900 AM CHML in Hamilton, Ontario has shut down. Gone is a 50,000 watt powerhouse signal. Should be interesting to possibly hear some lower power station on 900 AM.
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New DX opportunity - 900 AM
- Thread starter MarcB
- Start date
Last night, I got WURD Philadelphia, PA and WJWL "La Raza" Georgetown, DE. I hope I can get XEW from Mexico City someday, which would be my medium wave catch from Mexico. It's going to be a challenge because that station is almost 2,100 miles away from me.
No-frills log here in NEPA ...... Philly's WURD in the the day; CHML nights.
CHML's more recent super-squid 50,000-watt NIGHT pattern was pretty much the same as their 50,000-watt DAY signal.
I'm surmising (what nerve!) that their old 5,000 watts was essentially directional much for the same reasons. There were eleven stations on 900 in Canada in those days, four of them high-powered Quebecois'es, 'up the St. Lawrence', to the northeast. The lot of them were directional 24/7, too.
I don't have the old 5000-watt CHML pattern situated for transfer to here. but it went the same ways (and avoided going the same ways) day and night, without the same bizarre 10 nulls and ferocity. It was just the usual, lumpy, standard-issue Euclidean thing you get from three towers. Main lobe southeast.
Looks as though most of the country's AM DXers might not get 900 to 'open up' to any great extant, however. Only those to the southeast.
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Retro back in Queens near JFK Int'l, 900 was a pretty decent sunset apple-dunk. The shortest log that ever got me a QSL was when I heard someone around sunset give 'the weather for Bath, Brunswick and vicinity'. Out came the maps.
There was a Bath and a Brunswick a few miles apart in Maine. The logbook listed a 'WCME' in Brunswick. So what the heck. I sent them a report. A few days later get a letter back, saying yes; it was they; that's how they usually prefaced their forecasts.
At :04 seconds per QSL I figure that, at some 500 total hours of DXing in those years I should have 140,000,000 veries on the wall. But for some reason it doesn't work like that.
CHML's more recent super-squid 50,000-watt NIGHT pattern was pretty much the same as their 50,000-watt DAY signal.
I don't have the old 5000-watt CHML pattern situated for transfer to here. but it went the same ways (and avoided going the same ways) day and night, without the same bizarre 10 nulls and ferocity. It was just the usual, lumpy, standard-issue Euclidean thing you get from three towers. Main lobe southeast.
Looks as though most of the country's AM DXers might not get 900 to 'open up' to any great extant, however. Only those to the southeast.
* * * * *
Retro back in Queens near JFK Int'l, 900 was a pretty decent sunset apple-dunk. The shortest log that ever got me a QSL was when I heard someone around sunset give 'the weather for Bath, Brunswick and vicinity'. Out came the maps.
There was a Bath and a Brunswick a few miles apart in Maine. The logbook listed a 'WCME' in Brunswick. So what the heck. I sent them a report. A few days later get a letter back, saying yes; it was they; that's how they usually prefaced their forecasts.
At :04 seconds per QSL I figure that, at some 500 total hours of DXing in those years I should have 140,000,000 veries on the wall. But for some reason it doesn't work like that.
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And XEW reduced power in recent years, first to 100kw and now reportedly to 30 kw
The other 900s in Eastern Canada are gone. CKLY 910 Lindsay is gone. They could move back to the South side of the Golden Horseshoe to a site East of the old CHML 5000 watt site. They could now send the signal to the North toward Toronto from what I can figure. You would think that a Foreign Language format would work for 900 pretty well. They are still likely required to protect the Mexican Border to 25 uV/m 10% skywave, even though the XEW power is less.
In its 250kw years XEW was always solid at night across Texas. These days it is pretty much lost in the mishmash of other signals on 900.
The XEW-AM station has the obligation to continue operating with 100kW, but for several years it has had problems with its equipment, which is operating outside the limits.
Precisely 15 days ago, it was emitting less than 500 watts due to damage to its RF modules.
Those "obligations" are often as well observed as ones that required lower night power or directional antennas. I have seen many single tower "directional" stations in my tours of Mexico.
Per the ratings Huff put here a few weeks ago, it is down to around 35th or lower in ratings.
