• 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

I've always felt that WKRC - 550 k.c. - in Cincinnati has never received its due for how far it can be received. Maybe that comes from being in the same market as powerhouses WLW and WCKY. The station can easily be heard over 100 miles away during the day. At night, its coverage area is reduced, but still can be heard in some distant points even though the signal may come and go,

There was a time when WKRC was probably a more desirable outlet with its line-up of air personalities and its play-by-play sports coverage, at various times, of the: Reds, Royals, UC and Xavier.

I remember being in south-central Kentucky in 1963 and taking a small electric table model AM radio to a location away from the buzz of florescent lights. I plugged it in and could easily pick up and listen to WKRC during daylight hours. That was approximately 150 or so air miles away. This was also when the station's towers were on top of the Hotel Alms in the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati. From what was really not too high a point and with only 5,000 watts, the station was able to cover quite a distance.
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
I've always felt that WKRC - 550 k.c. - in Cincinnati has never received its due for how far it can be received. Maybe that comes from being in the same market as powerhouses WLW and WCKY. The station can easily be heard over 100 miles away during the day.
Click to expand...

Even more than that! It's a daytime regular in Fort Wayne, where my in-laws are, and that's easily 180 miles away. It's not armchair-copy strong, but a decent radio can pull it in very listenably all day long up there.
 
Even farther than that! WKRC comes in pretty well in White Pigeon, MI for me.
 
From south FL....

Only the Cuban in the day, and a mess at night. I don't think I have ever heard KTSA....

There was a time, about 18 years ago, I could go to Flamingo FL (southern end of Everglades Nat'l Park), and barely hear RJR Jamaica on 550 in the day. I believe Jamaica has shut down all AM now.

I've heard YVKE Mundial (Venezuela) at night on 550, but I'm not sure what name it goes by now.

BTW, I've never heard ZIZ 555 kHz either here, with WQAM all over it. Not even a het. However, I have heard ZIZ from the US Virgin Islands (natch) and even from Bermuda (assumed reception....what other radio station uses 555?).

Yes I know this is a 550 thread....carry on.

cd
 
Here is SE Wis, there's no local on 550. But I am in almost a triangle with Wausau, St. Louis & Cincinnati.

Now that it's winter, KTRS St. Louis is hear regularly during the day. It's not armchair listenable, but it's there all day.

Sunrise will sometimes bring in WSAU, Wausau, too.

When it's dark, KTRS & WKRC are duking it out.

I've never logged anyone else on 550...Yet.
 
Here in Canyon Lake, TX you hear KTSA 24/7. Gar, KTSA puts a very strong signal into Corpus Christi during the day; not sure if it can make the jump all the way across the Gulf. I'm going to listen to your recording and see if it sounds like KTSA.

You asked about KTSA's signal to the west at night and I'm almost certain they have a null. KCRS in Midland, TX is on 550 (with 1 KW at night if memory serves me right). My hunch is the KTSA signal at night goes east and south (it does relatively well in the Valley at night).
dlf
 
I have gotten the following

KARI Blaine, WA (Religious, 5kw/2.5kw, weak day, good sunset, weak under KOAC night)
KOAC Corvallis, WA (NPR/OPB, 5kw, good signal all night)
KBOW Butte, MT (Country, 1kw nights, only caught a couple times)
KTZA Anchorage, AK (the VERY surprising one. Over 1400 miles NW at 5kw, ESPN. Does KBOW have ESPN on occasion or is it just 24 hr country?)

-crainbebo
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
I've always felt that WKRC - 550 k.c. - in Cincinnati has never received its due for how far it can be received. Maybe that comes from being in the same market as powerhouses WLW and WCKY. The station can easily be heard over 100 miles away during the day. At night, its coverage area is reduced, but still can be heard in some distant points even though the signal may come and go,

There was a time when WKRC was probably a more desirable outlet with its line-up of air personalities and its play-by-play sports coverage, at various times, of the: Reds, Royals, UC and Xavier.

I remember being in south-central Kentucky in 1963 and taking a small electric table model AM radio to a location away from the buzz of florescent lights. I plugged it in and could easily pick up and listen to WKRC during daylight hours. That was approximately 150 or so air miles away. This was also when the station's towers were on top of the Hotel Alms in the Walnut Hills section of Cincinnati. From what was really not too high a point and with only 5,000 watts, the station was able to cover quite a distance.
Click to expand...

I think those are legitimate points. Even here in central Ohio, in what some people swear is a null toward Buffalo, WKRC is very listenable all day. It does disappear completely when the pattern changes and then puts a nice signal up north ... I've heard it very well in the Lima area at night and I assume at least some signal would get to Fort Wayne.
I certainly put it ahead of WCKY in the powerhouse category only because for 50K, you can hardly hear it up here at night (it's buried in garble almost every time I check). I understand why it doesn't make it here daytime, and on the same token, why the cancellation is so horrid even on the northern fringes of the Cincinnati metro itself.
 
asugeorge1 said:
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.
Click to expand...

I bet our fellow DXer in El Cajon may be able to pick up at least a trace of KFYI in the daytime.

According to Radio Locator, their signal coverage is enormous.
 
Last night I was hearing like World Radio like te BBC1 at 2.15 on 550, Who plays that kind of programming??

I didn't get an ID, keep on fading in and out,
 
Probably KOAC in Corvallis, OR. Same that me and crainbebo are getting. I think they only air a station ident at the beginning of the hour during that period (possibly. It has been a few years since I have really sat down and listened to KOPB/KOAC, but that's how they were doing it then.)

OPB run BBC World Service at nights on their NPR feed, mainly because even though people give them money, they still can't seem to come up with any new original night-time programming to show for it. So, they switch on the satellite receiver and just rebroadcast the Beeb on there instead.
 
Just a few moments ago, in the car, I picked up WGR 550 Buffalo. My second ever Buffalo catch after having previously received WWKB 1520. Also picked up WGAN 560 Portland, Maine. I had to wait a few minutes on each frequency (going back and forth) before confirming what I felt it was on both.
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
KFYR 550 used to advertise that it had the largest land coverage in the United States.
Click to expand...

Largest *daytime* land coverage in North America, though now suprassed (again, full daytime power only) by our sister station, KXMR (710).

CBK has huge coverage, although (to the north) not entirely land, I guess.

Todd Mitchell
OM, KFYR/KXMR/7 others
 
gar fla said:
asugeorge1 said:
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.
Click to expand...

I bet our fellow DXer in El Cajon may be able to pick up at least a trace of KFYI in the daytime.

According to Radio Locator, their signal coverage is enormous.
Click to expand...

Actually, KFYI doesn't quite make it to here in (actually a couple miles south of) El Cajon in the daytime. If I go about 29 miles ESE of here to Cameron Corners, CA, though, it's weak but readable with the Tecsun PL-380 and Select-A-Tenna, although there's significant adjacent-channel interference from semi-local 540 XESURF. Also with the Select-A-Tenna at that location I can hear 580 KSAZ Marana (I think) and 1100 KFNX Cave Creek. There may be others I have recorded (at the same location, and they'd be in the same folder with the others), but I haven't yet gotten around to trying to ID them.

I can hear 560 KBLU Yuma, AZ, at home, though - just barely with the barefoot PL-380, although using the SAT improves it some. Also I used to be able to hear 620 KTAR reliably at night, but now that semi-local co-channel XESS has signed on, it's much more difficult, but still possible sometimes. Also at night I can reliably hear 660 KTNN Window Rock, sometimes 780 KAZM Sedona if I can null KKOH and 2nd-adjacent blowtorch KFMB, sometimes 910 KGME Phoenix if I can null local KECR (whose 5kW DA-2 TX is 9.3 mi north of me at a 7° heading), often 960 KKNT Phoenix, sometimes 1060 KDUS Tempe if KNX's IBOC isn't too pesky, and before sunset & after sunrise I can usually hear 1550 KUAZ Tuscon when I null semi-local XEBG.

The prize for my strongest AZ signal, however, goes to 1580 KMIK Tempe. This one, in fact, takes the prize for THE strongest skywave signal received at my location!
For example, my Tecsun PL-606 actually indicated a signal of 65/25 using only its built-in loopstick antenna. (65dBuV input to the DSP chip, 25dB signal-to-noise ratio - note that 25dB is the highest it will display SNR) For comparison, my local 5kW on 910 at 9 miles is about the same strength or maybe a couple dB less in the daytime, and my local on 1170 from the same site is maybe the same or a couple dB less at night when they're running 2.9kW. I also saw it peg the meter at 63/25 on my Tecsun PL-380, which is a few dB less sensitive.
When I added the Select-A-Tenna, I saw the signal increase to 77/25, and I think higher may have been possible. For comparison, a 10kW on 1130 at 6 miles is a couple dB less, and the aforementioned 1170, when it's on its 50kW day pattern, is about 3dB more.
Adding a utility pole ground wire increases it to as much as 91/25. To get that level with just the radio's built-in loopstick antenna, I would probably have to be within about 1/5th to 1/10th mile of the transmitter site, depending on whether you measure from the center of the site or the nearest active tower to where you're standing. At about 94dBuV or so, the radio would begin to overload in the audio section when fully modulated, and by about 97 or 98dBuV (the highest it displays), it's significantly overloading with all audio. In fact, with the combination of the SAT + groundwire, I could even get a reading of 22/14 on their 2nd harmonic, 3160kHz.
It sometimes does get some interference from KBLA, though.
 
For me, from my perch in eastern Ontario, it's the following...so far.

WGR BUFFALO NY
WKRC CINCINNATI OH
WDEV WATERBURY VT
WSAU WAUSAU WI

~BG
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom