There are mentions here of the large amount of Latin American stations being received. There has just been a topic of how these signals now keep 50 KW stations in Chicago from being heard in the southern portions of Florida. When I first became interested in radio and radio reception in the mid-1950's, there seemed to be far more Latin stations picked up at night here in southwestern Ohio than there are now. I remember about that time getting some kind of comedy show in Spanish in which there was laughter coming from a live audience. I also recall my frustration in the early 1960's trying to listen to a football or basketball broadcast at night on WCPO-AM - 1230 K.C. and in the background, a man was heard speaking in Spanish. I don't know if these broadcasts came from Mexico, Cuba, South America or where, but I don't hear them now. Are there just more lower-power Latin American stations now that just effect the southern poriton of the U.S. while the higher power ones that I picked up years ago are gone? I've wondered about that. Any thoughts?
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Latin American Stations Now/Then
- Thread starter Cincinnati Kid
- Start date
Cincinnati Kid said:
It's mostly cyclical propagation. Sunspots, etc.
While many of the small AMs in quite a few Latin American nations, like Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras, etc., are gone due to the huge dominance of FM everywhere, the big AMs live on, most more powerful than ever. Of course, radio in Latin America has the same competiton from iPods, iPhones, the web, etc., so expect to see a thinning of AMs soon.
> It's mostly cyclical propagation. Sunspots, etc.
Not really so much.
We are at the bottom of the Cycle. The very bottom. While that bodes ill for higher frequencies (e.g., HF), the effects may actually be opposite on mediumwave ("MW"), where AM broadcast is.
To be sure, the relationship between MW and the Solar Cycle is debated, but most agree that as the ionosphere gets quieter due to the fall of Solar Flux, MW signals actually do better, certainly at higher latitudes.
I suspect that much of the reasoning behind loss of some super signals is simple congestion. The band continues to fill up. Further, many of the super-power stations (like XERF/1570) are shadows of their former selves. There is a big difference between 500 kW and 10 kW (about 17 dB!).
DE
Not really so much.
We are at the bottom of the Cycle. The very bottom. While that bodes ill for higher frequencies (e.g., HF), the effects may actually be opposite on mediumwave ("MW"), where AM broadcast is.
To be sure, the relationship between MW and the Solar Cycle is debated, but most agree that as the ionosphere gets quieter due to the fall of Solar Flux, MW signals actually do better, certainly at higher latitudes.
I suspect that much of the reasoning behind loss of some super signals is simple congestion. The band continues to fill up. Further, many of the super-power stations (like XERF/1570) are shadows of their former selves. There is a big difference between 500 kW and 10 kW (about 17 dB!).
DE
DeadElvis said:
The "etc." was inserted to cover the real issue with Latin American receiption and DX... north / south pathing and early and late season auroral effects.
Most of the mid-range Latin American DX from the northern part of the US occurs during the first four to 5 hours of a fully dark path.
By mid range, I mean Colombia and Venezuela and adjacent areas. I can recall a 10 kw Venezuelan wiping out the 50 kw Cleveland station no more than 35 miles from their transmitters, and YV's and HJ's on nearly every frequency. I was lucky once time in the early 60's when such conditions prevailed the evening of Venezuelan elections, and I logged several dozen YVs that night before midnight.
I didn't mention this since most persons have not experienced it... and it is really a MW phenomenon.
I have experienced solar highs and lows at the latitude of Cleveland, OH, and at 0 latitude, about 10 miles south of the Equator. Long distance DX, such as Australia from Cleveland and Europe from Ecuador were only possible with regularity in sunspot lows, all other things being equal.
Why would that affect special condition reception that is funnel shaped?
XERF was never 500 kw. It ran 250 kw for maybe 3 decades, ran into bankruptcy and limped until the government's IMER took it over, and is now 100 kw.
Other than TWR, frlom 500 Kw to 100 kw and XERF and XEROK from 150 kw to 50 kw, I know of no other reduced power station but I know of hundreds of stations that were below 50 kw that are now in the 50 to 100 kw range, from Argentina to Mexico. Mexico City alone has seen 50 to 100 kw come to 690, 760, 790, 830, 970, 1150, 1320, 1500, 1560, etc.
On the other hand, many of the low power, high dial position stations have gone silent.
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