• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Frequency of the week - AM 550

gar hi

gar hi

This is one frequency I've never payed much attention to because it's a Cuban station that I get.

Or so I thought that was all.

During the day, it's just the Cuban.

Last night, I happened to notice that when I aimed the radio in the right direction and only in a very specific spot, the Cuban was nulled and I got a good signal from KTSA San Antonio, Texas. It was consistent all night with the usual fading of course.

It's only a 5 kw station but it mostly comes in like it's 50 kw! It's stronger then the big New York and Chicago stations are most of the time and it's about the same distance.

Now I'm wondering if I could hear them during the day out at the Gulf, as I never bothered to check in the past. It has a ways to go on land in Texas until hitting the Gulf but the ground conductivity there is extremely high and it's the bottom of the dial.

How far out west can KTSA be heard at night?
 
gar

I'd say it is unlikely, but worth a trip to the beach to find out. As I recall from my trip to Houston earlier this year, KTSA delivers a decent signal to the west suburbs of Houston, and also down in Galveston.

Here in SW Ohio, WKRC dominates, and in my location it is difficult to null them either day or night. Can null there signal some at night, but really haven't tried very often.

WKRC was off for a while during morning drive time on December 8, and I was able to log WDUN Gainesville, GA & WSVA Harrisonburg VA using my vehicle radio.
 
From Lexington, KY:

Daytime
WKRC Cincinnati, OH

Nighttime
WKRC Cincinnati, OH
KTSA San Antonio, TX
KTRS St. Louis, MO

Sunrise/Sunset
WGR Buffalo, NY
WDUN Gainesville, GA
WSVA Harrisonburg, VA
WASG Atmore, Al (I think this station is now defunct)
 
WSVA Harrisonburg, VA 85 miles away, semilocal

At night I logged in WDUN Gainesville and WAME Statesville, NC; the latter heard at 63 W at night at the distance of about 270 miles.
 
Daytime here in Texas about 75 miles southeast of Dallas it's KTSA all day, from almost 250 miles away. At night it's mixed with a few others like KTRS St. Louis but overall KTSA is dominant 24/7.
 
Daytime has always been the old Taft standbys, WGR Buffalo, and WKRC Cincinnati, just by turning a tuned radio frequency stage extra senstive radio. It used to be like that on 820 with WOSU Columbus and WAIT Chicago. Then CHAM Hamilton moved to 820, making me scramble to try to find a direction finder or make an antenna designed by O.G. Villard, Jr. If you have never heard of O.G. Villard, Jr., it's an interesting personal and family history to read at various online sources. Sadly, he passed away in 2004.
 
Daytime here is typically silent on 550, although if I take my radio and loop antenna about 20-30 miles east I get a weak signal from KFYI Phoenix.
At night, KUZZ usually dominates, but KFYI can sometimes also be heard.
 
While I've yet to hear it in Indiana, I'm surprised no one has mentioned KFYR, Bismarck,ND. Absolutely mind blowing daytime coverage.
 
KFYR 550 used to advertise that it had the largest land coverage in the United States. I wonder if anyone knows if the 30 mmhos/m conductivity holds up with measured contours. In any event, Canada has areas they claim are 40 mmhos/m. CBK 540 must have the largest service area in Canada.
 
These Frequency of the Week Threads are interesting....
PLEASE identify WHERE you are located. When you say you hear KFYR in
Bismarck, we don't know whether you're in Fargo or Botswana if you don't
give your location.
YOU know where YOU are, but many of these posts DON'T tell where the
poster is.
 
gar

I'd say it is unlikely, but worth a trip to the beach to find out.
Click to expand...


Well, I made a last minute decision to dash over to the beach today when I had a little available time.

Of course, when I got there, I discovered the batteries in my camera were were almost dead. That little red battery light was already flashing but I at least managed to get one video in.

So turning the radio to the SSW, I heard the Cuban station but it was easy to null completely when I faced the radio to the WNW, the direction of San Antonio. My first concern was I may hear WAYR near Jacksonville but I don't think I heard it, only the Cuban when the radio was facing in the same direction of Jacksonville. If there was any trace of the Jacksonville station, it should have been in a null with the radio facing the direction of KTSA. Also, the ground conductivity in north central Florida is not that good whereas in SE Texas, it's as good as it can be for land. I would think it's highly unlikely there could be a sky wave given not only the time of day and low dial position but also the lower lattitude.

So what I got was barely audible, something that sounds like at least three different people having a conversation. I've listened closely with the head phones on and just about 6 to 7 seconds into the video, it sounds like someone may be saying the term "TSA". It doesn't really sound like "KTSA".

If it is the word TSA, that may be a significant clue because I noticed when I got home that on KTSA's archive from today, they have part of the Jack Riccardi show which is on KTSA from 10 to 1 CST. Apparently on Friday, they do a segment called "Gang of Four" and they are talking current events. The audio archive is starting just after 10 am CST and the TSA is one of the things they are discussing, Now even though my video was shot later between 12:45 and 1 pm EST, there's a good chance the same group of people would mention the same topic being that it's current political events.

