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AM Frequency of the week: 530

cyberdad

cyberdad

And so, on we go to a new AM FOTW series. This time through the dial, we deal with the Class A AM channels. Formerly dominated (at night) by what used to be called the I-A and I-B clear channel stations.

But we begin at the beginning with 530, a channel only used in the U.S. for TIS stations, so I'm not sure what, if any, classification fits. 530, of course, does have a few more traditional broadcast stations beyond America's borders.

Here northwest of Chicago.....

Days: 530 used to have automated traffic reports from the Chicago freeway system. It was audible here....albeit barely. I haven't heard it for quite some time, so I don't know if it is still on.

Nights: CIAO from suburban Toronto is fairly regular here. Usually with a fair signal. Null it, and R. Enciclopedia is frequently present. Sometimes mixing with R. Rebelde. The R. Enciclopedia signal hasn't been quite as reliable/listenable lately as it had been previously. I'm wondering, however, if this might improve with the onset of winter.

Other Location: At the beginning of the month, I spent a 4-day getaway at our usual spot on the beach souhwest of Pensacola. As in the past, R. Enciclopedia is audible there 24/7. Weak during the day, stronger at night. Once again, I thought the signal had degraded slightly. But I'm not 100% sure about that. We were staying two doors down from our usual unit, which might have had something to do with it. Yet at the same time R. Rebelde, while still mostly underneath, seemed to be slightly stronger.
 
At my location in the near north Chicago suburbs I most often hear CIAO at night and I have heard R. Enciclopedia, but not much lately. I have heard automated traffic reports on 530, but not recently.
 
Ah, one of the two TIS channels.

Day - WQMZ999 Parker WA (WSDOT TIS to my SE) mixing with WPVW565 Selah WA (to my NE). Rarely, WPVW567 Ellensburg WA (also WSDOT). There's a 4th station sometimes in there that I've yet to confirm. I think it might be the Hanford Nuclear Site TIS. Doesn't sound like WSDOT because I recognize the female (s - one recorded and one robot).
Night- The same. I've only heard Radio Enciclopedia once, and Radio Rebelde (from Guantanamo) once.

On the west side of the state, the main TIS(s) had the calls of KNEZ390 and WPVW628. I have heard five WSDOT transmitters with the KNEZ390 calls. Swamp Creek (near Lynnwood) was the strongest to my old QTH in Bothell. There was one at I-5/NE 45th St in Seattle's U-District, another in Bellevue, another in Kirkland I think...can't remember the last one. They were only on the air when there was construction, lane closures, accidents, etc. and always had a looped recording of someone. WPVW628's xmitter was in Bothell, off I-405 and SR-522, I think.
Also in my logbook are WPTR238 (Hood Canal Bridge), a TIS with Snoqualmie Pass conditions (not one of the KNEZ390's - something near the pass I think), a WNVA814 logged at night, also WSDOT, and KNCL518 Tukwila, WA (yet another WSDOT TIS, but provides information about Sea-Tac Airport and is on 24/7).
Basically if none of the KNEZ's were on the air, I would hear a faint mix of Tukwila and Hood Canal from my old spot. Tukwila's signal was stronger at the Bellevue QTH.

Wanted
CIAO Brampton ON (close to impossible - maybe on a spectacular evening and day pattern?)
that Hanford TIS that was mentioned earlier, would be new.
Any other WSDOT TIS in WA or any Oregon TIS stations would be awesome too ;-)
 
When I lived in SE Florida, R. Enciclopedia in Havana was easy copy 24/7, until Cuba opened a R. Rebelde station in Guantanamo. The Gitmo wasn't as strong, but strong enough to ruin listening to Havana's EZ-listening format. There wasn't enough separation to null either. CIAO got through once in a while. Nothing but local noise on 530 here.
 
530 is getting a little busier these days. There are the 2 Cubans, (Radio Enciclopedia and Radio Rebelde) and they mix together for the most part to varying degrees. Lately in East Tennessee, Rebelde has been dominant on spot checks. (The Cuban government flipped the Rebelde transmitter to Radio Caribe toward the beginning of 2018, flipping it back to Rebelde in March.). Alledgedly, the Rebelde transmitter is on Guantanamo and 1kW. I doubt the 1kW by how it's often even with Enciclopedia. That includes daytime from the Miami and Key West SDRs. On the Bonaire SDR, Rebelde predominates, often with a TA het from 531.

I DX a lot from my virtual DX home on the Central Indiana SDR, and CIAO is a big factor here while trying to get a fix of Cuba-originated beautiful music. CIAO can even fool you when they run instrumental music in time slots they don't have sold for ethnic programming.

Retro/other: Whatever happened to that religious station on Turks and Caicos?
 
Didn't a hurricane destroy RVC? Ike, maybe?
 
