KXEL Waterloo Reception?

[crainbebo]

I've received KXEL a few times at my old house in Bothell, WA [usually with Overcomer Ministry]. But because I live 1.5 mi from a 5kw on 1540 [KXPA] now, it's impossible to DX on that frequency.

-crainbebo

 

[Bongwater]

I've received KXEL a few times at my old house in Bothell, WA [usually with Overcomer Ministry]. But because I live 1.5 mi from a 5kw on 1540 [KXPA] now, it's impossible to DX on that frequency.

-crainbebo

Wow.....Bothell too. I never heard KXEL (but somehow got KISA) I once got KMPC in Cannon Beach - and they're directional the opposite way!

 

[vibe]

When playing w/ the Bose Wave Radio in Central Mass-I've ID KXEL a number of times, mainly winter. But that's the exception, not the norm.

 

[audioguy]

The problem is, except for DX'ers, why would anyone listen to this station on skywave even for 5 minutes? Sure, it comes in with a strong signal at times, but the signal level is all over the place. It is bothered by adjacent channel hash from 1530 in Cincinnati, and as others have mentioned, a significant amount of co-channel interference. How enjoyable is it to listen to two or three 50 kW carriers grinding against one another?

"Back in the day" it was quite possible to listen to KXEL, especially in the car, for hundreds and hundreds of miles at night. It came in clearly. Now? Not so much. With all the co-channel interference and IBOC hash on AM, there are almost no clear signals at night unless you happen to live very close to a station. At my listening locations in the midwest (Chicago area and SW Michigan) there are only two skywave signals that I could stand to listen to for any length of time: 650 and 740. That is all.

 

[cyberdad]

Hey guys....didn't we have a thread a while back about stations audible on both the east and west coasts? If so, I guess we should add KXEL to the list if we didn't have it there already.

"Back in the day", having WPTR on the channel probably made that problematic, but now I'm pretty sure they're gone. So despite the overall deterioration of listening conditions on the AM band, KXEL has a somewhat clear path from New England to the Pacific Northwest. Couple that with 50kw, a high dial position, and a pattern favoring both east and west and you've got a reasonable shot at coast-to-coast reception.

At least in terms of being "audible". "Listenable" is another story.

BTW, regarding CHIN... Someone posted earlier that they may be lax in maintaining their pattern. Come to think of it, during my travels, I seem to recall hearing them in places where I either didn't expect or hadn't heard them before. So there may be something to that theory.

 

[jd]

/snip/

Changes in the way skywave is computed for domestic stations do not apply to treaty considerations in the the Atlantic Ocean, and Central and South America. I don't think ZNS is protected to its whole skywave contour over the ocean though. There is a zone surrounding and including the islands that is protected as I recall. [emphasis added]

That issue was addressed in a current application for a new station in Southchase FL (near Orlando) on 1540, directional with 7,000 watts day and 300 night. It's the sole survivor of three mutually exclusive applications---another in Florida and one in Georgia. The narrative regarding protection to ZNS (and critical hour consideration of KXEL) begins on page 9 here: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101247713&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1 It's a very good discussion of a complicated subject; bottom line is that ZNS's night signal doesn't cover any land areas within the "protected national boundary" above a certain level. That's due mainly to their directional pattern, as noted in an earlier post.

Maps detailing the proposed coverage with respect to ZNS (along with KXEL) can be found here, on pages 10-11 for daytime and 38-39 for nighttime: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101247713&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=2

It would appear to work, although the resulting local coverage of the new station wouldn't be anything spectacular. Seems that ZNS wasn't their only problem in trying to shoehorn the thing in.

 

[cd637299]

....well maybe I am reading the above post (sans the link) the wrong way, but....

Just like off-the-air Canadian AM's have to be treated as if they are still on (you know, protection status, directional co-channel antennas & such); isn't ZNS supposed to be treated as non-directional (after all it is a Bahamas Clear frequency), and not as if they have some directional pattern which they have chosen to use (as far as I know)?

Is it possible that the new Orlando station consulted with the Gubmint of the Bahamas (they own ZNS IIRC, even though they can run commercials) and got special permission?

A 1540 in FL....never thought it would ever happen---and NOT in the panhandle, yet....(Well it's not as if a new AM station is going to make a splash, anyway.)

cd

 

[spunker88]

WDCD 1540 has filed an silent STA that went active April 1st. Late at night usually past midnight I can get KXEL, but CHIN is always there and usually dominates the channel. When WDCD was also on at night 1540 began sounding more like a graveyard channel.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

55 uV/m 10% skywave would imply that all land areas in the Bahamas receive at least 1.1 mV/m 50% skywave to simplify the analysis. There are a very large number of islands, and it would be difficult to show a separate analysis for each one, although that might allow more power and pattern flexibility.

