Farthest Daytime AM Regular

[Icangelp]

Saw a couple of mentions of 640. Here (south of Indy), WHLO Akron handily wins at 260 miles, but there is something under it. If Terre Haute,IN ever comes back on, that frequency will be toast.

I wonder if your other 640 is WMFN in Zelland MI, or I suppose it could be Blountsville TN.

Providing the signal is groundwave, there aren't too many other possibilities.

I'd have to say WIND and the Chicago clears are my furthest reliable groundwave stations.They are about 240 miles away. Distance wise, WSM, WJR & CKLW are next in line, and they are about 230 miles away

The signals are reliable, but weak.

 

[cd637299]

FWIW, I went to Port Fourchon, La., in Sep 2004 for daytime AM DXn---Superadio II & III + Select-a-Tenna at the ready.

KVNS 1700 to the west (and even beyond that, XEFW 810 Tampico) to WCNZ 1660 Marco Island FL to the east. Cuba on 710 battling WNTM IIRC, and I think 670 also. WDAE 620 very strong. Etc, etc.

cd

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Id have to say the Farthest Regular in DFW during the day is KLBJ from Austin.
Though only 211 miles from me.

Turn your radio to null KEEL 710, and hopefully you don't get too much splatter from the local 700. You should be able to easily hear KGNC Amarillo. Another 300 mile possibility from DFW is KFAQ 1170 from Tulsa.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

There are several reports here of extraordinary beach reception. I lived in Daytona Beach Shores for a while, and had most of the New York 50 kW stations clear during the day, all year around. In addition, some things inland like WLW. No Chicagos, though. This was on a GE SR-2.

I've done the same type of thing during the day at Galveston, only there the Chicagos were easily heard daytime, especially WLS when it mattered. This was three decades ago on a Radio Shack 12-650. I also remember WNOE 1060 at that time.

Although these seawater reports are legitimate daytime reception reports, they would apply only to a very small portion of the population that lives or works on beaches.

Another extraordinary situation is in high conductivity areas like West Texas - I can definitely corroborate the Midland reports because I lived there and DX'd AM before I discovered FM DX from Dallas was also possible - and reliable. The best DX I had was testing 4 and 5 foot loop antennas from Lubbock, which has amazing ground conductivity. I had several Chicagos, other stations like WSM, WCCO, and WSB. Reception of this type was characterized by deep fades lasting an hour or more, so reception couldn't be called reliable. What was reliable was an X-band station playing nostalgia music. It had to be on 1640, 1650, or 1660 but the dial calibration on an SR-3 was not good enough to tell the frequency. Either somebody flipped to another format since (this was in the 2003 timeframe), it was Marco Island - which doesn't seem possible, or somebody had a little AM transmitter in Lubbock. My father and I listened for over an hour, an ID never came.

Discounting all of the extraordinary circumstances with high ground conductivity and even higher conductivity at the beaches, I can easily do WWL from Houston (which has normal ground conductivity), plus several relatively low power Mexican stations in the low part of the band up to 400 miles. I have yet to verify anything further than about 600 miles with a large loop, although I have tentative reception of WFLF when I null KDFT using a 5.6 foot loop. I am going to supersize that to an 8 foot loop in a week. At the same time, I am converting it to varactor tuning so I can put it outside away from networking stuff and tune remotely. That would be about 850 miles. If that works, I will next go after KFI, which should be possible if I null WWLS. But it is a long shot at best.

 

[radioman148]

It seems amazing to me that you heard the Chicago AMs during the day in Galveston. Was this mid day, like around noon?

 

[cyberdad]

SC, no 670 or 720 out of Chicago in SE Michigan? I would've thought at least one of Chicago's 50kws would've made it there during the day. I know WBBM has competition from Saginaw.

I was in Detroit Friday...and spent that night at an airport hotel. WGN 720 was just fine during daylight hours. 670 and 780 were also present...but a bit problematic because of respective first and second adjacents. As posted previously in other threads, I have no problem with any of these three across the Detroit River in Windsor. Ontario. They're good....especially WSCR/670....for about a half hour beyond Windsor on the 401 freeway heading towards Toronto.

Here at home in far northwest suburban Chicago, WLW used to be the farthest regular daytime signal. IBOC and other noisemakers have pretty much ended that. Same story for WJR. Nowadays, I'd give it to KTRS/550 from St. Louis....probably about 270 miles. I can usually also hear KWMT Fort Dodge, Iowa and WOI Ames, Iowa....but these are under WAUK and WMFN respectively, and may not fit most people's definition of "reliable". KTRS is alone and listenable (barely) every day.

