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AM Frequency of the Week: 1550

cyberdad

cyberdad

Crystal Lake, IL (northwest of Chicago)....

Days: Normally empty these days. But yesterday and today around the noon hour (CST) 1550 sounded akin to a graveyard channel at night. Must have been at least a half dozen weak signals fighting it out. If not more. Yesterday I couldn't identify any of them. Welcome to daytime skywave! Today, Wayne Larivee's pre-game show on the Green Bay Packers radio network via WEVR from River Falls, WI rose to the top for about three minutes in the car. 920 watts from about 300 miles (suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul). First time catch. Stock Chevrolet car radio.

Nights: 1550 also usually sounds something like a graveyard channel but with weaker signals. CBE most likely to rise to the top. But not all that often.

Retro: 1550 is typically empty around here during the day since the 1550 in Lake Geneva, WI went dark. That had to have been at least about ten years ago. For most of the 40 or so years of existence, that 1550 was home to WMIR. 1kw daytimer with a rather tight east-west pattern. The result here was a weak signal from a location about 25 miles north.

At night, the 1550s from St. Joseph, MO, and Jackson, MS were the most common catches here. Both are now long gone. I also heard Huntsville, AL a few times.
 
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In the near north Chicago suburbs during the day if I get anything it’s a very weak WCSJ. Morris, Il. At night it’s a hodgepodge of stations. I’ve heard CBE most often. I remember WMIR not from hearing it here, but mostly from passing the station on the way to Lake Geneva.
 
Interesting frequency. East Tennessee: Daytime-usually WIGN, Bristol TN. This station often stays on their 35kW at night, rather than 6 watts, and has been heard all over. I've caught it on the Farmington Hills MI SDR. When WAZX, Smyrna (Atlanta) is also a frequent winter daytime catch.

Night--if not WIGN I used to frequently hear WDLR, Delaware, Ohio, rocking their daytime power . (though some would argue with me that I could be hearing their flea power---though doubtful as consistently and widely heard as they were). I also have heard WLTI, (the former WCTW), NewCastle, Indiana here.

Retro/other: I can remember getting now-deleted WBSC, Bennettsville, SC from Ohio and Indiana. I believe this was 50kW but I could be wrong. WAZX was almost daily just after sunset and before sunrise. WCVL, Crawfordsville IN and WCTW, New Castle IN both had 250 watts with narrow east/west night patterns. They tended to get out. WCVL tore down the directional for flea power.

On vacation in Fremont, Michigan as a kid, WSHN was a local. This facility is long gone.


 
radioman148 said:
In the near north Chicago suburbs during the day if I get anything it’s a very weak WCSJ. Morris, Il. At night it’s a hodgepodge of stations. I’ve heard CBE most often. I remember WMIR not from hearing it here, but mostly from passing the station on the way to Lake Geneva.
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WCSJ has a CP for 1.5 directional, IIRC. I don't think they're operating with that yet because so far I'm still apparently just out of range.

The new pattern (using two towers) favors your location. Not so much mine, but I think I'll still catch enough of their main lobe that I'll be able to hear it. They drop back to their current 250 watts ND during critical hours. Then a mighty six watts at night. From my experience, I can tell you that the six watts equals about six miles worth of useable signal. Ground conductivity near their stick just south of the Illinois River presumably is fabulous.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: usually nothing since WAUX (WMIR) went dark. WCSJ heard, but is not common
Nightime: usually a mix of stations with CBE the most common one, but not as dominant as in the past

DX/RETRO: this frequency is one of the most productive one for me DX wise. Well over 25 different stations heard, including KQFN (West Fargo, ND), KOKA (Shreveport, LA), KYAL (Sapulpa, OK), KRPI (Ferndale, WA), WLOR (Huntsville, AL), WSAO (Senatobia, MS), WYOU (Tampa, FL). Interesting fact about this frequency in Chicago area is the operation of several billboard stations with advertisements back in the 1988 - 2002 span. You were able to hear the Old Navy Billboard while driving on I94 near North Avenue. That one eventually switched to Radio Cadilac. There was another Radio Cadilac billboard at I90 and Elmhurst Rd. Of note is also the split frequency of 1555 kHz, which provided a fairly easy catch of Radio Cayman in the Chicago area.
 
By the Chicago lakefront:

Daytime: Not a whole lot. Sometimes KAPE comes in well after sunrise, but I've never heard it during the middle of the day.

Critical hours: KAPE, in Cape Girardeau MO comes in quite frequently, both near sunrise and sunset. I have also heard WIGN in Bristol TN and WHIT in Madison WI around sunset.

Night: It's pretty jumbled.. the most common stations to rise to the top are KAPE again, CBEF in Windsor ON, and WDLR in Delaware OH which I believe is near Columbus. As someone else mentioned WDLR is supposedly 29 watts at night but I think it comes in too well for that, at least when it can be heard.
 
From 25 miles SW of downtown Kansas City:

Day: KESJ - Saint Joseph, MO - 5kW directional day. This station still plays music.

Critical Hours: KESJ with other signals present.

Night: KESJ but reception is rare as the station drops to 500w at night. Other signals are present, as yet to be identified. This frequency often sounds like a graveyard channel at night here.

Bob
 
Leaving out all the retro stuff (here and back in Queens),

High noon here it's the station from upstate it's WITF, licensed to Pittston. That's halfway between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. A long, long time back, they were WARD -- on 1540!

Nighttimes here it's generally CBE, or CBEF.

Cyberdad is spot-on : That channel can indeed sound like a GY frequency.

I've logged seven stations here in NE PA, but that's for another thread. Six of them, though, weren't from PA.
Incidentally : Happy Cybermonday, Cyberdad, :)
 
From NW San Antonio:

Daytime: Splatter from local KEDA. During winter daytime skywave, I've heard classic country stations KCOM in Comanche, TX, and KWBC "Willie" in Navasota, TX, as well as XENU "La Rancherita" in Nuevo Laredo.

Sunset: WPFC in Baton Rouge comes up with urban gospel music amid the splatter, and the three aforementioned stations will pop up from time to time, especially XENU. I'll also sometimes hear sports station KDCC in Dodge City, KS, and occasionally KQNM "Relevant Radio" in Albuquerque briefly. KUAZ in Tucson usually pops in later and hangs on with a sometimes decent signal until it signs off for the day.

Night: As others have mentioned, 1550 often sounds like a graveyard channel at night. If I aim NE/SW, WPFC is often there, but it sometimes drops out completely. XENU is the only other station that's usually in for more than brief bits at a time.

Sunrise: Similar to night time, but KDCC often has a steady, although weak, signal. KUAZ can usually be heard when it signs on and is always the last to disappear.

DX/Retro: I've heard the following stations just once - KAPE in Cape Girardeau, MO, KYAL, in Sapulpua, OK, KRZD in Springfield, MO (when it was KLFJ), and R. Rebelde in Cuba.
 
DXBob said:
From 25 miles SW of downtown Kansas City:

Day: KESJ - Saint Joseph, MO - 5kW directional day. This station still plays music.

Critical Hours: KESJ with other signals present.

Night: KESJ but reception is rare as the station drops to 500w at night. Other signals are present, as yet to be identified. This frequency often sounds like a graveyard channel at night here.

Bob
Click to expand...

I can hear this in Carrollton, MO as well, also, this station was a ESPN Sports Talk station from August 2009 to August 2019.
 
West Central Georgia

Days: Sometimes I catch WKTF Vienna GA 10.0kW Day (0.023kW Night) playing old rock and roll
Or I catch Spanish programming which I believe is WAZX Smryna/Atlanta GA 50.0kW Day (0.016kW Night) - sends most of its power to the northeast east, away from my area of Georgia according to Radiio Locator

Nights; Nothing
 
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