Here's the old 5000 watt CHML pattern and tower arrangement from the Southern part of The Golden Horseshoe. Obviously, the nulls to the North and Northeast wouldn't be needed. Most of the 900s nearby in the US are also gone, although I'm not sure if under the US Canada Agreement they could be ignored. The US stations protect the Vacant Canadian Channels in perpetuity unless an equivalent channel is proposed, like 1170 for 1160 in Thunder Bay to upgrade WYLL to 50000 watts Night.
For a first guess, some of the CFTR 680 towers would work for a diplex, maybe four adjacent ones in a parallelogram. the closely spaced ones would be about 120 degrees apart at 900 kHz, 204 degrees apart at 900 kHz for the towers to complete the parallelogram. The CFTR tower arrangement is on the Right.
For a first guess, some of the CFTR 680 towers would work for a diplex, maybe four adjacent ones in a parallelogram. the closely spaced ones would be about 120 degrees apart at 900 kHz, 204 degrees apart at 900 kHz for the towers to complete the parallelogram. The CFTR tower arrangement is on the Right.
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I think any such move and rebuild would cost more than the potential revenue.
If the CBC (corrected) had remained on AM, there would have been a powerful magnet for listeners to frequent the band. But when the BBC began moving, transit across the AM dial by listeners fell dramatically.
Huff may have some listening figures on markets like Toronto between a year or two before the CBC moved to a year or two after. Long ago I looked and it seemed like about half of the AM listening just went away.
I think you mean the CBC. Maybe you had the WCBS to WHSQ callsign change on your mind.
A diplex might help reduce costs. If Birach could find a way to own it under Canadian Laws, they might be interested.
Yep. I tried it again and my spell checker thinks CBC is a misspell of CBS. Obviously, the spell checker did not vote for Trudeau.I think you mean the CBC. Maybe you had the WCBS to WHSQ callsign change on your mind.
Out west in Boise Idaho it's mostly CKBI Prince Albert SK and KBIF Punjabi Radio out of Fresno.
@ boombox4 :
On another forum, poster Kevtronics wrote that CHML sent the equivalent of 'around 600,000 watts' southeast. Give or take a few minor kilowatts, that beam was a hideous laser.
From the entertaining Radio Locator, here is CHML's entertaining 50,000 watt signal:
Since WDGY 1130 Minneapolis -- similar laser, 25,000 watts -- reportedly was heard in Argentina once after first having melted some North Pole ice on it's circumnavigation, is there a chance that you might've heard CHML doing the same thing? Perhaps if you recalled 'when' you might've caught them .... before or after their change from 5000 to 50,000. I believe 1976 was when they went to 50K.
On another forum, poster Kevtronics wrote that CHML sent the equivalent of 'around 600,000 watts' southeast. Give or take a few minor kilowatts, that beam was a hideous laser.
From the entertaining Radio Locator, here is CHML's entertaining 50,000 watt signal:
Since WDGY 1130 Minneapolis -- similar laser, 25,000 watts -- reportedly was heard in Argentina once after first having melted some North Pole ice on it's circumnavigation, is there a chance that you might've heard CHML doing the same thing? Perhaps if you recalled 'when' you might've caught them .... before or after their change from 5000 to 50,000. I believe 1976 was when they went to 50K.
I seem to recall having done so once, about 50 years ago. But, usually in the Midwest, XEW dominated.
I wish I had recorded XEW, particularly the nightly Noticiero Carta Blanca, with an intro that had high-concept production values. I do have a recording of the XEW xylophone somewhere.
I have a strong local on 900 in Knoxville, TN so no CHML. I received CHML in Ohio, and the SDR in Indiana, but not overwhelmingly. There also used to be a 1000 watt (or less) daytimer in Fremont, Ohio on Lake Erie that had a strong lobe that covered a lot of Ohio and Indiana. It was shut off to move WFDF in Flint on 910 closer to Detroit.
When I first started DXing in the early 70's from Tulsa, XEW was one of the strongest nighttime signals, almost local strength. I have a vague memory of hearing CHML one Monday morning sign on, but could be wrong. Their pattern certainly wouldn't favor me! Nowadays from Houston, you can really tell XEW is on reduced power and intermittent. Never heard CHML but Cuba's Radio Progreso is often strong in XEW's null after my local daytimer goes away.
CHML's 8-tower site is huge, but is surrounded by horse farms. It doesn't look like anyone's going to be building a shopping mall or condos there anytime soon.
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