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Got WCCO-830 AM for first time; WLS question

W

wpiv926

Does anybody know if WCCO-Minneapolis, St. Paul has upgraded it's equipment. After over 20 years of trying, this year I've started to pick up WCCO-830 AM here in Arkansas for the first time. And, it hasn't been just a one-time deal, with WCCO coming in on a regular basis with a good to fair signal.

Also, WSCR, WBBM, and WGN are always dependable catches for me from the windy city, but not WLS. Every once in while, WLS will come, but with no where near the consistency of the other 3 big AM's in Chicago. Any idea why?
 
Not sure what your problem with WCCO might have been. I'll say, however, that for whatever reason, they've been one of the weaker 1-A stations on the dial here in the Chicago area. Its been that way for as long as I can remember. Hard to explain given that (a), the "big four" Chicago stations all boom into Minnesota, and (b) the 'CCO daytime groundwave signal seems just fine.
 
I live in St. Paul and follow the local broadcasting news fairly closely, and I haven't heard anything about an equipment upgrade for 'CCO. Perhaps 820 WBAP (San Antonio) or 840 WHAS (Louisville) is experiencing equipment difficulties that they haven't before? Or maybe there's something changing the ground conductivity (like suburban development near transmitter sites, as discussed on another thread) that would cause these signals' groundwave/skywave cancellation rings to move to your area, thus freeing 830 from any adjacent-channel interference the others may have caused? Or a local station with a small night auth, just far enough that you couldn't listen but just close enough to render 'CCO useless, might have signed off or stopped using the auth? Just a few possibilities that came to mind. :)
 
WCCO is an easy nighttime catch in Dallas, even with the local 820. Just put WBAP in a null, and in they come. WCCO was a fairly easy DAYTIME catch in Lubbock, TX (with its excellent ground conductivity), using a 4 or 5 foot loop and a GE SR3. Now there is a nearby 830 that covers them up.
 
They came in reasonably clear and w/ an ID about 2AM a month ago in Clinton CT. I tried to get Dallas- Ft. Worth on 820 but it blocked out by one of the WTOP translators.
WCCO came in during skywave in the Shenendoah Valley in VA about 125 mi SW of Washington DC but did not come in at night in Georgia.
In Fla (about 80 mi S of Tampa), 720, 780 are sometimes listenable but 890 WLS and 1000-WMVP are blocked by our neighbors to the south.
 
Something could be wrong with WHAS... I haven't heard them here in Michigan in a couple of months now, and WCCO has been flat-out booming in.
 
Josh C. said:
Something could be wrong with WHAS... I haven't heard them here in Michigan in a couple of months now, and WCCO has been flat-out booming in.
Click to expand...

Where in Michigan are you? Just over the Ohio line in Toledo, WHAS was pretty strong around sunset today.
 
Spent the last few days in Indianapolis. WHAS daytime signal was strong enough to trip the scan button on my car radio....as always. And I was exclusively on the far NORTH side of town.
 
I'm in Hillsdale... and actually, Friday night (after I last posted) I did pull in WHAS all night long. I don't know what changed, but it's been reliable all weekend... much moreso than it had been recently.
 
All of the Chicago 50 kw's (670, 720,780,890,1000 came in tonite in Northbridge MA, clear, listenable, fair strength. The funny thing is that they were about equal to each other which is usually not the case
Usually 780 BBM is the strongest, 670 the weakest.
We have a local on 830 in Worcester, 10 mi or so away. No CCO.
 
Re: WCCO reception-I'm gonna do a seperate post but Worcerster MA WCRN 830, already a 50,000 watt daytime station w/ a 5000 watt nighttime signal is going to 50,000 watts at night starting in Jan, 2007. What this but it certainly can't help CCO listeners.
Re: WLS, did a scan of the AM radio in my fiance's car about 9:00 p.m (while in Worcester MA). Strongest Chicago AM's
1. ESPN 1000 (WMVP?)- very strong no fades
2. WBBM 780-medium strong some fades
3. WLS 890-so so, deeper fades
4 and 5. 670 and 720 -weak with even more fades
 
1000 should be strongest, since they are directional toward the east, and all the others are ND. Also higher frequencies tend to propagate stronger signals through sky wave reception...
 
This is a bit off-topic, but I am in Maryland, and WHO 1040 (900 air-miles) comes in very stong most nights, while WLW 700 (400 air-miles) fades quite a bit; they are about in the same line-of-sight from Maryland, 50K, and ND - any ideas ?
 
Re; last post-I too am a radio novice but it seems that the stations approx 800-900 mi away DO come in stronger than the 500 mi ones. From Central MA, Chicago comes in better than Detroit or Cinci but then again there are first channel NYC adjacents on 710 and 770. BUT 1000 (ESPN Radio Chi) comes in better than either 1st channel adjacent 1010 NYC or 1020 Pitt. I think skiywave works best in the 800-900 mi range vs 400-500 whhich echoes the last post.
 
I was in Cenla (Central Louisiana) this past weekend and noticed that WWL-870 didn't come in near as well as it does in Arkansas (some 300-400 miles further north). Maybe there's something to this. Maybe Watt from WSM is reading this and can offer some insight.
 
wpiv926 said:
I was in Cenla (Central Louisiana) this past weekend and noticed that WWL-870 didn't come in near as well as it does in Arkansas (some 300-400 miles further north). Maybe there's something to this.
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Similarly, I probably get a better signal here in Texas than you were getting in Central Louisiana. I'm near Dallas, which is almost 450 miles from the WWL site. I also get a pretty solid signal from WSM, of course, but if my travels take me to Houston D/FW's WBAP 820 suffers fading about halfway there.

wpiv926 said:
Maybe Watt from WSM is reading this and can offer some insight.
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Check this post while you're waiting for Watt: www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,46758.msg366780.html#msg366780
Posts from Watt and others just above that one discuss how antenna height affects groundwave/skywave cancellation.
 
wpiv926 said:
I was in Cenla (Central Louisiana) this past weekend and noticed that WWL-870 didn't come in near as well as it does in Arkansas (some 300-400 miles further north). Maybe there's something to this. Maybe Watt from WSM is reading this and can offer some insight.
Click to expand...

That seems like a textbook case of groundwave/skywave cancellation. I assume if you'd drive towards New Orleans from central Louisiana, you'd go through an area where it'd be tough as nails to pick up WWL, then all of a sudden it's like you clear a wall and you're picking up the constant groundwave signal with excellent strength. That's happened to me driving to and from places like Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Cincinnati.
 
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