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MW Frequency of the Week - 740 kHz

purpledevil said:
Steve Green NEPA: That is not a surprise. KTRH sends most of its 50 kilowatts straight into the Gulf to protect KCMC in Texarkana. At night, you lose KTRH around Willis to the north, around 50 miles give or take. On the other hand, KTRH is basically a local signal in Corpus Christi to the southwest. Last time I went to New Orleans, KTRH sounded about like WWL does here, which is not bad but not local either. I'm willing to bet you can hear 740 in Mexico's Yucatan, and fellow member gar fla has reported KTRH at his location numerous times.

Here is a map from radio-locator. It is a bit generous in its estimation of the northern reach of the signal, but that's radio -locator for you.

Day: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KTRH&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

Night: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KTRH&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
Click to expand...


KTRH is a regular here in Tampa at night and always there but usually it's behind WYGM, however there are times when KTRH will dominate.

I don't try for KCBS anymore. The only way it possibly could be heard is if the other stations on 740 were all off the air at the same time.

Besides WYGM and KTRH, I also sometimes get the Mexican station and CFZM makes an occasional appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EFKuDkywPk

Daytime out at the Gulf less than 20 miles west of here, KTRH was a daytime regular behind WYGM during the time the Mexican station was off the air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcH0JN1irg

Now, the Mexican station is easily heard daytime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129aBeecaZA
 
purpledevil said:
KTRH sends most of its 50 kilowatts straight into the Gulf to protect KCMC in Texarkana. At night, you lose KTRH around Willis to the north, around 50 miles give or take. On the other hand, KTRH is basically a local signal in Corpus Christi to the southwest.
Click to expand...

Recalling the previous conversation about 740 I think I mentioned that while I can get KTRH during the day here in East Texas near Tyler, KCMC in Texarkana can be heard underneath it. There's not a trace of KRMG. At night here the dominant station---but certainly not a strong one---is KCMC, with a weak KTRH in and out and an even weaker KRMG from time to time.

KTRH technically (and historically) mainly protects Toronto and it has seniority on the frequency; KRMG arrived later and finally KCMC saw an opportunity to come to 740, sandwiched in between Tulsa and Houston. The thing to remember about 740 is that every U.S. station---even KCBS---protects the Canadian stations, all three of them.
 
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As Gar and a few others probably remember, I spent a couple of weeks in St. Pete beach last January. I just booked the same place...right on the gulf...for three weeks this coming January. I spent a lot of time on this past visit hanging out on 740. WYGM definitely owns the channel, but after days of trying, I finally was able to ID KTRH on the beach under WYGM during the day. (Gar: This was on the Treasure Island public beach a few blocks south of Caddy's restaurant...a couple of blocks north of the place where we were staying).

What proved elusive was CFZM.....which will be on my "bucket list" for my upcoming visit. The DX-375 that I was using on my past visit finally died....but I'm hoping Santa will bring me a new radio to take with on my next visit! :)
 
Here near El Cajon, CA:

Day = KBRT Costa Mesa - about 15+ dB weaker with their new 50kW than they were on Catalina with 10kW
Night = KCBS San Francisco - one of the strongest skywaves here.

The comment about US stations protecting Canada got me thinking. I remember hearing some years back the 740 in Toronto was silent for some time. I wonder what would have been heard at their site on 740 during Auroral conditions then?
 
There was a period....2-3 weeks IIRC....between the switchover from CBL to CHWO (later to become CFZM) when the Toronto 740 was silent. Here where I am northwest of Chicago, KRMG became the regular during that time.
 
Here in the Philly 'burbs:

Daytime: semi-local daytimer WVCH from Chester(religious)
Night: mostly CFZM Toronto(never heard KCBS or KTRH here)
 
Because the old threads are basically gone, I'll repeat another 740 observation from several years back.
When I vacationed in Panama City Beach, Fla. in July 2004, KTRH was pretty much the only station I heard at night on 740. It was not really strong ... maybe 4-5 out of 10 AT BEST, and at times it faded deeply behind interference from other stations that weren't strong enough to identify. I know it was KTRH because I heard Houston-area commercials as well as Coast to Coast and, in those days or at least on that third Sunday in July in 2004, it was carrying the Sunday Night Baseball game. Daytime, it was a station from either Orlando or Alabama (can't remember it, but I specifically remember it was not KTRH, nor would the land/water path between there and Houston even allow for that signal to reach that far daytime).
Based on the signal strength, I can't imagine KTRH was all that listenable much farther east of me. Given its pattern, I was sort of shocked KTRH got to me at all, let alone as well as it did.
 
Where I am, CFZM is literally ultra local with RF emissions so spurious that their signal can be heard clearly through cheaply designed corded phones and it obliterates virtually any possible nighttime skywave reception of WSB 750 from Atlanta, GA. Even though most of the music that they play isn't my thing (with the exception of some of the 1960s-1970s classic rock tracks), I would have to say that it's the most notable and noble use of an AM frequency today. Owing to their famous and very well engineered 50,000 watt flamethrower signal and class A status, I managed to pick them up driving up from Charleston to Myrtle Beach. However, if a number of things through history had played out differently, the situation would be better.
 
schmave said:
Because the old threads are basically gone, I'll repeat another 740 observation from several years back.
When I vacationed in Panama City Beach, Fla. in July 2004, KTRH was pretty much the only station I heard at night on 740. It was not really strong ... maybe 4-5 out of 10 AT BEST, and at times it faded deeply behind interference from other stations that weren't strong enough to identify. I know it was KTRH because I heard Houston-area commercials as well as Coast to Coast and, in those days or at least on that third Sunday in July in 2004, it was carrying the Sunday Night Baseball game. Daytime, it was a station from either Orlando or Alabama (can't remember it, but I specifically remember it was not KTRH, nor would the land/water path between there and Houston even allow for that signal to reach that far daytime).
Based on the signal strength, I can't imagine KTRH was all that listenable much farther east of me. Given its pattern, I was sort of shocked KTRH got to me at all, let alone as well as it did.
Click to expand...

They aim their signal SE into the Gulf.

That's why it can be heard daytime on the Gulf in central Florida but not north of there where you were even though you were much closer.

I doubt KTRH is heard at night in the Midwest, Northeast, or west of Texas.
 
Yep, KTRH anywhere in the areas you mentioned is probably a lost cause. I remember hearing it VERY weakly at night in Dallas in January 2004 when I was visiting family (this was a few months before I joined this board and, consequently, really knew anything about its signal pattern). Daytime I've heard it as far north as Ennis, Texas, with a decent signal. I read on a now-disappeared post after Hurricane Rita that a Houston-area poster was staying at Toledo Bend, almost directly in KTRH's northeast null, and heard no trace of it at night.
It has a great nighttime signal in Austin and San Antonio. I think it comes in at night in El Paso (800 miles west despite being in the same state!), though I have no idea how well.
 
Actually, I stand corrected about their signal. It's goes mostly to the SW day and night, not SE.

I always assume SE because of how well it comes in here in Florida, daytime at the coast and nighttime inland.

And that makes it even more less likely to be heard in the Midwest or Northeast.
 
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