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Awesome Groundwaves 10000 Watts Or Less

S

Schroedingers Cat

In my area of SE Michigan, these are some of the less powerful awesome groundwaves.

WGR 550 5000 watts
WKRC 550 5000
WRDT 560 500
WKBN 570 5000
CKWW 580 500
WTVN 610 5000
WTMJ 620 when 5000 watts omni at old site
CFCO 630 10000
WMIC 660 1000
CHYR 710 10000 before moving to FM
WVFN 730 500
WSGW 790 5000
 
I have one I'd like to see someone beat in multiple categories, including miles per watt, taking dial position (lower = better groundwave) into account as well as using a small radio with a small antenna. :)

Distance ~ 182 miles
Power = 500 watts (non-directional, using a 94.4° radiator)
Frequency = 1290 kHz
Listening QTH: 32°44'29.02"N 117°14'59.66"W

The station:  KZSB Santa Barbara, CA -- received in Ocean Beach, CA, on a barefoot Tecsun PL-606, with its internal stock <~4" (100mm) ferrite loopstick.  It was about 2:45pm PST (local) on a Sunday (afternoon) in February.
The fading is due to rotating the radio a little while the station is being received - mostly listen from 0:03 to 0:12.  Also I think I can hear a SAH which I suspect may be from 5kW KKDD San Bernardino, about 96 miles due north.

Beat that one, preferably in all the above categories (although a better "average" is more important, even if one specific category doesn't meet the above example). ;D  (Also beat it in reception quality, too. ;) )
 
WCBS 880, WNYC 820, 1010 WINS, 660 WFAN put in respectable daytime signals to boston on a 2x8-turn 40cm coil into a SDR.

1660 makes it too but i think that's skywave. im getting some weak audio from what i think are Philly stations too, daytime, but theyre in the muck
 
im actually about 100 yards from NE corridor's rail line. i read an article on wMFO in tuft's alumni magazine that said something about train wires bringing their FM signal into montreal and down to DC )!?) so it is a bit quick to claim groundwave.

eg when youre way down in the T tunnels in boston, WBZ still comes in crisp. but is it really penetrating the ground or 'riding in' using the shielded conductors on cable/fiber conduits as wavefuides
 
SW Ohio

Not a lot comes to mind.

Maybe the Chicago stations, 560/670/720/780/890/1000, from barely above the threshold, to weak. 890/WLS is consistantly the strongest signal.
650/WSM Nashville
860/WMRI Marion IN - Their pattern does favor my direction, but I am still impressed.

On the occasions we drive rather than fly to visit my daughter in Houston, 640/WCRV Collierville (Memphis) TN seems to have a strong groundwave, especially on I-55 south.
 
Lower MW band station do the best at this: WNAX (570) Yankton, SD gets out an incredible distance with its 5 kw over soils with excellent ground conductivity. Literally hundreds of miles, every day - I've caught it as far southeast as near Moline, IL and as far west as the high plains of western NE. WIND 560 gets out a long way with 5 kw as does KMJ 580 from Fresno, CA with 50 kw/5 kw (night). KMJ booms into the Bay Area at night as if it has a full 50 kw.

The groundwave champion (at least in North America) is most definitely CBK 540 Watrous, SK with 50 kw beaming across ground with excellent conductivity. It comes in all day long like a local in neighboring provinces - hundreds of miles from its tx site. Comes in well in both Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta all day long - those places are a good 400 miles from CBK's transmitter. To put it into perspective, it's like being able to listen to WBZ all day long, every day, in Washington, DC!
 
Here in SC, there's several awesome groundwaves. WVOC at 560 from Columbia, 5kw, can be heard throughout most of the state during daytime. It comes through in Charleston every day.

WBMQ 630 is also awesome. 5kw on Oatland Island just off of Savannah, can be heard almost like a local in Charleston, and well in Jacksonville too.

600 from Jacksonville, also 5kw has a huge signal, almost as strong as 690. That can be heard past Wilmington and to Cape Hatteras like 690.
 
Anyone know what the deal is with the KMJ 580 STA? It is licensed 50 kW Unlimited but has operated with auxiliary old site with 5 kW STA because the tower guy insulators needed to be replaced. Is it back to 50 kW?

KFYR 550 used to advertise that it had the largest groundwave service in the United States. I always wondered how much bigger than WMAQ/WSCR 670 it was, and of course WNAX and KFRM.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
Anyone know what the deal is with the KMJ 580 STA? It is licensed 50 kW Unlimited but has operated with auxiliary old site with 5 kW STA because the tower guy insulators needed to be replaced. Is it back to 50 kW?

KFYR 550 used to advertise that it had the largest groundwave service in the United States. I always wondered how much bigger than WMAQ/WSCR 670 it was, and of course WNAX and KFRM.
Click to expand...

About KMJ, I don't know - I just cited their licensed power. But they sure came in surprisingly well.

Thanks for reminding me about KFYR - I listened to it (on and off) for a few hours when driving across South Dakota in 2009. When near Pierre, I actually thought that it was a local! Until I heard the ads for businesses in Bismarck, that is....
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
In my area of SE Michigan, these are some of the less powerful awesome groundwaves.

WGR 550 5000 watts
WKRC 550 5000
WRDT 560 500
WKBN 570 5000
CKWW 580 500
Click to expand...

I followed WKRC all the way up to Marshall MI, where it died, Hard! I was impressed.
 
QTH Owensboro, KY (along the Ohio River, 30 miles east of Evansville 120 miles north of Nashville, and 100 miles west of Louisville)

540 Clarksville, TN 1kw
550 St Louis, MO 5kw and Cincinnati in a null 5kw
560 Brentwood, TN (Nashville) 4.5k (Memphis 5k before the Brentwood upgrade)
570 Paducah, KY 5k
580 Urbana, IL 5k
590 Lexington, KY 5K
600 Memphis, TN 5k
610 Russellville, KY 1.8K
620 Louisville, KY 500 watts
630 St Louis, MO 5kw

.......and many more.
 
BRNout said:
The groundwave champion (at least in North America) is most definitely CBK 540 Watrous, SK with 50 kw beaming across ground with excellent conductivity.
Click to expand...
Those words are as true as any I've read that weren't in the Bible!
 
radiorob2.0 said:
570 Paducah, KY 5k
Click to expand...
Did Paducah upgrade? Thought they were 1000 watts...
 
Great topic! In the Ohio valley, the 5000 watt daytime crown probably rests with WTVN 610 Columbus,OH. On a good car radio during the day, driving west on I-70 there's a relatively small area in central Illinois where WTVN finally dies and KCSP Kansas City picks up. When you consider that WTVN doesn't miss Pittsburgh by much to the east & who knows how far west KCSP carries, those two stations combined cover quite a chunk of America during the day.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
BRNout said:
The groundwave champion (at least in North America) is most definitely CBK 540 Watrous, SK with 50 kw beaming across ground with excellent conductivity.
Click to expand...
Those words are as true as any I've read that weren't in the Bible!
Click to expand...

Very true, but it's not less than 10K watts which is why I didn't mention it.
 
Best groundwave I know of on the mid-Atlantic coast is WGOP 540 in Pocomoke City, MD near the Atlantic coast. Wiith only 500 watts days, I can hear this station (signal a bit listenable) here in Manassas. VA especially when the Pittsburgh area 540 is off the air. The distance between Manassas and Pocomoke City is 115 miles. WGOP's signal travel accross the Chesapeake Bay and further inland where the ground conductivity is poor.
 
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