Dxing KIRO and KOMO

[dtvdxer]

The only WA logging I can recall was from KRKO 1380 one MM at 4:00. And THAT took maybe a dozen stations to be off the air. 1380 was actually a pretty proliferate frequency for us NYCers, even with two time sharing local stations (WBNX and WAWZ).

I remember getting KRKO-1380 on the Connecticut shore... it was the easiest Washington to get on the East Coast. It was great the way 1380 emptied out on a Monday morning. Also logged from CT was KGA-1510. And one station that doesn' t even exist anymore... KHOK-1560 Hoquiam, WA, 1kw with a 1965 test broadcast.

 

[W7PAT]

I live in the Portland area, so both are an easy catch here. I have heard KIRO when visiting Maui and I have heard KOMO as far south as Long Beach, CA, with a good signal.

 

[Kelly A]

KOMO is using 1/2 wave towers, so the skywave is reduced. That, and because KOMO is on the North East side of Vashon Island, an island with terrible ground conductivity, their signal due South isn't what you'd think. At KOMO, We used to get regular DX confirmation requests from Russia and New Zealand.

 

[IndigoCoyote]

I remember getting KRKO-1380 on the Connecticut shore... it was the easiest Washington to get on the East Coast. It was great the way 1380 emptied out on a Monday morning. Also logged from CT was KGA-1510. And one station that doesn' t even exist anymore... KHOK-1560 Hoquiam, WA, 1kw with a 1965 test broadcast.

Even if 1380 emptied out for you now, I doubt very much you would hear KRKO anymore. Middle of last decade they jumped from 5K to 50K, but now verrrrry directional. Most of the signal dumps out into the gulf of Alaska, next to nothing south and east. At that time Andy added a 50K at 1520 on the same array , even tighter (but similar nulls) to 1380. 1520 is KKXA Snohomish, playing classic country. I live 6 miles almost due south of the array, and have a hard time picking up 1520 at night- but my cousin in Anchorage hears it all the time, he says, on his car radio.

KGA 1510 dropped night power to 15K from 50K to let co-owned Bay Area station increase theirs. I worked for 1420 KUJ Walla Walla, 5k directional in the mid 80s (when the jock could get the gd relay to work, that is...) It was directional N/Sish with a bit of a tilt to the NW/SE. I doubt anyone back east ever picked us up, but we did get a confirmed pickup from N Finland in the dead of winter. Which was kind of exciting, to get a cassette of your own radio show sent back to you from over the pole! I sound better from a distance. SOME have said I look better from a distance as well.

 

[crainbebo]

Next to nothing south and east? I'm 125 miles from Everett and they BOOM in here at night most of the time. I can only hear KSRV and KTKZ at sunset due to their signal strength!

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Not surprised you can hear it in Yakima- even a null has some signal. I AM surprised that it is booming into your market- not engineered to do that. I was more addressing our friends in the midwest ans east coast who used to log KRKO. The tradeoff for the power increase was the fairly tight directional at night. How well do you get 1520 at night?

The original two tower array still stands to this day- not sure if it considered a backup but the do pay the bills to keep it lit at night. Or somebody does, anyway.

 

[crainbebo]

They mix with KQRR Portland. Have only heard KOKC a couple of times, they don't have the punch like they used to.

 

[AKDXer]

...And I checked last night and KOMO comes in fairly well here at night (Port Alexander, AK). They brand themselves as "Komo" for a lot of things too, not K-O-M-O.

 

[IndigoCoyote]

...And I checked last night and KOMO comes in fairly well here at night (Port Alexander, AK). They brand themselves as "Komo" for a lot of things too, not K-O-M-O.

That has been their branding pretty much forever- KOMO said as a word, not as calls.. Some of you older DXers may remember "From Vancouver to Vancouver, from the Cascades to the Olympics, you're in Komo Country"