KGOW 1560 Night Signal

[SomeRadioGuy]

It would seem I can hear "Viet Radio 1560" KGOW Bellaire better at night 950 miles away in Laramie, WY then many in Houston and nearby environs can That 15kw into 9 towers at night is one tight pattern. I am however, seemingly, smack in the middle of a null in the night pattern, as evidenced by the picture attached to bottom of this post.

.. Here's a few audio clips:

This is some kind of commercial for a business in Bellaire followed by a short musical interlude and a program. Recorded Thursday August 8th somewhere around 930pm mountain:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KUPID0YFH93qPAzTIJLyZYV1FsCkh_Uk

Here's more commercials recorded Thursday August 14th at 1201am mountain
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O_sEjQu1M4gtp5bzx4u0vJqAaXZcKZh-

Here's a commercial for a grocery store on Thursday August 11th at 1059pm mountain with a legal id included
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L_epJ8vezYgKaVkMUADdAv33m7LF-PoF

And from August 11th as well, here's a commercial or two followed by a program intro and jingle for the Voice of America (Cant tell what language they are introducing)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yIxfSGuSIwTPnDXR9Tb4z_Tiuoklvz1u

 

[ContinuousWave]

I wonder if maybe they were still on their day pattern at 50 kilowatt.. even though that pattern is much tighter and beans primarily Northeast from the site.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I wonder if maybe they were still on their day pattern at 50 kilowatt.. even though that pattern is much tighter and beans primarily Northeast from the site.

ContinuousWave:

I really dont know because I am in a null for the daytime pattern, see the image below for a look at that. I also know they had an STA For night power and pattern 24/7 that expired in March as well.

 

[Mediafrog+]

There have been a few reports about KGOW in DX forums recently, wondering if the station is operating from its day site at night. While that might have been the case a few days ago (I didn’t check then) a quick check a few minutes ago (10:30pm) shows the signal is currently from the night site. Easy for me to tell as the KGOW day and night sites are 90 degrees apart in relation to my Cy-Fair location.

Laramie would be in the “Navasota null” for KGOW’s day signal, and the night signal shouldn’t send anything to the NW. Perhaps their directional array is out of whack?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

There have been a few reports about KGOW in DX forums recently, wondering if the station is operating from its day site at night. While that might have been the case a few days ago (I didn’t check then) a quick check a few minutes ago (10:30pm) shows the signal is currently from the night site. Easy for me to tell as the KGOW day and night sites are 90 degrees apart in relation to my Cy-Fair location.

Laramie would be in the “Navasota null” for KGOW’s day signal, and the night signal shouldn’t send anything to the NW. Perhaps their directional array is out of whack?

Thats all i can figure.. the directional array is wacked out... one houston area engineer i know called KGOW "A hot mess where nothing would surprise me"

 

[Mediafrog+]

BTW the VOA introduction on the audio clip was for its Vietnamese program. The signal took a fade but I was able to make that out.

 

[ThatVoice22]

Thanks for the comments and cool graphics, SomeRadioGuy, what is the source? KEBC in OKC is shown with nearly the same night signal coverage as KGOW, but KEBC is 0.25 KW while KGOW is 15 KW. Same thing for the day signal map, where KEBC at 1 KW covers nearly the same territory as KGOW at 50 KW. Seems hard to believe that ground conductivity might explain those differences.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Thanks for the comments and cool graphics, SomeRadioGuy, what is the source? KEBC in OKC is shown with nearly the same night signal coverage as KGOW, but KEBC is 0.25 KW while KGOW is 15 KW. Same thing for the day signal map, where KEBC at 1 KW covers nearly the same territory as KGOW at 50 KW. Seems hard to believe that ground conductivity might explain those differences.

KGOW is directional, KEBC is now...... KGOW's signal is going to be much stronger in its main lobes of the signal then KEBC is.