 

[radioman148]

SC, no 670 or 720 out of Chicago in SE Michigan? I would've thought at least one of Chicago's 50kws would've made it there during the day. I know WBBM has competition from Saginaw.

I was in Detroit Friday...and spent that night at an airport hotel. WGN 720 was just fine during daylight hours. 670 and 780 were also present...but a bit problematic because of respective first and second adjacents. As posted previously in other threads, I have no problem with any of these three across the Detroit River in Windsor. Ontario. They're good....especially WSCR/670....for about a half hour beyond Windsor on the 401 freeway heading towards Toronto.

Here at home in far northwest suburban Chicago, WLW used to be the farthest regular daytime signal. IBOC and other noisemakers have pretty much ended that. Same story for WJR. Nowadays, I'd give it to KTRS/550 from St. Louis....probably about 270 miles. I can usually also hear KWMT Fort Dodge, Iowa and WOI Ames, Iowa....but these are under WAUK and WMFN respectively, and may not fit most people's definition of "reliable". KTRS is alone and listenable (barely) every day.

Near north Chicago suburbs I still hear WLW & sometimes KTRS. WJR used to be easy, but the 750 in Portage, Indiana takes care of that now.
I used to get KWMT & WOI, but no more. WAUK ruins KWMT & WMFN takes care of WOI.
Many many years ago I used to hear WCAR during the day on 1130 before WISN moved to that frequency. Also WHO on 1040 came in during the day before WNVR.

 

[cyberdad]

I used to get KWMT & WOI, but no more. WAUK ruins KWMT & WMFN takes care of WOI.

I think I'm just far enough west of you that KWMT and WOI are incrementally stronger and can break through to the extent that they can be heard under the newer, closer stations. Although in the case of 540, WAUK definitely needs to be nulled.

 

[Tincap]

Ottawa, Montreal, Albany, Utica/Rome, Syracuse, Buffalo, Toronto complete my daylight loop. WGR, CFRB being the furthest 'regulars' at about 200 miles.

~BG

 

[charlestondxman]

Talking about great signals, at Edisto Beach, about 30 miles SW of Charleston a few months ago I picked up 620 WDAE midday. They have a very good signal. They have been on double power for several years due to an STA, but they are listenable to Gainesville and probably farther daytime.

670 and 710 from Miami can also be heard in Charleston daytime. 670 is stronger because 710 has a co-channel in St. Matthews, about 70 miles away. 790 is also in from time to time but usually Brunswick is the stronger signal.

WDAE also carries into New Orleans (including the French Quarter) daytime. That's about the same distance (almost 475 miles) as the Miami AMs coming in Charleston. I remember hearing a Rays game there three years ago.

 

[LibertyNT]

Id have to say the Farthest Regular in DFW during the day is KLBJ from Austin.
Though only 211 miles from me.

Turn your radio to null KEEL 710, and hopefully you don't get too much splatter from the local 700. You should be able to easily hear KGNC Amarillo. Another 300 mile possibility from DFW is KFAQ 1170 from Tulsa.

Before KVCE popped onto 1160, KFAQ was an easy catch for me during the day in McKinney. Somedays its cleaer then others, but not nearly as dominant as it sed to be.

I'll have to try for 710. KHSE is a bit strong day and night here, but I have gotten WLW under it, along with 710 from Seattle.

 

[crainbebo]

It used to be KGDD 1520 and KKOV 1550 in Portland [1550 is Vancouver, WA] but 1520 is now KKXA Snohomish, and 1550 is KXPA splatter [I live 2mi from KXPA 1540].

-crainbebo

 

[radioman148]

I used to get KWMT & WOI, but no more. WAUK ruins KWMT & WMFN takes care of WOI.

I think I'm just far enough west of you that KWMT and WOI are incrementally stronger and can break through to the extent that they can be heard under the newer, closer stations. Although in the case of 540, WAUK definitely needs to be nulled.

I'm sure you're right.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

It seems amazing to me that you heard the Chicago AMs during the day in Galveston. Was this mid day, like around noon?

More like 3 PM. WLS was the only one I was interested in, but I did a quick check for 670, 720, and 780. They were there. WBBM was one of the stronger Chicago daytime stations with a large loop in Lubbock - but I had to null local 790 there. It attests to the power of those loops. Oh - and Radio Shack 12-603 was swamped by the local 790, while GE SR2 and 3 were doing fine with it.

