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AM Frequency of the week: 640

cyberdad

cyberdad

Far northwest suburban Chicago area.....

Day: A fair signal from WMFN. A 4,400 rimshot signal from far south suburban Chicago aimed directly at the city. At my location the result is a fair signal.

Night: WMFN drops to 1,600 watts, but the pattern towards me is slightly more favorable, so the signal is only a little weaker than what it is on daytime power and pattern. If I null it,1kw WOI from Ames, Iowa, usually comes in.

Retro: KFI used to be occasionally doable around here berfore WMFN came on the scene and before WOI added nighttime operation. WOI was also usually audible daytime on a good radio before WMFN launched at their original location near Grand Rapids, Michigan.. When the "Michigan version" of WMFN came on, the result here was a weak signal. But usually just strong enough to take out WOI.

I've also heard WHLO from Akron Ohio from time to time around sunset, but not recently. Yet probably my best catch on 640 was CFOB from Fort Frances, ON shortly before they migrated to FM (back in the early 2000s, IIRC). 1kw ND from a stick just across the river from International Falls, MN. I''ve driven by that stick several times,. It's still standing....or at least it was the last time I was there about a year and a half ago.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs, my reception is pretty much the same as Cyberdad. Daytime WMFN with a good signal. At night WMFN is about the same and blocks any chance of hearing KFI or anything else.

Retro: Back in the early 60s I thought I had conquered the world of MWDX when I first heard KFI around 1962. During the day WOI was listenable on a good radio. Also heard WHLO a few times. In the 70s & 80s KFI could still be heard well enough to listen on a car radio especially in winter. Sometimes KFI would fight it out with Cuba on 640.
 
East Tennessee: Day-WXSM, Blountville TN, sports talker which simulcasts a show with local WNML-990-99.1. Sunrise/sunset or daytime skip day will find WBNI (WGST). Night, stuff and junk but mostly Radio Progreso.
Retro/other: The Cuban on 640 seemed to have been a much more formidable force in the early 80s compared to today., nonetheless it was off in the wee hours, and that allowed me clear reception of KFI in West Central Ohio. I also got WHLO's "L1" signal, when they stayed on the air (1kW I believe).

Random SDRs: Edinburgh, IN, was WHLO days but is since WMFN came on, it's all them.
Key West SDR: A solid Progreso but days can be sports talker WMEN during the day. There used to be an SDR in Puerto Rico, and I remember a particularly strong signal from Radio Progreso on it.

Indiana--WBOW was on 640 for a few years in Terre Haute. Easily received in Lafayette with only 250 watts.
 
Oh, for the good old days. Reliable nearly-every-night reception of KFI in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, getting stronger through the evening beginning, of course, about two hours after sunset here, by nulling the Cuban I came to know by its old CMQ call, though it was Radio Progreso by then. Great for a kid sports fan in the early 1970s who could listen to the Kings (Jiggs McDonald) and Lakers (Chick Hearn) in the winter and the Dodgers (Vin Scully) in the summer. Then Earle C. Anthony Co. sold to Cox, the new owner dropped sports, and I didn't bother much with KFI. Or the Cuban.

Daytimers caught near sunset included WOI Ames, Iowa, and WHLO Akron, Ohio. WWLS Norman, Okla. would pop in occasionally at night.

Fast-forward to a few years ago and KFI and the Cuban are buried at night by the above stations with just enough power to interfere. Early one winter morning in 2017, in came WCRV Memphis / Collierville, Tenn., on the 50 kw day power.

Don't recall hearing WMFN when it was in Zeeland / Grand Rapids, but knew of the permit to open up shop in Peotone, and when it did (actually a transfer of WBOW Terre Haute – Birich owned both and shuttered the Zeeland station to get the Peotone stick to cover Chicago), that took care of 640 for DXing here, as its close enough to swamp anything under it, and so far, I don't believe WMFN has had a silent period.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

As you might guess from my location, it's WMFN all day and night.

