DIRECTIONAL PATTERNS

[stormy01]

Another weird one is 1160 in Chicago. When they transmitted day & night from Des Plaines you couldn't hear them at all at night 8 miles north of their towers. Now they're transmitting at night from a new site that is southwest of Chicago and beams northward--the direct opposite of their previous pattern.

That WYLL 1160 signal at 5kW was completely non-existent most of the time in the Crystal Lake area at night. I was getting the Cincinnati area station WDJO better than WYLL at the time!

That is a classic example of a station that did whatever it could to get full power at night even though it had to operate from two transmitter sites. We will probably see more of these operations in the future especially in areas where population growth is making locating a tower array impossible due to lack of available land, cost prohibitive prices for land, and Not In My Back Yard legal fights. The nighttime array is located in a former cornfield near I-355 and Bruce Rd., less than 10 miles NE of Joliet.

And WYLL had to work out a deal with WHBY 1150 in Appleton, WI (Oshkosh-Appleton-Green Bay markets) in order to get their night power upgrade. WHBY got an upgrade to their night facilities due to the increased interference from WYLL 1160 when WYLL started operating from SW of Chicago. Great. Fight interference with even more power, creating even more interference!

http://www.whby.com/history/ note there is no mention of their power upgrade on the station's website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHBY
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1068372-91700.pdf
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WYLL&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

 

[charlestondxman]

That WOKV is one of the most directional signals in the country. During the day, you can hear it all the way from Cape Hatteras to Melbourne, with some day signal on a Walkman all the way to Winter Haven (about 45 miles from Tampa), and probably to Lakeland (about 30 miles or so from Tampa).

At night, the signal can't be heard on the west and part of the south side of Jacksonville, and sends most of its signal out in the ocean, which is why they purchased an FM to cover the area at night and gain more listeners.

Some of the AM signals in the Columbia market are really directional at night, like WISW 1320, which is an average 5kw signal during the day, but at night, has trouble being heard in places like Cayce (less than 10 miles from the transmitter).

 

[radioman148]

Another weird one is 1160 in Chicago. When they transmitted day & night from Des Plaines you couldn't hear them at all at night 8 miles north of their towers. Now they're transmitting at night from a new site that is southwest of Chicago and beams northward--the direct opposite of their previous pattern.

That WYLL 1160 signal at 5kW was completely non-existent most of the time in the Crystal Lake area at night. I was getting the Cincinnati area station WDJO better than WYLL at the time!

That is a classic example of a station that did whatever it could to get full power at night even though it had to operate from two transmitter sites. We will probably see more of these operations in the future especially in areas where population growth is making locating a tower array impossible due to lack of available land, cost prohibitive prices for land, and Not In My Back Yard legal fights. The nighttime array is located in a former cornfield near I-355 and Bruce Rd., less than 10 miles NE of Joliet.

And WYLL had to work out a deal with WHBY 1150 in Appleton, WI (Oshkosh-Appleton-Green Bay markets) in order to get their night power upgrade. WHBY got an upgrade to their night facilities due to the increased interference from WYLL 1160 when WYLL started operating from SW of Chicago. Great. Fight interference with even more power, creating even more interference!

http://www.whby.com/history/ note there is no mention of their power upgrade on the station's website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHBY
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1068372-91700.pdf
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WYLL&service=AM&status=L&hours=N

You don't see many stations these days that spend the money for a new transmitter site.

 

[BRNout]

That station on 1160 is a major pest here in the N/NW suburbs! During the day, it pounds in here with a very strong signal. Basically it obliterates everything between (and including) 1140 and 1180. At night, it ensures no reception of KSL or anything else on 1160 and mucks up 1150 and 1170 a bit too.

Is there ever anything worth listening to on WYLL? Sounds to me like yet another nominee for the wasted 50 kw signal thread. :

 

[ddsparxx]

One station I know of is WBAL 1090 in Baltimore, MD, nondirectional at day and turning directional toward north, east and southeast at night. I can barely hear it at night in northern VA especially west of DC.

KPNW 1120 in Eugene, OR has a similar directional pattern, both day and night, mostly north-south and sharp null toward east to probably to protect KMOX 1120 in St. Louis and maybe KBND 1110 in Bend, OR.

KPNW sends alot of signal into the pacific. It can be heard at night in Hawaii.

Thanks, radioman--I was kind of wrong when I said "north-south" after looking at Radio-Locator's coverage area of KPNW and reading through the DXing the Hawaii thread. Perhaps I should have said directional toward north, west, south.

 

[cyberdad]

I always thought 710 was home to quite a few "severe" nighttime patterns. Go to Radio-Locator and check out Denver (including daytime) and Kansas City to name just a couple. Similar situations have already been discussed for 680 and 1130. You could also add 740, 850, 1070, and certainly a couple of others.

Then there are all those Canadian blowtorches aimed straight north.

 

[stormy01]

Is there ever anything worth listening to on WYLL? Sounds to me like yet another nominee for the wasted 50 kw signal thread. :

1160 would be a far better station if WMBI took it over. Without Sandy Rios, the station would be next to nothing.
And what happened to Christopher Plummer? He was good! They seem to duplicate a lot of what WMBI is trying to do.

 

[vibe]

I have picked up the 1090 in Little Rock AK and 1520 Oklahoma City in SW Fla despite both stations being severely nulled in my direction. But there was some signal...

 

[BRNout]

Yes, about 25 years ago I picked up KOMA at about 7 pm from the Bee Line Expressway in that swampy area east of Orlando. The sun was setting and it came in well - probably just before their pattern change. IIRC, it was springtime like late March or early April.

 

[radioman148]

Yes, about 25 years ago I picked up KOMA at about 7 pm from the Bee Line Expressway in that swampy area east of Orlando. The sun was setting and it came in well - probably just before their pattern change. IIRC, it was springtime like late March or early April.

I'm sure they were on their ND tower at that time.
Did WKBW make it down to Florida during it's music years?

 

[radioman148]

One station I know of is WBAL 1090 in Baltimore, MD, nondirectional at day and turning directional toward north, east and southeast at night. I can barely hear it at night in northern VA especially west of DC.

KPNW 1120 in Eugene, OR has a similar directional pattern, both day and night, mostly north-south and sharp null toward east to probably to protect KMOX 1120 in St. Louis and maybe KBND 1110 in Bend, OR.

KPNW sends alot of signal into the pacific. It can be heard at night in Hawaii.

Thanks, radioman--I was kind of wrong when I said "north-south" after looking at Radio-Locator's coverage area of KPNW and reading through the DXing the Hawaii thread. Perhaps I should have said directional toward north, west, south.

KPNW's signal was quite good into Hawaii--one of the best mainland signals.

 

[radioman148]

I always thought 710 was home to quite a few "severe" nighttime patterns. Go to Radio-Locator and check out Denver (including daytime) and Kansas City to name just a couple. Similar situations have already been discussed for 680 and 1130. You could also add 740, 850, 1070, and certainly a couple of others.

Then there are all those Canadian blowtorches aimed straight north.

The 710 in Kansas City was very directional when I was in Oklahoma in the late 60s. Very strong then, but if you went east or west of KC, forget it.

 

[gr8oldies]

Interesting thread! My nominee would be WFNI (the old WIBC) on 1070 in Indianapolis. 50000 watts day covering most of Indiana, 10000 watts night with a null everywhere but southeast. In Lafayette, 60 miles away, I could get CHOK in Sarnia ONT blasting in and almost completely obliterating WIBC. Same is true even as close as SR 32 north of town. Not hard to understand why they took the WIBC programming to FM. The 1070 signal is heard well everywhere southeast, and I heard them once from Myrtle Beach on a Walkman.

There are four 1520 daytimers in Northern Ohio, two only 30 miles apart (Kent and Canton), which have tight directional patterns.

1380 in Tampa was mentioned..when it was WLCY I could hear it mixed with others including WAOK Atlanta in Western Ohio. This was after WMEE, Ft Wayne's pattern change. I could listen to it easily in Sarasota, however.


WTVN is almost nowhere to be found in the Dayton area at night but they have a good signal north.

WOWO, even before the power downgrade, kicked tail all over the Eastern U.S., but as close in as Logansport to the west, was gone at sunset.

This is a very interesting subject.

 

[stormy01]

The 1190 in Dallas has a really strange pattern for all the stations it has to protect:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KFXR&service=AM&status=L&hours=N Using 12 towers!
http://wikimapia.org/5271590/KFXR-AM-Nighttime-Directional-Array-Formerly-KLIF-AM

 

[radioman148]

Interesting thread! My nominee would be WFNI (the old WIBC) on 1070 in Indianapolis. 50000 watts day covering most of Indiana, 10000 watts night with a null everywhere but southeast. In Lafayette, 60 miles away, I could get CHOK in Sarnia ONT blasting in and almost completely obliterating WIBC. Same is true even as close as SR 32 north of town. Not hard to understand why they took the WIBC programming to FM. The 1070 signal is heard well everywhere southeast, and I heard them once from Myrtle Beach on a Walkman.

There are four 1520 daytimers in Northern Ohio, two only 30 miles apart (Kent and Canton), which have tight directional patterns.

1380 in Tampa was mentioned..when it was WLCY I could hear it mixed with others including WAOK Atlanta in Western Ohio. This was after WMEE, Ft Wayne's pattern change. I could listen to it easily in Sarasota, however.


WTVN is almost nowhere to be found in the Dayton area at night but they have a good signal north.

WOWO, even before the power downgrade, kicked tail all over the Eastern U.S., but as close in as Logansport to the west, was gone at sunset.

This is a very interesting subject.

In the Chicago area I used to listen to WOWO alot before the 1200 in Chicago came on. WOWO put a nice signal here in the day, but at night you could hardly hear it.
Earlier I mentioned the old KRLA in Pasadena, Ca on 1110. They ran 50KW days & 20KW at night. Their nighttime pattern nulled to the east.
One of the DJs in the late 60s would actually say at sunset pattern changing time "well goodbye San Bernardino".

