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Has Any A.M. Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> WLW is the only 50kW on 700 and probably is the clearest of
> the clears.
>
In the early 80's, WLW could be easily received in the far west until a station in Salt Lake City was assigned to 700. Back then, several of the clears could probably be heard in the lower 48. If you asked what stations serves the greatest area today, based on my DXing experience, I would vote for KSL, WOAI and WLW and perhaps KOA. Other DXers may have a different perspective.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> I've only picked up WOAI-AM 1200 once here in New Britain,
> CT (southwest of Hartford). As for WBAP-AM, that won't
> happen here. You've got WNYC-AM 820 of New York City to deal
> with. There's also adjacent interference from WGY-AM 810 of
> Schenectady, NY.

WBAP owns the frequency in Michigan, Georgia, and Florida, so I doubt WNYC is 50 kW. That leave room open for DX'ers with directional antennas.

> My question: How far out does WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford, CT
> get? They're nulled to the southwest to protect the night
> signal of KRLD-AM 1080 of Dallas.

KRLD is no powerhouse, I can get 1st adjacents at night, and I am only 25 miles from it.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> the calls. Does the signal make multiple skips before
> reaching the Islands, and does having water instead of land
> at the surface for it to skip off of make that much of a
> difference?
>

It is probably one low angle skip, not multiples. KTNQ in LA gets regular calls at night from Hawai'i from Hispanics there who have no local station.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> > I guess the main question is this: Is there a 50KW station
>
> > anywhere in the lower 48 that has no other 50KW
> competition
> > on its respective frequency?
>
> How about WBZ Boston 1030 AM???

50 kw stations on 1030 include KCTA in Texas, WCTS in Minneapolis, KTWO in WY, WGSF in Memphis, WDRU in the Raleigh area, WWGB in DC and KDUN in OR.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> WLW is the only 50kW on 700 and probably is the clearest of
> the clears.

KALL in SLC is 50 kw. There are 2 25 kw stations, one 15 kw and two 10 kw as well.
>
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> > I've only picked up WOAI-AM 1200 once here in New Britain,
>
> > CT (southwest of Hartford). As for WBAP-AM, that won't
> > happen here. You've got WNYC-AM 820 of New York City to
> deal
> > with. There's also adjacent interference from WGY-AM 810
> of
> > Schenectady, NY.
>
> WBAP owns the frequency in Michigan, Georgia, and Florida,
> so I doubt WNYC is 50 kW.


WNYC is 10 kW day, 1 kW night directional.


>That leave room open for DX'ers
> with directional antennas.
>
> > My question: How far out does WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford, CT
>
> > get? They're nulled to the southwest to protect the night
> > signal of KRLD-AM 1080 of Dallas.
>
> KRLD is no powerhouse, I can get 1st adjacents at night, and
> I am only 25 miles from it.


KRLD is directional southwest towards El Paso.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> > Perhaps WBAP-AM 820 (Dallas)or WOAI-AM 1200 (San Antonio).
> They used to be pretty
> > clear, but both may have a tough time in New England or
> the
> > far Northwest.
> >
>
> I've only picked up WOAI-AM 1200 once here in New Britain,
> CT (southwest of Hartford). As for WBAP-AM, that won't
> happen here. You've got WNYC-AM 820 of New York City to deal
> with. There's also adjacent interference from WGY-AM 810 of
> Schenectady, NY.
>
> My question: How far out does WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford, CT
> get? They're nulled to the southwest to protect the night
> signal of KRLD-AM 1080 of Dallas.

WTIC is extremely weak, but sometimes listenable, here in Columbus, Ohio. I've never heard KRLD here, but when I posed a similar question a few months back I was told KRLD is quite listenable in Arkansas, about 350-400 miles northeast of Dallas, so that null can't be much at all.
WBAP can be heard here under the night signal of WOSU-AM (820). North of WOSU, out of the main lobe, you can turn your radio 90 degrees and pick up a decent WBAP. Get 7 to 10 miles southwest of WOSU's towers, behind its null, and it's all WBAP all the time after nightfall.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

> > > I guess the main question is this: Is there a 50KW
> station
> >
> > > anywhere in the lower 48 that has no other 50KW
> > competition
> > > on its respective frequency?
> >
> > How about WBZ Boston 1030 AM???
>
> 50 kw stations on 1030 include KCTA in Texas, WCTS in
> Minneapolis, KTWO in WY, WGSF in Memphis, WDRU in the
> Raleigh area, WWGB in DC and KDUN in OR.

Of those listed, only KTWO Casper is currently licensed* for 50 kW full-time on 1030, and most of their night signal is beamed west away from WBZ. KCTA Corpus Christi, WDRU Wake Forest and WWGB Indian Head, MD, are all daytimers. WGSF Memphis and WCTS Maplewood, MN, have 1 kW at night. KDUN Reedsport, OR has a whopping 630 W at night.


* The FCC lists several applications for a new 1030 in California, a couple of which specify 50 kW full-time. In addition to California, there are also apps listed for 50 kW daytime operations (with lower night power) on 1030 in Alabama and Florida as well as a CP for an upgrade of WONQ Oviedo, FL, from 10 kW to 45 kW days. The WONQ CP is set to expire a little more than 84 hours from the time of this posting.
 
Back in the mid 80's I could pick up KSL in Eastern North Carolina and I picked up WHAS on Whidbey Island in Washington state.
 
I'm sure in the 60s 70s & early 80s WLS could be heard in all 48. I received them very well up & down the east coast & California & pacific northwest. In 1978 I picked up WLS in Hawaii--so probably at least 49.
 
Re: Has Any AM Station Been Heard In All The Lower 48?

schmave said:
WTIC is extremely weak, but sometimes listenable, here in Columbus, Ohio. I've never heard KRLD here, but when I posed a similar question a few months back I was told KRLD is quite listenable in Arkansas, about 350-400 miles northeast of Dallas, so that null can't be much at all.
Click to expand...

Earlier this week, I was listening to KRLD during the evening (10 pm or so) from suburban St. Louis and it was coming in just fine....without a trace of WTIC.

During the same session, I went looking for east coast AMs and found that only two: WRVA 1140 and WPHT 1210 came in listenably well. WBZ and KYW came in, but with significant fading at times (especially KYW). The WPHT report is ironic to me because here is a station that does not come in well within all parts of its own market, yet is a powerhouse outside of it.

With regard to the "biggest" AM signal these days, my vote would go to KOA or WWL. With regard to KOA, I've heard it from coast to coast and it can be picked up reliably in areas just east of the Mississippi River. KSL isn't as reliable as that in the east and I was just barely hearing it in St. Louis, while KOA came in fine. Yes, KSL is better on the west coast than KOA....but the overall range is a little smaller. Let's call it a "runner up" because it is definitely in the top echelon.

I have listened to WWL during each night of a cross-country trip from Arizona to Pennsylvania and it came in at each stop! And, that was in 2005. Of course, that was before Pravda (er, I mean IBOC) came on line to destroy AM broadcasting. :mad:

Biggest disappointment of a 50 kw signal is WLS, which used to be quite the powerhouse and now sounds little better than a graveyarder outside of its region. Stations like WSCR, WBBM and WMVP kick sand in its face now.
 
WLS' groundwave signal has been seriously degraded by a tremendous amount of building around their transmitter site. Years ago the site was surrounded by nothing but farms, but now tollways & shopping malls are all around it.
 
KOA Denver 850 desrves a mention. At 1000 miles, it's the farthest west signal that regularly pops up in Central Indiana. Whether it's made it to Maine at 1800 miles or not is another question.
 
Back when clear channels were clear, many 50 KW stations received reception reports form all 48.
If you wanted to hear KFI from LA in Ohio or Indiana, all you had to do was stay up till midnight and null out Cuba on 640.
 
I've gotten KOA on SW FLA (between Sarasota and Ft. Myers) on multiple occasions on a Bose Wave radio with an average (or so it seems AM) tuner. Gotten it in GA and SC, and OH as well.
KSL has made it to SW Fla once-definitely a fluke; what's ironic is that the station was listenable for at least 10 min; at that point I went "fishing" for others but came up empty.
One thing-I've gotten the Little Rick 1090 in SW Fla on multiple occasions which doesn't make sense based on the signal being heavily nulled to the SE. So anything's possible. With luck and persistance.
 
KOA does have a great signal, all the way into the metro Atlanta area many winter nights. Anywhere east of there in the Carolinas and Georgia, Raleigh and Gainesville's signals on 850 overpower it.

WPHT does have a great signal down here in SC, usually one of the strongest clears of them all.

WBAP has one of the best signals in the country, IMO, as I have heard it in Richmond, VA, and it comes into Charleston most nights.

WCCO used to be a major player around the country, but that 830 in the Triad area of NC, and the one in Worcester, mainly snuffed it out in New England and the Carolinas.

WBT is probably the best AM signal on the East Coast, as it is like a local in the Washington area, in most of the New York area, it comes in well at night, and even in Boston, it comes in pretty good.
 
In Broadcasting magazine in the early 1960's, WGN Radio had an ad that claimed the station could be heard "From the Tappan Zee to the Pacific Sea".
 
BobOnTheJob said:
KOA Denver 850 desrves a mention. At 1000 miles, it's the farthest west signal that regularly pops up in Central Indiana. Whether it's made it to Maine at 1800 miles or not is another question.
Click to expand...

KOA can't be heard in Maine due to 50kw WEEI Boston. (Older listeners may remember this station as WHDH for many decades, until the mid-1990s).

Transmitting from a site about 15 miles west-southwest of Boston, WEEI is sharply nulled to the west and southwest to protect KOA (and others) at night, but it throws quite a signal east-northeast over Boston (and out to sea), and over northern coastal New England at night, including Maine.

Even without WEEI, KOA doesn't really make it out as far as New England listenably, or with any consistency. WEEI went off the air for maintenance late one Sunday night a few years ago, and here in suburban Boston, I heard a muddy mix of stations on 850. I managed to pull an ID for Raliegh out of the mix, and there were at least a couple of others. I think I may have heard KOA in there, buried near the bottom of the mix.

I also don't recall being able to discern KOA in any of my occasional nighttime travels in the WEEI null in western MA, CT, or NY. I usually get that muddy mix of Raliegh and others, and a weak, distorted, nulled-out WEEI.

I have heard KOA loud and clear at night whenever I've gone anywhere west of the Mississippi, though.
 
I'm going to throw 2 more stations into the mix just to see if these might be the ones that truly are regular catches from coast to coast. 1040 WHO Des Moines and 1120 KMOX St. Louis. I can see KMOX POSSIBLY having some problems in Conecticut with WBBR bleeding over and a spanish language station at the same number killing the signal at other northeast locations. I can see problems with WHO in Washington state with the Team 1040 in Vancouver wiping it out. ¿Anyone have anything to prove or disprove that WHO and KMOX can be heard in all states?
 
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