AM frequency of the week 1520 khz

[cyberdad]

What do you guys get on 1520khz?

Here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago days, it's a weak WLUV from Loves Park, IL (Rockford area) 500w ND.

Nights are now pretty messy, with KRHW (Sikeston Missouri) the most likely to emerge on top. I get just enough of their pencil-shaped pattern. "Back in the Day" it was KOMA fighting it out with WKBW underneath. KOMA (rather, KOKC these days) can still occasionally be heard....usually when on day pattern around sunset. WKBW (now WWKB) has been absent for quite a while.

 

[MarioMania]

In West Sacramento

IBOC Hash from KFBK

 

[radioman148]

In the near north Chicago burbs it's basically nothing during the day & a mess at night with KOKC most often on top.
Years ago it was KOMA well on top most of the time with a weak WKBW in the background.

 

[cyberdad]

In the near north Chicago burbs it's basically nothing during the day & a mess at night with KOKC most often on top.
Years ago it was KOMA well on top most of the time with a weak WKBW in the background.

The problem with KOMA in the Chicago area wasn't so much that WKBW was underneath it. The bigger issue that WLAC and WCKY both were stronger and "squeezed" it with splatter. Sunday nights at midnight (local times), WCKY and WLAC both signed off and KOMA came in with a very clean, listenable signal. At least for two hours....before KOMA also signed off at 2AM.

As for WKBW, where I was in college in Iowa, about 200 miles west-southwest of Chicago, KOMA was strong enough to overcome the adjacent channel splatter and was a regular nighttime listen....both on campus and with the "townies". But during fades, as often as not, you'd hear WKBW. Pretty remarkable, given "KB's" null in our direction.

 

[gr8oldies]

In East Tennessee, daytime: Nothing. Sunset/nights: KOKC or WWKB

 

[gar hi]

From Tampa ...

Daytime - WXYB Indian Rocks Beach with a good signal.

Nighttime - WXYB with a weaker signal but it is supposed to be daytime only according to Radio Locator.

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=WXYB&x=11&y=8&sr=Y&s=C

But I've often heard them at night too the few times I've DXed on 1520. Like tonight.

However in the past when they have signed off, I've been able to hear WWKB Buffalo when it rises above the mix of other distant stations.

That's a big catch for me not only because their signal isn't going that much in this direction but also because the old WKBW when they played top 40 was the first ever station I listened to as a kid from New Jersey that got me interested in DXing because I was fascinated as how it sounded like a local at night but would vanish in the day.

 

[radioman148]

The problem with KOMA in the Chicago area wasn't so much that WKBW was underneath it. The bigger issue that WLAC and WCKY both were stronger and "squeezed" it with splatter. Sunday nights at midnight (local times), WCKY and WLAC both signed off and KOMA came in with a very clean, listenable signal. At least for two hours....before KOMA also signed off at 2AM.

As for WKBW, where I was in college in Iowa, about 200 miles west-southwest of Chicago, KOMA was strong enough to overcome the adjacent channel splatter and was a regular nighttime listen....both on campus and with the "townies". But during fades, as often as not, you'd hear WKBW. Pretty remarkable, given "KB's" null in our direction.

I had forgotten about the squeeze on 1520 at our locations, but I do remember it now. If memory serves me right, the later it got in the evening the better KOMA would come in.
I had never heard WKBW until I took a trip to the east coast where it had a gangbuster signal at night. I believe Joey Reynolds was the first DJ I heard on WKBW around 1964.
When I returned home I tried to get "KB" but usually it was very weak. However, I do remember one time when it came in pretty well battling and even beating KOMA for a short time.
That was very unusual at my location.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Although WKBW/WWKB is not very strong to the West, it is receivable from high angle radiation at fairly short distances. The engineers used to claim it was impossible to hear it to the West, unless the signal traveled completely around the globe. I don't believe that. The predicted high angle close in signal would far exceed a signal rounding the earth. In this video, of Joey Reynolds and Danny Neaverth doing their song "Rats In My Room", the flip side of The Four Seasons' "Joey Reynolds Theme", starting at 0:59, is a map showing scatter points of DX letter reports, which shows reception in Western Europe and other areas along the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. A lot of these letters were from people listening on US military communications receivers with really good loop antennas from what I've been told. They would listen to many stations from the US and dream of returning home.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbe2c7XysnU

 

[radioman148]

"KB" still has a good signal into Europe in the winter months. A few years ago I heard it on Global Tuners coming in well in Northern Ireland.

