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KAAY

cyberdad

cyberdad

During a pre-dawn bandscan this morning, I came across something I haven't heard for a very long time. KAAY was booming. This was at about 430am. More than two hours before sunrise. Have they finally solved their well-documented transmitter/ground system problems? Or were they just operating on "day pattern"....50KW omnidirectional? I suspect the latter. Although, the path to the southwest seemed quite good this morning. Saint Louis stations were also booming....most notably KTRS on 550.

Whatever it was, it seemed like the KAAY top 40 "glory days" with a strong nighttime signal into the Chicago area on 1090. Has anyone else noticed anything, or know if anything might be up?
 
I'll try to check it tonight. Regarding KAAY in it's top 40 "glory days" their signal was so strong in our area (Chicagoland) that I had a preset on the car radio for them. They were like a local here at night.
 
Try searching for KAAY Nighttime Skywave Images or something like that.

I'm surprised that it would be that strong in the Chicago Area. Out further West, in Iowa or Minnesota, I would think you would get some multimillivolt 10% skywave returns. Maybe Rich can help with a calculation.
 
In Western Ohio I only heard it basically between our sunset and Little Rock's sunset. When I lived in Quincy IL. working in Hannibal MO, driving home from work the fire and brimstone was strong.
 
During its Top 40 days KAAY was very strong most nights in The Chicago area. The only times I ever heard WBAL was during sunrise/sunset.
Tonight KAAY was not strong here.
 
KAAY's nighttime FCC pattern should put a skywave of about 220 µV/m into the Chicago area 50% of the time, and 535 µV/m 10% of the time. The great circle path from KAAY to the Chicago loop is 560 miles at a bearing of N25°E.
 
To me - KAAY is the 50 kW station that isn't. I don't recall getting a trace of it daytime or nighttime in Dallas, even nulling KRLD. Just a mixture of Spanish language stuff with some unidentifiable English underneath. Maybe KAAY was mixed in. Same now that I have moved to Houston. Just nothing there - like KAAY doesn't exist or is a very weak regional buried in the mud. Those of you who know me - know its not a lack of effort or lack of equipment. It is lack of signal. I just moved up a frequency in my band scans to targets with more chance of reception, like WTAM. A lot further, but a lot stronger!
 
A pity that a station with such a narrow but impressive skywave does not offer a more competitive format, or maybe it does. Many years ago, their now middle aged listeners were teens and were spitting in the faces of the "Little Rock Nine".
 
Schroedingers Cat said:
I've posted this before but it is interesting so I'll post it again.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uiIoap97FRY/TxYylhjf4uI/AAAAAAAABYU/kKHEBOEBgQI/s1600/KAAY+Coverage+3a.jpg

Except just before pattern change, I rarely heard KAAY in Michigan at Night. They even sandwiched in Night service for what is now WCAR 1090 Livonia in between WBAL and KAAY back around 1980.
Click to expand...

I remember that map. The link works just fine for me. There was also CKKW, 10kw very directional to the north, sandwiched between KAAY and WBAL's nighttime coverage in Kitchner, ON. About an hour west of the Toronto airport, yet still pretty much inaudible in Toronto. Even in the daytime. They were oldies before they went dark several years ago.

What really surprises me is that Bruce....and accomplished DXer to say the very least....hasn't heard KAAY in Houston. It certainly seems to speak volumes about how out of whack their physical plant has been. When I spent a night in west Little Rock this past June, the signal at my hotel was noticeably weaker than 5kw KARN/920. Although that could be explained alone by the two stations' respective night patterns. If indeed they've fixed things, I'd be curious to know what happens if Bruce decides to give KAAY another shot.

And speaking of presets. During my college years in Iowa, EVERYONE I knew had a button for KAAY. (And most likely also WLS and KOMA)!
 
I've got the map now. KAAY's signal was excellent into Chicagland, but it's easy to see why it was even better in Iowa, Minnesota & the upper midwest.
 
It was in August 69, me a kid on my first paid vacation. I hung out at a buddy's house with a few other college boarders. The laundromat across the avenue had KAAY playing all night from some unseen radio.

