Yeah... I hadn't noticed the time and date on that video.
I still think groundwave reception at that distance, and farther, could be possible in some cases. I think it would be best if the station is transmitting with 50kW (or more if outside the USA), at a low dial position (preferably 540 kHz), and uses a good antenna system (a 1/2-wave tower over a ground system consisting of 120 evenly-spaced 1/2-wave (or 1/4-wave if the 1/2-wave makes no difference) ground radials, OR two stacked 1/2-wave vertical elements, one on top of the other, insulated from each other and fed at the center (1530 KFBK Sacramento, CA, uses this type of antenna, called a Franklin from what I understand)). I would assume the receive setup would consist of a communications receiver (although a portable radio may work, as long as it's excellent on selectivity, overload/image rejection, etc), and a good antenna, either a 2-wavelength beverage, or a comparable-sized loop.
Gary DeBock posted an article in the Yahoo UltralightDX group (not posting the direct link here - I suspect it won't work as you need an account on the group to access the article) on constructing various sizes of PVC-frame loop antennas. To quote a sentence or two: "The 6’, 7.5’ and 9’ PVC Loop models are most suitable for outdoor DXing away from house wiring and computer noise, where their high gain and excellent nulling capabilities can really shine. These monster loop antennas have the capability of taking fringe AM signals completely inaudible on stock Ultralight radios and boosting the signal gain to the point that the same Ultralight radios start to overload!"
What type of antenna was used for the Bermuda recording of WCBS? Would I be correct to assume it was only the pocket-sized radio's built-in ferrite loopstick?
I'm about 195 miles from a 500-watt station on 1290 (KZSB Santa Barbara, CA (I incorrectly ID'd in the link as KZER - I'd correct it but I fear it will break the link at other places I've posted it), and can receive it from here, even though I'm about 15-20 miles or so inland from the coast. By comparison, to overload the detector / audio amplifier, I have to be about 0.125 km from a tower of a 50kW AM station. (However, 9 miles away at my house, radios are already being desensitized or having that station appear on frequencies where it doesn't belong, but when I hear of radios being overloaded, I assume it's talking about audio amplifier overload, unless front-end overload (which is what happens here) is specified.) By coupling my PL-380 to a Select-A-Tenna and a power pole ground wire, I can make KCBQ overload the radio's audio section from here, about 15km away.
Basically, I have to be 120 times closer to have the same signal with my barefoot radio that I had with the powerline groundwire and Select-A-Tenna. If the WCBS signal was received in Bermuda using only a loopstick that would fit inside the shorter dimension of a current-generation iPod Shuffle (or at least a radio the size of a deck of cards), then I would think with an antenna like I described above (or a better antenna) it could be heard across the Atlantic. (I calculated 120 (distance factor for the antennas I posted) times 687 (distance from Bermuda to WCBS) and came up with over 80k miles, and of course that's not realistic, as the earth's circumference is only about 25k, and there's quite a bit of land to absorb the signal.)
So considering the few things I've typed above (in a nutshell, being 195 miles from a 500-watt station on 1290 and still hearing it, even though the signal needed to cross at least 15 miles or more of land, needing to be 0.125 km from a 50kW station to get it to overload the audio amplifier (without the use of an external antenna), and my understanding that a good large antenna could take a radio signal from completely undetectable on a small radio to overloading the radio (i'm assuming that means overloading the audio amplifier, not just front-end overload), is it at all possible that with the right equipment, a 50kW station with a low dial position could span the Pacific or the Atlantic using only groundwave in some cases?
I still think groundwave reception at that distance, and farther, could be possible in some cases. I think it would be best if the station is transmitting with 50kW (or more if outside the USA), at a low dial position (preferably 540 kHz), and uses a good antenna system (a 1/2-wave tower over a ground system consisting of 120 evenly-spaced 1/2-wave (or 1/4-wave if the 1/2-wave makes no difference) ground radials, OR two stacked 1/2-wave vertical elements, one on top of the other, insulated from each other and fed at the center (1530 KFBK Sacramento, CA, uses this type of antenna, called a Franklin from what I understand)). I would assume the receive setup would consist of a communications receiver (although a portable radio may work, as long as it's excellent on selectivity, overload/image rejection, etc), and a good antenna, either a 2-wavelength beverage, or a comparable-sized loop.
Gary DeBock posted an article in the Yahoo UltralightDX group (not posting the direct link here - I suspect it won't work as you need an account on the group to access the article) on constructing various sizes of PVC-frame loop antennas. To quote a sentence or two: "The 6’, 7.5’ and 9’ PVC Loop models are most suitable for outdoor DXing away from house wiring and computer noise, where their high gain and excellent nulling capabilities can really shine. These monster loop antennas have the capability of taking fringe AM signals completely inaudible on stock Ultralight radios and boosting the signal gain to the point that the same Ultralight radios start to overload!"
What type of antenna was used for the Bermuda recording of WCBS? Would I be correct to assume it was only the pocket-sized radio's built-in ferrite loopstick?
I'm about 195 miles from a 500-watt station on 1290 (KZSB Santa Barbara, CA (I incorrectly ID'd in the link as KZER - I'd correct it but I fear it will break the link at other places I've posted it), and can receive it from here, even though I'm about 15-20 miles or so inland from the coast. By comparison, to overload the detector / audio amplifier, I have to be about 0.125 km from a tower of a 50kW AM station. (However, 9 miles away at my house, radios are already being desensitized or having that station appear on frequencies where it doesn't belong, but when I hear of radios being overloaded, I assume it's talking about audio amplifier overload, unless front-end overload (which is what happens here) is specified.) By coupling my PL-380 to a Select-A-Tenna and a power pole ground wire, I can make KCBQ overload the radio's audio section from here, about 15km away.
Basically, I have to be 120 times closer to have the same signal with my barefoot radio that I had with the powerline groundwire and Select-A-Tenna. If the WCBS signal was received in Bermuda using only a loopstick that would fit inside the shorter dimension of a current-generation iPod Shuffle (or at least a radio the size of a deck of cards), then I would think with an antenna like I described above (or a better antenna) it could be heard across the Atlantic. (I calculated 120 (distance factor for the antennas I posted) times 687 (distance from Bermuda to WCBS) and came up with over 80k miles, and of course that's not realistic, as the earth's circumference is only about 25k, and there's quite a bit of land to absorb the signal.)
So considering the few things I've typed above (in a nutshell, being 195 miles from a 500-watt station on 1290 and still hearing it, even though the signal needed to cross at least 15 miles or more of land, needing to be 0.125 km from a 50kW station to get it to overload the audio amplifier (without the use of an external antenna), and my understanding that a good large antenna could take a radio signal from completely undetectable on a small radio to overloading the radio (i'm assuming that means overloading the audio amplifier, not just front-end overload), is it at all possible that with the right equipment, a 50kW station with a low dial position could span the Pacific or the Atlantic using only groundwave in some cases?