 

[cyberdad]

Although WKBW/WWKB is not very strong to the West, it is receivable from high angle radiation at fairly short distances. The engineers used to claim it was impossible to hear it to the West, unless the signal traveled completely around the globe. I don't believe that. The predicted high angle close in signal would far exceed a signal rounding the earth. In this video, of Joey Reynolds and Danny Neaverth doing their song "Rats In My Room", the flip side of The Four Seasons' "Joey Reynolds Theme", starting at 0:59, is a map showing scatter points of DX letter reports, which shows reception in Western Europe and other areas along the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. A lot of these letters were from people listening on US military communications receivers with really good loop antennas from what I've been told. They would listen to many stations from the US and dream of returning home.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbe2c7XysnU

Where I was in southeast Iowa, KOMA had one of the better nighttime top 40 signals available....although I don't think there was more than perhaps 5,000 watts equiv. going in our direction. Only KAAY did better, and they had a major lobe pointed right at us. WLS wasn't all that great on account of the convergence zone. XERF was so-so, but they didn't start rockin' until the preachers got done and Wolfman came on around midnight.

"KB" showing up under KOMA's signal was by no means an isolated incident. It happened at least at some point just about every night. And every now and then "KB" would be on top for a few seconds or so during KOMA fades. "KB" only came in short snatches, it never caused enough of an issue to be considered a pest, you could never pick up the "flow" of their format, and it was always kind of odd whenever you might catch "KB" playing the same song in the background of whatever was also playing on KOMA.

 

[radioman148]

Where I was in southeast Iowa, KOMA had one of the better nighttime top 40 signals available....although I don't think there was more than perhaps 5,000 watts equiv. going in our direction. Only KAAY did better, and they had a major lobe pointed right at us. WLS wasn't all that great on account of the convergence zone. XERF was so-so, but they didn't start rockin' until the preachers got done and Wolfman came on around midnight.

"KB" showing up under KOMA's signal was by no means an isolated incident. It happened at least at some point just about every night. And every now and then "KB" would be on top for a few seconds or so during KOMA fades. "KB" only came in short snatches, it never caused enough of an issue to be considered a pest, you could never pick up the "flow" of their format, and it was always kind of odd whenever you might catch "KB" playing the same song in the background of whatever was also playing on KOMA.

Were you able to hear WCFL in Iowa at night? In De Kalb where I was it sounded like it was a thousand miles away.
Back on topic, KOMA was pretty good in De Kalb as I would expect it to be better further west.

 

[cyberdad]

Were you able to hear WCFL in Iowa at night? In De Kalb where I was it sounded like it was a thousand miles away.
Back on topic, KOMA was pretty good in De Kalb as I would expect it to be better further west.

Yes, WCFL was available 24/7 in southeast Iowa....just not very listenable. Daytime, it wasn't all that strong to begin with, and got rather seriously trashed by WCAZ (Carthage, IL) on 990. Absolutely nobody listened to it....not even the Chicago kids. At night, the signal was about the same...fair to weak...but skywave instead of groundwave. Subject to frequent fading. It would get frequently overriden by XEOY and sometimes KTOK. CBW could sometimes take over as the pest on 990. But every now and then, conditions would be just right, and you could catch more than just a few minutes of Ron Brittain or Dick Biondi.

As for KOMA, as indicated earlier the signal was good. Not only that, the Storz format jocks were good, and the music was good. Higher energy presentation of top 40 than WLS or WCFL, and always a couple of country crossovers on the playlist. Weekends were currents and oldies alternating.

 

[Icangelp]

Yes, WCFL was available 24/7 in southeast Iowa....just not very listenable. Daytime, it wasn't all that strong to begin with, and got rather seriously trashed by WCAZ (Carthage, IL) on 990. Absolutely nobody listened to it....not even the Chicago kids. At night, the signal was about the same...fair to weak...but skywave instead of groundwave. Subject to frequent fading. It would get frequently overriden by XEOY and sometimes KTOK. CBW could sometimes take over as the pest on 990. But every now and then, conditions would be just right, and you could catch more than just a few minutes of Ron Brittain or Dick Biondi.

As for KOMA, as indicated earlier the signal was good. Not only that, the Storz format jocks were good, and the music was good. Higher energy presentation of top 40 than WLS or WCFL, and always a couple of country crossovers on the playlist. Weekends were currents and oldies alternating.

Off Topic & For What It's Worth.

In the late 60's, I lived on the Kansas side of Kansas City for a couple of years. KOMA and KAAY (Little Rock) were my nighttime go-to stations, and they both delivered great signals. I also listened to KANU 91.5 MHZ in Lawrence KS because they had a nightly underground rock program.

As you might expect WCFL was never present.

 

[crainbebo]

A weak KKXA Snohomish, WA by day here in Yakima (120mi away).

Nights is KKXA, KGDD Portland, OR, a very occasional KOKC Oklahoma City (used to be a lot more common pre-2011) and KFBK IBOC.

-crainbebo

 

[cyberdad]

Off Topic & For What It's Worth.

.....

As you might expect WCFL was never present.

I snagged WMVP (formerly WCFL) once about 2-3 years ago just southwest of Kansas City in the Olathe, KS area. Just after Chicago sunrise. and obviously on day pattern. Car radio, good signal, didn't last very long. I'd guess WCFL/WMVP would be next to impossible in KC on night pattern.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I snagged WMVP (formerly WCFL) once about 2-3 years ago just southwest of Kansas City in the Olathe, KS area. Just after Chicago sunrise. and obviously on day pattern. Car radio, good signal, didn't last very long. I'd guess WCFL/WMVP would be next to impossible in KC on night pattern.

