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KDKA Briefly Received in Port aux Basques (11/28/2012)

newfoundlandtime

newfoundlandtime

It just happened out of nowhere, while trying to get to WBZ 1030 after landing on 1010 WINS (which later gets chowed out by CFRB Toronto) and somehow, I briefly receive KDKA 1020 from Pittsburgh. This happened when I was going from my house to a nearby store to pick up a few things. Count total listed below:

Clear Channel Class “A” Stations Received in Port aux Basques Since 2007

CBT AM 540 Grand Falls-Windsor, NL (10,000 watts)
CBN AM 640 St. John’s, NL (10,000 watts)
WFAN AM 660 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CKGM AM 690 Montreal, QC (50,000 watts)
WOR AM 710 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WGN AM 720 Chicago, IL (50,000 watts)
CKAC AM 730 Montreal, QC (50,000 watts)
CFZM AM 740 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts) (new as of 10/30/2012)
WABC AM 770 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WBBM AM 780 Chicago, IL (50,000 watts)
CJBC AM 860 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts)
WCBS AM 880 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CBY AM 990 Corner Brook, NL (10,000 watts)
CFRB AM 1010 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts)
KDKA AM 1020 Pittsburgh, PA (50,000 watts) (new as of 11/28/2012)
WBZ AM 1030 Boston, MA (50,000 watts)
WTIC AM 1080 Hartford, CT (50,000 watts)
WBAL AM 1090 Baltimore, MD (50,000 watts)
WBT AM 1110 Charlotte, NC (50,000 watts)
KMOX AM 1120 St. Louis, MO (50,000 watts)
WBBR AM 1130 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WHAM AM 1180 Rochester, NY (50,000 watts)
WFED AM 1500 Washington, DC (50,000 watts)
WWKB AM 1520 Buffalo, NY (50,000 watts)
WQEW AM 1560 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CKDO AM 1580 Oshawa, ON (10,000 watts) (new as of 11/7/2012)

Total: 26
 
More stuff: I also got WJR 760 Detroit (50,000 watts class A) and WTAM 1100 Cleveland (also 50,000 watts Class A). I never did get an actual ID for WTAM as it was a case of bad timing (no commercial breaks) and I had to visit the station's website itself to find out some information about what I may have heard while in the car.

Updated list now...

Clear Channel Class “A” Stations Received in Port aux Basques Since 2007

CBT AM 540 Grand Falls-Windsor, NL (10,000 watts)
CBN AM 640 St. John’s, NL (10,000 watts)
WFAN AM 660 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CKGM AM 690 Montreal, QC (50,000 watts)
WOR AM 710 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WGN AM 720 Chicago, IL (50,000 watts)
CKAC AM 730 Montreal, QC (50,000 watts)
CFZM AM 740 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts) (new as of 10/30/2012)
WJR AM 760 Detroit, MI (50,000 watts) (new as of 11/28/2012) (2nd of 3 today)
WABC AM 770 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WBBM AM 780 Chicago, IL (50,000 watts)
CJBC AM 860 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts)
WCBS AM 880 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CBY AM 990 Corner Brook, NL (10,000 watts)
CFRB AM 1010 Toronto, ON (50,000 watts)
KDKA AM 1020 Pittsburgh, PA (50,000 watts) (new as of 11/28/2012) (1st of 3 today)
WBZ AM 1030 Boston, MA (50,000 watts)
WTIC AM 1080 Hartford, CT (50,000 watts)
WBAL AM 1090 Baltimore, MD (50,000 watts)
WTAM AM 1100 Cleveland, OH (50,000 watts) (new as of 11/28/2012) (3rd of 3 today)
WBT AM 1110 Charlotte, NC (50,000 watts)
KMOX AM 1120 St. Louis, MO (50,000 watts)
WBBR AM 1130 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
WHAM AM 1180 Rochester, NY (50,000 watts)
WFED AM 1500 Washington, DC (50,000 watts)
WWKB AM 1520 Buffalo, NY (50,000 watts)
WQEW AM 1560 New York City, NY (50,000 watts)
CKDO AM 1580 Oshawa, ON (10,000 watts) (new as of 11/7/2012)

Total: 26
 
Correction, since I can't edit a post after a certain period of time it's been up: I have received as of today a grand total of 28 clear channel (Class “A”) AM radio stations.

All three were totally unexpected (and while I initially received KDKA on the old (1989 model) Sony Walkman, I did later on pick that up, along with WJR and WTAM, in the car). Still trying to uber-confirm that 1550 is CBEF Windsor so that isn't officially logged yet.
 
Also, unofficially, I think I picked up WWVA 1170 from West Virginia in the car. I'll need to take some time soon to check it out again.
 
How about 830 WCCO Minneapolis, MN or 1040 WHO Des Moines, IA?
 
I'm surprised you haven't picked up 670 from Chicago. Have you picked up any distant regionals? For example, I think WKAR 870 might have a shot at getting there near sunrise/sunset as they are on a pretty clear channel and have a daytime power of 10 kW.
 
I hope that our OP is not limiting himself to catching just the "blowtorches." There ought to be a lot of interesting AM DX to be had on frequencies that are deemed "regional", or maybe even the graveyard frequencies.

