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DX Cheating

T

trusty

So you've tried to pull in that station; it's there, but you just can't ID it. Or you're in the graveyard and can't really hear the station on 1420 because of the 17 others there. Maybe your station is covered by IBOC (I think someone said, "It Bothers Other Stations."), and you're ticked at the government for letting it happen.

Well, fret no more! Do what a few others have done to get that "un-IDed" station. Cheat.

That's right. Regardless of your circumstances, the answer is quick and simple. Cheat, and not look back; tune slightly off the frequency.

Sounds simple enough, but with so many digital radios that "help" you so much by correctly tuning your frequency, and NOT letting you tune the way you want to, it can be frustrating.

(OK... enough of the commercial.) I have a Sony ICF-SW7600G that has 1kHz tuning (620..621..622..etc) for 9-kHz spacing. I must confess I've been having fun cheating and not feeling guilty about it one bit. I've been able to hear some clears again above the hash by finding the "sweet spot" slightly off the frequency, and I've IDed that station on 1420 by tuning to 1423 to get it (The weaker stations drop out first at 1422.). It's like I had the old analog radio again.

I may be a DX "purist" and maybe consider this type of DXing "cheating", but I need to get my station while there is still no law against DXing this way, and I'll use some tried and true methods to get it. (kinda like coming home to my wife (whom I DO NOT cheat on) and saying, "I went out and shot this pizza; now you cook it.")

I may hit my head with my hand and scream "Duh!" about this, but I'm finding some new stuff (and more clearly) and was wondering if you have found new stations this way or identified ones you previously couldn't pull above the hash? Please share.

(I'll end the commercial with, "It's so wonderful, I'll never tune on frequency again!")
 
That's not cheating ... that's using all of your available resources to grab a signal that you otherwise couldn't get.
In the old analog tuner days, I would tune slightly off frequency to get a better high frequency response. The results were ofter stunning.
 
Sure, with IBOC and splatter from locals, this is often necessary. For example, even when WBBM's Soviet screamer is off, I need to tune to 767 to pull in WABC at night. I never considered it cheating.

"Cheating" would be trying to pass off your reception of an internet stream as dx!
 
I use that when I trying to put in 730 from Vancouver, KCBS 740 is Local so..I hve to turn it to like 735 to hear it or like 738
 
Cheating would also be using a remote tuner website like http://www.globaltuners.com/ and calling the tuners location your own. There would be no problem in my estimation by using a site like globaltuners.com if the suspected DX station did not have an online stream to verify the content of the station you're trying to log. With local stations, other strong interfering stations and now digital pollution co-channel or adjacent channels, whatever it takes, 766...767...to hear the station. The entire bandwidth of the station is legitimate...just because one has to 'offtune' from a stations nominal frequency to log a DX station, that's ok, no rules here that say one has to be on dead center frequency to make it count!
 
MarioMania said:
I use that when I trying to put in 730 from Vancouver, KCBS 740 is Local so..I hve to turn it to like 735 to hear it or like 738
Click to expand...

You probably mean 725 or 728 for hearing 730 from Vancouver. The whole point here is to tune away from KCBS 740 to hear an adjacent channel on 730, not closer to it. The closer your dial is to 740, the stronger its signal is going to be and the harder other stations/frequencies will be to pick up. See the above post from BRNout about how he has to tune his radio down to 767 to hear WABC 770 from NYC as he is in the Chicago area and in a place where WBBM 780 has a really strong signal, even without their IBOC, according to him.

Does KCBS use IBOC? I assume it does since it's owned and operated by CBS Radio and has the same kind of format (all-news) as KNX 1070 L.A., WBBM 780 Chicago, and WCBS 880 NYC and those stations most definitely do use It Bothers Other Channels for digital transmissions alongside their analog transmissions.

Also, if KCBS ever turns off their IBOC, are you in a location (away from the KCBS towers) where you can hear 730 without having to tune down? Or do you have to tune off-frequency for 730 anyway? Can you by any chance turn your radio/antenna and null the adjacent channel splatter and/or IBOC hiss from KCBS 740?
 
When I saw this thread, I assumed that it was a story about the folks who hear the word "Bloomington" on 96.7 & never bother to confirm whether that ad is for Bloomington,IN or Bloomington,IL which both have locals on that freq--they just count the one they need. That's a whole different thread.

This form of cheating (which is no different that using a Bolin FM Phaser or a 200' tower with stacked yagis or a beefed up IF strip IMHO) works on FM too..if you've beefed up your IF selectivity. The IBOC slop on FM only goes to +/- 200khz. So half of the adjacent is actually in the clear. Where the 'cheating' concept falls apart is when you have IBOC on both sides of what you are trying for. Result = no sweet spot.
 
