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AM Frequency of the week 550

cyberdad

cyberdad

Okay guys, in light of our discussion these past few weeks, here we go with our new format. We'll start at 550, and work our way all the way up to the top of the dial. We'll skip the "1-B clears" because we just finished with those. So what we're left with are the former "regional" channels, the "1-A clears", the graveyard channels, and the X-band. We'll try to standardize, if not streamline, our posts by grouping our remarks into "Day", "Night", and "Retro".

There are no hard/fast rules, so if anyone wants to add their own touches or categories, that's perfectly fine. Examples might be "Sunrise/sunset", "Travelling" or anything else that suits your fancy. As long as there's at least some sort of connection to our general topic. (DX, the stations, locations, or personnel involved).

Okay here we go. 550 at my location 40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.....

DAY: KTRS, St. Louis. Very weak, but audible on a really good radio with local WIND (560) splatter nulled.

NIGHT: KTRS' signal improves to "fair", which is enough to make WIND splatter less of an issue. Usually alone with nothing significant underneath.

RETRO: About the same as now during the days when the St. Louis 550 was using the original KSD call letters. With the right radio KSD/KTRS is audible just about anywhere in Illinois excepting Chicago, close in suburbs, and extreme eastern and southeastern portions.
 
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Hello Cyberdad!

In southeast Saint Petersburg,FL, a few blocks from Tampa Bay, it is a medium to strong signal on 550 during the day; sometimes at night I can hear some English language stations in the background, but have not been able to identify them.

About 65 miles n.n.e. Of Saint Petersburg, near Bushnell and Webster, I can just barely receive the 550 religious station WAYR out of Orange Park/Fleming island (suburb of Jacksonville) and then turn the radio slightly and get the 550 Cuban station faintly.

I was in Gainesville, FL just during the day in February and WAYR 550- came in fairly well and I did not hear the Cuban station in the background. Also in Naples, FL for most of the day a week later, Cuba and some spill-over from WQAM 560-Miami.
 
Wasn't quick enough to edit, from home in Saint Petersburg, the strong to medium 550 I was referrring to is the 550 out of Cuba.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs It's a weak KTRS (KSD when I first heard it) during the daytime. At night it's KTRS a bit stronger. I've also heard Cincinnati a few times, but not often. Many years ago I heard KFYR Bismarck, ND a few times pre-sunrise. Can't remember anything else at this location.
 
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Several interesting reports here.

Midland has a 550 - KCRS. About 300 miles away - another 550 KTSA San Antonio. Both 5kW. So how do two low frequency regionals co-exist that close? KCRS has a deep null towards San Antonio. Drive down 158 away from Midland - by Garden City deep inroads by KTSA into KCRS. By Sterling City - all KTSA with no trace of KCRS! Now - some other directions. Down in the Big Bend area - almost 200 miles away - all KCRS with no trace of KTSA. All KCRS over vast portions of NM, makes it almost to Colorado. But - in Lubbock I was able to null KCRS, which is almost like a local, and get KTSA. Dallas - it is about equal KCRS and KTSA. It is possible to null one to get the other with no interference. Houston - all KTSA.

Next to Jackson, Michigan. Fairly strong reception of WKRC, in fact when WLS went dark (musically), it was the go-to station for top-40. It was possible to null WKRC and hear WGR Buffalo.

Atlanta - a boring local, no challenge at all.

From Daytona Beach, FL - there was a lot of Splatter from WFLF, but there was something on 550 I believe from the Jacksonville area. Pretty weak.
 
Here in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, it's WKRC from Cincinnati daytime with not as solid a signal as you might expect on 550 from 100 miles away. 4/10 daytime or so. They do send a null in this direction because of Buffalo, but it's still very listenable.
At night, WKRC is gone with nothing to replace it.
I've heard it with a pretty solid signal, very little to no cancellation and a little crosstalk underneath, in the St. Marys, Ohio area at night, about 110 miles north of Cincinnati.
 
550 here in Charleston daytime is WAYR Orange Park (Jacksonville). A good signal with religious programs. Probably the 3rd best Jax AM signal (behind 690 and 600), audible on almost any radio. At night, it is either WDUN Gainesville, GA or a mix of stations, none dominating. Jax goes down to 500 watts at night, but it still has a good signal throughout the metro Jacksonville area.
 
Day-WGR and WKRC by turning the radio to null the other one out.

Post LSS-KFYR on nondirectional Day operation.

Night, WKRC is more dominant, even with 1 kW!

David, this 550 thread brings me back to when Jesse Champion left SWHS for WBRC in 1970. He had the letter that Taft had sent offering him the job at WBRC in his desk drawer. WGR and WKRC, in addition to WBRC (WERC) were listed on the Taft Letterhead. I then discussed how I could get both WGR and WKRC in the Daytime just by turning the radio. Jesse was a true Renaissance Man.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
Day-WGR and WKRC by turning the radio to null the other one out.
Click to expand...

I've driven the 401 freeway dozens of times between Detroit and Toronto. For the first 30 or so miles of the drive going east, these two battle it out before WGR takes over. By the time the drive ends in Toronto, WGR is near local-grade 24/7.
 