The late great Charlie Gustafson, of WCFL, WIND, WTAQ, WKZO, WJFM, and WKMI fame, told me that pattern change at WCFL was always done faithfully. One night back around 1976, a caller claiming to be from California called Jack Stockton and said he was listening there. Jack didn't believe him, because I guess it was a well known fact. I guess they could have had a permanent monitor point that was designed to dial up the station if it was dark and the signal exceeded a certain level. The new WMVP day pattern has a slightly larger inverse field to the West than the old, but the new WMVP night pattern has one null deeper and one shallower than the old pattern. Glen Clark designed it to get better service in some areas at night with an asymmetrical pattern than they did with the old night symmetrical pattern.

 

[cyberdad]

The late great Charlie Gustafson, of WCFL, WIND, WTAQ, WKZO, WJFM, and WKMI fame, told me that pattern change at WCFL was always done faithfully. One night back around 1976, a caller claiming to be from California called Jack Stockton and said he was listening there. Jack didn't believe him, because I guess it was a well known fact. I guess they could have had a permanent monitor point that was designed to dial up the station if it was dark and the signal exceeded a certain level. The new WMVP day pattern has a slightly larger inverse field to the West than the old, but the new WMVP night pattern has one null deeper and one shallower than the old pattern. Glen Clark designed it to get better service in some areas at night with an asymmetrical pattern than they did with the old night symmetrical pattern.

Well, as long as we're "veering" .......

Radioman has already pointed out that the WCFL night signal was awful in De Kalb. I can vouch for that myself from my own limited experience. I can also vouch for the fact that it was even worse if you were going southwest on Ogden Avenue/U.S. 34. You'd lose WCFL on the outskirts of Aurora. But keep going, and you'd eventually get into some skywave. Which is why it was pretty reliable....if not very listenable...where I was at school. But I'd definitely also have a very tough time believing that someone was actually listening to 'CFL in California. Even if a miniscule whiff of signal were to by some miracle was to make it out there, I'd expect it to be completely smothered by KOMO.

And Jack Stockton.... I worked with him briefly in the late '70s, when he was moonlighting doing fill-in air shifts and production at WYEN. Super nice guy, and a pro's pro.

 

[radioman148]

Well, as long as we're "veering" .......

Radioman has already pointed out that the WCFL night signal was awful in De Kalb. I can vouch for that myself from my own limited experience. I can also vouch for the fact that it was even worse if you were going southwest on Ogden Avenue/U.S. 34. You'd lose WCFL on the outskirts of Aurora. But keep going, and you'd eventually get into some skywave. Which is why it was pretty reliable....if not very listenable...where I was at school. But I'd definitely also have a very tough time believing that someone was actually listening to 'CFL in California. Even if a miniscule whiff of signal were to by some miracle was to make it out there, I'd expect it to be completely smothered by KOMO.

And Jack Stockton.... I worked with him briefly in the late '70s, when he was moonlighting doing fill-in air shifts and production at WYEN. Super nice guy, and a pro's pro.

I remember driving to De Kalb WCFL would get really bad around Sugar Grove.

Now back to your regularly scheduled topic of 1520

 

[icybluelake]

In east central Iowa, nothing much during the daytime. Nighttime is a mess here also, with KRHW Sikeston, MO more audible than anything else. Pretty sure I have heard KOLM Rochester, MN at night, but it may have been during critical hours. I have heard KOKC, but it's nothing like it used to be in the 70s/80s (as KOMA). KOMA used to be a regular at night in those days, blasting up here at times. Maybe not quite as reliable as KAAY, but similar. I don't recall ever having heard WKBW Buffalo back then or now (WWKB).

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Two winters back I was in St. Clair working, and tuning around the GE SR II on a late afternoon break. Going up the dial there were local WPPA 1360, then the fainter WLSH 1410. the local WPAM 1450, then .....

What ?!?!? Did Pottsville out on a new station?
WWKB it was, of course. It was louder than anything on the dial.

NE PA logs since moving in have been pretty neat. 't' means taped ID.

WWKBW, of course
WTRI Maryland (1-8-96t) Local WMBT 1530 was off after a blizzard
WTHE Long Island (4-01-03t), then
WCHE Chester PA (4-01-03t) at sunset,
WARR (12-13-11t) also sunset, with KB somewhat nulled.

* * * * * * *

I was the only one out of the four DXers back in the 'near-Kennedy-Airport' years
to've heard Oregon. WKBW was off one overnight, and so was KOMA. A faint
KYMN from Oregon City stayed aloft long enough for a few IDs.
The punch line from that night was that my buddy, four blocks away, was on the next frequency (1510) and got heard 2NA from New South Wales!
That must have been one monster night for a lot of DXers.

And on other nights with 'KB off, we'd sometimes get Radio Caroline.