 

[Tom Wells]

Oddball dx in Chicago yesterday. WJJG 1530 off air at sunrise, no WCKY, ??? analog radio..maybe 7:30 AM,
some station in Texas talking about double tides.....Who's on the gulf coast at 1510,20 or 30?
Farthest regular for me would be WMT 600.

Wintertime... with a good loop on the Collins R390A always showed up WABC on the tuned loop, just at the edge of copy.
Plus WLW, naturally.

 

[radioman148]

It seems amazing to me that you heard the Chicago AMs during the day in Galveston. Was this mid day, like around noon?

More like 3 PM. WLS was the only one I was interested in, but I did a quick check for 670, 720, and 780. They were there. WBBM was one of the stronger Chicago daytime stations with a large loop in Lubbock - but I had to null local 790 there. It attests to the power of those loops. Oh - and Radio Shack 12-603 was swamped by the local 790, while GE SR2 and 3 were doing fine with it.

What time of year was this?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

What time of year was this?

Multiple times of the year , although definitely more beach visits in the spring, summer, and fall back then. A portable tuned to WLS was a welcome companion. I am pretty sure I heard of a couple of other people on the beach doing the same thing - KILT had gone country by then and WLS was well known.

I need to get back there with a GE SR(1) and see what I can do today. Unfortunately most of the 50kW midwest clears will be impossible because of new stations on those frequencies in the last 30 years. I would try for WLS, but their ground system is screwed up. I think WFLF might be a possible target. I've heard of some people that can null WBAP and get Tampa from beach houses down there, but I haven't gone to check out their setup.

What I would really like to try is to take some wire, run it down to the surf line, bury it so I don't trip anybody, and run it back to my radio as a ground. That, and maybe take a small loop to see what is out there. In Galveston, it would help to know Spanish, but I don't speak foreign. So all the Mexico stuff is probably going to be un-noticed. I know one or two of my daughter's friends speak it, but there is no way they want to hang around with an old man DX'ing on the beach.

Another problem on the beach is the noise. You don't realize it until you try listening to the radio, but surf is LOUD.

 

[radioman148]

What time of year was this?

Multiple times of the year , although definitely more beach visits in the spring, summer, and fall back then. A portable tuned to WLS was a welcome companion. I am pretty sure I heard of a couple of other people on the beach doing the same thing - KILT had gone country by then and WLS was well known.

I need to get back there with a GE SR(1) and see what I can do today. Unfortunately most of the 50kW midwest clears will be impossible because of new stations on those frequencies in the last 30 years. I would try for WLS, but their ground system is screwed up. I think WFLF might be a possible target. I've heard of some people that can null WBAP and get Tampa from beach houses down there, but I haven't gone to check out their setup.

What I would really like to try is to take some wire, run it down to the surf line, bury it so I don't trip anybody, and run it back to my radio as a ground. That, and maybe take a small loop to see what is out there. In Galveston, it would help to know Spanish, but I don't speak foreign. So all the Mexico stuff is probably going to be un-noticed. I know one or two of my daughter's friends speak it, but there is no way they want to hang around with an old man DX'ing on the beach.

Another problem on the beach is the noise. You don't realize it until you try listening to the radio, but surf is LOUD.

Picking up Chicago in Galveston during the day blows my mind especially since the signal travels over land.
Sounds like a great DX spot on the beach. Try headphones to null the surf.

 

[K6JHU]

Unless it is a steep beach, just going straight down a couple of feet may work. Disguise it as a sand castle

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Picking up Chicago in Galveston during the day blows my mind especially since the signal travels over land.
Sounds like a great DX spot on the beach. Try headphones to null the surf.

I think it was down the coast from the seawall part of town, in the state park area. That is where we used to go, one of the girls had a beach house up the beach in Jamaica Beach. The island is narrower there, so conductivity is probably better than in the more populated part of the island.

Yeah - everybody was really bummed when KILT went country, and was scrambling for a replacement. WLS on the beach was an obvious top-40 outlet, and was strong enough to get noticed. So was WNOE 1060 New Orleans. Now days - WLS has been the piddle, drivel, and swill of mindless talk radio for a couple of decades. I called them up right after the switch and complained. They called me "crazy" and hung up. I called KILT after the switch and was told that top-40 was "out", country was "in", I should get with the current trends. Uh - NO!