Retro: In the 80s, growing up in the SF Bay Area, KFI came in reliably every night as "64 KFI". They were still a music station then. Even though they're now blocked where I am, I've heard them on one of the Hawaii SDR's, so they clearly still get around where there's less interference.
 
tvnut said:
Oh, for the good old days. Reliable nearly-every-night reception of KFI in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, getting stronger through the evening beginning, of course, about two hours after sunset here, by nulling the Cuban I came to know by its old CMQ call, though it was Radio Progreso by then. Great for a kid sports fan in the early 1970s who could listen to the Kings (Jiggs McDonald) and Lakers (Chick Hearn) in the winter and the Dodgers (Vin Scully) in the summer. Then Earle C. Anthony Co. sold to Cox, the new owner dropped sports, and I didn't bother much with KFI. Or the Cuban.

Daytimers caught near sunset included WOI Ames, Iowa, and WHLO Akron, Ohio. WWLS Norman, Okla. would pop in occasionally at night.

Fast-forward to a few years ago and KFI and the Cuban are buried at night by the above stations with just enough power to interfere. Early one winter morning in 2017, in came WCRV Memphis / Collierville, Tenn., on the 50 kw day power.

Don't recall hearing WMFN when it was in Zeeland / Grand Rapids, but knew of the permit to open up shop in Peotone, and when it did (actually a transfer of WBOW Terre Haute – Birich owned both and shuttered the Zeeland station to get the Peotone stick to cover Chicago), that took care of 640 for DXing here, as its close enough to swamp anything under it, and so far, I don't believe WMFN has had a silent period.
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WMFN buried KFI for us Chicago area DXers when it was still in Michigan. And yes I remember those good old days of KFI reception getting better and better as the night wore on. Speaking of WWLS, I remember trying to listen to KFI in the 80s when they were still Top 40 on those fall and winter mornings while driving the Chicago area expressways just before sunrise and WWLS interfering.
 
Orange County, Texas-Days KTIB Thibodaux, LA, Nights KWPN Moore OK an WCRV Collierville, TN. Got lucky not too long ago and nabbed KFI
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WMFN with good signal
Nightime: WMFN blocking the frequency for any DXing

DX/RETRO: until WMFN signed on from Peotone on October 2017 the frequency was open for DX. Of course WMFN moving from Zeeland, MI to Peotone, IL ended any chance of hearing KFI or any other DX in Chicago area for good. In the past, daytime reception included WBOW (Terre Haute, IN) and WMFN (Zeeland, MI). Besides KFI other logs include WHLO (Akron, OH), WOI (Ames, IA), WWLS (Moore, OK), WCRV (Collierville, TN), WGST (Atlanta, GA). This frequency also used to provide a good reception of Radio Progreso from Cuba. Prior to 1982/1983 the Cuban on this frequency used to be Radio Liberacion CMQ (as tvnut notes), but then they switched to Radio Progreso. I have two other foreign stations logged on this frequency, but both of them are no longer on the air: FR3, Guadeloupe and TGW Radio Nacional, Guatemala.
 
Here in Overland Park, Kansas:

Day: WOI with a weak, barely listenable signal.

Critical Hours: WCRV, Collierville, TN, mornings, KWPN, Moore, OK, evenings.

Night: Usually nothing but fading. Occasionally, a weak KWPN. Late at night, KFI or Cuba on rare occasion. KFI was more common when I moved here 15 years ago.

Bob
 
Forgot all about WWLS from the Oklahoma City area. When they began nighttinme operation, that was pretty much the end of KFI being at least semi-common in the Chicago area. Since WWLS morphed into KWPN, I'm guessing they went to a different nighttime pattern, becuase I simply don't hear them anymore. I've also heard WCRV at my location. Several years ago when they were either on a non-directional STA or simply forgot to power down for a couple of nights.