I just added this for balance' sake, hi. The AN laundromat was in Clearwater Florida. I hadn't noticed any mentions of its signal that way.

* * * * * * *

What with WBAL and all, KAAY was a toughie to nab back in the JFK Airport DX days. But with WBAL off, and with some friendly South-favoring cx, there they were. They used to sign off MM's at -- I think -- midnight, with the song 'Take Five'.
 
cyberdad said:
I remember that map. The link works just fine for me. There was also CKKW, 10kw very directional to the north, sandwiched between KAAY and WBAL's nighttime coverage in Kitchner, ON. About an hour west of the Toronto airport, yet still pretty much inaudible in Toronto. Even in the daytime. They were oldies before they went dark several years ago.

What really surprises me is that Bruce....and accomplished DXer to say the very least....hasn't heard KAAY in Houston. It certainly seems to speak volumes about how out of whack their physical plant has been. When I spent a night in west Little Rock this past June, the signal at my hotel was noticeably weaker than 5kw KARN/920. Although that could be explained alone by the two stations' respective night patterns. If indeed they've fixed things, I'd be curious to know what happens if Bruce decides to give KAAY another shot.

And speaking of presets. During my college years in Iowa, EVERYONE I knew had a button for KAAY. (And most likely also WLS and KOMA)!
Click to expand...

In school in isolated N. Texas, before the Great FM Conversion, they were one of the stand-bys,
including, as you mention, WLS and KOMA, as well as WKY, WNOE, KLIF, KKDA, WABC, WCBS,
WNBC, and others.

Now in central Va, I've caught them a few times very early in the AM. Overcomer Rules! ;-)
 
Thanks Rich.

I did a rough calculation of the 10% skywave at 500 miles in the maximum of the major lobe using the old model and came up with around 4.3 mV/m. This is probably consistent with the maximum skywave you would observe. The major lobe is about twice the typical IDF of a Class I-A nondirectional, about 3500 mV/m @ 1 MILE. The array has a broadside design with slightly more than 1/2 wavelength spacing. The three towers are 199 degrees high.

At 200-300 miles, I would expect the typical 10 mV/m maximum. When you consider error cancellation of estimates, for some reason the measured maxima all max out about the same.
 
Last edited:
Schroedingers Cat said:
I've posted this before but it is interesting so I'll post it again.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uiIoap97FRY/TxYylhjf4uI/AAAAAAAABYU/kKHEBOEBgQI/s1600/KAAY+Coverage+3a.jpg

Except just before pattern change, I rarely heard KAAY in Michigan at Night. They even sandwiched in Night service for what is now WCAR 1090 Livonia in between WBAL and KAAY back around 1980.
Click to expand...

Interesting that 1090 WERB was day only while Mt. Clemens WBRB 1430 was a full timer.The 2 lower powered stations acted as a network back in the day - (for those who may not have known)

Looking for all the maps, Detroit is certainly in the DMZ between Little Rock's and Baltimore's signals where it made sense to add night service. Interesting that their night service was granted to 500 w, but their day service only 250w (maybe to protect that Kitchener station that is now dark)
 
Last edited:
billmich said:
Interesting that their night service was granted to 500w, but their day service only 250w
Click to expand...
I love these stations that crank up their power at night, like KFMB, San Diego.
 
ai4i said:
I love these stations that crank up their power at night, like KFMB, San Diego.
Click to expand...

WJR was not the reason why KFMB is limited to 5K days, The daytime power is limited due to KBRT (740 AM) - a religious-programming station with its transmitter in Orange County
 
As I've mentioned previously, I lived on the Kansas side of Kansas City from late '68 through April of '70.

As would be expected, KAAY had a monster night signal in Kansas City, as did KOMA. Both KOMA and KAAY were on my presets.
 
Just tried 1090 a few minutes ago. KAAY was fair at best. Nowhere near as good as "neighbors" WTAM and KMOX. Or, for that matter, KYW. I'll check again once or twice over these next few nights, but for now, I'm guessing what I heard last week was non-directional day pattern.
 
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