DXing from Chicago area

[radioman148]

Wow! That coverage area even during the day has to be one of the most limited ones I've ever seen. It looks more like something you'd see for a 1kw station. I guess the mountains have something to do with it?

I think that coveage is quite good compared to what you'd get here in the Northeast. KOMO's red line (2 mv/m) is about 50 to 60 miles north and south in the lobes, (even more where the signal goes over salt water). Much less of course to the east in their deep null.

By comparison with stations at that same part of the dial out this way, WSPN-1050 New York has about 40 miles of coverage to the North (in it's broad lobe),
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=wepn&x=12&y=0

and WBZ-1030 Boston has about 35 miles of coverage to the west in it's main lobe.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WBZ&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

Signals in the mid-west of course do better with their teriffic ground conductivity.

I thought KOMO and KIRO's local coverage wasn't too bad when I looked at the map.

 

[gar hi]

Maybe I didn't take into consideration the relative large size of the state of Washington.

And speaking of WBZ, I didn't realize there was that much land it had to travel across before hitting the water and getting out there. WBZ has a good daytime signal along the Jersey shore even considering it first has to pass over all that land mass.

 

[radioman148]

WBZ easily has the best east coast signal into the midwest at night.

 

[cyberdad]

I thought KOMO and KIRO's local coverage wasn't too bad when I looked at the map.

The ground conductivity around Seattle isn't all that great....but the multiple salt water paths caused by the many bays, channels and inlets of Puget sound more than compensate. KIRO easily has the best daytime signal....but KVI, KTTH, KIXI,KJR and KOMO are all good.

Reception of these is considerably better around Vancouver (BC) than in the Portland area, which is roughly the same distance. The reverse is also true. The higher-powered Vancouver stations have better signals in the Seattle area than their Portland counterparts. I'd attribute that to the salt water path most of the way to Vancouver, versus only part of the way to Portland.

Talking about KOMO in the Midwest... I've never personally ever heard it. During my college years in the late '60s in eastern Iowa, trying to listen to top 40 on WCFL was a chore. In the daytime, the problem was splatter from WCAZ (Carthage, IL on 990), which had a great signal for not having much power. Then at night 'CFL's null to the west, coupled with the twin pests of KTOK and especially XEOY made for a mess most of the time. Never once heard KOMO in the mix, however.

 

[radioman148]

I thought KOMO and KIRO's local coverage wasn't too bad when I looked at the map.

The ground conductivity around Seattle isn't all that great....but the multiple salt water paths caused by the many bays, channels and inlets of Puget sound more than compensate. KIRO easily has the best daytime signal....but KVI, KTTH, KIXI,KJR and KOMO are all good.

Reception of these is considerably better around Vancouver (BC) than in the Portland area, which is roughly the same distance. The reverse is also true. The higher-powered Vancouver stations have better signals in the Seattle area than their Portland counterparts. I'd attribute that to the salt water path most of the way to Vancouver, versus only part of the way to Portland.

Talking about KOMO in the Midwest... I've never personally ever heard it. During my college years in the late '60s in eastern Iowa, trying to listen to top 40 on WCFL was a chore. In the daytime, the problem was splatter from WCAZ (Carthage, IL on 990), which had a great signal for not having much power. Then at night 'CFL's null to the west, coupled with the twin pests of KTOK and especially XEOY made for a mess most of the time. Never once heard KOMO in the mix, however.

I was in college in De Kalb in the late 60s & early 70s. Even there WCFL was much weaker than the other Chicago stations.
In the daytime I could hear them fair & at night their signal was awful. Sounded like DX from 2,000 miles away.
I remember driving west on Rt88 when you got past Sugar Grove, Il WCFL started dropping off considerably.

 

[charlestondxman]

In the Chicago area, I have gotten some pretty good DX. I was in my hotel room facing east near O'Hare airport, which had an almost unrestricted view all the way to parts of Lake Michigan, I picked up WKZO in Kalamazoo on 590 and WMT Cedar Rapids on 600. Those were great catches, most likely.

AM reception at night is much different than in the South, as you can pick up stations from all over North America, compared to down here in SC, where you're almost out of luck of hearing anything NW of Minneapolis or Denver.

 

[radioman148]

In the Chicago area, I have gotten some pretty good DX. I was in my hotel room facing east near O'Hare airport, which had an almost unrestricted view all the way to parts of Lake Michigan, I picked up WKZO in Kalamazoo on 590 and WMT Cedar Rapids on 600. Those were great catches, most likely.

AM reception at night is much different than in the South, as you can pick up stations from all over North America, compared to down here in SC, where you're almost out of luck of hearing anything NW of Minneapolis or Denver.

WMT & WKZO both come in very well during the day in the Chicago area. Night time DX used to be even better in the days before the frequencies got so cluttered and IBOC.

 

[Raider57]

In the Chicago area, I have gotten some pretty good DX. I was in my hotel room facing east near O'Hare airport, which had an almost unrestricted view all the way to parts of Lake Michigan, I picked up WKZO in Kalamazoo on 590 and WMT Cedar Rapids on 600. Those were great catches, most likely.

AM reception at night is much different than in the South, as you can pick up stations from all over North America, compared to down here in SC, where you're almost out of luck of hearing anything NW of Minneapolis or Denver.

In sc when I was down there all I could really get was New York's 660, 710, 770, 880, 1010, 1050,1130, and 1560 am Philly's 1060 and 1210, WBAL and WBZ, but then again the hotel I was staying at was along the ocean

 

[cyberdad]

In the Chicago area, I have gotten some pretty good DX. I was in my hotel room facing east near O'Hare airport, which had an almost unrestricted view all the way to parts of Lake Michigan, I picked up WKZO in Kalamazoo on 590 and WMT Cedar Rapids on 600.

I sometimes keep a car radio preset set to WMT in the fall for University of Iowa football. Their signal has always been very good. It's the only station audible all day long on the 360-mile drive from Chicago to Minneapolis. WKZO, on the other hand, is in an area with considerably poorer ground conductivity. On top of that, if anything, their signal has also degraded somewhat over the past several years.

 

[radioman148]

In the Chicago area, I have gotten some pretty good DX. I was in my hotel room facing east near O'Hare airport, which had an almost unrestricted view all the way to parts of Lake Michigan, I picked up WKZO in Kalamazoo on 590 and WMT Cedar Rapids on 600.

I sometimes keep a car radio preset set to WMT in the fall for University of Iowa football. Their signal has always been very good. It's the only station audible all day long on the 360-mile drive from Chicago to Minneapolis. WKZO, on the other hand, is in an area with considerably poorer ground conductivity. On top of that, if anything, their signal has also degraded somewhat over the past several years.

The best day time signal I've ever heard is WNAX Yankton, SD. The ground conductivity there must be the best because their daylight coverage is outstanding.

 

[radiotower40]

Listened again this morning (4AM CDT) for KFI. No luck. Hearing Zeeland, Mi and another station which is spanish. The spanish station come in best when my radio is oriented east/west. Go figure?
In the 60s thru the early 90s KFI was an easy catch here. Now I can't hear it at all.

Radioman148, The Spanish station you are most likely picking up is AM 640 WMFN in Zealand. They changed
formats in November 2008 from "Smooth Vibes AM 640". They are brokering a Regional Mexican format called "La Poderosa".
The previous format was also brokered by Tyrone Bynum, he hosted talk shows on the station as well as playing urban adult
contemporary music. He decided not to renew with the station and they went with the Spanish format instead. I am on the
south side of Chicago and I get the station well during the day with their 1,200 watts, and they come in very faintly most nights
with 230 watts.

On a side note the station signed on for the first time in 1990 with the famous Chicago call letters WBMX.

 

[radioman148]

Listened again this morning (4AM CDT) for KFI. No luck. Hearing Zeeland, Mi and another station which is spanish. The spanish station come in best when my radio is oriented east/west. Go figure?
In the 60s thru the early 90s KFI was an easy catch here. Now I can't hear it at all.

