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Not that I'm going to get KXST Las Vegas as it goes away, but tuned to 1140 to see if anything aside from WRVA was in, and the answer is yes. Looks like KLTK from the Arkansas/Missouri border, licensed to Centerton, Ark., is on past its bedtime with Spanish music. There was a booming ID in Spanish at midnight CT, and it's pretty clear on the Tipton Co., Tenn., SDR. 5 kW daytimer.
 
Enough to confirm yet ANOTHER new station!

970 - KNIH NV, Paradise; Patrick Madrid show 2227-29 PT 2/28 with toll-free number 888-914-9149, also a RelevantRadio.com mention. Mixed with KESP Modesto. NEW #823, only 500W at 780 miles. Recorded.

A 1350 // 1570 with Punjabi music under KSRO is KLHC Bakersfield CA...on *THIRTY-THREE* watt night power!! I've heard them already, but this is amazing DX. 1410 KERI Bakersfield is very strong at this hour. KBFP-800 Bakersfield CA all alone with Fox Sports, earlier I had Spanish music here (probably XEROK on reduced power). 790 is a very strong KABC Los Angeles with Red Eye Radio. Prob. XESU under with Mexican music. There's something buried under KIFM-1320 with jazz and standards...could this be flea power Yuma AZ?

I had an UNID 1260 with Spanish music, which just IDed at 2242...

1260 - XEL Mex, Los Reyes Acaquilpan; poor with grupera music over a weak KSFB SF, energetic ID "La Comadre" and mention of Mexico, back into music. An awesome surprise! NEW #824, looks like only 5000 watts at night, at 2,242 miles!! Recorded! Will be sharing more clips as time allots. XEL serves Mexico City.
 
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So if there is little or no cochannel interference, no electrical interference, and a good antenna, you could probably hear 1 watt quite a bit further. That's not to say the station was operating with only one watt. Look at the 0.5 mV/m 50% skywave contour of a 5000 watt station on fccdata.org. With no other skywave or ground wave interference, 50 watts would put 50 microvolts per meter. 0.5 watts would be 5 uV/m, essentially unmeasurable with a barefoot FIM-41. So 50 watts may be believable, not 1 watt in my estimates.
I think your estimate is born out by reality.

Evidence from the early years of DXing showed 100 watt stations from the US being heard in New Zealand and Australia. In the early 60's at Cleveland, Ohio, I got the 50-watt-into-a-75'-mast AFRTS station at Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico. And 250 watt KIKI in Honolulu was heard several times.

Obviously, the restraining factor is the congestion of frequencies, not power. As Frank said, 1 watt can't reach the ionosphere so, then, it can't bounce. But increase the power to 30, 30, 50 watts and you can hear Australia in the American midwest.
 
I've heard LOTS up here in Alaska youd never think id hear.. including a few 1KW class c graveyarders at more then 2000 miles away.
When in Quito,, Ecuador, and using an HQ-180 Hammarlund I found a number of very narrow openings to the upper Midwest of the US, and I heard Class IV stations (that DXers call "graveyarders") from the Dakotas, Eastern Montana, some of MN and bits of Iowa.

I learned that often the opening would sweep in a narrow beam from East to West over that zone. At that time, the stations were all 250 watts. And they would override closer Class IV stations from the Gulf states. Because nearly nothing in Latin America was on after midnight on those channels, and time zone differences favored CST and MST later sign-offs, there was a one to two hour window for reception of many of those stations.

Those were all catches in the 3200 to 3500 mile range, all at 250 watts.
 
Now on new log #8 of this auroral opening...

1110 - XERED DF, Mexico City; weak improving to fair, S5 signal, mention of 88.1 FM, Universal in between Edwin McCain and Genesis songs, // stream at 2342 PT 2/28. NEW #825, 50KW at 2,233 miles. Not as impressive as 1260, but great to finally log this one. They were off for a couple of years but recently returned.

As always, recordings will be added soon. This has been an amazing auroral opening!
 
Physics tells us that a 1 watt signal can reach the ionosphere and be reflected, it's just not strong enough to be detected. Some people claimed to have worked skip with a 4 watt CB Walkie Talkie. But you almost don't hear anybody on CB anymore unless they are using linears. If WWV is coming in on 25 MHz, that's a good time to try, and then further up into 10 meters, 6 meters, Low VHF-TV, FM BC, and on up. Some people have heard E skip on 2 meters.
 
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No luck with KDWN in the southwest suburbs of Chicago; nulling WGN is a near impossible task. Holding the radio (an ICF-2010) just so nulled a lot of it, but there was nothing underneath it. Fun to listen on an SDR from California, though.
 
