For eastern USA DXers (or anywhere) - is this typical/routine GY reception?

[pianoplayer88key]

Hi all ... so almost a couple months ago I caught this...

2012-10-03 02;35 PDT - 1400 KTUC - PL-398mp - (or possibly KCYK)

That was, I think, KTUC Tuscon, AZ, about 349 mi / 562 km from me, heading 94° (reverse 277°). Or, could it have been KCYK Yuma, AZ, which is about 134 mi / 215 km at a heading of 93° / 274°? KTUC is listed as Nostalgia, and KCYK is Country according to Radio-Locator. I'm leaning toward KTUC, as I was often hearing music from the 50s, 60s, etc when pointing my radio to the east. It's possible that KCYK could have popped up briefly though. Interesting thing is, the song is one that I've always thought as being similar to some of the upbeat 50s / early 60s pop music (before the Beatles), but per Wikipedia, apparently it came out in like 1975?

I actually started the recording a bit after the strength had started to wane somewhat. A minute or two prior, it was a cleaner signal, and was indicating up around a moderately solid 50-54 dBµ or so on the Tecsun's signal strength display. That's a strength normally reserved for 50kW clears, and even then only exceeded on propagation peaks by nearby directional 50kW stations like KDWN, KCBS, KXNT (25kW night), KMIK, whose main lobes are aimed pretty much right at me.
In the several days/weeks surrounding that, KKJL San Luis Obispo, CA from 274 miles NW, also nostalgia per R-L, was quite common, to the point where I was listening to it for the music, not for DXing (and it would have been a candidate for a preset on some radios). (It was in a deep fade when I recorded that video, though, besides coming from another direction.)

So for you DXers out there ... is that typical routine graveyard DX reception, say, in the eastern states?
Or is it even remotely possible (assuming that was KTUC @ 349 mi, not KCYK @ 134 mi), that for a few minutes I had a graveyard station coming in clearer than some of you regularly receive some "clear" stations even if you're the same distance or closer to the transmitter? Could the roles of "graveyard" vs "clear channel" have temporarily been reversed?

 

[dxho]

From central Virginia, I've caught Minnesota (+/- 1000 miles), Ohio a couple of times, and several other graveyard stations in the 2-300 mile range. So it's possible. What I find more strange now, because I don't recall it happening much in the past, is catching flea power stations (supposedly less than 50 to a hundred watts) at similar distances.

 

[crainbebo]

I get 400 miles on a GY frequency pretty often, usually KFLS 1450 Klamath Falls, OR. Farthest so far is KSMX-1240 Santa Maria, CA, 878 miles, during a massive aurora opening on March 12, 2012.

-crainbebo

 

[pianoplayer88key]

Ok, so what's the signal quality of those graveyard receptions? Were they, like the one in the video I posted, such that you could have mistaken them for 50kW clears?

Also ~350 mi isn't the farthest I've heard a GY station have the channel all to itself. Some time ago, I had gone to sleep with my earbuds in, listening to maybe 1070 KNX, 1090 XEPRS, 1110 KDIS or 1580 KMIK (don't remember which station now) on my Sony SRF-59. I woke up about 5am PST (think it was February but I don't remember) with the headphones laying beside me. I put the headphones on (don't remember whether the radio was switched off in my sleep), and within a few seconds was promptly greeted with "equis eh eh equis" from the typical Mexican-style TOH ID. The signal was weak so I couldn't make out the announced frequeny or COL. Upon checking online, I found it was 1230 XEEX Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, about 795 miles to the southeast. The signal was weak, but XEEX had the IF passband all to itself. There wasn't even so much as a co-channel rumble from offset infrasonic heterodynes, nor trace-splatter tzt's from my local 11.2 mi WSW 1240 KNSN.