Radioman148, The Spanish station you are most likely picking up is AM 640 WMFN in Zealand. They changed
formats in November 2008 from "Smooth Vibes AM 640". They are brokering a Regional Mexican format called "La Poderosa".
The previous format was also brokered by Tyrone Bynum, he hosted talk shows on the station as well as playing urban adult
contemporary music. He decided not to renew with the station and they went with the Spanish format instead. I am on the
south side of Chicago and I get the station well during the day with their 1,200 watts, and they come in very faintly most nights
with 230 watts.

On a side note the station signed on for the first time in 1990 with the famous Chicago call letters WBMX.

Thanks TR1992. I wondered where that was coming from. The last time I checked WMFN wasn't running that format.

 

[Raider57]

Maybe I didn't take into consideration the relative large size of the state of Washington.

And speaking of WBZ, I didn't realize there was that much land it had to travel across before hitting the water and getting out there. WBZ has a good daytime signal along the Jersey shore even considering it first has to pass over all that land mass.

Between Boston and the Jersey Shore there is land that it passes over but mostly ocean whereas where I live in Northern New Jersey where theres no water in between really, WBZ rarely ever makes it here in the daytime, except about an hour and a half before sunset or 2 hours after sunrise

 

[BRNout]

I once had the pleasure of dxing for a few minutes from the car parked right by the beach in Margate City, NJ. It was spring, but a cool blustery day (April 2006, I believe) and about 2 pm. I picked up WTIC surprisingly well and also got a faint but audible signal from WBZ. Tried for WRKO Boston, but got WCBM Baltimore instead. WCBM doesn't do very well during the day into the Philly area - so getting it was interesting too. Of course, all of the NY and LI signals boomed in.

Sadly, I didn't have a lot of time - so just tried for the big guys. However, it was also interesting that WBZ was totally gone by the time I hit the main drag (300' away) and I had lost WTIC by the time I crossed the bridge between Longport and Somers Point.

Amazing what salt water does for AM signals!

 

[radioman148]

I once had the pleasure of dxing for a few minutes from the car parked right by the beach in Margate City, NJ. It was spring, but a cool blustery day (April 2006, I believe) and about 2 pm. I picked up WTIC surprisingly well and also got a faint but audible signal from WBZ. Tried for WRKO Boston, but got WCBM Baltimore instead. WCBM doesn't do very well during the day into the Philly area - so getting it was interesting too. Of course, all of the NY and LI signals boomed in.

Sadly, I didn't have a lot of time - so just tried for the big guys. However, it was also interesting that WBZ was totally gone by the time I hit the main drag (300' away) and I had lost WTIC by the time I crossed the bridge between Longport and Somers Point.

Amazing what salt water does for AM signals!

That's exactly why I'd like to DX from the barrier islands in North Carolina where I'm told you can hear everything from NYC to Miami during the day.

 

[gar hi]

I once had the pleasure of dxing for a few minutes from the car parked right by the beach in Margate City, NJ. It was spring, but a cool blustery day (April 2006, I believe) and about 2 pm. I picked up WTIC surprisingly well and also got a faint but audible signal from WBZ.

Yeah, like I've said, WBZ was an easy daytime catch from Long Beach Island. In the 80s, I remember hearing it by accident on the Walkman I had back then while on the beach early in the afternoon. Once we crossed the causeway and were back on the mainland on our way home, we stopped to get gas only about a mile inland from the bay and I remember getting out of the car with my Walkman to see if I could still hear WBZ and it was completely gone.

Amazing what salt water does for AM signals!

My parent's shore house in Long Beach Island was the exact same distance from New York as where we lived outside Philadelphia and it was interesting to notice the huge difference in daytime reception of stations like WNBC (now WFAN), WABC, and WCBS between the two locations. At my home, the NYC stations had OK signals but it was obvious they were not local stations. Down at the shore house, they sounded like locals, especially 660.

 

[radioman148]

>>My parent's shore house in Long Beach Island was the exact same distance from New York as where we lived outside Philadelphia and it was interesting to notice the huge difference in daytime reception of stations like WNBC (now WFAN), WABC, and WCBS between the two locations. At my home, the NYC stations had OK signals but it was obvious they were not local stations. Down at the shore house, they sounded like locals, especially 660.>>

I'll bet WBZ was also an easy catch out on Long Island.