By the way, one week ago from overnight tonight/very early tomorrow morning at 1:51 AM Central Daylight Time, I was able to hear KTNN 660 Window Rock, Arizona for the first time in my personal history. I realize that other people on this website who live in the midwest and southeast, etc., have picked it up at night but I myself finally had the chance to hear KTNN last week. Not sure if KTNN was on non-directional daytime pattern or if the propagation conditions were super-excellent, or both, or what, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially considering the fact that KTNN is supposed to null its nighttime signal in this direction to protect WFAN 660 New York City. There was little co-channel interference from WFAN that night (KTNN WAS on top, and the real awesome surprise from all of this was the fact that WSCR 670 Chicago certainly had their IBOC on at the time but fortunately the IBOC hash isn't too bad where I am as I am located 160 miles west of Chicago (150 or so from their west suburban transmitter site) and a little ways or so outside WSCR's 2.5 mV/m local grade contour). WSCR itself comes in just fine most of the time except for occasional groundwave/skywave cancellations at nighttime. My location is East Moline, Illinois, in what is known as the "Quad Cities." Despite the slight IBOC hash from WSCR, I still was able to hear KTNN which was really awesome!!

You can read my post from last Monday (April 5, 2010) by clicking on http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=159878.30. The topic is "Your 2010 Wish List?" This is page 4 of the topic and my post is at the top of the page.
 
QCA USA 1 said:
MarioMania said:
I use that when I trying to put in 730 from Vancouver, KCBS 740 is Local so..I hve to turn it to like 735 to hear it or like 738
Click to expand...

You probably mean 725 or 728 for hearing 730 from Vancouver. The whole point here is to tune away from KCBS 740 to hear an adjacent channel on 730, not closer to it. The closer your dial is to 740, the stronger its signal is going to be and the harder other stations/frequencies will be to pick up. See the above post from BRNout about how he has to tune his radio down to 767 to hear WABC 770 from NYC as he is in the Chicago area and in a place where WBBM 780 has a really strong signal, even without their IBOC, according to him.

Does KCBS use IBOC? I assume it does since it's owned and operated by CBS Radio and has the same kind of format (all-news) as KNX 1070 L.A., WBBM 780 Chicago, and WCBS 880 NYC and those stations most definitely do use It Bothers Other Channels for digital transmissions alongside their analog transmissions.

Also, if KCBS ever turns off their IBOC, are you in a location (away from the KCBS towers) where you can hear 730 without having to tune down? Or do you have to tune off-frequency for 730 anyway? Can you by any chance turn your radio/antenna and null the adjacent channel splatter and/or IBOC hiss from KCBS 740?
Click to expand...

I mean 725..

I'm in Vallejo, CA so it's stronge here..

and what's IBOC??
 
That's not cheating, that's "tuning".
For AM, a 40 foot tuned loop is >not< cheating. It's accepted practice. Darn hard to rotate, though.
I thought this was about internet stream fake dx reports, too.
 
I love listening online to far away stations, but its in no way DX.. its not DX when its piped in through wires, or else Music,, Sirius, and Music Choice would be DXing to.
 
Mid West Clubber said:
I love listening online to far away stations, but its in no way DX.. its not DX when its piped in through wires, or else Music,, Sirius, and Music Choice would be DXing to.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree on that..listing online to any station that offers it is not DX to me.
 
It's OK to listen to the stream to confirm reception of a station or to use yes.com to see if at least 2 songs match.
 
While DX'ing, I always try to match up a webstream or go to yes.com for a song match. With the yes.com route, I like to hear two songs back to back if at all necessary. Sometimes I can only match one song. I sometimes go ahead and log a station with only one song match, and sometimes I don't. This is based on what I know about the dial..

For example, last week semi-local WKZO-FM (96.5) was off the air for tower maintenance. In it's absence I heard a very weak Hot AC/CHR station playing 'My Own Worst Enemy' by Lit. I found that WMT in Cedar Rapids, IA played the song, but the website didn't say what time they played it. Also, there is a CHR station at 96.5 in Lafayette, IN, so I can't just assume that what I was hearing was coming from all the way from Iowa.

On the other hand, I ran an unattended recording on Thursday of last week while running errands. I just run Cool Edit Pro and record an open frequency for an hour or so. This time, it was 105.9 and my antenna was pointed ESE. The only piece of decipherable audio was the opening of a rock song. Upon further research, my barely decipherable audio came from WXDX in Pittsburgh, approximately 280 miles from my location in S. Michigan. The song matched on yes.com, and the time was correct as well. Also, there are no rock stations on 105.9 in my area, and my antenna position was favored deeeeeeep fringe reception to Pittsburgh.

I'd say 98% of the time, my catches are 'slam dunk' confirmed stations. If I hear area codes, city mentions or call letters, I can't do much better than that. I never just assume i'm hearing a station and I always wait for some kind of identification. Even if I have to tear up Google to do research on it.
 
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