Daytime, hints of KTRS St. Louis. Not really audible, just hints. Like hints of melon in a Malbec. Or a grassy note in a Vinho Verde.

Nighttime, either all KTRS or a delightful blend of KTRS and WSAU.

In pre-dawn, I heard country music on 550 recently and wondered if it might have been KRAI. I can't recall hearing KFYR or WKRC or KTSA, but I'm always listening. 550 seems pretty predictable around here.

Retro: all I can remember is KSD.
 
Daytime, WDUN dominates in North georgia. Night is a mix, usually WDUN surfaces most often. WKRC is often in the mix. Winter afternoon and evenings bringWGR and KTSA
 
In NW San Antonio:

DAY: Local KTSA

NIGHT: KTSA is strong, but a very narrow partial null can be achieved. In it, I can often hear a very weak XEGNAY in Tepic and sometimes XEPL in Cuauhtémoc, which is actually more common around sunrise. The latter has faked me out on a few occasions because it airs a Germanic-language program on some nights. When propagation is really good in the winter, I’ve heard a weak KFRM in Salina, KS, in that null.

RETRO: In the mid to late '70s, my sisters and I listened to KTSA all the time because it played the top 40 hits, had fun DJs, and aired Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” every week. My maternal grandmother lived so close to KTSA’s broadcast towers that if you picked up the telephone in her house, you could hear the station weakly but clearly above the dial tone!
 
In southern Colorado:

DAY: mostly the HD buzz from 560 KLZ Denver. Ocassionally during late afternoon KLLV 550 Breen CO will rise above the hash with Christian spoken word. Once during the mid day this past winter after recent precipitation I could barely make out 550 KFRM Salina KS

NIGHT: haven't done much night DX on the lower channels

RETRO: in SE Iowa, all KSD daytime, and most of the time at night w/ interference. In 90's Minneapolis, WSAU Wausau usually won out during the day, although I remember hearing KFYR usually during the late afternoon.
 
From scenic Fustville, in NE PA :

DAY: Zip nowadays. Semi-local WHLM/WJMW pulled the plug twenty years ago

NIGHT: WGR Buffalo usually the occupant

SUNSET: WSVA from Virginia; taped ID someplace here in the confusion.

RETRO: From the DX days of the 60's and 70's in queens, it was possible to hear a faint WHLM in the day. They sent some signal east ..... nighttimes often had WDEV from Vermont stop, along with WGR..... sunrise was a good time to hear WGNG from Rhode Island, as it basically sailed down the Sound toward us. I forget their previous call letters ..... I do have KFYR from ND logged from a TEST broadcast; KSD on regular programming (must've been a lot of 550 stations off that overnight), and CharlestonDXer's WAYR. That catch had to be from during some Auroric sunset.

SEMI-RETRO: It was some ten years back that someone supposedly applied for a new 550 station for Greenwood Lake NY, an absolutely gorgeous swatch of regional real estate, atmosphere and tourism, the actual lake of which is half in NJ and half in NY. But the CP, if there really was one, came and went no no fruition.
It might've been more a matter of where it could NOT send the signal than where it COULD. WMCA 570 probably got a bit grumpy, and maybe WFIL 560 plus WHYN 560, and WLIE 540. I guess that the only way to send the main beam would've been west -- an area vacant in the day becuase of WHLM Bloomsburg's demise.
 
To correct my post above, it seems that KLZ turned off the HD (Hash Damage) generator. KFRM 550 Salina KS was weak but intelligible this afternoon.
 
Where do I begin? From my present day location in East Tennessee:
Daytime: WDUN, Gainesville GA with a moderate signal. Getting close to sunset sometimes brings in WKRC.
Night: Still predominantly WDUN. One logging of WGR, and Cuba raises its head sometimes.

Retro/traveling/other places I've lived:
I echo Schmave about St. Marys, Ohio. Even the 1kW night signal made for OK listening back when WKRC was mostly personality adult contemporary/oldies with some talk.
When I lived in Dayton, Ohio I often heard stations underneath WKRC, especially in the late 90s. Notably WSVA once around sunset; and WDUN fairly regularly. I also logged WAYR, Orange Park FL on several occasions (seemingly operating day power/pattern) with soft religious music. Weird hearing a traditional hymn under Art Bell. Only one logging of WGR.

I spent a lot of years in Central Indiana (northwest of Indianapolis) starting in 1983 and KUSA (at the time) dominated 550 daytime, with WKRC underneath. I briefly moved to Quincy, IL and it was KUSA full time. This station as we all know briefly flipped back to KSD then KTRS. I had moved back to Indiana and KTRS came in better than KMOX (which it also did in Quincy).
 
gr8oldies said:
I had moved back to Indiana and KTRS came in better than KMOX (which it also did in Quincy).
Click to expand...

KTRS has a better day signal than KMOX. R-L confirms it. As does the fact that KTRS can be heard here northwest of Chicago with a good radio, while KMOX is completely absent. (Of course at night here, KMOX blasts in like a local.)
 
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WDUN day and night. WDUN duplicates some of WSB's programs. So, when WSB switches to alternative programming, we can tune to WDUN and still get it.
 
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