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AM Reception in Allegheny Valley region

freddyb590

freddyb590

Hi, everyone. . .

I've been getting calls at the station I work at, complaining about AM reception in the Allegheny Valley and Kiski Regions (West Deer, New Kensington, Vandegrift, etc). Several have told me that, over the past several months, they have a hard time getting stations that should be "loud and clear" in those areas (like KDKA, KQV, WWNL, WPTT, and others).

Do any of you live in these areas? If so, how is your AM reception? Can you think of anything that would cause problems for listeners in those areas?

I guess the good news here, at least, is that people still want AM radio. . . :)
 
I guess if you want to know whether people still listen to AM radio, just throw some static, dead air, a sudden format change or cuss words at them and you'll find out!

I live on the south end of Pittsburgh, but I have noticed that KDKA in particular seems to be putting out a very poor signal for a 50KW local station. I will often notice fading, distortion or static in KD's signal as I drive around town. Had never experienced that before in years of listening to them. I am guessing that now enough of my neighbors are getting multiple computers, plasma televisions, and changing all of their lighting over to compact flourescents, and they are taking their toll. Also the very wide IBOC swath put out by WEAE (and at various places on the dial via harmonics) have had a big impact as well.
 
Actually, they have AM stations serving those regions on the air. The problem is, none of them are putting out any programming of mass appeal.
 
IBOC is the likely culprit. It should never have been allowed for nighttime use on AM.... KD could be getting sideband interference from 1010 in NY, even from ESPN 1000 in Chicago. The AM band is a mess.
 
Parttimer said:
IBOC is the likely culprit. It should never have been allowed for nighttime use on AM.... KD could be getting sideband interference from 1010 in NY, even from ESPN 1000 in Chicago. The AM band is a mess.
Click to expand...

Or 1030 WBZ Boston... 1040 WYSL in Avon, NY actually logged a complaint against WBZ claiming that the WBZ IBOC hash was interfering with WYSL in their protected contour during all hours of broadcasting, and even submitted a report to the FCC regarding this: http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.9436.html

I will say KDKA has always been one of the tougher "clears" for me to grab at night, even back when I lived in Indiana before the existence of IBOC. I'd get CFRB 1010 from Toronto and WBZ much better.
 
Thanks. . . I had suspected that IBOC might be the culprit, but had only heard of nighttime problems. Didn't realize that WYSL's complaint of WBZ was during daytime, too.

Interesting about WEAE (1250). . . I was in Boston for quite some time, and there had been complaints about WMKI (1260) interfering with several signals' strength in that area, as far down the dial as WTTT (1150). Is it possible that IBOC has different degrees of effect, based on dial position? (I'm ignorant on exactly how IBOC works and its effects.)

Does anyone know if the FCC is taking comments on IBOC in general, or if it's just the individual complaints?
 
I live near New Ken and I have noticed for some time a weaker signal from KDKA I now have to rotate the radio in my home for a cleaner signal and I also noticed a weaker signal in the car.
This happens both day and night. I started to listen to Scott and John on line and use a small FM transmitter that I use for my XM unit to listen on a table top radio
 
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