I got the US MEdiumwave maps here: https://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com look on the right side of the page

 

[davideduardo]

KGOW is directional, KEBC is now...... KGOW's signal is going to be much stronger in its main lobes of the signal then KEBC is.

I got the US MEdiumwave maps here: https://radio-timetraveller.blogspot.com look on the right side of the page

The important thing with those maps is that they do not show coverage, they show relative field strength in different directions.

 

[Voicetrack of Reason]

Would anyone care to rehash the story about KGOW interfering with the co-channel 1560 up in Daingerfield? Was the interference mainly during CH? Did the Daingerfield station file a complaint with the FCC?

 

[ThatVoice22]

The important thing with those maps is that they do not show coverage, they show relative field strength in different directions.

Hi David, Please describe how relative field strength is different from signal coverage - and which is used for maps at FCC and radio-locator.com --- they both look identical to the maps shown earlier on this thread. Thanks!

 

[ThatVoice22]

The important thing with those maps is that they do not show coverage, they show relative field strength in different directions.

Anyone: Please describe how relative field strength is different from signal coverage - and which is used for maps at FCC and radio-locator.com --- they both look identical to the maps shown earlier on this thread.

 

[davideduardo]

Anyone: Please describe how relative field strength is different from signal coverage - and which is used for maps at FCC and radio-locator.com --- they both look identical to the maps shown earlier on this thread.

"Coverage" in my context is the useful area where actual listening can take place. The published maps are not coverage maps related to listening; they are intended to show the signal from a legal and protection perspective.

Field strength can be estimated or measured. Due to variances in ground conductivity, particularly in urban areas with lots of buildings and paving and other stuff that affects the conductivity of signals, measured field strength is frequently very different from the calculated maps that use ground conductivity tables that have not been enhanced for more than a half century. And those tables estimate all parts of big regions of the country to be the same, where there are in fact many variant.

Keep in mind that the FCC maps are used to show signals from the perspective of co-channel and adjacent channel interference, not to show useful coverage. In fact, for AM stations the useful coverage is well inside the innermost Radio-Locator contour and the useful contour is not necessarily the same pattern or shape as the "estimated" contour.

What is important to a station today is the actual useful signal coverage, not the estimates on a map. It takes much more signal today to cover urban areas than it did even 30 years ago so real, measured, strength is very important.

 

[ThatVoice22]

Got it, David, thanks. It's the difference between theory and reality. Theory looks good on a map, but might be virtually unlistenable on a radio. Radio-Locator.com is great, but often draws the primary red signal coverage area beyond where most people would consider the reception strong, especially inside a building or in a storm. The purple and blue areas go from bad to worse.

 

[davideduardo]

Got it, David, thanks. It's the difference between theory and reality. Theory looks good on a map, but might be virtually unlistenable on a radio. Radio-Locator.com is great, but often draws the primary red signal coverage area beyond where most people would consider the reception strong, especially inside a building or in a storm. The purple and blue areas go from bad to worse.

I have thought that the radio-locator maps should be labeled "Fair", "Bad", and "DX".

 

[Voicetrack of Reason]

How "tight" are KGOW and KNDF during CH? When KNDF upgraded to 1.5kw awhile back, is that as far as they can increase power and still be non-directional?

 

[kevtronics]

Does KGOW take the prize for the most sticks in the air? They have 6 towers at their daytime transmitter site and 9 towers at a separate nighttime site!

However, their daytime site got damaged in a flood in 2016 and since then they have been operating full-time from the nighttime site while they work on installing a new transmitter and ATUs at the daytime site.

 

[ContinuousWave]

1190 in Dallas, the former KLIF, now KFXR has 16 total...4 day site, 12 night site but Salem's 1070 has more metal in the air with it's 11 tower array being mostly 1/2 wave towers..

 

[ContinuousWave]

Also, I thought KGOW was back on its 50kw day site...

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Also, I thought KGOW was back on its 50kw day site...

CW: It should be.. the STA for full time operations from the night site expired 6 months ago