During the week of January 16, I went to South Padre Island, TX, for a few days. We were staying in a hotel on the beach, and the weather was spring-like for the most part. (I had hoped to post this sooner, but work, physical therapy - continuing shoulder issues - and other things kept getting in the way.)
I didn’t do a full AM bandscan because I was trying to keep up with the action happening on multiple bands. I used a Kaito 1103 for AM/LW, an Insignia NS-HD01A pocket radio for FM, and a CC Skywave for the Weather band.
AM
As expected, the Cuban stations were really booming in at night. During the day I could hear the strong locals from Houston and from my hometown, San Antonio, as well as 630 KSLR, which dif1 recently posted on this forum that he received in McAllen a couple of weeks ago.
I logged a couple of new Florida stations on 1550: WAMA in Tampa (regional Mexican music) and WRHC in Coral Gables (SS talk). The latter had a solid signal at times. Other new ones included 1320 XEARZ in Mexico City and urban gospel 1130 WQFX in Gulfport, MS. WQFX was mixing with KWKH, which I'm used to hearing with a very strong nighttime signal in San Antonio.
One night I went down close to the beach and was able to hear a weak signal in/out with Christian music, a spot by Ken Ham, and a time announcement on 1160. It matched the stream of Caribbean Radio Lighthouse in Bolands, Antigua. That was an exciting new catch at 2,342 miles.
LW
On the same night I went down near the beach, I did some LW DXing using the Kaito and the tunable Greek ferrite rod antenna I bought last year. There was more RFI than I expected, but I heard more NDBs than I usually do at home (where the RFI is getting bad on LW), including 278 AUR in Sulphur, LA; 353 LI in Little Rock, AR; 362 SUR in Fitzgerald, GA; 365 FT in Ft. Worth, TX; and 368 AN in San Antonio (my local).
FM
One morning there was a brief but very good tropo opening to the northeast. I focused on frequencies that aren't open at my home location and logged three new stations: 97.5 KQUS "US97" in Hot Springs, AR (ID, country music, 100 kW - 623 miles); 106.7 KBZU in Benton, AR (local ads, 13 kW - 663 miles); and 106.7 KYXA "Air1" in Homer, LA (ID, Christian pop, 50 kW - 513 miles).
WX
During the tropo opening, I only managed to hear one distant station on the weather band: 162.475 WXK78 in Alexandria, LA (457 miles).
South Padre Island turned out to be a great place to DX, and I look forward to going back again later this year.
I didn’t do a full AM bandscan because I was trying to keep up with the action happening on multiple bands. I used a Kaito 1103 for AM/LW, an Insignia NS-HD01A pocket radio for FM, and a CC Skywave for the Weather band.
AM
As expected, the Cuban stations were really booming in at night. During the day I could hear the strong locals from Houston and from my hometown, San Antonio, as well as 630 KSLR, which dif1 recently posted on this forum that he received in McAllen a couple of weeks ago.
I logged a couple of new Florida stations on 1550: WAMA in Tampa (regional Mexican music) and WRHC in Coral Gables (SS talk). The latter had a solid signal at times. Other new ones included 1320 XEARZ in Mexico City and urban gospel 1130 WQFX in Gulfport, MS. WQFX was mixing with KWKH, which I'm used to hearing with a very strong nighttime signal in San Antonio.
One night I went down close to the beach and was able to hear a weak signal in/out with Christian music, a spot by Ken Ham, and a time announcement on 1160. It matched the stream of Caribbean Radio Lighthouse in Bolands, Antigua. That was an exciting new catch at 2,342 miles.
LW
On the same night I went down near the beach, I did some LW DXing using the Kaito and the tunable Greek ferrite rod antenna I bought last year. There was more RFI than I expected, but I heard more NDBs than I usually do at home (where the RFI is getting bad on LW), including 278 AUR in Sulphur, LA; 353 LI in Little Rock, AR; 362 SUR in Fitzgerald, GA; 365 FT in Ft. Worth, TX; and 368 AN in San Antonio (my local).
FM
One morning there was a brief but very good tropo opening to the northeast. I focused on frequencies that aren't open at my home location and logged three new stations: 97.5 KQUS "US97" in Hot Springs, AR (ID, country music, 100 kW - 623 miles); 106.7 KBZU in Benton, AR (local ads, 13 kW - 663 miles); and 106.7 KYXA "Air1" in Homer, LA (ID, Christian pop, 50 kW - 513 miles).
WX
During the tropo opening, I only managed to hear one distant station on the weather band: 162.475 WXK78 in Alexandria, LA (457 miles).
South Padre Island turned out to be a great place to DX, and I look forward to going back again later this year.
Last edited: