Maximum AM daytime groundwave reception range?

[DJK_31904]

Ever since I installed my simple 75-ft outdoor dipole wire antenna, I've noticed a drastically increased number of stations on AM during the daytime. Before the dipole, I was using a 40-ft outdoor longwire connected directly to the back of my receiver, and reception was mediocre at best since it received a lot of electrical interference from the house.

So far, with the new antenna I'm able to receive 650 WSM Nashville during day with little to no fading, at 255 miles. What really amazes me is how 700 WLW Cincinnati can still be heard in the early and mid-afternoon hours, at 466 miles! Even though it's pretty weak and slowly fades in and out, the "Newsradio 700 WLW" slogan is clearly heard.

I'm still exploring to see what else can be heard, but I think WLW will my best regular dx. I'm still trying to catch 870 WWL New Orleans, with no luck so far, even though it's 100 miles closer than Cincinnati. Perhaps the shorter wavelength hampers WWL from reaching me.

So, what's the farthest AM DX you can get during early PM hours?

 

[Len14043]

> Ever since I installed my simple 75-ft outdoor dipole wire
> antenna, I've noticed a drastically increased number of
> stations on AM during the daytime. Before the dipole, I was
> using a 40-ft outdoor longwire connected directly to the
> back of my receiver, and reception was mediocre at best
> since it received a lot of electrical interference from the
> house.
>
> So far, with the new antenna I'm able to receive 650 WSM
> Nashville during day with little to no fading, at 255 miles.
> What really amazes me is how 700 WLW Cincinnati can still be
> heard in the early and mid-afternoon hours, at 466 miles!
> Even though it's pretty weak and slowly fades in and out,
> the "Newsradio 700 WLW" slogan is clearly heard.
>
> I'm still exploring to see what else can be heard, but I
> think WLW will my best regular dx. I'm still trying to catch
> 870 WWL New Orleans, with no luck so far, even though it's
> 100 miles closer than Cincinnati. Perhaps the shorter
> wavelength hampers WWL from reaching me.

I travel throughout the midwest and agree that WLW is hard to beat in terms of daytime range. They can be heard in Milwaukee during the day. As far as stations with great daytime range, I suspect WBAP in Fort Worth may be better than WLW because of the exceptional ground conductivity in the area, but I'm not sure. I heard reports that CBK in Watrous SK has a daytime contour exceeding a diameter of 1200 miles during the day, and puts a city-grade signal into areas over 200 miles from their tower! CBK is a 50,000 watt station on a frequency of 540 KC in an area of excellent ground conductivity. Some of the 5000 watt stations between 550 and 600 (WNAX and KFYR) located in the great plaines probably have the best daytime signals in the USA.
>
> So, what's the farthest AM DX you can get during early PM
> hours?
>

 

[DeadElvis]

> So, what's the farthest AM DX you can get during early PM
> hours?

Where I live, the ground conductivity is pretty bad, BUT...

When I used to live on the Gulf Coast, the stuff one could hear coming over the water was stunning. At the peak of the day, Cuba was always listenable in Mississippi at over 600 miles. KCTA Corpus Christi was daily at nearly 600 miles. And, all this was on a car radio.

There were some Mexicans close to the noise, but not strong enough to be useable.

Tampa (@ 400 miles) was strong enough to keep as a preset. When WSUN/620 was still county, I would listen while driving around town -- at 5kw. Even the smaller stations were audible, but not as comfortable. 1340 in Clearwater was audible, but only for short periods; as a "local" station with just 1kw, even slight skywave would knock it out.

With AM, it's all about conductivity, as with FM being all about height.

DE

 

[gr8oldies]

I used to be able to hear 1600 out of Key West from Sarasota at only 500 watts. When I was there in the early 80s, you did hear Cuba all over the dial.<P ID="signature">______________
Have a Happy New Year!
http://www.thebig8.net/have_a_happy_new_year_with_cklw.mp3</P>

 

[Grrradio]

I hail from St. Paul, MN, so I can attest to the amazing groundwave coverage of those low-frequency signals! Unfortunately, living in an apartment in the city proper has made it difficult for me to establish any kind of decent AM DX setup, so most of my good catches have come from a car radio on my occasional forays into the sparser suburbs. In Prior Lake, 25mi south of the city:

710 out of Kansas City is just barely identifiable.
KFEQ-St. Joseph (680), KFYR-Bismarck (550), KSCJ-Sioux City (620) and the former WMAQ-Chicago (670) are completely (though barely) copyable... as is a 10-watt TIS on 530 from Monticello, MN... a good 50 air miles to the northwest!
A step up from that are WLS-Chicago (890) and 590 from Omaha. WOI-Ames (640) would sound almost this good if it weren't for an adjacent local on 630!
KWMT-Fort Dodge, IA (540), WNAX-Yankton, SD (570) and WMT-Cedar Rapids (600) sound almost local.

And... in the crowning craziness of it all... buried underneath a country station from Iowa on 850 was the unmistakable ID of KOA-Denver!!!

 

[genXdxerLR]

This is probally pretty modest, but can get the low-frequency AM's (560, 600, 640, and 680) from Memphis daily (from Lincoln County, Ark), and armchair copy. Of these, only 600 WREC is audible at night. Sometimes during the winter, can receive 1070 WDIA in daytime.

Farthest station was WWL 870 (with a little help with a tuneable loop).

 

[rbrucecarter]

1000 miles plus (WSB, WLW, WCCO, WMAQ, WBBM, WSM) with a five foot loop, GE Superadio 3, location Lubbock, TX. Ground conductivity > 30 umho, however. This is straight groundwave, with little or no skywave assist.

 

[rbrucecarter]

Farthest daytime I have gotten on WBAP is 450 miles (Roswell, NM). But that was decades ago with a Delco car radio. In Houston, they can be peaked with a loop antenna to sound like a local.

Low band AM can be amazing. KMKI 620 goes 330 miles to Lubbock with little trouble. From Lubbock, I was able to null the 550 from Midland to get KTSA 550 at over 450 miles. WKRC Cincinnati on 550 was almost like a local in Jackson, MI over 300 miles - with slight interference from a 550 in Buffalo, NY.

KSKY Dallas on 660 just installed a new 20 kW transmitter - and blows doors off in Lubbock, TX. Almost local. KLIF 570 used to put a very listenable signal into Midland, TX over 300 miles - on the old Radio Shack TRF radio. On a new Superadio 3, they would be much better.

KOA was occasionally listenable daytime in Dallas before a new 850 signed on. That is close to 700 miles - on a car radio, no assist from loop or skywave.

I also logged WNOE 1060 New Orleans on a car radio - middle of the day, in Abilene, TX.

The situation changes radically if you have better ground conductivity. When I lived in Daytona Beach, every 50 kW station within a thousand miles was easy daytime DX. New York, etc. I was two blocks from the sea and had an inlet to the intercoastal in my back year. That was on a GE SR-2, no assist.

 

[_Jim]

If it's fading, it's *not* groundwave!

.
> it's pretty weak and slowly fades in and out,

Sounds like maybe a combo of skywave and groundwave,
and two are cancelling (reinforcing) as the ionsophere
changes.

Groundwave, unless the earth/soil conductivity is
changing, would not cause fading. More likely that
a weak skywave is 'phasing' against the groundwave
and you end up with fading.

The D layer in the ionsophere is not completely
absorbtive during the day, and so will allow some
signal to reflect. At night the D layer goes away,
so at night, it stops absorbing AM broadcast
wavelength radio waves.

WHen the sun comes back out, the D layer is recreated.

One can experience a "fading wall" at night driving
to or away from an AM station at 150 to 200 miles
or so, depending on conditions. I expereinced this
several times driving into Dallas and observing
WBAP 820.

Get close enough and no fading; out further and
the fading starts as the ground wave is at times
cancelled and then alternately reinforced by the
skywave signal.