Dx'ing from a hotel

[drt]

You're welcome Radioman 148; I just wish I had had more time to dx; but that wasn't the purpose of the trip. I didn't know of any other frequency from Chicago to try and of course, didn't think until after the fact to check Radio Locator for any other 50,000 watt Chicago stations, I just remembered the ones I have read about on this site.

It was so nice to be able to receive something other than Radio Reloj and other assorted Cuban stations; the only Cuban station I heard in Albany was the Cuban station at 1180 which is meant to jam Radio Marti. (and they seem to do a pretty good job at doing that.).... but even the Cuban at 1180 wasn't all that strong, whereas here,it is strong 24/7.

drt
already missing Albany radio and their cooler weather._________________________________________________

 

[radioman148]

I'm surprised you heard the Cuban on 1180 with WHAM so close.

 

[fybush]

WHAM into Albany isn't one of the strongest signals out there. It's a little close for a good solid skywave hop, and a little too far for groundwave (especially since there's some question about the integrity of the ground system at the WHAM site.)

WGY, likewise, isn't really a barnburner here in Rochester.

Meanwhile, Cuba blasts a huge lobe at the US on 1180. It's possible to hear Fidel under WHAM less than an hour away from Rochester some nights when driving south.

 

[cyberdad]

I was in Albany about a year ago.... Stayed at a Marriott Courtyard off the Thruway. All the Chicago "big boys" were available. The Local on 900 wasn't much of a problem for WLS. IIRC, WBBM and WMVP had the best signals. I seem to remember the Cubans were under WSCR. I also remember WWKB sounding like a local.

 

[vibe]

The Chi "clears" have been stronger than usual here in Central Mass the last few nites. On a so so Bose Wave Readio i got the Chi clears (except 670) as well as Des Moines on 1040 and KMOX on 1120. Must be the cooler nites...

 

[radioman148]

The Chi "clears" have been stronger than usual here in Central Mass the last few nites. On a so so Bose Wave Readio i got the Chi clears (except 670) as well as Des Moines on 1040 and KMOX on 1120. Must be the cooler nites...

Do you hear Chicago's 670 at all in Mass or is it totally clobbered by the Cubans?

 

[vibe]

670 is clobbered by 660 NYC and local 680 Bos Occasionally when the chi clears are really strong 670 is listenable. But only 780 and 890 came in last night that were listenable.

 

[drt]

I was not able to pick up 670 out of Chicago, in my hotel room, wasn't receiving Cuba either, just noise, don't know if WFAN runs IBOC at night, but it was some interference that sounded as though it was IBOC hash, but in that hotel, it could have some other type of interference.

As far as hearing Cuba on 1180, I heard in clearly, but it was under the 1180 out of Rochester and I was surprised that 810 WGY didn't come in stronger than it did; it was strong, but I thought it would swing all the way over to the right (strongest signal) on my radio's signal meter, but it didn't.

Here I have to contend with all the Cuban interference day and night and in Albany, it was a lot of IBOC hash interfering and fouling up the night time reception.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[spunker88]

Im in Upstate NY, northwest of Albany near Lake Ontario so I can relate.

I can tell you guys that Ive been hearing the Cuban on 1180 as well and Im only around 100 miles from Rochester, but at this distance skywave/groundwave can interfere and reduce the signal for brief moments. Thats when I usually hear the Cuban.

Being in a rural area certainly helps when DXing. On AM during the day I get Toronto stations in clear across the lake at around 200 miles. At night even with bad bad conditions NYC, Toronto, Boston, Philly, Virginia, NC and Chicago will come in clearly. During fall/winter when AM is nicer I can get KMOX, WSB, and WWL (under semi-local WHCU).

From Albany I'd imagine you could pull in NYC and Boston during the day at a good receiving location. I have found locations where I live that I can get very weak groundwave signals from these cities.

 

[fybush]

From Albany I'd imagine you could pull in NYC and Boston during the day at a good receiving location. I have found locations where I live that I can get very weak groundwave signals from these cities.

You don't even need a particularly good receiving location. The biggest NYC 50s are, if not local, at least strong and quite listenable in a car in most of Albany; ditto for WBZ, at least, from Boston.

 

[drt]

While in Albany, my car was a rental (antenna built into the back window)...... but that being said,the reception seemed decent. The hotel reception was not all that good; finally on my 5th and final night there in downtown Albany I did find just the right spot on the window sill for the best reception. (of course, I had to turn off everything electic in the room; lights, laptop, etc- but that still doesn't prevent inference from adjacent rooms and I thought it would be rude to ask people in adjoining rooms to turn off their laptops, TV's and lights, so that I could dx! )

Car reception during the day; I was pulling in all the NYC 50,000 watters; I'm not sure if Bloomberg 1130 is 50,000 watts or not, but they actually were coming in better in the early afternoon than the other NYC stations as well as WBZ 1030-Boston.


drt
st. petersburg

 

[radioman148]

While in Albany, my car was a rental (antenna built into the back window)...... but that being said,the reception seemed decent. The hotel reception was not all that good; finally on my 5th and final night there in downtown Albany I did find just the right spot on the window sill for the best reception. (of course, I had to turn off everything electic in the room; lights, laptop, etc- but that still doesn't prevent inference from adjacent rooms and I thought it would be rude to ask people in adjoining rooms to turn off their laptops, TV's and lights, so that I could dx! )

Car reception during the day; I was pulling in all the NYC 50,000 watters; I'm not sure if Bloomberg 1130 is 50,000 watts or not, but they actually were coming in better in the early afternoon than the other NYC stations as well as WBZ 1030-Boston.


drt
st. petersburg

Were WINS & WEPN coming in well during the day? I know they have a null to the northwest.

 

[drt]

Radioman 148 inquired: "Were WINS & WEPN coming in well during the day? I know they have a null to the northwest"

Yes, since Albany is due north of NYC, that daytime null to the northwest doesn't really affect Albany; I was able to get both 1050 (not so good) and 1010 WINS pretty good in the car during the day; in fact in my brief experience there the two best stations reception wise out of NYC were WINS 1010 and 1130 Bloomberg radio and that surprised me, I was expecting WCBS and WABC coming in better than WINS and 1130; also as much as three hours before sunset the low power 1600 out of NYC (with towers across the river in NJ) was coming in pretty well.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[radioman148]

Radioman 148 inquired: "Were WINS & WEPN coming in well during the day? I know they have a null to the northwest"

Yes, since Albany is due north of NYC, that daytime null to the northwest doesn't really affect Albany; I was able to get both 1050 (not so good) and 1010 WINS pretty good in the car during the day; in fact in my brief experience there the two best stations reception wise out of NYC were WINS 1010 and 1130 Bloomberg radio and that surprised me, I was expecting WCBS and WABC coming in better than WINS and 1130; also as much as three hours before sunset the low power 1600 out of NYC (with towers across the river in NJ) was coming in pretty well.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

I'm not surprised that 1130 was strong as they run ND during the day, but WINS' strength surprises me.