As to WKAR, I am sure that it would have to be a sunrise catch, as Newfoundland is over a time zone to the east. It's gotta be reasonably dark outside in both NL & MI.

I'd think that both 1050's, CHUM & WEPN, would eke a signal there as well. WLIB's 30kW at 1190 shoots into the Atlantic as well, no?

And also from NL could be all kinda stuff from Europe this time of year!

I wonder what radio/antennais being used.

cd
 
Must answer to this: I do have the blowtorch log that is updated, but I have also caught other stuff including...

1060 WQOM Boston (picked that up the other day) - that's a religious station
Something on 1040 that is likely NOT WHO Des Moines (earlier tonight, I heard a bit of Taylor Swift on that frequency, and I wonder who between here and there would have a station on 1040)
600 CBC Radio One from St. Anthony (from the Northern Peninsula, picks up Corner Brook's morning show, which I get easily on 91.9 here)
750 CBC Radio One from Bonavista (I was half-expecting WSB Atlanta but that will probably never happen)
Too much stuff to describe in the graveyard category (1230 which is my local CFGN up to distant 1490 from somewhere)

Heck, I even picked up a few unknowns in the X-Band of the AM spectrum (those stations in the 1600s and 1700/1710) but didn't stay with them long enough to figure out what those stations were.

And there's still that personal mystery of a foreign language on 890 (which is NOT WLS Chicago) - can't hang around long enough to get an ID on that.

Oh, and I did get CHML Hamilton on AM 900 (which used to be occupied by CKDH Amherst before leaving for the FM band not too long ago - forgot exactly when that happened).

All of those I ended up getting in the car, which is still our Pontiac G6. Best car I could ever have.

And I have posted in previous occasions other stations that aren't blowtorches that I have caught (790 from Providence, if my memory isn't going on me; 680 WRKO Boston; 630 CFCO Kitchener (before that, 630 CFCY Charlottetown which came in day and night before moving to 95.1 FM); 580 CFRA Ottawa (before that, 580 CJFX Antigonish which came in day and night before moving to 98.9 FM); 1370 WDEA Ellsworth; 970 probably from Portland, ME; 550 WGR Buffalo; 570 CFCB Corner Brook; 590 VOCM St. John's; 930 CFBC Saint John (did get 930 CJYQ on at least one occasion); 950 CKNB Campbellton (before that, 950 CHER Sydney day and night before moving to 98.3 FM); 740 CHCM Marystown (there was that one time last month that CFZM briefly overtook CHCM); 1270 CJCB Sydney (get that all the time; it's now running Christmas music for the rest of the year); used to get 1320 CKEC New Glasgow before it moved to 94.1 FM (and did get that at least once); 1140 CBC Radio One Sydney (all the time); there's a French station on 810 that originates from New Brunswick, get that all the time; used to get 780 and 920 Halifax at night until they moved to FM; 850 WEEI Boston; and many many more).

One final edit: I was hoping recently that 830 would have been WCCO but no luck. There is a station in Massachusetts that has that frequency - WCRN in Worcester which is a Class “B” 50,000 watt station.
 
It was not my intention to offend....really. Was just curious. NL is a great spot for AM DX....was in St. John's in 1999, and even in August was able to bag two or three European stations. I did hear as far south as WBT 1110 with Panthers preseason football.

A good radio to have there (not knowing about the car radio's specifications) would be either an analog tabletop model like the GE or RCA Superadio, or a heavy duty digital radio that picks up the frequencies also used in Europe/Africa/Asia/Australia. A Select-a-Tenna or tuned loop that you place near to the radio will add "bang" to that radio.

I think the Boston 1060 is a great catch. I wonder if the 1040 was Flemington NJ, but I think they are sports talk.

Would love to give it another try there, but funds limit me....I am in south Florida.

cd---PS if the 890 was Spanish, it coulda been either Radio Progreso in Cuba (which I heard in the day in Bermuda in 2005), the one in Dedham Massachusetts (are they Spanish?), or even the AM 891 in Algeria, which is quite loud this time of year in New England and ought to be in NL as well.
 
1040 could have been CJMS which is from a Montreal suburb. It's not that powerful and directional. It's night power is 5000 watts, day is 10,000. It is a country format but does have some talk shows and infomercials.
 
That is a good catch. I have family members within 90 minutes drive of Pittsburgh
who have difficulty getting KDKA.

Their signal was not what it once was, whether that is due to decaying ground systems,
messing around with IBOC, etc.

Not like the old B-17 crewman I knew who once told me he picked up KDKA
17,000 feet over England in 1944.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
That is a good catch. I have family members within 90 minutes drive of Pittsburgh
who have difficulty getting KDKA.

Their signal was not what it once was, whether that is due to decaying ground systems,
messing around with IBOC, etc.

Not like the old B-17 crewman I knew who once told me he picked up KDKA
17,000 feet over England in 1944.
Click to expand...

I don't think that there is one AM station left, whose "reach" has been as good as it once was. Another reason for the migration to FM....

That being said, with AM stations maybe dropping like flies in the next 10 years, possibly the AM DXn hobby will pick up again.

cd
 
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