Jamming on 860 WGUL? Thurs 7 Oct 2010

[drt]

Has anyone else (especially in west central, s.w. florida) noticed a jamming tone this evening on 860?; from where I am (St. Petersburg) is really giving WGUL a fight. As I was scanning the AM dial, I first noticed it around 9pm, this about 9:37 it stopped, but only for about 5 minutes.

At first I thought it might be my radio (the new Sangean PR-D5) as I moved the radio from location to location, then I tried my Grundig and another radio; still the jamming tone. Then I took the Sangean outside about 250 feet away, away from any power lines and still got the jamming tone. Then in the car and drove around for a few minutes, same jamming tone. It appears to be coming from either the s.w. or n.e. of me.

drt
st. petersburg

 

[kilokat7]

You could be hearing the same strong heterodyne that I'm hearing on 864 khz, probably coming from the 300kw France Info outlet. This would cause a high pitched tone or "whistle" when listening on 860. I suppose France would be to your north-east too. If it's strong then you should try tuning to 864 and see if anything comes in - you might be rewarded with French language

 

[drt]

Thanks for the tip Kilocat7; the Sangean won't tune to 864, but my Grundig will; will try that and report back!

drt
st. petersburg,fl

 

[drt]

Now, I'm more confused than before! On the Grundig, in the wide band, the tone is coming in from 857kc to 865 kc and seems to strongest on 863; in the narrow band, the tone (with some distorted talk as well) comes in from 860 - 864 and seems to be centered on 862. From time to time, I'm also hearing something among the distorted voice, some morse code. At any rate, I'm glad I'm not actually trying to listen to the talk on WGUL, it would be annoying.

btw- I have the ssb (?) feature on the Grundig and that's not helping in me understanding the distorted talk and code interfering with the talk on WGUL.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl

 

[gar hi]

Thanks for the tip Kilocat7; the Sangean won't tune to 864, but my Grundig will; will try that and report back!

drt
st. petersburg,fl

Drt, you can change the step mode on the Sangean from 10k to 9k.

I'm hearing that weird tone here too.

 

[drt]

Thanks, Gar Fla, I had forgot about that feature on the Sangean, will try that later. I did check 864 on the Grundig, but on that everything (the strongest tone) seem to be centered around 862 kc, I did not hear any music.

Will be interesting to see how long this "jamming" (?) lasts and if it is able to be heard after sunrise. WGUL listeners in St. Pete and Bradenton, might want to switch to sister station WLSS 930(Sarasota), which has the same programming most of the day and night.

drt

 

[gar hi]

I changed the step on mine to 9k, tuned to 864, and heard the same weird whining tone.

Whether it's on 864 or 860, I hear a fairly strong Spanish station dominate when the radio is in just the right position.

 

[FreddyE1977]

wow....France Info has several stations listed in the 100-300kW range! All to cover a country the size
of Texas with essentially a local version of 1010 WINS.

 

[w9wi]

I changed the step on mine to 9k, tuned to 864, and heard the same weird whining tone.

Whether it's on 864 or 860, I hear a fairly strong Spanish station dominate when the radio is in just the right position.

Other DX lists are reporting Cuba's Radio Reloj popped up on 861 last night. That would also account for the Spanish audio and the Morse Code -- Reloj sends its name "RR" in Morse frequently (every minute?).

 

[dxer720]

I visit St. Pete each January & hear Radio Reloj (pronounced "ree-LOH') often on 790 & 950 at night.

You might want to try these frequencies at night & compare the audio.

I don't thing I've ever heard them here in Southeastern Wisconsin.

 

[drt]

This interference I'm hearing seems to be over and above Radio Reloj......... tonight (Sunday night); I'm about 53 miles n.n.e. of Tampa and WGUL 860 isn't even in the mix (and never is) up here. The morse code I had earlier on 862 was more of a tapping noise as opposed to the tones used by Radio Reloj. I am familiar with Radio Reloj and can receive Radio Reloj during the day as well as night from my location in St. Petersburg.