As for WBOW, that little coffeepot managed to cover most of the southern half of Illinois with their 250 watts!
 
Back in the early 1970s I used to get Cuba every night in Chicago. I remember when I bought a Radio Shack TRF portable and I was able to easily null Cuba and pick up KFI most nights. I also heard Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala and Guadeloupe on 640, and a number of domestics that came on the air in the 1980s.

WMFN pretty much ruins this frequency here on the NW side today. I can hear KWPN in their null but that's about it. I think KFI might be possible 50 miles west or northwest of here.
 
Koolmotor said:
Back in the early 1970s I used to get Cuba every night in Chicago. I remember when I bought a Radio Shack TRF portable and I was able to easily null Cuba and pick up KFI most nights. I also heard Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala and Guadeloupe on 640, and a number of domestics that came on the air in the 1980s.

WMFN pretty much ruins this frequency here on the NW side today. I can hear KWPN in their null but that's about it. I think KFI might be possible 50 miles west or northwest of here.
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Welcome to the board Koolmotor.

I'm 40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago in Crystal Lake, and I've been "skunked" on trying for KFI since probably about the mid-90s. As the regulars here know, I traveled in my work for four decades, and was fortunate to get the opportunity to DX in numerous locations. My experience before, WWLS, WOI, and others ruined the wide open nature of 640 was that KFI became much easier once you got west of the Mississippi. Even if you had to null R. Progreso, as you say. And of course, once you get to the Rockies, KFI has a great night signal. Its also an easy catch in Hawaii.
 
From Mountain View, Hawaii ...

Nothing in the daytime but a good signal from KFI at night.

Once, I heard the Cuban station fighting it out with KFI but never again since.
 
Seattle area... KFI at night, and strength varies from decent S3 signals to in the mud S1 and even less. Once I heard Spanish language from the E or SE, but never got an ID of any sort, and the signal didn't fade up long enough to be readable for very long. That was about 5 years ago.
 
Near Phoenix, all I can get is static and nothingness in the daylight. Except in extreme southeast Phoenix proper. There it’s an unholy amount of noise and some spurious talk-radio splatter or signal.

In the evening it’s KFI with some Spanish-language music underneath. I suspect that’s XEJUA in Tijuana, partly because it goes away later at night and in the early morning.

I can’t get anything else on that freq in my area.
 
bulwnkl said:
Near Phoenix, all I can get is static and nothingness in the daylight. Except in extreme southeast Phoenix proper. There it’s an unholy amount of noise and some spurious talk-radio splatter or signal.

In the evening it’s KFI with some Spanish-language music underneath. I suspect that’s XEJUA in Tijuana, partly because it goes away later at night and in the early morning.

I can’t get anything else on that freq in my area.
Click to expand...

Now that I think of it, the Spanish station I once heard with KFI here in Hawaii may very well have been the one from Mexico, not Cuba.

I had forgotten about that one.

But I recall that someone said they once heard 530 Radio Enciclopedia out here.

I've never heard it, either on my PR-D5 or the Maui SDR.
 
My most memorable 640 DX is definitely the Night in circa 1979 in West Central Michigan when I listened for a good hour or more to KFI. I called the late great Big Ron O'Brien on the KFI studio line and we talked for a good 15 minutes. I told him I mainly remembered him from Super CFL. He told me that he had worked at WCAR 1130 when it was called "The Giant 1130". He said he lived in Southgate, MI then, about a mile SE from the old 12 tower Nighttime array of WJBK/WDEE/WLQV 1500. He said he could barely hear it at Night. My father, who like most radio listeners in the 1920s and 1930s, was somewhat of a DXer, said that everyone's favorite DX in Michigan was to pull in KFI late at Night. I got to share DXing KFI with my father when I bought a Panasonic RF-2200 in 1982, before all the new squeeze ins signed on when the FCC busted up the clear channels, like they were some kind of a criminal enterprise.
 
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