AM Radio Signals - fading in and out

[mr-resistor]

> How about WAVZ or WLIB going into Ct?....i can hold WAVZ
> just over the border on the 95 from RI but WLIB is shaky
> almost to White Plains.....was your experience
> similar.......770 was clear and 880 was clear out of NYC...
>
> HAVE YOU TRIED 1080??? I travel a lot (almost every month) all over the east coast in a newer chevy trailblazer which seems to have a pretty good AM radio. At nite I now listen to the Sox (and sometimes UCONN Sports) on a station WTIC 1080 out of Hartford CT. I am continually amazed at the signal of that station.

I receive it and WBZ pretty clearly almost everywhere at nite. at worst it will fade a little and sometimes get some interference with the next station on the dial 1090, but it never gets unlistenable. Ive picked WTIC up for hundreds of miles pretty clearly on my way back from northern canada last month. i was stunned i hit the memory button and even heard it ok in n carolina so i listened to all star game the way back hom from mid atlantic states to boston.

hoewver on the hiway passing thru,.... the c l o s e r i got to CT border ironicly it faded with more static which makes no sense tome.
>
> > As I was driving to Connecticut last night in a cool
> Cobalt
> > from Enterprise,
> > I scanned the dial - AM 1430 fades out in the early
> > stretches of the Mass Pike. So I went to AM 1200 which
> came
> > in clear around Exit 12 and was out by Exit 11. It is
> > really impossible to get Jones Radio/Air America mix from
>
> > Clear Channel on these tiny stations.
> >
> > WEEI is very weak as one heads towards Worcester. Try
> > listening to The Boston Red Sox as you head West and then
> > South. Scanning the dial I found little pockets of
> stations
> > with the broadcast but it was no better than WEEI.
> >
> > In Connecticut to pick up the rescued kitties (We just
> > adopted two cats from Georgia; the troops going to Iraq
> and
> > Afghanistan have been leaving their pets behind. It is a
> > big dilemma, and these are more invisible victims of this
> > war that should never have happened), I got to hear AM
> radio
> > - not at its finest.
> >
> > STATEMENT:
> > Ted Sarandis take note: we don't yap SUPPORT OUR TROOPS on
>
> > the radio and think that we've made a difference. Go buy a
>
> > magnetic bow tie. Some people ARE supporting our troops
> by
> > adopting their pets. So many beautiful cats and dogs are
> > headed to the gas chamber in Georgia because of this war.
> >
> >
> > The two cats that have joined our household are stunningly
>
> > beautiful and friendly. The thought that they were in
> line
> > to be killed has me working on an article and mobilizing
> > animal lovers to do our part to truly support our troops.
> >
> > In doing this I got to hear how bad AM radio comes in on
> the
> > Mass Pike.
> >
> > WBZ is the only signal that sticks. You play Roulette
> with
> > the dial driving on that road.
> >
> > What happened to the days when Campbell Sports Network
> would
> > give you the listings of the stations carrying the Red
> Sox?
> >
> > Should've went online to find this first:
> > RED SOX ON THE RADIO
> > http://www.woolner.com/redsox/radio.htm
> >
>

 

[Eli Polonsky]

> > HAVE YOU TRIED 1080??? I travel a lot (almost every month)
> all over the east coast in a newer chevy trailblazer which
> seems to have a pretty good AM radio. At nite I now listen
> to the Sox (and sometimes UCONN Sports) on a station WTIC
> 1080 out of Hartford CT. I am continually amazed at the
> signal of that station.
>
> I receive it and WBZ pretty clearly almost everywhere at
> nite. at worst it will fade a little and sometimes get some
> interference with the next station on the dial 1090, but it
> never gets unlistenable. Ive picked WTIC up for hundreds of
> miles pretty clearly on my way back from northern canada
> last month. i was stunned i hit the memory button and even
> heard it ok in n carolina so i listened to all star game
> the way back hom from mid atlantic states to boston.
>
> hoewver on the hiway passing thru,.... the c l o s e r i
> got to CT border ironicly it faded with more static which
> makes no sense tome.

What may have happened is you may have been in between their "skywave" and their "groundwave".

When AM stations skip over long distances at night, you're hearing a phenomenon called "skywave". The electrical charge of the ionospheric layer changes at night, causing AM signals to reflect and bounce back to Earth at distances much farther than the original "groundwave" signal from the station would reach in the daytime.

Sometimes as you approach the outskirts of an AM stations "groundwave" coverage at night, you may become too close to get reflected "skywave" signals, but the original "groundwave" signal may still be weak until you get even closer.

Another additional possibility is that if you took the coastal route from NC, the salt water path along the coastline may have also helped conduct the signal along the coast in the mid-Atlantic states, but as you enter CT, the WTIC signal is no longer being conducted over salt water since Hartford is now north of you over land.

Last but not least, WTIC utilizes a directional signal at night, which appears to put its full power to the north and south, and nulls somewhat to the west. When you're coming up the mid-Atlantic, you're south of Hartford, so you're getting their full signal in that direction, but as you head from NY into CT, you shift geographically up to the southwest of Hartford, into the null of their pattern. It's not an extreme enough null to keep you from hearing them, but it will be weaker in that direction.

 

[DanStrassberg]

>
> Last but not least, WTIC utilizes a directional signal at
> night, which appears to put its full power to the north and
> south, and nulls somewhat to the west. When you're coming up
> the mid-Atlantic, you're south of Hartford, so you're
> getting their full signal in that direction, but as you head
> from NY into CT, you shift geographically up to the
> southwest of Hartford, into the null of their pattern. It's
> not an extreme enough null to keep you from hearing them,
> but it will be weaker in that direction.
>
WTIC's night pattern is a very mild (that is, not very deeply nulled) cardioid aimed northeast-away from co-channel (and currently co-owned) KRLD, Dallas. To add to the confusion, WTIC is one of a handful of Class A AMs that change patterns not at local sunset but at sunset at the co-channel Class A. So WTIC remains nondirectional until Dallas sunset, which must be almost two hours later than Hartford sunset in some months.

The other similarly blessed stations are WQEW (stays on day pattern until sunset in Bakersfield CA) and WCKY (changes patterns at Sacramento CA sunset). WBT goes ND at sunrise in Omaha, NE. Many of the Class B AMs in the middle of the country on these frequencies have rather complicated operations because they have to protect the skywave service of a co-channel Class A that sends a lot more skywave their way for the first two or three hours after sunset than it does later in the dark hours. In the case of stations on 1110, reverse that to early in the morning. Some of these stations use different directional patterns to provide the poper protections. Those patterns, when combined with special critical-hours facilities, can lead to DA-4 operation. I believe that one such station is on 1560 in Paducah KY.

 

[DG02816]

Re: speaking of weei's night signal

WEEI 850 has a deep null to the southwest at night to protect KOA in Denver, also on 850.http://fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php...bSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=305498&sHours=N


Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740

Chester/Philadelphia

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Re: speaking of weei's night signal

> WEEI 850 has a deep null to the southwest at night to
> protect KOA in Denver

Yes, but the WBOQ coverage area is northeast of WEEI, not in the null.