In any event, CHIN would probably have more of a problem protecting the legacy WPTR from Mississauga than from Toronto Island. As I recall, they were running 300 watts nighttime from the old site, probably with the old day pattern.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

CHIN has a substantial minor lobe at 202 degrees. The nulls protect ZNS and KXEL best. The major lobe is better oriented from Toronto Island.

http://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/314249-22981.pdf

 

[tomservo]

I'm pretty sure I've heard KXEL here in south Alabama during critical hours. I remember thinking it was weird that something had popped up on that frequency that I'd never heard before. Usually it's a mishmash of noise and splatter from the big station on 1530.

No trace of ZNS that I'm aware of, though. I'm marginally closer to Nassau than Waterloo, so it might be worth listening for one day.

 

[Icangelp]

As one might expect, Toronto and Waterloo duke it out here in SW Ohio. Just depends on which way I turn the radio.

Never heard Bahamas.

 

[Kansas Guy]

Despite my proximity to Iowa, KXEL is never very strong here. Can usually hear a weak signal at night, sometimes can hear during the day in winter.

 

[cyberdad]

Despite my proximity to Iowa, KXEL is never very strong here.  Can usually hear a weak signal at night, sometimes can hear during the day in winter.

KXEL simply doesn't throw much of its nighttime signal to the south....and there's a major null toward the southwest (to go along with another major null to the southeast). 

I went to college in Iowa in the 60s at a location about 100 miles south of KXEL's stick.  Daytime signal was fair, but pretty much disappeared when they went to the night pattern.  I'm not sure if they had the same pattern "back in the day".  But even if they didn't, it was pretty clear they weren't throwing much night signal southward.

As for CHIN...  This thread jogged my memory.  I said earlier that I seem to recall hearing CHIN where I hadn't before.  Going to radio-locator and viewing their pattern brought it back to me.  It was a weekend I spent in Canton, Ohio with my wife's business.  CHIN puts a significant nighttime lobe of their 30KW into Hamilton, Ontario, which thus also continues it into far western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The thing that struck me about CHIN's nighttime pattern is how nicely it manages to direct most of the signal into both Toronto and Hamilton in Ontario's "Golden Horseshoe" area, while still staying "tucked in" between KXEL and ZNS (and for that matter, the former WPTR). I wouldn't be totally surprised if it even turned up in Kansas City.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Canada claims that their side of the Great Lakes are 10 mmhos/m. And I suspect perhaps higher near the shore due to ionic effluent. There are several water quality studies online that support this theory, though the units are somewhat unfamiliar and confusing. The all water path to the shoreline to the SW probably gives a better than predicted signal to the areas in the minor lobe of CHIN.

 

[WGU20]

A 1540 in FL....never thought it would ever happencd

WKXY Sarasota began as a daytimer on 1540 before moving to 930 fulltime.

 

[wildthangjim]

Growing up in Tulsa in the 1970's, KXEL was fairly strong at night, especially considering their southern nulls. Not WHO strong, but a regular, and dominated the frequency. I haven't heard them in years though, so maybe their pattern was different then.

 

[radioman148]

Growing up in Tulsa in the 1970's, KXEL was fairly strong at night, especially considering their southern nulls. Not WHO strong, but a regular, and dominated the frequency. I haven't heard them in years though, so maybe their pattern was different then.

I doubt that you'll hear them in Perth. ;D

 

[KR4BD]

FYI.... I was in the Denver area recently and was able to clearly hear KXEL on my Tecsun PL-606 nightly IN MY HOTEL ROOM. KFI and KNX from LA were also nightly regulars and easily "listenable" most of the time over the three nights I was there. I was able to easily null out Denver's 630 to receive KFI at the Best Western Inn and Suites about 25 miles south of Denver in Castle Rock, CO right along I-25. The PL-606 is a small radio which is HOT on performance. It goes wherever I go...

 

[radioman148]

FYI.... I was in the Denver area recently and was able to clearly hear KXEL on my Tecsun PL-606 nightly IN MY HOTEL ROOM. KFI and KNX from LA were also nightly regulars and easily "listenable" most of the time over the three nights I was there. I was able to easily null out Denver's 630 to receive KFI at the Best Western Inn and Suites about 25 miles south of Denver in Castle Rock, CO right along I-25. The PL-606 is a small radio which is HOT on performance. It goes wherever I go...

Did you hear anything from Chicago & further east?