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AM Frequency of the Week: 1520

Here at my current location near Pensacola, 1520 daytime is WXYB from Indian Rocks Beach, FL (Tampa-St/ Pete metro). 1kw ND, but enough to make the 300 mile hop across the gulf. The signal that makes it to the beach is very weak, but alone.

I snagged WXYB out on the 6th floor balcony, about 30 yards from the gulf. When we arrived here yesterday, I found a noise level that overwhelmed just about everything in our unit. Fortunately, the balcony wasn't affected. Even more fortunately, I was able to locate the noise source (a lamp) and remove it (by unplugging). Now that the noisemaker is gone, DXing just got easier, so I'll check out 1520 hereat night, and report anything that turns up. Based on past experience, I'm not expecting much beyond a jumble of weak signals.
 
KKXA- huge night signal, very few people or buildings get in the way, but the salmon in the Gulf of Alaska really dig that Classic Country! i am not sure of another US 50kW night signal that reaches fewer people.
 
cyberdad said:
When we arrived here yesterday, I found a noise level that overwhelmed just about everything in our unit. Fortunately, the balcony wasn't affected. Even more fortunately, I was able to locate the noise source (a lamp) and remove it (by unplugging). Now that the noisemaker is gone, DXing just got easier, so I'll check out 1520 hereat night, and report anything that turns up. Based on past experience, I'm not expecting much beyond a jumble of weak signals.
Click to expand...
I'm going to have to keep this for the next time I stay at an hotel or noisy cabin, thanks!
 
I checked 1520 about two hours before local Pensacola dawn this morning. All but empty. Just a low "rumble" from a barely audible signal that I couldn't come close to identifying. I hung around for about fifteen minutes waiting for something to break through, but nothing ever did.
 
Back in the day here in So Cal we frequently heard KOMA 1520 loud and clear, even on some pocket sized "transister radios", I had some friends that had moved here from southern Oklahoma and were totally thrilled!
 
TomasEstefan said:
Back in the day here in So Cal we frequently heard KOMA 1520 loud and clear, even on some pocket sized "transister radios", I had some friends that had moved here from southern Oklahoma and were totally thrilled!
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I heard KOMA in California in the 60s. It could definitely make the hop at times.
 
I've done a few nighttime drives between cities in California back in the day, with KOMA supplying the tunes.
 
Today about 5am CDT, I finally heard a nighttime signal on 1520 here at my Pensacola area location. Very weak, very fade prone with what sounded like folk music or religion in Spanish. I thought at one point, that I heard "XE" in Spanish, but I lost the rest of it to a fade. Any ideas what it could have been? R-L wasn't much help, other than a bunch of 1kw and smaller stations on 1520 in Mexico.
 
cyberdad, few times in recent weeks here in Chicago area I have been hearing KYND, Cypress, Texas with religious talk in Spanish language. Perhaps it was them.
 
CADXER said:
cyberdad, few times in recent weeks here in Chicago area I have been hearing KYND, Cypress, Texas with religious talk in Spanish language. Perhaps it was them.
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Possible. One thing that didn't quite add up was i had to orient the radio northwest-southeast in order to get optimum reception. But that was also to aim the radio at the floor to ceiling windows that are the entry point for signals in the concrete and steel frame building that I'm in for the duration of February.

In any case, thanks for the heads-up. I'll see if I can catch a positive TOH ID.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Away from RFI on my most sensitive radios, I can hear a very weak KYND. It's also a very common daytime skywave visitor in winter. KOKC also appears occasionally via daytime skywave.

Sunset: KYND comes up almost like a local, and KOKC later mixes in. Occasionally a weak KRHW will pop up.

Night: KOKC is strong with occasional brief fading. Every now and then I'll hear a weak KRHW underneath.

Sunrise: It's KOKC with KRHW a bit stronger in/out underneath, especially to the E/W.

DX/Retro: One-time catches include KFXZ in Lafayette, LA; WXYB in Indian Rocks Beach, FL; and XEART in Jojutla de Juárez (now retired) - all at night in years past. Also, as mentioned in the "Post Your Latest DX" thread, this past Sunday night I heard brief snatches of what I suspect was Su Presencia Radio in Bogotá, Colombia.
 
cyberdad said:
Today about 5am CDT, I finally heard a nighttime signal on 1520 here at my Pensacola area location. Very weak, very fade prone with what sounded like folk music or religion in Spanish. I thought at one point, that I heard "XE" in Spanish, but I lost the rest of it to a fade. Any ideas what it could have been? R-L wasn't much help, other than a bunch of 1kw and smaller stations on 1520 in Mexico.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking that you heard something other than KYND, which doesn't sign on until 7 a.m. CT. There is an XEEH in San Luis Colorado, but that's way out west by Mexicali and plays regional Mexican music. It could've been Radio Baraguá in Palma Soriano, Cuba, which would still be in darkness at that time.
 
jim-satx said:
From NW San Antonio:

Day: Away from RFI on my most sensitive radios, I can hear a very weak KYND. It's also a very common daytime skywave visitor in winter. KOKC also appears occasionally via daytime skywave.
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Do you know the status of KQQB? I’ve never heard it, even when KYND was inactive.
 
In west Houston, days are local KYND with Spanish religion until they sign off at sunset. After that, it's KOKC, with KRHW occasionally making an appearance. Radio Baraguá is audible when conditions to Cuba are favorable (which has been a lot of the time this winter).
 
wildthangjim said:
Do you know the status of KQQB? I’ve never heard it, even when KYND was inactive.
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The only time I’ve ever heard KQQB was a few years ago when the owners were trying to sell it (and KYND) and were running looped ads throughout the day for a couple of months. I assume they have yet to find a buyer.
 
I spent about a half hour on 1520 this morning. Things were pretty much as I indicated in my previous post. Only one very weak signal. In and out. Mostly out. No trace of KOKC or anything else identifiable as English language. But one thing did get my attention.... At around 5:20 am I heard what sounded like a church choir singing a hymn. In Spanish, It lasted less than a minute, then vanished. When the mystery signal returned (assuming it was the same one), it was also music. Seemingly in Spanish, but so weak that I couldn't make out whether it was more contemporary Christian, or folk/pop.
 
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