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Four come to mind here -- two from NY state ; two from FL.

1. 1010 WINS. They *may* have changed a few bearings since I'd been 'home' seven years ago, but driving west on the E-W Staten Island Expressway, one could hear one spur of their directional signal chewing itself into electromagnetic powder. During the day. Holy Smoke, what a listening experience. They must've had one awesome null in that direction. The SI Expway basically runs due South of WINS' sticks. Thing is, Staten Island is one of the five boroughs in WINS's city of license.

2. 1290 WGLI. Back when they were still on the air, and running 5000 watts day (1000 night), their daytime signal used to shred itself to pieces along Sylvan Drive, which serves as a sort of Southern State Parkway service road for a short stretch. Thing is, the shortish Sylvan Drive can't be too much more than a mile from the WGLI towers -- that's how wild the null in that direction was. In the day.

3. The Big Ape, 690. I believe they had six towers, in a straight line, back when we drove one night around them about 2AM, to the west, using 301. You could see their lights -- all of their lights -- but the signal was imploding into itself, hissing and sounding single-sideband-ish, just like WINS and WGLI. I trust that the station was doing its nightly bombing into Sierra Leone, but there were their tower lights, and they were unlistenable. My at-the-time fiance'e was appalled. 'How can you LISTEN to this?!?'. I, on the other hand, thought it was great DX. (And I was right : -)

4. WLCY. Funny post about the numerous calls, drt! In 1972 I was driving in either St. Pete one night or just north of there, in one of the Belleair's. It was a 1962 Buick with the average AM radio. The locale had a few hills and was near the Gulf. WLCY was static-y. Then there was a drop even in *that* poor reception -- enough to hear an ID from KWK St. Louis.

 

[gar hi]

Did WKBW make it down to Florida during it's music years?

That's a good question because WKBW was the first ever station I DXed when I was a kid with my brand new AM/FM mono portable radio I got for Christmas back in 1972 in New Jersey. In the spring of 73, we went on vacation to Miami Beach and I still remember how good WABC came in there at night on my radio. I also remember looking for WKBW there but couldn't hear a thing. Now, I see why.

Here is a map of the WKBW signal coverage........

(click on "signal coverage")

http://wkbwradio.com/page2.htm

 

[schmave]

Interesting thread! My nominee would be WFNI (the old WIBC) on 1070 in Indianapolis. 50000 watts day covering most of Indiana, 10000 watts night with a null everywhere but southeast. In Lafayette, 60 miles away, I could get CHOK in Sarnia ONT blasting in and almost completely obliterating WIBC. Same is true even as close as SR 32 north of town. Not hard to understand why they took the WIBC programming to FM. The 1070 signal is heard well everywhere southeast, and I heard them once from Myrtle Beach on a Walkman.

There are four 1520 daytimers in Northern Ohio, two only 30 miles apart (Kent and Canton), which have tight directional patterns.

1380 in Tampa was mentioned..when it was WLCY I could hear it mixed with others including WAOK Atlanta in Western Ohio. This was after WMEE, Ft Wayne's pattern change. I could listen to it easily in Sarasota, however.


WTVN is almost nowhere to be found in the Dayton area at night but they have a good signal north.

WOWO, even before the power downgrade, kicked tail all over the Eastern U.S., but as close in as Logansport to the west, was gone at sunset.

This is a very interesting subject.

I remember one family trip to Chicago in the early 90s, back when WOWO still played music. Starting in Columbus, we took 70 to Indy, then went north off 65. Listened to WOWO the entire way, but we were on 65 when it got dark and all of a sudden WOWO came in and out furiously. Had no idea why it was so bad until I saw the directional pattern some years later. That explained why it never came in in Chicago at night. It was faint where we were (Naperville), but it was there. Somehow.
WTVN can be heard well into Central Michigan at night if not beyond.

 

[chrish]

I know Paul Christensen rebuilt the WAPE Baldwin site and do not know if the tower placement is still the same but the original array was two side by side
rows of three very widely spaced towers.
Very narrow beam over Jax out to the Beaches, Baldwin was pretty far west of Jax outside Duval County that there was no much signal left by the time it reached
Jacksonville or Atlantic Beach.

If you want to hear an interesting mess just drive around the rear of the 600
(old original WPDQ) night pattern, distortion and out of phase audio, I have
witnessed this many times but not anything that severe.
WPDQ had a great signal in the Azores and Portugal off the front of the night pattern. The array may have been cleaned up since the mid 70's

 

[radioman148]

The 1190 in Dallas has a really strange pattern for all the stations it has to protect:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KFXR&service=AM&status=L&hours=N Using 12 towers!
http://wikimapia.org/5271590/KFXR-AM-Nighttime-Directional-Array-Formerly-KLIF-AM

Didn't they have up to 9 towers at one time?