King of the Graveyarders?

[1L6E6VHF]

We've seen a thread (maybe more than one) about which station in the US (or elsewhere) has the greatest coverage (seems people argue over KFYR vs. WGN for the US and agree on CBK for North America as a whole).

Well, I for one will never forget my first trip "Out West" in 1991, seeing a sign for KAYS (1400, Hays, KS) about 70 miles outside of Hays and thinking "they must be kidding", only to tune to 1400 out of curiosity and finding their signal quite adequate!

So I got to thinking, what Class C AM ("graveyarder") station has the widest land area coverage. Would it likely be a station on 30μS/m soil (likely in the "Nation's Heartland" as the aforementioned KAYS), or would some Class C station on an island or some point on the seacoast get such a long stretch of seashore that though only about 5 miles wide, it would have greater area than a solid circle with a 60-mile radius?

I was looking at an online, unofficial coverage map of KFH, Wichita, KS (Yes, though the KFH call had been on 1330 for decades, it's now on a Class C on 1240). It's 2.5mV/m is not bad, but check out the size of their 500μV/m!, and they're not even using the full 1000 watts!

I also note the stations in and around Corpus Christi, TX (I've never been to southern Texas, but I noticed that they are rated 30μS/m soil conductivity on the FCC M-3 maps, and on the gulf coast), so might they have coverage deep inland and far along the Gulf Coast as well.

So tell me about your candidates for "King of the Graveyarders".

 

[rfry]

US Stations on 1240 kHz

Here is a clip showing the 150 µV/m groundwave contours of 1240kHz stations in the US, including the effects of ground conductivity.

Looks like KDLR, Devil's Lake, ND has the greatest daytime land coverage area having the least amount of co-channel interference.

 

[schmave]

I will think about my candidates!
I will say that map greatly exaggerates the reach of the only 1240 with which I am familiar, WHIZ in Zanesville, Ohio. Ground conductivity isn't great, plus it gets clobbered to the west by interference from Columbus' WYTS on 1230. I can get a weak signal here in Pickerington, an eastern suburb of Columbus that's about 40 miles from Zanesville, but it's not really listenable under 1230 slop.

 

[mike847]

rfry---that's a fascinating map. Is that something people can find and do research with? I'd love to see it. (Does it work on AM and FM?)

Thanks.

Mike

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ VHF :
I was a high school freshman DXer when I joined the National Radio Club, but I do remember reading one item.

It was that WMID 1340 from Atlantic City NJ once was heard in the state of Washington.

After looking at that swell map from RFry (it took a lot of squinting, :- ) I very much doubt that WMID's generous water-path went over the Atlantic, then Africa and the Pacific, and wound up on some aghast Washington State DXer's earphones.

So if the tale is genuine, there must have been at least a hundred intervening 1340 stations off that night.

 

[rfry]

Fact Checking

... I very much doubt that WMID's generous water-path went over the Atlantic, then Africa and the Pacific, and wound up on some aghast Washington State DXer's earphones. So if the tale is genuine, ...

Note that my post described daytime (groundwave) coverage.

Obviously the daytime signal of a graveyard station on the east coast of the US would never be heard on the west coast of the US.

Could the accuracy of this tale from a source in your high school days be suspect?