Daytime AM band in Mountain View, Hawaii

[gar hi]

Maybe there was too much background noise when I tried to do my first daytime AM band search here because all I could hear was the two local Hilo stations on 670 and 850.

So today around 1pm, I was tuning the dial up to hear what's on 670 and I heard something audible on 590.

It was KSSK from Honolulu. 7500 w non directional

Then I slowly checked each frequency and here's what else I can hear, all from Honolulu @ 215 miles.

650 KPRP 10000 w non directional (strongest of all)

690 KHNR 10000 w non directional

760 KUG 10000 w non directional

880 KHZM 2000 w non directional (barely audible but there)

That was as high as I could hear, as the upper band was loaded with all kinds of noise.

So I guess today, there's not as much background interference so I was able to hear more than I had originally thought.

 

[radioman148]

Thanks for the report Gar. I had a feeling you'd get many of the Honolulu stations during the day sooner rather than later.

 

[cyberdad]

If you can get away from the noise, you should be able to easily hear 940/KKNE. They're 10kw diplexed wih 650/KPRP on a stick which is probably about 15 miles northwest of Honolulu in the Waipahu area.

Waipahu is actually the COL for KKNE, as it was "back in the day" when 940 was a country station, KAHU. Fitting, I suppose, because that was (is) in a pineapple growing "rural" area. Where I was, just west of Waikiki, and a few miles east of downtown, KAHU was noticeably weaker than the Honolulu-based stations, but still good. 650 was stronger (as top-40 KORL), so no doubt their tower was in the city during those days. Both signals were 10kw, same as now.

 

[gar hi]

Sometime, I'd like to try a bandscan down on one of the beaches. (which I shouldn't really call beaches because they aren't like those on the mainland)

But that's where us 'Haoles' are definitely outnumbered, I've noticed. LOL

 

[cyberdad]

Sometime, I'd like to try a bandscan down on one of the beaches. (which I shouldn't really call beaches because they aren't like those on the mainland)

Absolutely right, Gar. Hawaii has some absolutely beaches that are in absolutely stunning settings, but most the the beaches themselves are nothing like the part of Florida you just came from, or the Florida Panhandle /Alabama Coast or even Southern California. Waikiki is arguably the most famous beach in Hawaii and known throughout the world. But it's basically there because of the efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 

[Ai4i]

All Hawaiian AM's are omni-directional (because non-directional means they transmit in no directions) and I believe all use the same amount of power, both day and night. This makes it easy for them.

 

[frankberry]

All AM stations in Hawaii are non-directional. Many have different day/night powers.

 

[davideduardo]

All Hawaiian AM's are omni-directional (because non-directional means they transmit in no directions) and I believe all use the same amount of power, both day and night. This makes it easy for them.

Trivia: what was the one station in Hawai'i to have a directional system?

 

[frankberry]

Kupa 1370 ..... ?

 

[Ai4i]

I think it was a fairly high power, two-tower religious station on eight something, like 850±30 Khz?

 

[davideduardo]

Kupa 1370 ..... ?

KAIM 870, 50 kw from across the strait aimed at Honolulu from a site on Moloka'i.

 

[davideduardo]

I think it was a fairly high power, two-tower religious station on eight something, like 850±30 Khz?

You almost got the "2th4.2th" award. See previous post.

 

[Ai4i]

All AM stations in Hawaii are non-directional.
Many have different day/night powers.

R-L lists all of them as having single power levels.
Interestingly, at least two have non-standard power levels, one, KEWE, is 5Kw on a graveyard channel (confirmed on the FCC website), and no stations are listed in the expanded band segment above 1600.
I believe the frozen forty-ninth state has some similar peculiarities, but my time on R-L has run out for the day.