Here's my video. Again, pay close attention at the 6 - 7 second mark to see if that sounds like "TSA". There are at least three different voices I can hear throughout the video. Please listen to the whole video, as there seems to be more than one person talking again right near the end too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMrt7RB0TLI


Now here's today's archive from the show I could have been hearing. Click on 'download' under where it says "Gang of Four". If you forward the arrow in the audio, you gan get a sense of what their voices sound like.


http://ktsa.com/pages/5996495.php?


I'd really appreciate any input so I can decide what it was I was hearing today, if I can call it an official catch or just leave the title as is.

Thanks.
 
Day/night: KOAC (OPB's NPR transmitter in Corvallis).

"Please identify where you are located. *snip* You know where you are, but many of these posts don't tell where the poster is."

Just look between my handle and "rimember". There's only one Vancouver in America, and it even predates that place on the other side of the border by 31 or 67 years.
 
Nighttimes (and at both twilights) it's WGR. This is in Schuylkill County PA. I haven't done much DXing at the lower end of the dial during the day. I may get some done in Minersville tomorrow on a paint job, but Minersville is in a hole, especially for FM. Where I type from now, for example, is 700 feet higher. Perhaps if I hang around and paint into sunset I'll have some luck.

'Old days' DXing, at the Queens/Nassau border of Long Island, it was a mix of Pawtucket RI and WHLM Bloomsburg PA. Nighttime was a magic mix of WDEV VT and WGR. Sometimes, CFNB NB was there at pre-sunrise, and I do remember hearing WSVA VA, KSD St. Louis, KFYR Bismark and WAYR Jacksonville.

Quite recently (like several years ago) there was talk of a construction permit for a 550 station near -- iIrc -- Greenwood Lake NY. That's a lovely chunk of property on a longish lake that's half in NY and half in NJ. But nothing much came of it.

550 now, up this way, is vacant. WHLM Bloomsburg went dark some time ago. The calls are now on that city's 930, formerly WCNR. If it's not being done, 550 would be a wonderful frequency for an LPAM. At that end of the dial it should be expected to get out further than LPAM stations on other dark frequencies in this area. 1590, 1530 and 1480 all closed down.

Best of luck on the ID, Gar .... and some nice DX there, DD Sparkxx!
 
For me, just SE of Charleston, SC, I get WAYR with a huge signal daytime. It's probably the second strongest Jacksonville AM beside WOKV.

WAYR can be heard at Cape Hatteras on a good day. At night, I can hear WDUN Gainesville, GA, with a decent signal. I've also heard WGR here. WGR doesn't come in often.
 
I love how a lot of these recent frequency of the week discussions have involved local stations here in Phoenix, Arizona. 550 AM is actually the home of Arizona's first radio station, KOY. For around seventy-five years from 1921 to 1999, 550 AM was the home of KOY. In 1999, unfortunately, Clear Channel moved KOY to 1230 AM, a far weaker signal, and moved KFYI to 550 AM. So for the last ten plus years, 550 AM has been the home of KFYI, a talk station.

Along with Sports 620 KTAR and Radio Disney (KMIK 1580 AM), 550 KFYI enjoys being one of the most powerful AM radio stations in the valley. Groundwave wise, I have been able to pick-up KFYI as far east as Indio, California. Skywave has allowed me to hear KFYI on a regular basis around San Diego and the L.A. area. Of course, this is all when the aforementioned KUZZ and other stations on 550 AM aren't causing any trouble on the frequency.

Another piece of history about 550 KOY is that back in the day (sometime in the 1940's I believe), KOY had an opportunity to upgrade their signal to 50,000 watts, but chose not to. This is according to stories I've read on the Phoenix board by posters who know a lot more about the history of Phoenix radio than I do. How great would that have been if Phoenix could have gotten a legitimate 50,000 watt station? As it is right now, Phoenix doesn't have a genuine 50,000 watt night-time station, save for KMIK and their severely directional antenna pattern.


Long live AM 550, KOY! ;D
 
asugeorge1 said:
I love how a lot of these recent frequency of the week discussions have involved local stations here in Phoenix, Arizona. 550 AM is actually the home of Arizona's first radio station, KOY. For around seventy-five years from 1921 to 1999, 550 AM was the home of KOY. In 1999, unfortunately, Clear Channel moved KOY to 1230 AM, a far weaker signal, and moved KFYI to 550 AM. So for the last ten plus years, 550 AM has been the home of KFYI, a talk station.

Along with Sports 620 KTAR and Radio Disney (KMIK 1580 AM), 550 KFYI enjoys being one of the most powerful AM radio stations in the valley. Groundwave wise, I have been able to pick-up KFYI as far east as Indio, California. Skywave has allowed me to hear KFYI on a regular basis around San Diego and the L.A. area. Of course, this is all when the aforementioned KUZZ and other stations on 550 AM aren't causing any trouble on the frequency.

Another piece of history about 550 KOY is that back in the day (sometime in the 1940's I believe), KOY had an opportunity to upgrade their signal to 50,000 watts, but chose not to. This is according to stories I've read on the Phoenix board by posters who know a lot more about the history of Phoenix radio than I do. How great would that have been if Phoenix could have gotten a legitimate 50,000 watt station? As it is right now, Phoenix doesn't have a genuine 50,000 watt night-time station, save for KMIK and their severely directional antenna pattern.


Long live AM 550, KOY! ;D
Click to expand...

Steve Allen, pre-TV, worked at KOY in the 1940s.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom