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Cyberdad's Summer 2013 Road Trip

cyberdad said:
1030 was stronger than KTNQ...which I forgot to mention earlier.
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KTNQ, even daytime, is pretty much a flashlight beam from the eastern side of the market (City of Industry) over the LA basin and out to sea. The Orange County signal bites daytime, and is pretty useless at night.

The biggest surprises were 790/930/980 as well as 740. 710 was a mild surprise, but I already knew their coverage could be "eccentric".
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710 is reasonable... it is 50 kw pushed South by Southwest in the daytime, so the OC signal is pretty good.

As Scott says, 930 moved from a good, high conductivity site to one that sucks big time and is quite a ways to the Northeast. The signal to the south, particularly on the non-DA day pattern, is much less.

The 830/870 situation is also a little puzzling. I was in Woodland Hills (Warner Center Marriott) the night before I came down here. Even though I was on an upper floor and the internally generated noise wasn't all that bad, only the stronger signals were getting in. 870 was OK, while 830 was struggling.
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830 has a usable signal daytime about to downtown; anything to the north of that is noisy to unusable. At night, the pattern is much tighter and it is pretty much unlistenable in the northern half of the market. It's basically a glorified Anaheim/Santa Ana/Garden Grove station.
 
Thanks, David....

So far this evening (its now 8:45pm and the sun is down), I'm running into almost exactly the same thing as last night. Including 740, where KBRT is basically alone on top.
 
KTNQ, even daytime, is pretty much a flashlight beam from the eastern side of the market (City of Industry) over the LA basin and out to sea. The Orange County signal bites daytime, and is pretty useless at night.
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No doubt about that as KTNQ usually blasts into Hawaii at night.

Also Cyberdad, I'm not surprised that none of the Chicago blowtorches are heard out there now. In fact, I'd be shocked if they were.
It's not like many years ago when you could here them in California almost everynight even in summer.
 
I agree....KTNQ is quite strong in Hawaii at night. I was there last October and had no problem hearing LA's 1020 and 1150. And in the early 1960's when I lived in Southern California (Riverside), I listened to WLS almost every night. My....How times have changed with the uber-crowded AM band of today.
 
Dupe post
 
DavidEduardo said:
ftballfan said:
It's kind of strange that KBRT, about 300 miles from KCBS, gets night power while KCTA, 1700 or so miles from WBZ, doesn't get night power.
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Scott Fybush can give a better explanation, but WBZ was a 1-A clear channel station, while KCBS was a far more restricted occupant of a Canadian clear channel.

KCTA could probably have added nights more recently, but the economics of that in Corpus Christi probably don't justify the move.
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How far out are the I-A's protected? I can think of some daytimers (especially on the non-clears) that probably could add night power, but have chosen not to.
 
Interesting post. I'm curious...going due West from LA, how far do the AM signals go? With 50,000 watts would KFI and KNX travel the furthest? KTNQ in Hawaii at night..that's a long distance. Any other LA or West coast stations make it to Hawaii at night?
 
In addition to those mentioned in my earlier post above, KFI, KNX and KLAC were also heard by me on Maui on my Tecsun PL606 portable. Also heard were KMJ-580 (quite strong), KFBK-1530, KNBR-680 and others from California. KTNQ was very strong as a result of their directional aim toward Hawaii with 50KW. KFI and KNX were not nearly as strong as they are non-directional.... I only had a few hours to spend DXing and am sure I could have come up with an impressive list if I had more time there.
 
benale said:
Interesting post. I'm curious...going due West from LA, how far do the AM signals go? With 50,000 watts would KFI and KNX travel the furthest? KTNQ in Hawaii at night..that's a long distance. Any other LA or West coast stations make it to Hawaii at night?
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On my trip to Hawaii 4 years ago KTNQ was the strongest followed by KFAX. KNX, KFI, KNBR, KTRB, KMKY, KTLK, KBLA, KFOX, XEPE, KIRO, and the 1130 in Vancouver usually came in every night. Also KSL was usually in there too most nights.
Also heard KOKC Oklahoma City, & KFAQ Tulsa on some nights.

Back in the 70s on a trip to Hawaii I heard WLS & WBBM, but those can't be heard in Hawaii now due to other stations now on those frequencies.
 
ftballfan said:
DavidEduardo said:
Scott Fybush can give a better explanation, but WBZ was a 1-A clear channel station, while KCBS was a far more restricted occupant of a Canadian clear channel.

