WBBM operated at 50 kW 24/7 until their tx site relocation to use the taller tower of WSCR. That site move and the taller radiator meant that they had to reduce transmitter power, to meet current FCC Rules.
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KKOH 780 DX Test/Off Air Tonight Sat. Feb. 15
- Thread starter SomeRadioGuy
- Start date
WBBM operated at 50 kW 24/7 until their tx site relocation to use the taller tower of WSCR. That site move and the taller radiator meant that they had to reduce transmitter power, to meet current FCC Rules.
Where I live, a little over 20 miles from the WBBM/WSCR stick, you can't tell any difference between day and night power. But A couple of of weeks ago, I was on one of the online SDRs when WBBM powered up from 35kw to 42kw. The Edinburgh Indiana receiver, IIRC, between Indianapolis and Louisville. The effect was instantly noticeable. Nothing too dramatic, but the signal definitely"punched in" with less noise and slightly better audio,
Other things equal, their signal-noise ratio at the receiver output when changing from 35 to 42 kW would improve by about 0.8 dB.
@ Hawaii Gar :
>> ' If, let's say, if all 5 kw stations on a certain frequency across the country went off the air at once except for one on the west coast, could that station be heard on the east coast on a standard portable radio? ' <<
The answer is yes, Gar. Such regional stations once could be heard going from Long Beach CA to Long Beach Long Island when the spectrum was clear of all others overnight / Monday mornings.
KWIZ 1480 Santa Ana and KDON 1460 Salinas were logged back in the JFK Airport days, on a 6-tube Zenith AM-Phono console. That was the rig with the broad 'Wavemagnet' antenna at the bottom of the radio, in the back.
A third regional was heard during a special DX Test. They were KIIS 1150 from Los Angeles.
1150 usually was dead quiet MM's back then except for a station from Mexico. KIIS was distinctly readable and very widely heard in the east -- even when they reduced power during the test from 5000 watts to 1000 watts.
Alone atop the channel.
The 1000-watt portion of the KIIS test was fuzzier, but it was the same station.
It goes without sating that the AM dial was a lot, lot quieter back then, in the mid- and late-60's.
>> ' If, let's say, if all 5 kw stations on a certain frequency across the country went off the air at once except for one on the west coast, could that station be heard on the east coast on a standard portable radio? ' <<
The answer is yes, Gar. Such regional stations once could be heard going from Long Beach CA to Long Beach Long Island when the spectrum was clear of all others overnight / Monday mornings.
KWIZ 1480 Santa Ana and KDON 1460 Salinas were logged back in the JFK Airport days, on a 6-tube Zenith AM-Phono console. That was the rig with the broad 'Wavemagnet' antenna at the bottom of the radio, in the back.
A third regional was heard during a special DX Test. They were KIIS 1150 from Los Angeles.
1150 usually was dead quiet MM's back then except for a station from Mexico. KIIS was distinctly readable and very widely heard in the east -- even when they reduced power during the test from 5000 watts to 1000 watts.
Alone atop the channel.
The 1000-watt portion of the KIIS test was fuzzier, but it was the same station.
It goes without sating that the AM dial was a lot, lot quieter back then, in the mid- and late-60's.
I wonder if that 1150 XE on Monday mornings was XEAD near Guadalajara? I've heard them during aurora, along with XEWK 1190. One time they were blasting in way over the other stuff during a big aurora opening a couple years ago...which also brought my first logging from XEX-730.
Also noting during KKOH silent period, a couple of times there was some very faint Spanish music, tropical possibly, popping in for about 30 seconds then gone. I wonder if this was actually Venezuela? Too weak for IDs but notable Spanish, far under KAZM/WBBM.
Also noting during KKOH silent period, a couple of times there was some very faint Spanish music, tropical possibly, popping in for about 30 seconds then gone. I wonder if this was actually Venezuela? Too weak for IDs but notable Spanish, far under KAZM/WBBM.
Keep in mind that the Mexican listings show the transmitter site location, usually a “barrio” or neighborhood. The idea of a City of License is mostly a US and, by proximity, Canadian concept. However, it makes figuring out the actual city served rather hard at times as there can be similarly named neighborhoods or suburbs in many cities.
In much of Latin America cities expand with urbanization. There are no separately incorporated or governed suburbs... just growing city limits.
Crainbebo, here.. free list of mexican am stations compiled by a well known dx'er..... its about as accurate and easy to access as anything youll find.. has transmitter co-ordinates, station slogans, names, web addresses... this is quite thoroughly research... much easier to use then the mexican government site and sometimes more accurate even.. the guy who compiles this often talks directly to stations.
It has been very very useful to my Dxing in Wyoming
https://www.ircaonline.org/editor_upload/File/2019 Mexican Log.pdf
K
kenglish
Guest
I've often wondered what would happen if someone bought 30 minutes of time from every station on a particular frequency, to do a simultaneous shut-down and DX Test.
Knowing the likelihood of finding that many people that even know how to turn their transmitters on and off, even with their engineer on-site, makes me figure it's just a fantasy.
I remember how painful it was, just turning off all the FM stations in the SLC market one night. DX'ers loved it though.
Knowing the likelihood of finding that many people that even know how to turn their transmitters on and off, even with their engineer on-site, makes me figure it's just a fantasy.
I remember how painful it was, just turning off all the FM stations in the SLC market one night. DX'ers loved it though.
If you follow the letter of the law, that would be ill-legal.. the experimental period 12midnight to 6am, which is what allows stations to operate with day facilities.. is supposed to be non commercial.
Buying airtime therefore makes it commercial
K
kenglish
Guest
Only one station would be broadcasting, so maybe they would do it gratis...or to coincide with some maintenance.
(Proof-of-Performance, maybe?)
All the other stations would be off.
(Proof-of-Performance, maybe?)
All the other stations would be off.
You would not be buying airtime, as the stations paid the fee would sign off to allow a single station to broadcast a widely heard test.
The station doing the test would not receive a fee.
But were I the owner or manager of a station, for a small amount of money I would not turn away my audience. The amount of time needed to coordinate this internally would be worth much more than a group of DXers would pay.
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