Am station with the largest night land coverage?

[vibe]

I forgot about good old WOAI- got them clearly in Western Kansas, in SW Fla, and when driving from Penn westward. KOA (Denver) came in quite well in Ohio near dawn but that's probably no big deal.

 

[Len14043]

Back in the late 70s, WHAM (1180) was a reliable catch in Nevada after KOFI in Kalispel MT went off the air at midnight. WLW, KSL and WOAI are seemingly the best signals today. However, 1200 is becoming increasingly choppy due to all the low power stations on that frequency.

 

[cyberdad]

Okay....

In Hawaii (Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island), I've bagged the following (with a Grundig Yacht Boy PE400 portable, standard internal ferrite rod antenna)....

KFI 640
KNBR 680
KGO 810
WBAP 820
WWL 870 (Honolulu local 870 was off the air)
WLS 890
KTNQ 1020
KNX 1070
KEX 1190

(Latter three had the best signals)

 

[vibe]

That's impressive-getting WLS from Hawaii-sounds like a great catch to me.

 

[cyberdad]

That's impressive-getting WLS from Hawaii-sounds like a great catch to me.

February 1965 10pm-ish, HST. Near Sunset Beach Actually, this one (and WWL a few nights later when I unsuccessfully tried for 'LS again) were in a '62 Chevy Car radio. KEX was on the Big Island on the roof of a hotel...a sundeck...with a Hallicrafters Shortwave. December 1964. The rest were in Maui, May 1994 (Hotel pool area) with the Yacht Boy (including KEX once again).

 

[vibe]

Nice memory-did you keep a log? You remember where and what stations you got 40 years ago, I'm trying to remember what I had for breakfast 3 days ago! One thing of note, I had a friend in New Britain CT in the early 60's; we were both in junior high at the time. He really enjoyed trying to pick up distant stations (AM) and had a rather impressive setup. I remember him being REALLY excited when he picked up and clearly identified KFI. The airways were a lot less cluttered in those days but it was still a catch. I try for it periodically here in Mass and Fla w/ just a standard Bose Wave Radio but it's like fishing w/o bait. Not any luck.

 

[cyberdad]

Vibe....

Short version of the story. I spent my Junior Year of High School in Honolulu. 1964-65. I was on a mission to pick up a station from the mainland....especially hometown WLS. I was able to get stuff from the Phillipines and who knows where else on a semi-regular basis, but no mainland U.S. KEX was the first one for me after four months of trying. Then one night a couple of months later with local KAIM (then on 870) silent, WWL popped in up on the North Shore. After 15 more minutes, Gary Lewis & the Playboys faintly came through on 890, followed by a PAMS jingle...static...and then part of a taped promo with Clark Weber. Perhaps a grand total of 30 seconds of audio, if that. Then more and more static. We waited about fifteen more minutes (my friend was with me), but nothing else came through. WWL was still in and out....by not exactly strong, but by far the better signal of the two.

 

[vibe]

Glad to hear the clarification; I had NO idea how persistent one has to be to catch these rare finds. Still 4500 mi reception (Hawaii-Chicago) is great. Probably wouldn't happen today.

 

[cyberdad]

Glad to hear the clarification; I had NO idea how persistent one has to be to catch these rare finds. Still 4500 mi reception (Hawaii-Chicago) is great. Probably wouldn't happen today.

No, it probably wouldn't. As it was, where I was living in Honolulu, there was no DX at all. Too many xmtrs. You had to go out into the sticks to get away from all the slop and splatter. I'm sure I also heard a couple of Mexicans or perhaps other Latin Americans during the nine months I was out there, but I don't recall where/when. One other catch I vaguely recall was the Phillipines on 710. Not 100% sure about this one, however.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

You remember where and what stations you got 40 years ago, .

I actually can beat that! I have a log from my grandfather in the 1930's. Reception in Lubbock, TX on a 5 gang tuned RF type radio with an internal 2 foot loop. He reported WLW daytime - a feat I duplicated 70 years later with a five foot loop and a GE Superadio 3. His daytime logging, however, was when they were running 500,000 watts.

A source none other than ADOLF HITLER logged WLW in Germany - he was upset at American radio "propaganda" reaching Germany. Of course it was intentional!

I have logged the 1016 from Istanbul that runs 2 million watts. It may not qualify as entirely nighttime, however, because a portion of the propagation path had to be in daylight - Texas and Turkey are almost never simultaneously dark. The format is uninspiring, at best.

A friend of mine logged a 1586 from Germany a couple of decades ago. Apparently it was a rock station and pretty good listening.

 

[cyberdad]

I've tried off and on for years to log Europe. Never have done it. Nor have I ever logged North America from Europe. Best I've ever done over there was catch Algeria 891) and Russia (1332) while in the UK. Nowhere near as impressive as Turkey-Texas.

 

[vibe]

Bruce- w/ that setup did you get the West Coast Channels or did the mountains impede the signal(s)? Was that the antenna/receiver combo or the real good conductivity of the area?