Speaking of local 1240, one evening several years ago (think it was before their tower got blown over) I caught KSON napping on the air (unmodulated carrier). Normally they're strong enough to have the channel all to themselves at night, although nulling them (aiming ~N/S) can reveal the typical graveyard jumble underneath). I grabbed the Select-A-Tenna, tuned it next to my Panasonic RQ-SW20, and caught Radio Disney 1240 KALY near Albuquerque, NM, about 616 mi ENE of me. I don't remember the signal quality now, or hearing any IDs, but it did match audio from the more "local" Disney stations like 1110 KDIS Pasadena / Los Angeles and 1580 KMIK Tempe / Phoenix. (KSON had been my local Radio Disney outlet, but had previously dropped it.)

 

[KeyTimes950]

I don't know if I can help you, but given my experience with DXing at local sunset, I do get an interesting mix of stations, graveyard as well as clear channel. Some stations do indeed sound stronger as they approach the end of their broadcast days, as well as some outlets I know I will get at dusk but won't often get after dark, mainly stations in nearby states and the District of Columbia that are just far enough away not to be receptable by day in the Pittsburgh area but restricted enough for whatever reason at night that I rarely bring them in afterward. AM 1580 from Washington DC, under various owners, has been an example of that, particularly since the demise of an AM 1580 in Ebensburg, PA.

 

[ddsparxx]

In northern VA, I get a ton of mess at night at each GY frequency and it takes a lot of patience to ID any of them. The fartherst GY I heard at night was WHGO 1230 in IL at over 650 miles.
Other GYs heard were WVAX 1450 in Charlottesville, VA, with a strong local 1460 ffew miles away and a 1400 up in Harrisburg, PA, both predawn hours.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Not exactly deep fringe stuff, but 1340 in Midland, TX was quite interesting when I lived there. At the time, KCRS top-40 was a heavily censored, small playlist so a lot of kids at the time became quite the DX'ers. KSEL 950 from Lubbock was their big top-40, but 1340 KLBK was also top-40 - although a lot weaker. 1340 was also re-used in both Abilene and San Angelo, so it took a bit of nulling to get rid of one or the other, depending on where you lived. I notice that the trifecta of stations is still there - but with different call letters and formats from the late 1970's.

I find graveyards are quite listenable for at least a hundred miles, but considerably weaker than regionals or clears. I do know that KPET Lamesa - although not on a graveyard frequency - it is 690 - does more with 250 watts than any other station I have found. It goes and goes - I've heard it in Ft. Worth at almost 300 miles. So if you get a graveyard in an interference free area, it can have quite respectable coverage - although I am sure KPET's low frequency relative to the graveyards, combined with the high ground conductivity also contribute to its range.

KDFT 540 Dallas does well with 1000 watts on 540, easily receivable in Houston. But there again - low frequency.

In Dallas - 1230 is a good graveyard frequency for DX, with stations in Waco, Sulfer Springs, Ada OK, and Seymour, TX all contending - depending on where in the Metroplex you live.

 

[nocomradio]

What I find more strange now, because I don't recall it happening much in the past, is catching flea power stations (supposedly less than 50 to a hundred watts) at similar distances.

I'd second that. In the last two years or so, that happens to me with more frequency as well. Sometimes they forget to power down, but more often than not, I can get a catch that only has a very small window, so I don't think its always related to that.

As far as graveyard frequencies go, here in the middle of Virginia, it is a mess of hash, splatter, and Ibuzz, and I rarely hear much of anything, although WSPD on 1370 has been around and almost listenable a few nights in a row now.

 

[boombox]

I'm not an expert on Graveyarding, but I don't see why a 1 KW night time signal couldn't pound into your radio from time to time, even at a fairly long distance. A lot of the regional stations run less power than a KW at night, and they still get out well -- even in directions that aren't in their main lobe.

Of course, on a GY channel a station is competing with a lot more signals, but the ionosphere seems to have a habit of selecting them out for special attention from time to time.

 

[crainbebo]

KBNW 1340 Bend, OR is 500 watts-and is a PEST here. Every night I DX, I seem to hear either the callsign or their "News Radio Central Oregon" branding.

-crainbebo