Daytime DXing from Daytona Beach

[gar hi]

Well, I finally took the journey across the state to the east coast of Florida to see if I could get any New York stations during the day.

The video I have is from right after 2 pm. I was only able to spend about a half hour there to see what I could get and there wasn't anything else worth noting.

IMO, the only NYC stations that I thought would have a chance were WFAN and WCBS because of where their sticks are located.

According to the signal coverage map, I was outside the fringe of 660 WORL from Altamonte Springs, as they send their signal strongly in one direction but they still had a strong enough signal to where I couldn't hear anything else on 660 but them.

I also thought I was well far outside the fringe of 880 WZAB's signal from South Florida but I could hear a weak but still strong enough to identify signal from them when I faced the radio to the SE.

So I pointed the radio in the direction of New York but I couldn't completely null out WZAB but made it weaker.

Right in this direction, I could hear a second station but too weak to even begin to make out. It sounded like talk.

Here's the video. It may be hard to hear but there are two stations here, WZAB and a weaker one behind it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNF4v6i5b0


I'm wondering if the weaker second station could have been WCBS?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I've been really interested in what your results would be, given my experience over a 9 month period living in Daytona Beach Shores. And that may be part of the difference right there. I was six miles south in a house on the intercoastal waterway. An average size house with a dock in the back, and the houses across the street also had boat docks, so every street was a little finger of land sticking out into brackish water. And --- my guess is that the whole yard was saturated with brackish water below a couple of feet. The actual address was 6 Ventian Circle if memory serves. Right near one of those big bridges.

Now,the 660 and 880 might be new. I remember NYC stations being so consistant it was hard to find a time they weren't there. Receiver was a GE SR-2 - I didn't use a loop at the time, just the ferrite bar. In fact, I had quite a variety of 50 kW stations, things like WLW were there, too. No Chicago or Texas except at night. I know I wasn't crazy, this was just what was normal. Like everybody else, I was thinking it was the saltwater path and ground conductivity. I don't think anything short of going back to that same address with a GE SR-2 would be a controlled experiment. I don't know who is in the house now, they might not welcome a DXpedition. Still, with new stations not in the mix, I would expect similar results. Unless - there is something up with sunspots, etc. that made that time - July 1990 to April 1991 unusually hot for AM DX. Anybody out there know?

 

[gar hi]

When I was up there today, I was thinking of what you had said about where you were on that barrier island.

Maybe the signal is better if you have more saltwater closer to you on both sides?

I did my DXing in a little public place only a block or two south of the intersection of 92 and Atlantic Ave.

So, do you think I could have picked up a trace of WCBS?

 

[drt]

I've been really interested in what your results would be, given my experience over a 9 month period living in Daytona Beach Shores. And that may be part of the difference right there. I was six miles south in a house on the intercoastal waterway. An average size house with a dock in the back, and the houses across the street also had boat docks, so every street was a little finger of land sticking out into brackish water. And --- my guess is that the whole yard was saturated with brackish water below a couple of feet. The actual address was 6 Ventian Circle if memory serves. Right near one of those big bridges.

Now,the 660 and 880 might be new. I remember NYC stations being so consistant it was hard to find a time they weren't there. Receiver was a GE SR-2 - I didn't use a loop at the time, just the ferrite bar. In fact, I had quite a variety of 50 kW stations, things like WLW were there, too. No Chicago or Texas except at night. I know I wasn't crazy, this was just what was normal. Like everybody else, I was thinking it was the saltwater path and ground conductivity. I don't think anything short of going back to that same address with a GE SR-2 would be a controlled experiment. I don't know who is in the house now, they might not welcome a DXpedition. Still, with new stations not in the mix, I would expect similar results. Unless - there is something up with sunspots, etc. that made that time - July 1990 to April 1991 unusually hot for AM DX. Anybody out there know?

The 660 out of Orlando is relatively new; I don't think it's been on the air even 10 years, if that; it would not have been on the air in the early 90's and the 880 out of Sweetwater(s.w. Miamia) signed on in the summer of 2008.

drt

 

[rbrucecarter5]

When I was up there today, I was thinking of what you had said about where you were on that barrier island.

Maybe the signal is better if you have more saltwater closer to you on both sides?

I did my DXing in a little public place only a block or two south of the intersection of 92 and Atlantic Ave.

So, do you think I could have picked up a trace of WCBS?

I was six miles South in Daytona Beach Shores - and there was salt on one side and brackish (intercoastal) on the other. Right near the Dunalwton bridge. The barrier island was only two blocks wide there. That might have made a huge difference. You certainly could have had WCBS. I don't think there are any other viable 880 candidates on the Eastern seaboard.

 

[radioman148]

When I was up there today, I was thinking of what you had said about where you were on that barrier island.

Maybe the signal is better if you have more saltwater closer to you on both sides?

I did my DXing in a little public place only a block or two south of the intersection of 92 and Atlantic Ave.

So, do you think I could have picked up a trace of WCBS?

Were you able to get WCBS all day like at noon?
I was six miles South in Daytona Beach Shores - and there was salt on one side and brackish (intercoastal) on the other. Right near the Dunalwton bridge. The barrier island was only two blocks wide there. That might have made a huge difference. You certainly could have had WCBS. I don't think there are any other viable 880 candidates on the Eastern seaboard.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Were you able to get WCBS all day like at noon?

Yes - any time of day.

 

[gar hi]

The transmitters of all the big New York stations except WFAN and WCBS are located inland in New Jersey, so that's why I wouldn't have expected to get any reception from them.

WCBS sends a good signal south out on the ocean and one can only wonder how far down it goes.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCBS&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

I want to go there again and stay overnight so I'll have a lot of time to see what other stations come in.

 

[radioman148]

The transmitters of all the big New York stations except WFAN and WCBS are located inland in New Jersey, so that's why I wouldn't have expected to get any reception from them.

WCBS sends a good signal south out on the ocean and one can only wonder how far down it goes.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCBS&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

I want to go there again and stay overnight so I'll have a lot of time to see what other stations come in.

There have been reports previously on this board that WINS and maybe one or two other NYC AMs could be heard in Bermuda during the day. So maybe going over a little land is OK if the station is sending much of its signal that way.
Sure wish we could get a DXer out there to check for us.

 

[gar hi]

The reason for the reception of those stations in Bermuda is because it's a different signal path.

The location of the transmitters in Northern New Jersey wouldn't be a problem from Bermuda because that little bit of land in the New York metro area would be the only land the signal would have to travel on, whereas a direct line of those same signals to Daytona Beach would mean a path over quite a bit of land which is not the case with the stations located out in the Bronx.