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AM Frequency of the week: 850

cyberdad

cyberdad

Crystal Lake, IL....

Day: WAIT is the strongest AM signal here. 2.5kw from 3 miles away with one lobe of their figure eight pattern aimed right at me.

Night: After WAIT signs off, it's KOA on top with a fair-good signal. I sometimes hear another station or two unerneath, but so far unidentifiable.

Sunrise-Sunset. With WAIT off, the most common visitor is KFUO from St. Louis. I've also heard WQRM (ex WWJC) from Duluth, MN, and (the former) WYDE from Birmingham, AL, and the 850 from Cleveland....roughly in that order of commonality.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs during the day it's all WAIT with a good signal. At night it's KOA with usually a good signal.

During critical hours after WAIT signs off I've heard WKNR and KFUO the most often.
 
Warminster PA(Philly 'burbs):

Daytime: zippo(used to be WEEU from Reading, now on 830).
NIght: either WEEI Boston or WKNR Cleveland.
 
East Tennessee: Day-It's complicated. WKVL, a once-50,000 watt daytimer lost it's tower site (as did WMTY on 670) and was off the air a couple of days short of a year. They are currently on the air with 1000 watts carrying sports talk with an associated translator. The most frequently heard daytime station on 850 other than WKVL has been WKNR, which I heard just after sunrise and before sunset even with WKVL's 50,000 watts fully cranking (though I was likely in a null). With WKVL off, WKNR even made it in through winter daytime skip at midday.

Night: KOA does make it in with assorted other stations. I've heard it near our sunset

Retro/other: Dayton, OH area, mostly WKNR days, KOA nights. Also KFUO near and just after sunrise and sunset

Lafayette, IN: WAIT (or whatever the call letters were) days, KOA night.
 
From the Chicago lakefront: like the others in the area it's the local WAIT in the daytime and KOA Denver at night. KOA comes in well enough that you can listen to the station normally with only occasional fading out. I've heard some unidentified music in the background from a different station but don't know what it is.

Retro: 1980s San Francisco suburbs: Nothing during the day, and once again the mighty KOA at night, again strongly enough you could listen to it normally. If I had to compare with how it currently comes in in Chicago, I'd say it was slightly stronger there. Impressive range if they can be received over 2/3 of the continental US...
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WAIT
Nightime: KOA but can be nulled opening the frequency for DX targets

DX/RETRO: some reception from the past include KFUO (Clayton, MO), KEYH (Spring, TX), WGVU (Muskegon, MI), WWJC (Duluth, MN), WYDE (Birmingham, AL), WKIX (Raleigh, NC),WPTB (Statesboro, GA), WRUF (Gainsville, FL), CKVL (Verdun, PQ). Foreign catches include XETQ (Orizaba, Mexico), Radio Reloj, Cuba.
 
850 been berry berry good to me here in NE PA.

Middays used to be the loud semi-local WEEU Reading, obviously before they moved to 830. They had four sticks in a row right near a highway exit called something like Broadcasters Blvd, of all things. That exit was off a new bypass highway that for a few years was called The Road to Nowhere because it took so long to finish it. I heard the road called that on the air s few times during traffic reports on -- what else? -- WEEU.

A sunset catch was WYLF, from upstate NY
Three sunRISE snags were WRBZ NC, WTAR Nofolk and WEEI Boston.

The only nighttime logging I see is WRMR Cleveland. Them I have taped.

850-plus:
I ran an errand for my supervisor one late sunset. His Dodge van's AM band was only tuned to European frequencies!
So naturally, in came Romania on 855. Now, I didn't actually hear them SAY, 'Yes, Steve; this is Romania on 855, but the station was widely reported at the time.
 
Out here in San Jose, California

Days...Nothing

Nights...KOA with little fade here and there. Impressive signal no doubt! Some times of the year ( colder months ), KOA can sound almost as strong as KFI.
 
Yakima WA

Days - Weak KHHO Tacoma WA (News/Talk).
Night - Always KOA Denver (News/Talk), a little bit of KHHO mixes here and there.
One-off log of XEZF Mexicali BCN (Grupera) at 250 watts, around sunrise. Also have heard KICY Nome AK a few times, all of those times during the impressive Asian DX conditions last October.

Wanted - Just one right now, WQRM Duluth MN. 50KW days, 14KW critical hours, around 1300 miles. This should be easy at 4:30AM under KOA, but it's not.
 
From Reynoldsburg, Ohio ...
* Daytime: All WKNR, quite well in fact as they have a strong secondary lobe pointed straight at us. By far the best reception of any Cleveland station here and probably the best out-of-town AM signal here after WLW (not counting small rimshot AMs that can be heard in different parts of the metro).
* Nighttime: Not much. A weak KOA can sneak in here, especially during the winter, but WKNR is completely gone at the moment they switch to night pattern. It's like they shut the transmitter down.
 
Laramie, WY.. KOA day and night without much trouble

I have heard WQRM Duluth twice at sunrise or sunset
 
From NW San Antonio...

Daytime: Heavy splatter from local 860 KONO. I heard KEYH in Houston one afternoon four years ago when KONO was briefly off air. I've never heard it since.

Sunset: Now that 840 KVJY is back on air, I get splatter from it as well as KONO. Aiming to the NW, KOA starts to come up. Aiming NE, I can hear a weak KJON in Carrollton (near DFW), a Spanish-language Catholic daytimer.

Night: KONO splatter is reduced while KVJY splatter is increased, but KOA is quite dominant. Aiming SW, I can often hear XEMIA in Tlaquepaque, a Spanish-language Radio Disney station. It's usually mixing with or under KOA but occasionally rises to the top.

Sunrise: The heavy dual splatter is back and KOA is still fairly dominant. Aiming NE I can hear a weak WXJC for a bit when it goes to day power. Also, KJON is back when it signs on for the day. It and KOA are the last ones standing.

DX: Five years ago I heard a very weak WFTL one night.
 
Daytime, usually nothing. KLEU Waterloo, IA, now defunct, used to be a faint daytime signal.

Nighttime -- usually KOA. But KOA isn't what it used to be around here. It used to be strong every night. Now, sometimes I hear religious programming. I know I have heard KFUO from St. Louis, which I believe is supposed to be a daytime-only operation at least once. WQRM Duluth is another possibility, but they're only licensed for critical hours. Most of the time, the religious programming is syndicated and I honestly haven't had the patience to stick around and find out where it's coming from.
 
Surfing around a few SDRs and landed on the one in Rockport, Maine. WEEI usually blasts in there, as do WRKO and WBZ, but a Spanish-language station clearly can be heard under dominant WEEI. I guess it is critical hours considering the sun still is setting before 5 even in early February there ... anyone have an idea what this station might be? Starting to hear some cancellation on WEEI within the past few minutes as well.
 
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