Daytime MW bandscan from OBX

[kilokat7]

Here's a (admittedly incomplete) daytime AM bandscan from the Outer Banks of North Carolina that might interest others here. We camped at the Cape Point Campground August 10th-11th, 2010. I hauled my radio gear along including a DX-440 portable / Quantum Loop combo and my Perseus SDR and an 800 foot beverage antenna. I was able to do a little DXing between other family activities.

Here's what I caught using the DX-440 and loop around solar noon. My logs seem to confirm what other people have heard from this area in the past but it was fun to experience it firsthand. It'll take me some time to go through the spectrum recordings taken during the pre & post sunset hours. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make a complete bandscan (or record with the Perseus) during the daylight hours for various reasons. The best daytime catch was Miami at around 700 miles! Bermuda would have been nice, but I couldn't pull in any of their stations with this setup. This is definitely an interesting area to DX from!

August 10th, 2010 Daytime Bandscan
Location: Cape Point Campground, Hatteras Island, NC. (35.2353,-75.539653)
Equipment: Realistic DX-440 & Quantum Loop (DC powered)

1:00-2:00pm EST (near solar noon)

530 Unid, faint audio heard, too weak to ID language

540 Unid (x2), Spanish language station mixing with another playing adult standards

550 Unid, strong religious station

560 WGAI ELIZABETH CITY, NC.

570 Unid (x3), Classic country music mixing w/ religion and a third unid

580 WDBO ORLANDO, FL. [571 miles]

590 n/a

600 - WCAO BALTIMORE, MD. w/ gospel music [297 miles]
600 - WBWL JACKSONVILLE, FL. in WCAO's null w/ Radio Disney [496 miles]

610 - WIOD MIAMI, FL. "News Radio 610" w/ Rush Limbaugh [703 miles]

620 - WDNC DURHAM, NC. (presumed) w/ local ads mentioning Raleigh, "Murray's Tire Barn", etc.
620 - Unid w/ Latin music

2:00-2:37pm EST

630 - WMFD WILMINGTON, NC. w/ ESPN
630 - Unid w/ Rush Limbaugh (most likely WMAL - Washington DC)

640 - WWJZ MOUNT HOLLY, NJ. w/ Radio Disney [357 miles]
640 - WFNC FAYETTEVILLE, NC. w/ CBS News @ TOH [191 miles]

650 - n/a

660 - WFAN NEW YORK CITY, NY. w/ strong local quality signal [400 miles)

670 - Unid, Gospel music (WYLS YORK, AL. ??)

680 - WPTF RALEIGH, NC.

690 - WOKV JACKSONVILLE, FL. w/ Rush Limbaugh [503 miles]

700 - n/a

710 - WOR NEW YORK CITY, NY. w/ strong local quality signal [391 miles]
710 - Unid, gospel music heard in WOR null (likely WZOO or WEGG both from NC)

720 - n/a

730 - Unid (x2), Two unid gospel music stations heard in each other's null.

740 - WNYH HUNTINGTON, NY. (presumed) w/ ethnic Asian music and strong local quality signal [404 miles]
740 - Unid, very weak and barely audible in WNYH null.

750 - WAUG NEW HOPE, NC. (presumed) w/ local ads for businesses in the Raleigh area.
750 - Unid w/ religious hymn music (WBMD Baltimore???)

2:37-2:45pm EST

760 - Unid w/ gospel music (probably WCPS Tarboro, NC.)
760 - WEFL PALM CITY, FL. w/ ESPN [617 miles]

770 - WABC NEW YORK CITY, NY. w/ strong local quality signal
770 - Unid, weak w/ blues or gospel music in WABC null [398 miles]

780 - WCKB DUNN, NC. w/ gospel music, strong signal

790 - WNIS NORFOLK, VA.

800 - Unid (x2), Two religious format stations in each other's null

810 - WYRE ANNAPOLIS, MD. w/ 80s pop music and "KHZ" "Hot Music Mix" slogans. [263 miles]

880 - WCBS NEW YORK CITY, NY w/ strong local quality signal [400 miles]

 

[radioman148]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing kilokat.

 

[crainbebo]

540 Adult Standards is WGOP Pocomoke City, MD with 500w.
550 Religious is WAYR Jacksonville, FL.
570 classic country would be WQDR Raleigh, NC, 1kw, religious WTBN Pinellas Park, NC 5kw. Wonder if the third was either Radio Reloj or WTNT...
620 might be WSNR in New Jersey?
630: Rush Limbaugh does play on WMAL between 12 and 3PM Eastern.
670 WYLS-AL seems to be the only gospel on 670 on the East Coast.
Wonder if the two 730s were WFMC-NC and WLTQ-SC?
770 WYRV Cedar Bluff, VA??
800 might be the two SC stations with gospel.


-crainbebo

 

[ddsparxx]

770 could also be WLWL Rockingham, NC, the 620 is likely WSNR, 750 is WBMD Baltimore with inspirational/hymns and a guy who speaks slowly as he preaches.

The OBX area is a wonderful place for AM DX. You could hear something from Europe. I may go there next month but it is unlikely I will have an outdoor wire antenna.

 

[gar hi]

Thanks Kilocat for that awesome report!

That's the most detailed report I've ever read from there.

And getting WIOD is fantastic. I would have assumed WIP would dominate the frequency there.

I've always heard the NYC stations were strong there but you got them like locals!

As for wnat was on 530, my guess is that it's the one from Cuba. Here in Tampa, they have a strong daytime signal and they play elevator music along with talking inbetween which is usually a woman's voice. I looked at the map and the only land between that station and your location is a very small part of south Florida.

Thanks again for that amazing report.

 

[charlestondxman]

One of the 730s with the gospel is WLTQ Charleston, SC; they are decent up there. Are you doing any more of the band?

I pick up WEFL all day here just S of Charleston, and several of the others listed.

 

[cd637299]

Very nice KK.

I was there in Nov 1997 w/ Superadios II & III & Select-a-Tenna. Heard WBZ 1030, then up 10 kHz was WJNO (now WLVJ) Boynton Beach FL....a 1200-mile swath only 10 kHz apart.

Also at 1pm EST (I think it was 1pm), WWL in New Orleans showed up over all that land....never thought I'd get it at that time.

Being November though, maybe these are not all that surprising.

cd

 

[gar hi]

You still may have been getting a groundwave.

The ground conductividy in south Florida is good compared to the rest of Florida so WWL may have made it all the way.

I once read a report from way back of someone on spring break picking up WBZ mid afternoon while in their car on Daytona Beach. That was from well before the strong station on 1030 from Oveido came on the air.

 

[kilokat7]

Thanks to everyone's suggestions pertaining to my "unids". I wish I would have had more time during the early afternoon to properly ID those unids that I heard, and complete the bandscan up to 1700 khz, but...

Gar: I was somewhat surprised 530 wasn't stronger. I really expected the Cuban to be audible during the day there. For all I know, the weak signal I had on 530 could have been a TIS. I could tell something was there, but I couldn't make out the audio to determine a language or even content (music, etc.) I didn't think to jot down the orientation of the antenna either.

I'm just getting into the spectrum recordings now that I made at night and have already found a lot of interesting stuff during the 9pm hour of the first night:

783 Arabic talk, maybe Syria, I need to study this one more closely...
820 Radio Paradise, St. Kitts & Nevis w/ Trinity Broadcasting Network religious programming
840 4VEH, Haiti w/ distinct interval signal
1116 SER, Spain w/ distinct time pips and TOH music
1120 Presumed WSMW Puerto Rico w/ many mentions of P.R.
1220 Presumed Radio Globo, Brazil w/ distinct wolf whistles and sliding sound effects @ TOH [4,500 miles]
1280 Presumed Bermuda w/ religious music & "This is BBN" @ TOH

There's probably more good stuff to come but I can already see that I'll need to brush up on my Spanish as it's all over the dial. I will try and compile a complete list and post it here when done.

 

[cd637299]

Keep us posted, KK.

1280 Bermuda indeed is a BBN. www.vsbbermuda.com

Your 530, if not instrumentals, could be Radio Vision Cristiana in Turks & Caicos Islands. They are not near the full power they once had....Hurricane Ike gave them a wallop in 2008. No TIS is supposed to have music, so it oughta be one or the other.

Oh 530 could also be CIAO near Toronto. They do run 1 kW & they are multilingual.

You have some great TA stuff there & Caribbean that even I can't get, and I'm near Miami. 4VEH?? Wow.

cd

 

[radioman148]

Thanks to everyone's suggestions pertaining to my "unids". I wish I would have had more time during the early afternoon to properly ID those unids that I heard, and complete the bandscan up to 1700 khz, but...

Gar: I was somewhat surprised 530 wasn't stronger. I really expected the Cuban to be audible during the day there. For all I know, the weak signal I had on 530 could have been a TIS. I could tell something was there, but I couldn't make out the audio to determine a language or even content (music, etc.) I didn't think to jot down the orientation of the antenna either.

I'm just getting into the spectrum recordings now that I made at night and have already found a lot of interesting stuff during the 9pm hour of the first night:

783 Arabic talk, maybe Syria, I need to study this one more closely...
820 Radio Paradise, St. Kitts & Nevis w/ Trinity Broadcasting Network religious programming
840 4VEH, Haiti w/ distinct interval signal
1116 SER, Spain w/ distinct time pips and TOH music
1120 Presumed WSMW Puerto Rico w/ many mentions of P.R.
1220 Presumed Radio Globo, Brazil w/ distinct wolf whistles and sliding sound effects @ TOH [4,500 miles]
1280 Presumed Bermuda w/ religious music & "This is BBN" @ TOH

There's probably more good stuff to come but I can already see that I'll need to brush up on my Spanish as it's all over the dial. I will try and compile a complete list and post it here when done.

Great job! I've got to get to the OBX someday.

 

[nd2023]

A 50kw AM station there could serve the entire east coast. It could even claim to be a local station for New York City.

 

[KR4BD]

Last year, I spent a week at OBX from Kitty Hawk to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and was absolutely amazed at the AM coverage. At mid-day, The 50kw New York City stations were like locals and even WBZ was "listenable" on my car radio. To the South, 690 from Jacksonville, FL was "loud and proud" as well. Nothin' Like Salt Water for GREAT AM propagation!!! I believe this might be the BEST place for Mid-Day AM DXing in the country.