EXAMPLE OF GRAVEYARD FREQUENCY SKIP DX

[fangio28]

Around 10 AM PST here in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (30 miles east of Spokane),
I was driving to our downtown PO. On the CAR RADIO (2010 Kia Soul),
I keep the 6 "buttons" keyed to the 6 GY channels (1230,1240,1340,1400,1450, & 1490).
On 1340 was a station blaring country music....two hours after sunrise,
a crystal clear ID (twice) as "Q-13"....that's CIBQ, Brooks, Alberta...
301 miles NE of here and no less than 10 stations on 1340 are less
miles away! For some reason, Canadian stations blast in here at times,
even, as you see on the GY channels.

 

[cyberdad]

According to Radio-Locator, CIBQ has a massive coverage area....especially for 1000 watts on a graveyard channel. I suspect either the power listing or the coverage map is off.

Here northwest of Chicago, CHUC from Coburg, ON used to be my fairly regular Canada graveyard channel catch on 1450. But IIRC they were running 10kw...albeit directional. I'm pretty sure they're now FM only.

 

[fangio28]

CIBQ, BROOKS, AB is as far as I can determine, 1 KW non-directional.
Their coverage pattern shows about 50 miles in all directions. I'm at
6X that distance! This wasn't a one-off occurrence, have heard them many
times but usually not this far into daylight.
Many Canadian stations like CHUC have "chucked it" and gone from AM to FM.

 

[fangio28]

Followup to the CIBQ logging...
Today, approx 4 hours later the dominant station on 1340 is KCAP, Helena, MT
at 244 miles away...the 7th furthest 1340 station from me here in N IDaho.
Running Dave Ramsey Show, heard in and out 1:40-2:00 when clear
KCAP, Helena ID was heard (logged here previously).
Didn't ID any other stations at the time, tho country music heard from time
to time was most likely CIBQ again. Nice clear, crisp conditions...much
better signal strength daytime than most days. Temp 39o, cloudy (as usual).

 

[vibe]

at 10:00 a.m in winter there could still be a bit of skywave. I've caught stations up to 1000 mi away in the 2-3 hours before sunset on many a winter or late fall afternoon. Great catch-I'll have to play w/ the Bose sometime on the graveyards.

 

[cyberdad]

To be clear, Frangio....

I'm not minimizing the catch of CIBQ at all. On the contrary, I think it's a great catch and sincere congratulations are definitely in order.

It just looked to me like Radio-Locator was showing CIBQ covering nearly all of southern Alberta. I know there's fabulous ground conductivity there, but that still seemed at bit much for a killowatt on a graveyard channel.

 

[davideduardo]

For some reason, Canadian stations blast in here at times,
even, as you see on the GY channels.

I rememeber when it was possible to hear many of the Canadian / CBC low power relay transmitters on the clearer channels... most were 50 watts with a very small antenna usually located at a CN railway stop. NRC used to have lists of the LPRTs to help ID which was on what service.

 

[w9wi]

For some reason, Canadian stations blast in here at times,
even, as you see on the GY channels.

I rememeber when it was possible to hear many of the Canadian / CBC low power relay transmitters on the clearer channels... most were 50 watts with a very small antenna usually located at a CN railway stop. NRC used to have lists of the LPRTs to help ID which was on what service.

I count 152 AM LPRTs remaining authorized in Canada. 21 are not CBC-owned -- two of those I know to be TISs, I suspect most of the rest are "community" stations. There are also 16 TISs operated by the CBC on behalf of Parks Canada. Of the remaining 115 stations, judging simply from the call letters I believe 95 are with the English Radio 1 network and 20 with Premiere Chaine in French.

Whether all of them are on the air I don't know. Last time I was in Canada, three years ago, one on 1110 in Deep River, Ontario was still operating. (stupid me didn't stop to take a picture when I found the transmitter...)

The LPRTs are still in the NRC AM Radio Log. They're not listed separately from other stations, though they are pretty easy to find. (as Canadian stations are at the end of the list on each frequency)

 

[Bongwater]

The last time I was in Moscow, ID in the 5-7 AM time, I caught my local KWLE 1340 Anacortes, WA. KWLE is often picked up in Alaska as well......

 

[pqgeorge]

For some reason, Canadian stations blast in here at times,
even, as you see on the GY channels.

I rememeber when it was possible to hear many of the Canadian / CBC low power relay transmitters on the clearer channels... most were 50 watts with a very small antenna usually located at a CN railway stop. NRC used to have lists of the LPRTs to help ID which was on what service.

I count 152 AM LPRTs remaining authorized in Canada. 21 are not CBC-owned -- two of those I know to be TISs, I suspect most of the rest are "community" stations. There are also 16 TISs operated by the CBC on behalf of Parks Canada. Of the remaining 115 stations, judging simply from the call letters I believe 95 are with the English Radio 1 network and 20 with Premiere Chaine in French.

Whether all of them are on the air I don't know. Last time I was in Canada, three years ago, one on 1110 in Deep River, Ontario was still operating. (stupid me didn't stop to take a picture when I found the transmitter...)

The LPRTs are still in the NRC AM Radio Log. They're not listed separately from other stations, though they are pretty easy to find. (as Canadian stations are at the end of the list on each frequency)

I actually heard one of these LPRT's while driving through New Brunswick back in '85. Most LPRT's were located at Canadian National railroad stations throughout Canada. Many used very limited fidelity phone lines which were, many times, no better than dial-up quality. Chances are, they WERE dial-ups. Eventually, CBC/SRC would use satellite dishes to feed these lonely RF outposts. I'm sure the phone lines cost a pretty penny. Most of these LPRT's ran about 40 watts (Nautels, more than likely). Like a dunderhead, I too found an LPRT site, but did not make a photo of it. (DAMN!). If anyone has a photo of an LPRT setup, please let the rest of us see it! 73 de K1XRB

 

[w9wi]

I actually heard one of these LPRT's while driving through New Brunswick back in '85. Most LPRT's were located at Canadian National railroad stations throughout Canada. Many used very limited fidelity phone lines which were, many times, no better than dial-up quality. Chances are, they WERE dial-ups. Eventually, CBC/SRC would use satellite dishes to feed these lonely RF outposts. I'm sure the phone lines cost a pretty penny. Most of these LPRT's ran about 40 watts (Nautels, more than likely). Like a dunderhead, I too found an LPRT site, but did not make a photo of it. (DAMN!). If anyone has a photo of an LPRT setup, please let the rest of us see it! 73 de K1XRB

Yep, the vast majority of these (117 of the 152) are authorized 40 watts. The one I saw was running a random wire antenna. (I won't call it longwire as it was a small fraction of a wavelength..) My understanding is most if not all of the rest of the CBC ones did as well.

There are also a handful running 20, 30, 50, or even five watts. And four of them authorized for 99 watts -- my understanding is if they have more than 99 watts they become a Class B or C station & face stricter regulations.

I might venture a guess they weren't paying market rates for those phone lines.

Don't recall if the one I saw was at a CN station. Of course, a lot of CN stations (especially in areas served by highways) have probably long since ceased seeing trains.