F
foreverchanges1975
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In Memphis I can usually get KSL in the wintertime late at night. I've picked up KTNN a handful of times, more than I've heard WFAN here. There's a local on 680 (WMFS) so I've never heard KNBR here.
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An AM DX wish list
- Thread starter jd
- Start date
C
cd637299
Guest
I heard KNX from south FL in 1990, but have not heard it since (anyway, I haven't even tried---was happy to hear it just one time); there may hve been a Cuban or two signing on since then.
cd
cd
My list is fairly short. First, I'd like to catch a couple of clears off the air, WWL and WOAI. Here in East Texas, those are the top two in strength at night, with little if any fading. On 870 the most I could hope for would probably be catching KRLA from California before they go to night pattern; on 1200 it's very iffy, but it would be fun to try for WXKS before sunrise here with their daytime pattern or maybe KYAA from California after sunset here with their daytime 25kW non-directional still on. (If I caught all three of the stations mentioned it would be only my second catch from Massachusetts, and fifth and sixth from California.)
On a local level, there's only one nearby station that operates with decent nighttime power, that being KTBB 600 in Tyler. Even though I'm probably less than 15 miles from their transmitter (in a southwesterly direction) their 2.5kW signal is awful, with plenty of interference from WREC Memphis. I'm in somewhat of a null here and they have a corresponding null to the east to protect Memphis. If KTBB were to be off, I'd bet that WREC would come slamming into here.
On a local level, there's only one nearby station that operates with decent nighttime power, that being KTBB 600 in Tyler. Even though I'm probably less than 15 miles from their transmitter (in a southwesterly direction) their 2.5kW signal is awful, with plenty of interference from WREC Memphis. I'm in somewhat of a null here and they have a corresponding null to the east to protect Memphis. If KTBB were to be off, I'd bet that WREC would come slamming into here.
cyberdad said:
You're referring to the sounders in these clips below, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1OIicYB-1w#t=2m57s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuxAxxZydxY
http://www.mediafire.com/?tod6q8ddtt22c9l
That's my typical midday reception quality of KNX from here. (It actually averages, depending on where I am in the house / yard, a few dB better than KFI, in spite of being 12 miles farther away, at 111 miles to KFI's 99.)
Am wondering ... how does reception of other 50kW clears compare on the east coast at a comparable distance via groundwave? For example I'd be especially interested in...
660-WFAN to the N/NE toward western CT & MA or along *central* Long Island,
710 WOR to the NE toward Springfield, MA or along *central* Long Island,
750-WSB to the NE,
770-WFAN to the NE toward Springfield, MA or along *central* Long Island,
810 WGY to the N/NE toward Burlington, VT,
880-WCBS same as WFAN,
1030 WBZ to the north just inside ME from the NH state line,
1060 KYW to the N/NW,
1080 WTIC to the north,
1140 WRVA to the west toward Lynchburg, VA.
Others would be ok, too. For directional stations, using a direction where the ERP is 50 kW is preferred. As for the *central* Long Island options, those would be disqualified if those stations' carriers are in any way detectable from near the east end of Long Island (Riverhead, East Quogue, Southampton, etc) via groundwave, using a communications receiver, beverage antenna and dozen-meter-diameter ferrite-core tuned loop.
Also, should I expect the signals of those stations at 181 miles in the same directions to be significantly better (like the difference between no detected carrier and full-quieting, or what is the preferred term to describe a signal that has absolutely no background noise, like a lightning strike a mile away would be inaudible in the radio?) than this recording of 990-KTMS, ERP 16.4 watts, same distance?
Also I'm working on coming up with my own AM DX wish list (mostly for midday/groundwave DX), but it's taking me a while to do it (due to distractions, among other things). It would involve having all noise-generating devices deactivated that put a signal exceeding 0.0316 µV/m at my house, as well as most, if not all, broadcast stations with signals exceeding 31.6 µV/m here (and definitely everything over about 0.7 mV/m), during my desired DX session. Many of the targets are at least several hundred or a thousand or more miles away (rbrucecarter5 has experience with that distance), and include stations whose callsigns do NOT start with "K" or "X", but rather "C" and "W", and am even possibly considering "J" and others.
The wishlist is still a work in progress, but looks like it'll include several stations on almost every frequency, and maybe even a few splits due to my proximity to saltwater. (Getting something at the low end of the band via groundwave from across the Pacific would be an awesome DX thrill, I think.)As for the nighttime DX wish list, suffice it to say it would involve things like being at Columbia Park in Torrance, CA, and having international stations from multiple continents in opposite directions, each capable (even with unmodulated carriers) of completely blocking my reception of KNX (which itself would be overloading my radio so badly that due to extremely distorted / cut-out audio on-frequency, identification of KNX would be impossible), and even if I had a radio with superb selectivity and they were no where near or harmonically related to KNX's frequency.
crainbebo said:
Was it much clearer there than my KNX recordings above? I don't know where that node is (couldn't find it listed on GT's site), but Litchfield, CT, isn't quite 70 miles from WFAN/WCBS, in/near NW CT. My KNX recordings were at 111 miles - a similar distance from WFAN/WCBS would be approximately halfway between Pittsfield and Springfield, MA.
I would especially be interested in knowing the quality of 1080 WTIC's signal near Claremont, NH. Since it's almost the same frequency as KNX and is nearly the same distance as my KNX recordings, shouldn't the signal quality be about the same?
Also how does WCBS do near Springfield, VT? It's a similar distance to my 181-mile reception of KTMS, and being a lower frequency (880 vs 990) and at 50,000 watts to KTMS's 16.4-watt ERP toward where the clip was recorded, wouldn't WCBS be much clearer there than the KTMS recording? (KTMS was recorded on a barefoot SRF-59 then barefoot PL-606.)
WSB has probably the worst AM daytime signal of any clear. Their transmitter is only 7 miles from Stone Mountain, which is basically all rock. That's what the ground is like in most of the Atlanta metro. They are barely there in Augusta (130 miles), and have some trouble in the Greenville area. Anywhere E of that, it is hard to hear them.
WBT is a little bit better. In Orangeburg, SC about the same distance as your measurement, they are there, not strong, but listenable. It is like that through the Columbia area.
I'll have to do a bandscan to show how WBT comes in through the Charleston area.
WBT is a little bit better. In Orangeburg, SC about the same distance as your measurement, they are there, not strong, but listenable. It is like that through the Columbia area.
I'll have to do a bandscan to show how WBT comes in through the Charleston area.
I can tell you that from growing up in south Jersey 80 miles from New York that WFAN (the former WNNNNBC) and WCBS were not as strong as your reception of KNX at 111 miles.
The ground conductivity in the northeast is not nearly as good as it is in California.
Now if you want to compare the daytime reception of WNBC and WCBS at the shore house we had down in Beach Haven at the same 80 miles distance, that's a whole different story.
They both came in like locals down there, so much stronger than back home at the same distance and KNX at your location.
C
cd637299
Guest
Maybe someone more well-read can clue me in....
(as far as a wish list) Wasn't there one evening in 1929 where it was ordered that all AM stations in the Americas (maybe just North America, or the USA) be shut off, for the expressed purpose of DXing stations around the world, to learn what could be heard?
If so, THAT would be my wish. Maybe if we learned the date of that shutdown, we could request a "tribute holiday" each year for that same purpose.
cd
(as far as a wish list) Wasn't there one evening in 1929 where it was ordered that all AM stations in the Americas (maybe just North America, or the USA) be shut off, for the expressed purpose of DXing stations around the world, to learn what could be heard?
If so, THAT would be my wish. Maybe if we learned the date of that shutdown, we could request a "tribute holiday" each year for that same purpose.
cd
gar fla said:
When did it click in that the water had something to do with it? I remember visiting Panama City Beach, Fla. for spring break in 2000 when I was a senior in college and being amazed that WWL blasted in at more than 200 miles. It was at least a couple years before I learned about what salt water does for AM propagation.
audioguy said:
WSB's nightime skywave is as good as that of any other 50kw blowtorch. As it has been mentioned on several occasions, it's the poor ground conductivity that limits its daytime signal to no more than a 200 mile radius of Atlanta. From my experiences, WSB's skywave is strong in most parts of the Midwest. Even in the Detroit area, it pushes through WJR's slop well enough to be listenable. Having lived in the Detroit area, and now living in Atlanta, I can say from first hand experience that WSB is an easier regular nightly catch in the Detroit/SE Michigan area than WJR is in the Atlanta area. At the end of the day, WLW and KMOX are the two most dependable 50kw Midwestern clears in the Atlanta region. The Chicago clears, like WJR, tend to be hit or miss.
Not a radio engineering expert, but our closer proximity to Cuba and South America doesn't really do us any favors when it comes to AM DXing.
schmave said:
It didn't take long to figure out why the same stations at the same distance had such a different signal strength in the two different locations.
I had some help from my father too, as he explained it to me. ;D
I remember WCBS and WNBC came in clear as can be on Long Beach Island about 80 miles away and seemed just as strong they sounded when we went to north Jersey to visit relatives.
WABC and WOR were slightly stronger at the shore than the same distance back near Philly but nothing like the difference of the other two stations because their transmitters are in north Jersey. WCBS and WFAN are both out on Long Island on a tiny island called High Island.
I'm still convinced I heard a trace of the signal of WCBS midday when I went to Daytona Beach to do some daytime AM DXing. The Cuban station on 880 is barely audible here in Tampa daytime, so I doubt it could be heard at all if it has to pass up the spine of the state to Daytona Beach and there was no other station on that frequency I could have been hearing along with the weak WZAB from the Miami area. Notice also the fluttering which indicates co-frequency interference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNF4v6i5b0
I got KTRH from Houston out at the beach on the Gulf here in central Florida with a station ID. It's behind the stronger Orlando station but it's there. The ID comes at 12 seconds into the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcH0JN1irg
Gar, what time of the day was that KTRH ID?
It was almost 11:00.
All the times I've been there on Honeymoon Island no matter what time of day, there was always that unidentified talk station behind WYGM but I was unable to get an ID.
I was lucky this one time because the timing was right with a brief lull in the talk on WYGM and the station ID of KTRH. I was almost sure it was there all along but it was finally confirmed.
All the times I've been there on Honeymoon Island no matter what time of day, there was always that unidentified talk station behind WYGM but I was unable to get an ID.
I was lucky this one time because the timing was right with a brief lull in the talk on WYGM and the station ID of KTRH. I was almost sure it was there all along but it was finally confirmed.
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