In my car; especially in downtown St. Petersburg, some of the taller buildings seem to null out the local 570 WTBN at some intersections and then Radio Reloj comes in well; at other times, Radio Reloj can be heard in the background of WTBN. Also receive Radio Reloj in the mix at 790 during the day and also of course at night. Also I can receive Radio Reloj day and night at 950.

Interestingly enough some of the Radio Reloj stations have abandoned that format in favor of music the last 2 or 3 months. (i.e. 600, 610, 620, 880 and 890).

It was so nice, last month, when I was in Albany,NY and not to hear Radio Reloj once. I'm not saying Radio Reloj isn't receivable in Albany, but I didn't experience it. I wasn't expecting to receive it in the day, of course, but was surprised that I didn't hear a trace of them or other Cuban regulars other than the 1180 station used to jam Radio Marti.

drt,
st. petersburg,fl (most of the time)

 

[Steve_Green]

There's the distinct possibility of that reported 860 Cuban Radio Reloj having drifted even further off frequency. There has to be some doubt that they use FCC-compliant equipment anyway, and drifting is like a radiator leak. Neither improves.

Southwest of you would put the station in question at the western edge of Cuba, of course.

If it's an off-frequency Cuban, it might be a while before it's corrected. Like when Castro is ice skating in Hades. In the meantime, at the rate of reported DX, the station should be on 900 in a month, and on short wave by June 2011.

 

[Icangelp]

There's the distinct possibility of that reported 860 Cuban Radio Reloj having drifted even further off frequency. There has to be some doubt that they use FCC-compliant equipment anyway, and drifting is like a radiator leak. Neither improves.

Southwest of you would put the station in question at the western edge of Cuba, of course.

If it's an off-frequency Cuban, it might be a while before it's corrected. Like when Castro is ice skating in Hades. In the meantime, at the rate of reported DX, the station should be on 900 in a month, and on short wave by June 2011.

At some point, they will drift to FM, where they should be anyway.

Just think, with the sunspot cycle on the upswing, Cuba will be dominating almost every frequency. What a joy that will be.
I say, bring back Fulgencio Batista.

 

[romer979fm]

FWIW...I've heard the tone on 860 several night this week in Nashville...
mixing at times with Toronto (CJBC?)...doesn't sound like a het/whine...just a clean tone
covering/mixing with French language programming

 

[pianoplayer88key]

There's the distinct possibility of that reported 860 Cuban Radio Reloj having drifted even further off frequency. There has to be some doubt that they use FCC-compliant equipment anyway, and drifting is like a radiator leak. Neither improves.

Southwest of you would put the station in question at the western edge of Cuba, of course.

If it's an off-frequency Cuban, it might be a while before it's corrected. Like when Castro is ice skating in Hades. In the meantime, at the rate of reported DX, the station should be on 900 in a month, and on short wave by June 2011.

At some point, they will drift to FM, where they should be anyway.

Just think, with the sunspot cycle on the upswing, Cuba will be dominating almost every frequency. What a joy that will be.
I say, bring back Fulgencio Batista.

I think I already have that Cuban station beat here near San Diego, CA. If I go to the right place(s), I can hear a few AM stations at lots of other places on the AM dial, several spots on shortwave, AND even in/near FM, simultaneously. Sometimes I can even hear one of them literally ALL the time, even when my Tecsun PL-380 is booting up immediately after power-on or I'm pressing a button after which the audio would normally be momentarily muted.
That transmitter site is 9.3 miles away from me, and there's another 50kW station 7.3 miles from me... and with that radio+antenna setup I can come close to doing the same thing here at home on the two stations, although I can't hear them in the FM band, nor are they strong enough to be heard ALL the time, as mentioned above. The one 7.3 miles away from me, which is 50kW at night, sounds like this on their assigned frequency (that was recorded at local sunset), and like the others, mixes with others across the band. Without the external antennas (the power pole acts as a high-gain broadband antenna), I have to be right near the tower site (at least outside the common fence surrounding them) to get the same level of signal.