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AM stations broadcasting “Critical hours” in A;asla

S

soundblast

Continuing my research on AM daytime only stations after visiting
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html I came to realize there may not be any daytime only stations in Alaska, however I did see some AM stations listed as critical hours,
Well that is new to me so what does it mean for an AM station that is listed as broadcasting “Critical hours”
 
"Critical hours" are the two hours after sunrise and before sunset. Because there's still some skywave signal propagation during those hours, stations operating on clear channels have to provide some degree of protection to dominant class A stations during those hours.

An example: I have a station locally, WYSL 1040 Avon NY, that operates as a class B signal on a clear channel. It runs 500 watts at night to protect class A WHO on the same channel in Des Moines. It gets to run 20 kW during the day - except during those "critical hours," when it must back down to 13.2 kW to protect WHO's skywave.

In December, WYSL doesn't get much time at its full 20 kW - it goes from night to critical-hours at 7:30 AM, finally gets to fire up the big 20 at 9:30 AM, goes back down to 13.2 kW at 2:30 PM, and drops back to night power at 4:30 PM.
 
I hope some of the folks from Alaska post. Because of the odd sunrise and sunset hours in AK, it makes for some strange critical hours operations. KICY, Nome, AK is a an example, however, I think they have a special pattern that is used when they are shooting their signal toward Russia. KICY is a full non-direction pattern day and night with a directional pattern during critical hours.
 
Re: AM stations broadcasting “Critical hours” in Alaska

I can't speak to the specifics of your question, but generally speaking there are some unique traits of Alaskan radio that play into what you're asking.

There are relatively few stations statewide in Alaska. There just isn't the need for them. Alaska, the largest state in the US by far, has less than 700,000 people, the vast majority living in three major cities (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau) and the Mat-Su Valley (Wasilla, Palin's hometown). Much smaller population centers include Kenai, Sitka and Ketchikan, Bethel, and coastal villages like Kotzebue and Nome. Between all these cities and villages is a lot of. . .nothing. Small Native villages with maybe a few hundred people dot the landscape, and once you leave the road system there are only about 10 places with more than 1000 people (Anch, Fairbanks and Juneau are the only cities statewide with more than 10,000 people). So the need for 50k stations isn't that great to start with. Most villages have stations built specifically for that village or region of the state. Empty land, high mountain ranges, and huge bodies of water separate these villages and prevent signals from reaching all parts of the state. (Again, this is generally speaking - I'm in Anchorage and I often pick up stations from Nome, McGrath, Glennallen and Fairbanks.) My point is that in Alaska, for the most part, there is no need to boost a signal to reach an area beyond the local footprint.

Another thing to consider, w/r/t critical hours, is that there are relatively few stations outside the state close enough to be affected by local signals. The few stations I pick up regularly outside of AK are from San Francisco (KGO 810 and KCTC 1050), Vancouver (CKNW 980 and CKST 1040), Seattle (KOMO 1000), and a few others. None are affected by AK local stations. The big 50k watters here in Anchorage (KENI 650 and KFQD 750) have no nearby signal competition down south (the small CISL 650 near Vancouver BC being the closest one, which actually increased power after moving to that freq, and KXL 750 in Portland OR, a 50k that seems to operate interference-free). Alaska is just too far away for it's stations to really affect anyone else. That's not to say it can't happen - I'd be interested to know what AK stations are picked up in, say, Washington, Oregon and California, and I've heard several cases of Anchorage signals being heard in Honolulu.

Hope this helps answer your question.
 
soundblast said:
Continuing my research on AM daytime only stations after visiting
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html I came to realize there may not be any daytime only stations in Alaska, however I did see some AM stations listed as critical hours,
Well that is new to me so what does it mean for an AM station that is listed as broadcasting “Critical hours”
Click to expand...

The KICY directional antenna is *not* a critical hours facility -- it's used between 11pm and 4am to, as BarryATL suggests, beam their Russian-language programming towards Siberia.

If you read their application on CDBS, you see a comment that indicates they put the DA parameters in the Critical Hours box because there was nowhere else to put it on the forms. That doesn't mean they use those facilities during the two hours after sunrise and the two hours before sunset - they use it during hours specified in the license.

There are five applications for new stations in Alaska that specify separate day, critical hours, and night facilities. However, in all five cases the critical hours parameters are the same as the daytime parameters. I think they just saw the "critical hours" box in the form and figured they needed to fill it out. All five applicants in fact propose to operate non-directional at all hours and in four of the five cases, with the same power day and night.



http://74.220.219.72/~kicyorg/wp-content/gallery/russia/thumbs/thumbs_RussianPatternSmall.jpg
 
BarryATL said:
KICY, Nome, AK is a an example, however, I think they have a special pattern that is used when they are shooting their signal toward Russia. KICY is a full non-direction pattern day and night with a directional pattern during critical hours.
Click to expand...
That is correct: ND day and night at 50KW, with authority to be directional 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. into the Russian Far East. There's a HUGE lobe that envelopes Russia when they go directional.

