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New Florida Visitor on 820am at Night

W

WahooWah

West Central Georgia

I've noticed that WWBA in Largo/Tampa Florida has been interfering with reception of WBAP Dallas TX 820am at night here in Georgia over the last few nights. WWBA 820 am Largo/Tampa Florida, is the 50,000 watt daytime station I often receive here in Georgia during the day (partial path over Gulf of Mexico) - I bet they have forgotten to turn down the power to 1000 watts at night as authorized.
Perhaps this might give someone a chance to catch a Florida station.
 
This station has a history of staying on daytime power/pattern during nighttime hours.
They put a potent signal into mid Michigan when they do it.
 
Wow! I feel deprived. I've heard WWBA in a lot of places, but not here at my home location. Maybe now's my chance. Or I just need to try harder. I've certainly heard them in a lot of other places. Including as a daytime regular at our beach vacation spot near Pensacola.
 
cyberdad said:
Wow! I feel deprived. I've heard WWBA in a lot of places, but not here at my home location. Maybe now's my chance. Or I just need to try harder. I've certainly heard them in a lot of other places. Including as a daytime regular at our beach vacation spot near Pensacola.
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Back in the 90s when 820 in Chicago was daytime only I used to hear Tampa's 820 before Chicago sign on in late fall and early winter.
 
Heard them here as well

Question for Frank.
What percentage of AM stations, do you think, STILL change power manually?
I really thought that, at this point, ALL stations would be on some type of computer automation for their transmitters.
 
I really have no idea but all stations which rely on a computer to change power/patterns should make it a practice to verify that the change actually happened as scheduled.
 
frankberry said:
I really have no idea but all stations which rely on a computer to change power/patterns should make it a practice to verify that the change actually happened as scheduled.
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I think the reason why we are seeing more and more stations stay on day power at night right now has to do with the cost-cutting moves many station owners are having to make due to the decrease in ad revenue caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Stations are probably cutting engineers and other staff that usually oversee this sort of thing. There is no doubt the two are correlated. And without proper regulatory oversight by the FCC, there is no real consequence to station owners besides a higher power bill (which defeats the purpose of making any cost cutting moves to begin with).
 
radioman148 said:
This was happening before covid. However, your point is well taken. Even more stations seem to be doing it now.
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.....including at least a few stations that seemingly have litttle, if anything, to gain. CJOB (680/Winnipeg) comes to mind. The U.S, border is about 65 miles south of the city via the main road, in a null, but the night pattern normally still produces a good signal there. But several weeks ago they were seemingly on day pattern all night and a fairly easy catch around here
 
If it can be heard in San Antonio at night that close to WBAP, I wonder it the signal could make it all the way out here.

My closest catch to Florida so far is WWL.
 
hawaiigar said:
If it can be heard in San Antonio at night that close to WBAP, I wonder it the signal could make it all the way out here.

My closest catch to Florida so far is WWL.
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What do you get on 750? There's a blowtorch here class A non-directional that might make it out that far.
 
asugeorge1 said:
I think the reason why we are seeing more and more stations stay on day power at night right now has to do with the cost-cutting moves many station owners are having to make due to the decrease in ad revenue caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Stations are probably cutting engineers and other staff that usually oversee this sort of thing. There is no doubt the two are correlated. And without proper regulatory oversight by the FCC, there is no real consequence to station owners besides a higher power bill (which defeats the purpose of making any cost cutting moves to begin with).
Click to expand...

The power bill on a 50KW signal at night would probably execeed hiring someone to do it manually. It could be a lack of knowledge or training. A simple Sine system could be automatically programmed to drop power.

Other than DX'ers, I don't think anyone cares. With electronic noise and a crowded dial, unless you live in the stations metro signal. Night listening is useless.

The average listener has no desire to listen to a scratchy signal with noise that fades out.
 
Groove1670 said:
The power bill on a 50KW signal at night would probably execeed hiring someone to do it manually. It could be a lack of knowledge or training. A simple Sine system could be automatically programmed to drop power.

Other than DX'ers, I don't think anyone cares. With electronic noise and a crowded dial, unless you live in the stations metro signal. Night listening is useless.

The average listener has no desire to listen to a scratchy signal with noise that fades out.
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Apparently you're right because more and more stations are doing it.
 
I think its due to IT guys running the station these days. They have little knowledge of FCC rules and probably don't care. They figured out how to operate the transmitter remote PC and override the automatic settings. They don't have a First Phone but do have a Comptia A+ and/or Net+.
And they figure that's all they need to run a radio station.
 
kf4rca said:
What do you get on 750? There's a blowtorch here class A non-directional that might make it out that far.
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No one station usually stands out on the average night but one I've gotten an ID from a couple times is KFQD.



Do you usually hear WBAP in Hawaii? I heard it there years ago.
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It's actually a nighttime regular, though sometimes the signal is not completely audible.
 
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