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AM Frequency of the Week - 720 kHz

B

Buckeyes2001

The last of the universal AM frequencies to be discussed, what do you get on 720 kHz either at your home location or in your travels?
If you DXed back in March 2012 when WGN was off air for a couple of hours overnight, what did you get in place of them?

Here in Vermilion, OH it is a weak WGN during the day and WGN much stronger at night often local sounding but sometimes WOR's I-BLOCK raises the noise floor. Around SS and SR I've heard what sounds like an urban gospel station coming in over top of WGN. I assume it was WGCR but I haven't positively IDed it yet, When WGN was off back in March 2012 I heard a weak Spanish station, probably KSAH as there was also some auroral activity going on at the same time.
 
In Monroe, WA, 720 is mainly all KIRO slop...however at night I get KDWN Las Vegas pretty good. Also have received WGN, and KFIR Sweet Home, Oregon on this frequency.

-crainbebo
 
Daytime: nothing, not even with a Select-A-Tenna

Night: KDWN Las Vegas blasts in like a local, one of my strongest skywaves.

Several years ago when KDWN was off for maintenance on an early Monday morning, I heard a weak WGN from Chicago.
 
Houston:

Day: KSAH San Antonio
Night: WGN, with KSAH, some other Spanish language background
 
Far northwest suburbs of Chicago...

Local WGN 24/7. Once...quite some time ago...when WGN was off, I heard CHTN from Prince Edward Island. They were also a relatively catch if you went east of here a few hundred miles (and nulled WGN). But they left the channel and presumably migrated to FM several years ago.
 
In south FL,

Day: WAQI slop
Night: WAQI slop

Did I tell you that I get WAQI slop? ;)

cd
 
From Tampa...

Daytime - A weak WRZN from Hernando.

Night - Mostly WGN but sometimes it's taken over by a Spanish speaking station.

I assume it's not Cuba because it's signal strength greatly varies from powerful to nothing at all and I can't hear even a trace of it daytime, whereas as I can other Cuban stations here during the day.
 
gar fla said:
From Tampa...

Daytime - A weak WRZN from Hernando.

Night - Mostly WGN but sometimes it's taken over by a Spanish speaking station.

I assume it's not Cuba because it's signal strength greatly varies from powerful to nothing at all and I can't hear even a trace of it daytime, whereas as I can other Cuban stations here during the day.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that's YVQE from Venezuela?
 
Buckeyes2001 said:
gar fla said:
From Tampa...

Daytime - A weak WRZN from Hernando.

Night - Mostly WGN but sometimes it's taken over by a Spanish speaking station.

I assume it's not Cuba because it's signal strength greatly varies from powerful to nothing at all and I can't hear even a trace of it daytime, whereas as I can other Cuban stations here during the day.
Click to expand...

I believe I have heard Radio Catolica in Nicaragua on 720 on a rare evening.....I know of no 720 in Cuba (isn't THAT rare?).

cd
Click to expand...
 
Wow… so the Spanish that I hear on 720 at night could be Venezuela or Nicaragua? That would be awesome. I just assumed it was Mexico or Cuba. WGN often gets hammered by something Spanish here on the Alabama gulf coast.

Daytime, it's nothing. Nearest station on 720 is over 230 miles away. There's not even a single on 720 station in all of Alabama.
 
In southwest Ohio, it was WGN day (with a Sangean PR-D5) and night, but a few months ago WLW turned HD back on, so now it's just static, although WGN pokes through when conditions are favorable.
 
Zach said:
Wow… so the Spanish that I hear on 720 at night could be Venezuela or Nicaragua? That would be awesome. I just assumed it was Mexico or Cuba. WGN often gets hammered by something Spanish here on the Alabama gulf coast.

Daytime, it's nothing. Nearest station on 720 is over 230 miles away. There's not even a single on 720 station in all of Alabama.
Click to expand...

I had forgotten about those. Since I don't speak foreign I guess I won't know for sure, but my money would be on Venezuela. A few decades ago, before the nut job became president down there, that 720 played a lot of American top-40 music. I could hear it on Carribbean cruises very well during the day even hundreds of miles out. I always did like Venezuela, lovely country, very unique solutions to traffic problems that would work well here. Now I wouldn't dare set foot there.
 
Day or night, there's no getting around WGN here. Even using the phased array, I can't null them. Same for WBBM.

Buckeyes2001 said:
If you DXed back in March 2012 when WGN was off air for a couple of hours overnight, what did you get in place of them?
Click to expand...

In place of WGN, XEDE was dominant and I was also able to ID XEAVR "Radio Fórmula". I was hoping for Vegas that night, but as I remember, conditions to the west were very poor.
 
Between Hazleton and Pottsville PA here, it's WWII from outside Harrisburg PA in the day, and WGN at night. There is a logging of CHTN, June 1994, as well.

* * * * * * *

At my Folks' place in The Villages, Florida (between Ocala and Leesburg), WRZN was a steady semi-local.
They used to show at the mid-to-bottom echelons of the Gainesville-Ocala ARBs. I don't know what they're doing now, but back when my Folks moved to FL in 1994, WRZN then was one of the few stations on either dial playing the Standards.
In Florida. Yikes.

WRZN also used to sign off at 10 PM. In would come WGN, plus a Spanish station.

* * * * * * *

The National Radio Club AM Guide from the Sixties (back in the school-days DXing from near Kennedy Airport in Queens) has just two catches on 720 -- WGN and 'Cuba'.
At the time, the NRC Guide listed just four stations on 720. The Radio-Locator now lists 22 in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
 
From Fred Cantu's List of Mexican AM/FM/TV stations, here are the ones broadcasting on 720 kHz from Mexico:

Freq Callsign Name / Location Day (W) Night (W)
720 XEDE La Kaliente + FM 105.7 Saltillo, Coah. 8,000 250
720 XEJCC Extremo 7-20 Cd. Juárez, Chih. 1,000 10,000
720 XEQZ Ritmo 720 San juan de los Lagos, Jal. 1,000 400
720 XEKN La Z Huetamo de Nuñez, Mich. 5,000 D
720 XECPQ La Estrella Maya Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Q. Roo 2,000 D
720 XEVU Éxtasis Digital + FM 97.1 Mazatlan, Sin. 1,000 500
720 XEAVR Radio Fórmula 1er Cadena + FM 89.1 Veracruz, Ver. 10,000 250

http://mexicoradiotv.com/frec_am.htm
 
Zach said:
Wow… so the Spanish that I hear on 720 at night could be Venezuela or Nicaragua? That would be awesome. I just assumed it was Mexico or Cuba. WGN often gets hammered by something Spanish here on the Alabama gulf coast.

Daytime, it's nothing. Nearest station on 720 is over 230 miles away. There's not even a single on 720 station in all of Alabama.
Click to expand...

I've heard KSAH in the mix at night on the beach. Less than 1kw, but directional and gets out pretty well. Days on the beach is a weak WRZN, but I could see where that wouldn't go inland very well.
 
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