KICY applied for and received a Special Temporary Authority permit to reduce power to 25KW for the Alaska-portion of the broadcast day in order to endure the high price of fuel this last year. The last delivery of fuel of course was purchased when a barrel of oil was more than double what it is today. They hope to return to full power after the next fuel delivery in the spring when fuel is purchased at the substantially lower cost the rest of us already enjoy.

In contrast to PAJake's comment about powerful AM's not being as necessary in a rural environment, I would say KICY is very grateful for the opportunity to serve such a broad region with its 50KW signal. There are far-flung villages dotting Western Alaska which are very isolated and appreciate the link a larger station provides to the Native community; a truly local low power station is inconceivable for a village of 200 people.
 
sloux said:
In contrast to PAJake's comment about powerful AM's not being as necessary in a rural environment, I would say KICY is very grateful for the opportunity to serve such a broad region with its 50KW signal. There are far-flung villages dotting Western Alaska which are very isolated and appreciate the link a larger station provides to the Native community; a truly local low power station is inconceivable for a village of 200 people.
Click to expand...

I wonder what ground conductivity is like in Alaska?

There's a big difference in coverage between a 50kw station on 850 in, say, Georgia and one in, say, North Dakota.

(of course the "ground" conductivity of seawater is sky high, so that coverage in Siberia is probably even better than the map suggests)
 
w9wi said:
sloux said:
In contrast to PAJake's comment about powerful AM's not being as necessary in a rural environment, I would say KICY is very grateful for the opportunity to serve such a broad region with its 50KW signal. There are far-flung villages dotting Western Alaska which are very isolated and appreciate the link a larger station provides to the Native community; a truly local low power station is inconceivable for a village of 200 people.
Click to expand...

I wonder what ground conductivity is like in Alaska?

There's a big difference in coverage between a 50kw station on 850 in, say, Georgia and one in, say, North Dakota.

(of course the "ground" conductivity of seawater is sky high, so that coverage in Siberia is probably even better than the map suggests)
Click to expand...

I allways wanted to go to a place like barrow and do some DX'ing
 
kd8hho said:
I allways wanted to go to a place like barrow and do some DX'ing
Click to expand...

From what I hear, with the high absorption the far north is a pretty bad place for AM DXing. I suppose you might especially figure that in the summer, when "daytime" lasts almost 24 hours!

I do hear some interesting things happen on FM.
 
w9wi said:
I wonder what ground conductivity is like in Alaska?

There's a big difference in coverage between a 50kw station on 850 in, say, Georgia and one in, say, North Dakota.

(of course the "ground" conductivity of seawater is sky high, so that coverage in Siberia is probably even better than the map suggests)
Click to expand...

KICY's transmitter facility and tower array sit perhaps 250 yards from Norton Sound, off of the Bering Sea. So it has the sea water advantage similair to KGO and a couple of others in proximity to sea water. The ground radials I believe sit directly on the tundra, which is covered with snow 6 months of the year.

When I worked at KICY it was operating at 10KW ND; we routinely received DX reports from Japan, with occassional reports from other far off places (I think we heard from Sweden once).
 
Does Russia have a signal the shoot back to Alaska? I don't think we have a radio/frequency protection treaty with Rissia like we do with Canada, Mexico, and come of the carribean countries.
 
BarryATL said:
Does Russia have a signal the shoot back to Alaska? I don't think we have a radio/frequency protection treaty with Rissia like we do with Canada, Mexico, and come of the carribean countries.
Click to expand...

Even the treaty for North America (NARBA) has been abrogated by Cuba, and included only two Caribbean nations, that one and the Dominican Republic. The Bahamas, part of NARBA, is not technicall in the Caribbean.

And Russia could broadcast to Alaska, on MW or SW, but the question woulld be why.
 
w9wi said:
From what I hear, with the high absorption the far north is a pretty bad place for AM DXing. I suppose you might especially figure that in the summer, when "daytime" lasts almost 24 hours!
Click to expand...

In truth, probably the "best" AM DXers of all times are the Scandanavians from the more northern latitudes who routinely get everything from deep South America, Asia, Africa and some of the most improbable US and north american stations.
 
DXing in Nome years ago consisted mainly of KGO, KNBR and KFBK. plus some Japanese stations. The Anchorage big guys...KFQD and KENI (the former KYAK)...went over the top
to Northern Europe. DX reports from Scandanavia were not uncommon.
 
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