 

[BRNout]

What does everyone think of WBZ? Although KTWO limits their signal in the western US, I was just in central Iowa last week and found them to have the clearest signal of any northeastern AM station - at least twice as strong as WABC or WFAN (which are closer). And, it's dependably strong at night pretty much anywhere in the eastern US.

Certainly has the best signal of any New England station - it outperforms the New York AMs at night too.

Even heard them once under KTWO in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah - that was in 1987. A clear enough signal to hear the TOH ID, and that was on a standard Walkman.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I've heard them when I was in Midland, TX - pre KTWO. Astonishingly strong signal. I can definitely still hear them from Dallas when I rotate my radio to null KTWO. Although present reception conditions across the band are pretty bad.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Bruce- w/ that setup did you get the West Coast Channels or did the mountains impede the signal(s)? Was that the antenna/receiver combo or the real good conductivity of the area?

Mountains are largely irrelevant at night, and don't seem to be much of a factor with very long distance daytime (1000 plus miles). So I suspect the long distance daytime is a skywave phenomenon - although much weaker than nighttime skywave. That would also account for the deep fades associated with 1000 mile daytime reception.

West coast nighttime AM is easy from West Texas, we are only talking about 1100 miles or so from Midland, Lubbock, and Amarillo to Los Angeles. It is much more of a challenge from Dallas at 1400 miles, because there is a monster 640 in Oklahoma City that covers KFI, and KFI is on half power right now anyway. I don't know if the OKC station shuts down late at night or not, but I do know they sign on early - earlier than I get up! KRLD 1080 blots out KNX, especially when they put on their digital sidebands.

I've had trouble getting San Francisco as far west as Red River, NM. 810 has a lot of co-channels around the country. Other SF possibles have similar issues. I have never hear any of the Oregon or Washington stations from Texas.

Ground conductivity in West Texas is very good, not so good in Dallas. Although for really long distance reception my biggest problem in Dallas is loop saturation.

Setup is GE Superadio 2 and 3, various sizes of tuned box loops. 4 foot or larger is needed for 1000 miles plus.

 

[Lawppy]

What does everyone think of WBZ?

And, it's dependably strong at night pretty much anywhere in the eastern US.

I agree with that. In Michigan where the sun sets at 5:00-5:30 PM in December and January, WBZ is always the first east coast station to boom in. I've heard them with a strong signal as early as 3:30 PM on some days. They completely obliterate in-state daytimer WUFL before sunset.

 

[cyberdad]

What does everyone think of WBZ?

Picked up 'BZ one night on a cheap GE clock radio in a hotel room in Flagstaff, AZ. Not exactly a faint signal, either!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Hey - if its the same hotel I stayed at in Flagstaff, those little radios are good radios. In fact - I don't think I've ever used a radio from GE that wasn't good. I found a little walkman in a pile of junk at work - dusted it off - it was well worn and obviously old - yet it leaped to life on AM and FM, all locals and quite a few rim shots - inside a building notorious for absorbing radio. The guy down from me has a fairly expensive setup and amplified antenna - my GE fished out of the junk box gets more stations. So yes - I totally believe a WBZ logging in Flagstaff on a GE radio!

 

[Len14043]

Mountains are largely irrelevant at night, and don't seem to be much of a factor with very long distance daytime (1000 plus miles). So I suspect the long distance daytime is a skywave phenomenon - although much weaker than nighttime skywave. That would also account for the deep fades associated with 1000 mile daytime reception.

When I lived in Utah during the 70s and 80s, the mountains did not appear to impede skywave reception. Back then, WHAM and the Chicago clears were regular catches in Utah -even with the towering Wasatch Mountains to the east. Now for FM, it's a completly different story. If you travel west of SLC, the FMs are clear to about 150 miles because most of the FM and TV antennas are on Farnsworth peak, which is about 5000' above the valley floor. However, if you travel east to the other side of the mountains, the multipath is horrific. If fact, if you are not within line of sight of the FM tower, you can have a strong 60-80dbu signal that is unlistenable due to the multipath. I recall the frustration in trying to clear up a strong, but distorted signal by moving the antenna. Many of the SLC FMs rely on boosters and translators.


Ground conductivity in West Texas is very good, not so good in Dallas. Although for really long distance reception my biggest problem in Dallas is loop saturation.

During a trip to Wichita Falls, WBAP was like a local during the day. KOMA sounded good, albiet weaker than WBAP>


[/quote]

 

[cyberdad]

color=maroon]Ground conductivity in West Texas is very good, not so good in Dallas. Although for really long distance reception my biggest problem in Dallas is loop saturation.[/color]

During a trip to Wichita Falls, WBAP was like a local during the day. KOMA sounded good, albiet weaker than WBAP>

I think most of the Dallas AMs boom out pretty well. Possible small exception being to the east as one gets into the pine forests toward Northern Louisiana. Most of the Dallas full-facility daytime signals sound pretty much like locals in and around Austin....200 miles to the south. They also carry very well into Oklahoma....with WBAP audible into the Southern tier of counties in Kansas.