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AM reception
- Thread starter billy2047
- Start date
From North Carolina the farthest west station I've received is WBAP Fort Worth, Texas.
North 740 CFZM is an easy catch also WBZ 1030 Boston WABC 770 New York. WCBS 880 New York. WGN 720 Chicago, WBBM 870 Chicago and WLS 890 Chicago.
A rare catches are WHAM Rochester, and WCCO Minniapolis despite both being 50KW and omnidirectional.
Florida stations are tough. Most are directional out to the Atlantic.
North 740 CFZM is an easy catch also WBZ 1030 Boston WABC 770 New York. WCBS 880 New York. WGN 720 Chicago, WBBM 870 Chicago and WLS 890 Chicago.
A rare catches are WHAM Rochester, and WCCO Minniapolis despite both being 50KW and omnidirectional.
Florida stations are tough. Most are directional out to the Atlantic.
I haven't DX'd in either of those states so I can't be sure, but the best I've done is KPUR 1440 Amarillo, TX while in Phoenix, AZ. My guess would be highly unlikely.
Normally, reception of the west coast from the east coast is highly unlikely from either general home or car radios. That said, I have read DX reports that were made before the FCC ended the clear channel policy (as the result of a court decision, if memory serves) of AM DXers using the best receivers available and picking up, say, KFI in Los Angeles from Philadelphia, PA. And I once heard a report in the 1990s (I think) of the nighttime skywave opening up and KNX in Los Angeles being heard in southern Florida despite the same frequency station licensed to Solana Beach.
As for me, from both Los Angeles, California, and Tucson, Arizona, I have heard WLAC in Nashville, TN. And, while I was at the Glamis sanddunes in southeastern California, I once picked up using the AM-only radio in my father's Dodge pickup truck, WLS out of Chicago. (That last catch may be possible again from the Phoenix area as KDXU in St. George, UT, has requested a nighttime reduction of power below 0.1kW with one tower, though it is questionable that there is anything that WLS airs now that I would really want to listen to today.)
As for me, from both Los Angeles, California, and Tucson, Arizona, I have heard WLAC in Nashville, TN. And, while I was at the Glamis sanddunes in southeastern California, I once picked up using the AM-only radio in my father's Dodge pickup truck, WLS out of Chicago. (That last catch may be possible again from the Phoenix area as KDXU in St. George, UT, has requested a nighttime reduction of power below 0.1kW with one tower, though it is questionable that there is anything that WLS airs now that I would really want to listen to today.)
From Columbus, Ohio, the farthest station I have ever pulled in on any radio is PJB from Bonaire. I believe that was in January 2024 although it might have been earlier. It was the first of so far two times I have ever heard it, and it was about as weak as you could imagine given the distance.
Domestically (or Canada), KOA is my farthest catch from here, but I will add that WBAP is the only station I have personally heard in both Columbus and Las Vegas. I remember it blasting in during a work trip to Vegas about 20 years ago. Guessing WOAI would also fit the bill, but its skywave signal has been awful around here for years, at least on the times I've tuned to 1200.
Domestically (or Canada), KOA is my farthest catch from here, but I will add that WBAP is the only station I have personally heard in both Columbus and Las Vegas. I remember it blasting in during a work trip to Vegas about 20 years ago. Guessing WOAI would also fit the bill, but its skywave signal has been awful around here for years, at least on the times I've tuned to 1200.
I have to make a correction. the Nashville AM I was able to hear from Los Angeles (very late at night) and Tucson, AZ, was not WLAC but WSM.
The Westernmost station I can pick up on a regular basis here in NJ is 1040 WHO from Iowa.
But once I heard an FM station from Oklahoma via E-skip.
But once I heard an FM station from Oklahoma via E-skip.
Back in the 70s, from Dayton, Ohio, when I could I listened to Larry Glick overnight on WBZ out of Boston. As WBZ's signal would fade in and out, I would frequently hear another station bleeding through. I could never make out words, but what I heard clearly and often from that station was a 6-7 note whistled jingle. I can still hear that jingle in my head.
A some point, a caller asked Glick about the same signal I was hearing. The caller had traced the signal down to an extremely powerful Christian station in Bonaire. Glick talked about calling/interviewing someone from the Bonaire station staff live on his show, but I don’t know if he ever did.
Also used to pick up XERF out of Ciudad Acuña (across from Del Rio, TX) in Dayton as a youngster. I remember them pitching questionable medical services and live, mail-order baby chicks on-air.
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The station with the whistled identification was Radio Centro on 1030 from Mexico City. It was widely heard all across North America by DXers.