I'm listening to KDWN now (12:36 PST), and it's still live.

I think someone forgot to shut down the transmitter at the scheduled time....

c
 
I'm listening to KDWN now (12:36 PST), and it's still live.

I think someone forgot to shut down the transmitter at the scheduled time....

c
I was wondering about that. They went from morse code to silence, maybe cut back to the 5 kW transmitter, and there was chatter about feminine hygiene.
 
I was wondering about that. They went from morse code to silence, maybe cut back to the 5 kW transmitter, and there was chatter about feminine hygiene.
Yeah, that "chatter" was the apparent return of regular KDWN programming.

I was expecting the transmitter to go off after the morse code stopped (has anyone decoded what it said? I would, but I don't know morse too well), but instead, we got more programming.

c
 
WYJV-710, Smyrna TN, Moody Spanish Christian. I thought it might have been one of the Cuban Radio Rebeldes hanging in with a similar cadence and audio quality, but several mentions of Jesus Christo were a giveaway. This from the Edinburgh IN SDR
 
Clips of the two new Mexicans from last night...

XEL - XEL 1260 Mexico City 2 28 23 Au
XERED - XERED 1110 Mexico City Au 2 28 23 2341 PT

I doubt any of these would be possible if the K level was 0-3. I haven't heard CFRN for 4-5 days now, and KBND has barely popped up if anything.

1110 was also heard on the KA7U SDR in Weiser ID. There was also a 560 with tropical music under KSFO that I'm pretty sure was 500W night (!) XEOC Mexico City. No ID to confirm and not heard locally in central WA.

There's a temporary SDR at Grayland WA - http://csekiwisdr.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
and 4QD/1548 Emerald QLD is solid with ABC programming. Probably 2RN Newcastle (ABC National Radio) on 1512 as well.
 
KXST tested Tuesday night along with KDWN. they will test again tonight, 11pm local time for KXST and midnight for KDWN. Apparently both are still on but wiull cease tonight.

There's SSTV in the dx test, so listen to your recordings last night or from later tonight.. for the warbling lazer tone .... thats the SSTV being sent.
 
I tried 1140 last night and heard only KHFX, on day power apparently, with preaching in Spanish. Hopefully they'll be gone tonight when I try again.
 
I'm spending a couple of weeks in the Babson Park, FL area with my family, and I've been able to get the following at least once (all on FM) using only portable radios:
89.7/93.1/97.3 Miami
89.9/95.1/104.5 Jacksonville
92.5 Panama City
92.7/97.7/99.5/103.1 in the Keys
93.9 Moultrie, GA
104.1 Tallahassee
106.5 Apalachicola
Almost the entire Gainesville market (even the Class A's!)
Both 98.9s in Southwest Florida (at the same time!)
Most of the Treasure Coast stations

This location is just far enough from Riverview and Bithlo that adjacent channel stations can sneak in (and co-channels in some cases!)
 
Kenosha, WI- These auroral conditions are very strange; wish I had more time to DX. Last night 2/28 a quick scan of the lower half of the AM band showed most of the usual big night signals (CFZM, CJBC, WSB, WJR, WHAS, anything from New York) pretty much MIA.

So, what do I hear on 880? WXBN Sweetwater (Miami) weak but all alone. 5KW pointed away from me. BIN 880.

Tecsun PL-380
 
I'm spending a couple of weeks in the Babson Park, FL area with my family, and I've been able to get the following at least once (all on FM) using only portable radios:
The tropo where I've been near Pensacola this past month has been spectacular. Especially for February. Since I'm not much of an FM DXer, and since I've had a lot going on with family and friends, I haven't spent as much time with it as I might have liked. But I have been listening in the car to WTIX-FM on 94,3. A 100,000-watt New Orleans rimshot from about 160-miles from here. Good signal and a pretty decent recreation of the original Storz WTIX/690 as it sounded in the 60s & 70s. (They stream, too.)

I'm looking to be back here on the gulf the week before July 4, when tropo conditions are usually as good as they turned out to be in February this year.
 
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The tropo where I've been near Pensacola this past month has been spectacular. Especially for February. Sinc I'm not much of an FM DXer, and since I've had a lot going on with family and friends, I haven't spent as much time with it as I might have liked. (They stream, too.)

I'm looking to be back here on the gulf the week before July 4, when tropo conditions are usually as good as they turned out to be in February this year.

The best place i ever had for FM DX was the hills of NW Pa.. 80 miles SE of Erie.... 250 watt super translators 40 miles away in like locals every day........125-130 mile tropo across the lake into Canada regularly.
 


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