From west central Illinois on a Sangean PR-D15: TIS station 35 miles away at Mark Twain Lake, MO, with about a 3 dB signal-noise ratio.
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: usually one of the two IDOT TIS's still operating on this frequency, but greatly weakened as compared to the past
Nightime: CIAO or the two Cubans (Radio Encyclopedia or Radi rebelde)

DX/RETRO: The I&M Canal TIS used to be received at my location in the past. Most likely their their Woodridge, IL station. However I have not heard them since 2003. Back in the 1980's CJFT (Ft. Erie, ON) was heard in Chicago area. That was before CIAO came on. TICAL, Radio Rumbo from Costa Rica used to operate on 525 kHz and widely heard, but sometimes in 1982 they moved to 530 kHz making their reception difficult, but I manage to hear them few times. Back in 1990's Radio Vision Cristiana out of Turks & Caicos used to be a common catch as well. Not surprising since they were reportedly using 100 kW. They started on 535 kHz, but moved to 530 just like Radio Rumbo. Speaking of 535 kHz, Radio Free Grenada used to be common catch with their 20 kW transmitter. Finally, I get frequent hets on 531 kHz, but only once did I get audio from Chaine 1, Algeria back in 2005.
 
Usually a fight between Canada's CIAO and Cuba's Radio Enciclopedia near Annapolis, MD at night. I can't remember the last TIS I heard on AM 530, seemed most of them jumped to the 1610-1700 band years ago.
 
Been a while, and I forgot about RVC on 530. Maybe that's why Cuba put up that Rebelde in Guantanamo. Didn't want our Spanish-fluent Marines getting religion. :rolleyes:

Jim
 
When I lived in Tampa, it was always Radio Enciclopedia day and night and it was actually stronger during the day.

Then the last year or so I was there, another Cuban station was in the background day and night almost as strong and sometimes stronger at night.

Here in Hawaii, I still have not heard Radio Enciclopedia or anything else on 530 no matter how much I try.
 
jammerdave said:
Found this neat bit of history: http://www.aairo.org/downloads/2012-burden-lax-history-of-tis.pdf
Click to expand...

Good stuff....and explains a lot about how and why TIS stations developed and evolved in the days before digital AM tuners. Not only at LAX, but nationwide.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and there's the matter of Pearson Airport in Toronto. CJJD/CHAM in nearby Hamilton, ON vacates the 1280 frequency and moves to 820. So the airport finds a new blank spot in the crowded local AM dial and launches a TIS station on 1280.
 
gr8oldies said:
Though Trans World Radio is barreling across the whole island at night.
Click to expand...

I thought that RVC, given its location, was always focused on the Dominican Republic, particularly the north coast area from Monte Christi to Puerto Plata and the big population in the area called El Cibao (Santiago, San Pedro, La Vega, etc). It was a bit far away from all but the eastern tip of Cuba to be effective there.

And the RVC folks from NY are, IIRC, Dominicans... the largest of the Spanish speaking population groups in NYC.
 
Last edited:
KR1S said:
Been a while, and I forgot about RVC on 530. Maybe that's why Cuba put up that Rebelde in Guantanamo. Didn't want our Spanish-fluent Marines getting religion. :rolleyes:

Jim
Click to expand...

530 in Guantanamo was put on to jam the Comando Solo aircraft broadcasts of Radio Martí (which ceased long ago). Essentially, a longwire antenna was dragged by a plane with a transmitter aboard, and they circled just outside Cuban airspace. It's been years since that was active.
 
DavidEduardo said:


530 in Guantanamo was put on to jam the Comando Solo aircraft broadcasts of Radio Martí (which ceased long ago). Essentially, a longwire antenna was dragged by a plane with a transmitter aboard, and they circled just outside Cuban airspace. It's been years since that was active.
Click to expand...

I remember reading about that. But my recollection was that the mission was called Cornet Solo, using a Lockheed EC-121. The initial target was the Dominican Republic. If memory serves, aerial broadcasting to Cuba began with TV.

http://www.dean-boys.com/ec-121s/information_on_the_ec-121s.htm

For several years, Havana was the only Cuban I could hear on 530 from about 100 miles north of Miami. Rebelde just won't stay away. While trying for Montana on 1180 last night (Darn that KERN!), I heard the unmistakable interval signal of Radio Rebelde, which Mike Tuggle says sounds like a rooster. There are so many Cuban stations on 1180 (trying to drown out R Marti), there's no hope of knowing which one it was. I'm still waiting for the tick-tock and ._. ._. of Radio Reloj.
 
KR1S said:
I remember reading about that. But my recollection was that the mission was called Cornet Solo, using a Lockheed EC-121. The initial target was the Dominican Republic. If memory serves, aerial broadcasting to Cuba began with TV.
Click to expand...

The Dominican Republic adventure was, as the article says, in the 50's. Totally different and with different aircraft and a different target.

The 530 AM (MW) Radio Martí operation only ran on Saturdays and was done in the current century, not over 60 years ago. The purpose was to avoid the jamming of the 1180 Martí frequency, an operation which began in the mid-80's. I am fuzzy on the exact dates as I can not find my reports which I did under commission to the Radio Martí Program which requires an annual report to Congress on the status of the operation.

The tethered balloon broadcasts of Television to Cuba from Cudjoe Key did precede the brief period of airborne AM broadcasts, but they did not use airplanes.
 
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