Many car radios are perfectly capable of receiving transcontinental AM stations. The issue today is that every frequency has multiple stations and many of those stations operate 24 hours a day seven days a week.
If you go back to the 60s before stations began running 24/7 even in the smallest markets it was easy to hear California from the East and the east coast from the western states. In the early 60s I logged over 40 stations from California at my QTH in Ohio, including several daytimers with just 500 watts that were testing and even a 250 watt station from Porterville on the very congested 1450 channel.
Beyond that I had a half dozen Loggings from Hawaii and a handful from Australia and New Zealand along with many, many stations from Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.
So the issue is not the receiver, but the congestion of all the frequencies on the AM band.
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Certainly possible. Somewhere in the last year or so I happened upon the Bonaire call to WBZ I referenced earlier. I came across it on one of several sites that play old Larry Glick shows while looking for a particular guest. If I can find the Bonaire caller, I'll post a link.
Any old "Glickniks" remember the "Graveyard Marauder" story? That's what I was looking for.
You may be thinking of the whistled ID of XEOY Radio Mil on 1000 kHz, easily heard across Texas at night many years ago. Their shortwave simulcast XEOI on 6010 kHz (now long gone) was also a familiar catch for SWDXers.
The every-minute Morse code "RR" of Cuba's Radio Reloj can be easily heard over co-channel stations, even if the rest of their programming is inaudible.
If this is the XEOY whistle jingle you are referring to, it's not what l heard repeatedly back in the day. Tune is wrong and the jingle I referenced had no voice over, strictly whistling.
From Wyoming ive heard mexicoty city, monterrey and a ton of order stations, even ones only 500 watts.
ive heard WOKB 1680 from Orlando in Wyoming
Also, from wyoming, just 125 miles south of 50kw KTWO 1030, ive heard wbz 1030
when i was in alaska, i heard a 10kw am from 8000 miles away at the very southern end of australia.. in tasmania state.. the island off the south coast
The Radio Mil “Es Radio Mil” was 4 notes. Withe the vocal lyric following the whistle.
The version used until recently had the vocal separate from the notes. Same melody ,with instrumental attached to vocal
Calhoun mentioned that he heard that whistled ID when WBZ faded. Radio Centro is the only likely candidate on 10:30 AM.
The well-known XEOY Radio Mil ID was a quick four note "mid-high-low-high" whistle followed by a female singing "Es Radio Mil" with the same notes. Length was about two seconds.
Unfortunately, I can't find any online recordings of it at a quick search.
From here in Minnesota, I've heard every state (including DC) in the lower 48 except for New Hampshire and Delaware. Florida stations are not particularly common except for those in the expanded band. For awhile, 1040 WHBO (Pinellas Park, FL) was heard under WHO here. Probably stuck on day power/pattern. California is fairly common. 640 KFI (Los Angeles, CA) , 680 KNBR (San Francisco, CA), 1070 KNX (Los Angeles, CA), and 1100 KFAX (San Francisco, CA) are the easiest to hear. For Canada, I've heard AB, BC, MB, NL, ON, QC, and SK. I have yet to hear Alaska and Hawaii. Transpacific DX is tough, although I've seen DXers in TN and MI report hearing Australia and Tonga over the past few weeks. Greenland has been reported a few times from a DXer in MI, the one on 650 tends to the be most common, but I have yet to catch that one here, even with a good null on WSM. Those guys are using large KAZ and flag antennas.
Mexican stations are common. Cuban stations were more common across the dial up until a year or two ago, It seems like a lot of those have dropped off. Rebelde on 640 and 1180 are usually still there. Reloj on 790 and 950 can also still be heard. Of course Radio Enciclopedia on 530 too. When conditions are right, I've gotten well into South America. Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and even down to Argentina and Uruguay. The easiest to hear station from Argentina is 100kW 870 LRA1 (Buenos Aires) "Radio Nacional Argentina", they do 5 time pips + 1 longer tone at the top of each hour. 5,900 miles. Give them a try at night sometime, you may be surprised, they really get out well.
Mexican stations are common. Cuban stations were more common across the dial up until a year or two ago, It seems like a lot of those have dropped off. Rebelde on 640 and 1180 are usually still there. Reloj on 790 and 950 can also still be heard. Of course Radio Enciclopedia on 530 too. When conditions are right, I've gotten well into South America. Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and even down to Argentina and Uruguay. The easiest to hear station from Argentina is 100kW 870 LRA1 (Buenos Aires) "Radio Nacional Argentina", they do 5 time pips + 1 longer tone at the top of each hour. 5,900 miles. Give them a try at night sometime, you may be surprised, they really get out well.