote WBZI, a former local of mine which I have not heard in East Tennessee. I have heard one of WBZI's simulcast partners, WKFI-1090 however.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: A moderately strong signal from semi-local daytimer KBRN in Boerne.

Sunset: Daytimer KJIM in Sherman, TX, is a regular. Aiming E/W I sometimes hear another daytimer, KCLF in New Roads, LA, and occasionally KANI in Wharton, TX, before it goes to night pattern. There's also a consistent het heard when aiming in that direction.

Night: XEDF in Mexico City is heard most often, with KSTP sometimes taking over. Less often I'll hear XEFL in Guanajuato underneath. From time to time there will be splatter from 1510 XEQI in Monterrey, and the E/W het is usually still there.
 
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