DXing in Alaska

[ssnake]

The post about the Barrow stations brought up a topic... has anyone done much successful DXing of FM/AM/TV in Alaska? I grew up in North Pole, and the only "distant" signal I ever received was KIAM in Nenana. I didn't know the science behind antenna design or DX back then, so my biggest accomplishment was rigging up an apparatus to receive K07UU from Fairbanks back when it signed on with low power (which was a big deal, since it wasn't carried on cable yet).I presume that some of the powerful AMs, like KJNP, get into the distant villages at night.Terrain seems to be a big issue... seems like it would be impossible for the Anchorage stations to get into Fairbanks and vice versa.

 

[AZJoe]

KFQD 750 from Anchorage comes into Fairbanks pretty well in the evenings. Winter especially, but even in summer months.

 

[akradiozjs]

What kind of radio did you try and pull in QD with that it actually came in on??I tried to use my Bose wave radio, and a Pioneer car stereo with no luck... interesting that you were able to get it, i hear KFAR Fairbanks can be tuned in as far south as Wasilla

 

[AKLes]

During the years I lived in Nome nighttime DX was pretty limited. Yeah, Unalakleet and Kotz were sometime audible in town but always week. If you drove about 3-miles out you'd get an Anchorage station now and again, mostly KENI, but sometimes KFQD, each with lots of fading in and out. Very rarely, something out of Seattle. More commonly, Japanese language!Best results were with a standard factory-issue radio in a Toyota 4-Runner. Even GE SuperRadios and C Crane Plus were marginal without using some form of antenna booster.There is some sort of magnetic anomoly near Nome which makes it a kind of dead spot. Not a good thing for the two AMs there; very tough to get a signal to the inland villages though up and down the coast the groundwave is very nice. When KOTZ is broadcasting the major snowmachine races up there (The Archie Ferguson Memorial is a BIG one) there are many people who drive as far up The Kougarok Road (North) as possible to listen. Also those with camps accessible by snowmachine and who have decent radios with antenna boosters find they have lots of drop-in visitors when the races are broadcast.

 

[B Lewis]

Thanks for the thread on DXing in Alaska! KBRW-AM is 10Kw. Are you able to hear them at all in the Fairbanks area? KOTZ, which was also mentioned earlier, is also a fascination to me. I was born in Florida, moved to NC when I was a kid...but, I'd LOVE to live in your awesome state. I have spent hours on various websites of stations like KOTZ, KBRW, and KNBA (Anchorage), checking out all the pictures (most have photos of their local communities) and reading all the information about Alaska. That said...I see Alaska as the final frontier for REAL local, community radio. There are so many stations that serve remote areas like Barrow and Kotzebue. Eventhough these are non-profit stations, I see those stations serving their communities in a way that our industry forgot 20 years ago. I would like to know more about your DX experiences, there in Alaska. I would imagine winter nights, as someone mentioned, are very interesting for DXing. How about Russian stations? Do they get into Alaska at night?Thanks, again for the interesting conversation!!

 

[AKLes]

KOTZ, which was also mentioned earlier, is also a fascination to me. I was born in Florida, moved to NC when I was a kid...but, I'd LOVE to live in your awesome state. I have spent hours on various websites of stations like KOTZ, KBRW, and KNBA (Anchorage), checking out all the pictures (most have photos of their local communities) and reading all the information about Alaska.

Russian stations heard in Western Alaska: Occasional but not regular. The closest city of any size is Providenya and theirs seems to be a fairly low powered local service.Outbound DX from Nome sucks. KICY runs 50kW but it's (3 tower) directional toward Russia (850). KNOM (780) runs 25kW days/14kW nights non-directional at all times.A couple of years ago I ran an International Test Period DX test, playing polkas (they are easy to identify) with frequent voice and Morse ID's. Zilch. No response from the lower-48 even though the test had been well publicized on DX websites. There are, however, frequent reports from over the pole; Finland in particular.If you haven't seen the Nome websites, check out KNOM.org and KICY.org. On the KNOM site you'll find a like to a name like: "Tomsalaska.com" (I may not have gotten it exactly right). Tons of photos and links to interesting sites. Several webcams run 24/7 in Nome; I was (not long ago) able to watch the progress of a major fire in a halfway house on Front Street from angles provided by two separate webcams. I did the engineering for KNOM for 7 years before completely retiring a couple of years ago and will be back there next month to supervise a tower crew...it's time for paint, plumb, true, etc.As to visiting....Don't just jump on a plane or cruise ship! Work this board early in your planning process and strike up off-line conversations with some of us who live here. To do otherwise is to become just one sheep in a gigantic flock seeing only what the tour outfit wants you to see. Kind of like the old Soviet Intourist organization....

 

[the golden boy]

KOTZ, which was also mentioned earlier, is also a fascination to me. I was born in Florida, moved to NC when I was a kid...but, I'd LOVE to live in your awesome state. I have spent hours on various websites of stations like KOTZ, KBRW, and KNBA (Anchorage), checking out all the pictures (most have photos of their local communities) and reading all the information about Alaska.

Russian stations heard in Western Alaska: Occasional but not regular. The closest city of any size is Providenya and theirs seems to be a fairly low powered local service.

I was wondering if you guys were able to get Russian stations. I remember as a kid, I used to get a radio station out of Moscow...down here in Mississippi! I also got one out of Japan and the BBC. The Japanese and Russian stations were in English. This was back in the 80s and I haven't been able to get them anymore since.

 

[AZJoe]

I recall getting Radio Moscow when I worked in Bethel in the 70s, now if it was direct from Moscow or a feed to a nearby Siberian city, Im not sure. I used to get KYAK AM650 (now KENI ) out of Anchorage well into the Yukon, near Watson Lake. I just used a regular boombox type am/fm radio while in Fairbanks to get KFQD, nothing special. What I found unusual was getting KIAK fm from Fairbanks all the way down in Glennallen.

 

[AKLes]

I was wondering if you guys were able to get Russian stations. I remember as a kid, I used to get a radio station out of Moscow...down here in Mississippi! I also got one out of Japan and the BBC. The Japanese and Russian stations were in English. This was back in the 80s and I haven't been able to get them anymore since.

Wandering a little off topic....You and another poster mentioned stations out of Moscow....Back in the 1950's I lived near Providence, R.I. and had a very old (even then) 5-tube FADA (brand) AM radio that tuned up to around 1700 kc (pre-kHz). Loud and clearwas "The North American Service of Radio Moscow"! Night after night, never stated their frequency but I think it was around 1670. Interestingly, they used a big orchestation of "Lover" (from an old American movie) as a sort of theme. Just for kicks I adopted that piece as a "going to midnight" closing "theme" while, for 7 years, voice-tracking the 9pm/6am shift at a station in Nome.Leaving topic entirely, I wrapped up each morning at 6 with Erroll Garner's "Dreamy"and some inane comments about leaving to get my milk and cookies. Caused a fairamount of grief for some parents of young children who refused their cereal and demandedmilk and cookies for breakfast like that guy on the radio has EVERY morning.Kids.You gotta love 'em.Sauteed.

 

[B Lewis]

Thanks for the interesting responses about DXing and touring AK. I agree with the post about seeing only what the tourist industry wants you to see. Being, originally from FLA, I can relate to that...in a warmer kind of way...lol.I really like the Native American influence on the community-based public stations around Alaska. Again, it shows that there is a last bastion of real community radio out there, somewhere. Incidentally, KNOM and KBRW air an oldies show that is syndicated from our station in North Carolina. Have any of you guys ever been to The Northern Slope? If I ever make it to The King Eider Inn in Barrow, The Grundig Shortwave is going with me. But, I'd also like to know what (if anything other than 'BRW and KNJP's translator) I would hear on the clock radio in the room.Thanks again for a really cool thread.

 

[AKLes]

Incidentally, KNOM and KBRW air an oldies show that is syndicated from our station in North Carolina. Have any of you guys ever been to The Northern Slope? If I ever make it to The King Eider Inn in Barrow, The Grundig Shortwave is going with me. But, I'd also like to know what (if anything other than 'BRW and KNJP's translator) I would hear on the clock radio in the room.

Oldies show: Gotta be "Vintage Oldies". Rick Eason. Wondering if he's any relative of Jim Eason who was in San Francisco for years. Either Eason or the station has to have a tremendous library! More than once I pulled a cut out of the show to slip into the overnights. The one that stands out are the notorious "Transfusion!" and "Beep Beep". I've done a very modestly syndicated "Elevator Going Up" series and appreciate what it takes to get the music together. Keep up the good work!I'll defer to anyone who has spent any serious time in Barrow about what you might hear there.

 

[sloux]

Outbound DX from Nome sucks. KICY runs 50kW but it's (3 tower) directional toward Russia (850). KNOM (780) runs 25kW days/14kW nights non-directional at all times.

Actually, due to a fire, KICY is presently operating at reduced power non-directional. Two of their towers are on the ground, but scheduled to be rebuilt this summer (2007.) It's worth clarifying, that KICY's directional signal into Russia (when all the towers are back up) is limited to 11 p.m to 4 a.m. Alaska Time. They have just received FCC final approval to operate at 50KW full time, presumably altering the directional pattern twice a day to optimize it for either their Western Alaska audience or those listeners in the Russian Far East.

 

[PAJake]

Couldn't sleep last night and decided to see how active the AM band is here (I'm brand new to AK). I live within a few blocks of KENI's tower in Anchorage so usually all I hear is 650 overpowering everything else on the dial. However, last night two lower 48's crept in, one of which was unusually clear. First, I picked up AM1600 KVRI out of Blaine WA (part of Multicultural Radio Broadcasting) playing either Indian or Middle Eastern music (I'm no expert on either one). Not real clear but clear enough to catch the ID at 330 am. Much clearer was Sacramento's KFBK playing overnight infomercials hawking medical and nutrition supplements. I knew they had a strong signal but that one surprised me. It was nearly as clear as some locals, and much more audible than, say, 920 out of Soldotna or 1110 out of Big Lake.

 

[PAJake]

Pretty good DXing the past week or so here in Anchorage. Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Vancouver all coming in with various levels of clarity. 774 from Japan and 981 (either China or Taiwan, most likely) coming in as well, albeit very faintly. Nome's KICY and KNOM very clear for a couple nights.

Anyone else having DX success here?

 

[icstephen]

Im heading up to McGrath next month and wondered if anyone had any luck dxing any longwave in Alaska? Dont know if Japan or Russia even uses long wave, I know the UK uses some but have never been able to hear any of it here in Georgia (although in the 80's I was getting a station in the neatherlands quite frequently on MW cant remember the freq though).

 

[flytrap]

I was wondering if you guys were able to get Russian stations. I remember as a kid, I used to get a radio station out of Moscow...down here in Mississippi! I also got one out of Japan and the BBC. The Japanese and Russian stations were in English. This was back in the 80s and I haven't been able to get them anymore since.


Funny you should mention that. I'm in Missisippi also and vividly remember that station. I beleive it was "Radio Moscow" and was somewhere around AM600 at night. If I remember it was during the Reagan presidency and the cold war was really heating up and Radio Moscow started beaming its English feed from a transmitter in Cuba. I'm not sure what the power level for that station was, but I'd like to know if anyone can shed some light on the situation. It easily overpowere WREC Memphis at night. It seemed to disapear around the same time the Soviet Union collapsed shortly after the first Gulf War. Some of the powerful English language shortwave broadcasts also disapeared around the same time.

 

[PAJake]

Hey guys

Regarding picking up stations from Russia or Japan: Here in Anchorage on a good DX night with my Sony ICF2010 I can get what I believe is NHK from Japan on 774, as well as something on 981 which may be China or Taiwan. Since I don't speak Japanese, Chinese or Taiwanese, I can't say for sure. NHK is most likely correct, and comes in pretty clear every now and then. I know that back in the day, Soviet radio could be picked up in Alska, but I think with the end of the Cold War and the lack of funds in Russian communications, it's rare now to pick up Russian radio in Alaska, save for maybe small stations in eastern Siberia picked up in Nome or Kotzebue on the western coast.

For awhile in the fall I was getting awesome reception from all over Alaska as well as the Northwest US and Western Canada but lately it's been pretty quiet. As for longwave, I haven't heard anything here in the seven short months I've lived in the state.

 

[richllewis]

I have heard that in the Winter Time you can pick up Radio Luxembourg on the North Slope. Has anyone picked this station up?

 

[N7PAT]

"Pretty good DXing the past week or so here in Anchorage. Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Vancouver all coming in with various levels of clarity. "

PAJake: What stations from Portland have you been receiving?
I have heard KFQD here in Oregon in past years before KXL went to 20 kW at night. I know on occassion at the coast I've been able to null out KXL and hear KFQD.
When visiting Hawaii a couple of years ago, I was able to hear KFQD with the antenna pointed one direction and KXL with the antenna pointed another direction.

 

[PAJake]

N7PAT

From Portland I ocassionally catch KEX on 1190. I've heard KPNW out of Eugene on 1120 as well, but less often than KEX. I have better luck with Seattle and Vancouver BC stations, as well as SF and Sacramento farther south. It's been quite a while since I've heard anything outside of AK but maybe the upcoming cold season will bring me better luck. I'm still within spitting distance of the KENI towers on Dowling (the locals know what I mean) so it's often rare I get much other than KENI and static.

I always wondered if anyone in Hawaii picked up AK stations. When I was back east I could often get Jacksonville and Miami stations crossing the ocean to Cape Cod.