KCTA could probably have added nights more recently, but the economics of that in Corpus Christi probably don't justify the move.
Click to expand...
How far out are the I-A's protected? I can think of some daytimers (especially on the non-clears) that probably could add night power, but have chosen not to.
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It's not a distance, it's a predicted signal strength contour. Class A stations, of which WBZ is one but KCBS is not, still have their secondary skywave service protected to the 0.5 mV/m 50% contour. This typically goes out around 750 miles, and you'll sometimes see the "750 mile radius" quoted, but that's only an approximation.

Class B stations, which include the old I-B clears like KCBS as well as newer II-A and II-B clears like KKOH and KDWN and the class III regional channels, have no protected skywave service anymore.

The limitation on KBRT at night is actually a result of the skywave that KBRT would send toward KCBS, as well as protection of CBX and CFZM from Canada at the Canadian border.
 
Following up on my last post. My experience the second night in the Laguna area was very similar to my first....with the small exception of KABC being slighly, but noticably, better. I was using the DX-375, and KABC was lighting up the signal strength LED (barely), which it did not on my first night. KHJ and KFWB were absent.

I'm now in the high desert (Victorville-Apple Valley area) where the situation is quite different. Not much time for DX given that this is a family get-together for the 4th. But picking up where my last post left off....KFWB is reasonably good here. KABC about the same as it was in Laguna, perhaps a little weaker, while KHJ is completely absent. KFWB subsequently gets clobbered daytime when the local 960 powers up. Best, LA signal up here is KFI, followed by KNX, which is also good. As for 830/870, 830 is good (daytime), 870 all but missing day and night. KTNQ, which we've been talking about, is fair....better than in Laguna, actually.

I also made it a point to check out 740. Last night it was all KCBS. No trace of KBRT. This morning it was KBRT with a pretty decent signal.

The bigger signal San Diego/Tijuana stations were all here daytime, with the exception of 1170 and 1360.

And finally, skywave. Pretty much the same as at the beach, but with one very notable exception. KRVN was blasting in here...almost like a local. That led me to check 1110, where I found KFAB on top of Pasadena) but not nearly as strong as KRVN.

Have a happy, fun, and safe 4th, everybody....and belated Canada Day greetings to Tincap, mimo, and any other Canadians who may be visiting the board.
 
Do any stations east of KFAB make it into the High Desert area at night?

I would think KBRT sends all of its night juice to the south and southwest, away from KCBS and toward Orange County
 
ftballfan said:
Do any stations east of KFAB make it into the High Desert area at night?

I would think KBRT sends all of its night juice to the south and southwest, away from KCBS and toward Orange County
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I've heard KMOX, WHO, WBAP, KOKC, and WWL out here on a fairly regular basis, although not so far (identifiably) on this trip. I'd add that on this visit, visiting friends and family, I've not had as much time to DX as I did when I was coming out here several times a year on business, and had more time on my hands during evenings.

Back in the 80s and previously, as Radioman, myself, and others have posted, Chicago and several other points east were relatively easy catches. WLW, WSB, WHAS, and WTAM come to mind. I don't think I've heard any of these on the west coast for 20 years...maybe longer.

As for KBRT, the only thing that surprises me is that they seem to be completely blowing out KCBS at night on the south Orange County coast. I was expecting a more robust KCBS underneath...if not completely on top. Although I'd caution that I may have been in a fluke location because of cliffs and mountains to the north and northwest of me. Back when I was hearing KBRT on 113 watts from Avalon for a couple of years in and around Anaheim, they were a joke, getting pounded by KCBS.

Out here in the high desert, 75 air miles northeast from where I was Monday and Tuesday, things are pretty much what I'd expect from KBRT's new mainland site. Good KBRT signal by day, KCBS alone on the channel by night. As if KBRT was a daytimer clearing the channel at sunset.
 
cyberdad said:
Back in the 80s and previously, as Radioman, myself, and others have posted, Chicago and several other points east were relatively easy catches. WLW, WSB, WHAS, and WTAM come to mind. I don't think I've heard any of these on the west coast for 20 years...maybe longer.
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WLS came in well on my visits to Southern California until the mid 80s. That's when KDXU went 24 hours. Before that KDXU had been signing off at midnight MST, and WLS was still an easy catch. WGN was eliminated around 1974 when KDWN came on and WBBM around the same time by KKOH. 670 which was then WMAQ, was the first Chicago station to get blocked from being heard in the west when KBOI moved from 550 to 670 in the mid 60s.
 
I just looked and KBRT's major lobe (both day and night) is slightly west of due south, out into the Pacific via Orange County. With 50kW pointed out into the ocean, I wonder if they may make Hawaii just after SoCal sunrise.
 
Just looked at the R-L coverage maps for KBRT. I know that the maps aren't always accurate. But in the case of KBRT, they're completely in line with what I experienced.
 
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