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Reception on 740

gar hi

gar hi

I've been listening to what I can hear on 740 tonight for a while now and it's interesting. It sounds like this on other nights but I never really made that much of an effort to hear what it is I'm getting.

Of course, 740 The Game from Orlando is the loudest I'm hearing and it's signal is stronger than usual tonight.

Even turning the radio away from their direction, I can't null it out completely but I can hear three other stations (talk stations) in the background, one being louder than the other two.

When WYGM's signal goes into a weak phase of fading, I can hear the other stations much better and the loudest one sometimes is just as strong as WYGM when it's in one of these low phases.

So I listened and listened to get an ID from the loudest of these three other stations and thought I heard "KTRH.com".

Looking at their nighttime map, they send a good signal into the Gulf but have a little null in the direction of Orlando.

I then decided to go to their website to hear their online stream and try to get a match up that way. Coast to Coast is on and it turns out that's what's also on this loudest mystery station on 740. There's a delay between what I'm hearing on the radio and what's on the online stream.

I just waited for the break at the top of the hour to listen for local news and turns out it's KTRH.

As for the other two weaker stations, the frequency page shows a low power one (233 w) from Montgomery, Al and one from Boca Raton (940 w).

The one from Boca seems directional as to avoid WYGM.

I then looked at the one from Tulsa, OK on the Radio Locator map and their signal goes almost straight east/west with a good null south.

What can these other two stations be? The one from MOntgomery seems like a good possibility but that leaves one more station to figure out.

I know it may be really pushing it to consider it as a possibility but KCBS's nighttime pattern sends their signal in a NW/SW direction, not exactly this way but we're not in a null either.

Getting any kind of ID from the weaker of the two on 740 seems literally impossible too.

Wonder what these are.
 
If you ever hear oldies/adult standards buried in the pile, Toronto,Ontario has a 50KW 740 that throws off flames in the Ohio Valley at night...superb AM audio quality as well.
 
gar fla said:
I then decided to go to their website to hear their online stream and try to get a match up that way. Coast to Coast is on and it turns out that's what's also on this loudest mystery station on 740. There's a delay between what I'm hearing on the radio and what's on the online stream.
Click to expand...

Last time I checked, KTRH was running HD, and that means a delay of approximately 8 seconds. This is because the HD system is designed to fall back to the analog audio signal if the HD reception falters. Since HD processing takes time, to have both synchronized, the analog audio is delayed so the end result is matched.
 
I thought the delay was around 10 seconds, so that makes sense.

Never really thought KTRH could be received here but it looks like they've been there all along.

Another good thing about the frequency 740 is that there are no foreign stations from the south to jam it up, which is something that can't be said of many frequencies.

If it weren't for that happening on 640, I'll bet KFI would be easily heard here even if very weak most of the time.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Last time I checked, KTRH was running HD,
Click to expand...

Nope - HD is off, and has been the whole time I've been here. Another HDefection ----
 
gar fla said:
You're in the Houston area?

Ever try to pick up any Florida AMs down at the coast during the day?
Click to expand...

Yep - for about 8 months now. FL AM's weren't there the last time I tried - too many co-channels up here. I think my best shot might be WFLF, although KMLB might pose problems. 540 is usually a very weak KDFT here, but it can be nulled. I really don't think I get any Gulf effect this far inland, although Galveston is quite accessible now!
 
gar fla said:
If you can get down to the Gulf sometime, 970 WFLA sends 25 kw right out there.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFLA&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Click to expand...

Looks pretty good - I don't get much on 970 here, KHVN and KSYL are both low powered enough they wouldn't be much of a factor.

I sense a DXpedition in my near future. One of my problems, though, is that the replenished Galveston beaches (after Ike), may not have the same conductivity as the originals.
 
Isn't that huge seawall still there too?

Sounds like being that far up from the water could be a fator in reception.
 
gar fla said:
Isn't that huge seawall still there too?

Sounds like being that far up from the water could be a fator in reception.
Click to expand...

Yes, the seawall is there. 17 feet I believe. Too bad that the storm surge was 22 feet, the seawall became a huge waterfall. The back side of the sea wall slopes within a half a block back to sea level. And the seawall isn't long enough, the water came right around the sides into the bay. Galveston is darn lucky there weren't 10,000 bodies floating out there.

Any test would have to be made on the beach, preferably with a ground rod sticking into wet sand. That is the only way to be sure the ocean conductivity effect comes into play. There is some coupling through the air, but it goes away in a just a few feet above the sand.
 
In Atlanta I've only noticed the 740 from Tulsa at night and don't remember hearing the 740 from Toronto. If it wasn't for WSB on 750 I might be able to receive 740 from Montgomery during the day. As a kid I remember being able to get them in Anniston, AL (NE AL) during the day.

In NE OH (Youngstown/Warren) I can get 740 from Toronto during the day and at night and I have to agree about their audio quality being very good. That's one station that I wish was in AM Stereo.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
Yes, the seawall is there. 17 feet I believe. Too bad that the storm surge was 22 feet, the seawall became a huge waterfall. The back side of the sea wall slopes within a half a block back to sea level. And the seawall isn't long enough, the water came right around the sides into the bay. Galveston is darn lucky there weren't 10,000 bodies floating out there.

Any test would have to be made on the beach, preferably with a ground rod sticking into wet sand. That is the only way to be sure the ocean conductivity effect comes into play. There is some coupling through the air, but it goes away in a just a few feet above the sand.
Click to expand...

If you can get right to the beach where the waves are crashing, maybe you wouldn't need all the extra stuff, maybe just a good portable radio?

BTW, can you get KVNS during the day where you are in Houston or is that too far inland?

I'm willing to bet you could pick it up in Galveston in the daytime.
 
gar fla said:
If you can get right to the beach where the waves are crashing, maybe you wouldn't need all the extra stuff, maybe just a good portable radio?

BTW, can you get KVNS during the day where you are in Houston or is that too far inland?

I'm willing to bet you could pick it up in Galveston in the daytime.
Click to expand...

A GE SR-2 was all I used in Daytona Beach Shores - the thousand mile stuff was consistent and amazing. The barrier island was only two blocks wide, right by the Dunlawton bridge (6 Venetian Circle was the address). The house had a dock in the back on the intercoastal waterway, which was only down a couple of feet from the backyard. Needless to say, I was living on brackish sand, so the ground conductivity in under that house was amazing.

KVNS does fade completely during the day, leaving only a trace of KKLF. But - this time of year - the least little bit of skywave and it is booming in.
 
Even without the exceptional ground conductivity around the place you used to live, a 1000 mile groundwave is possible.

http://www.hfradio.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=62

I'm still convinced that by the process of elimination, the other faint signal along with the weak signal of the South Florida station I got at Daytona Beach that time on 880 had to be WCBS.

The Cuban station on 880 is from Pinar L Rio in the western part of the island and there's 200 miles of land between there and Daytona beach that would kill the signal. I can just barely hear that station during the day in the western part of Tampa as it is.

Before I went to Daytona Beach, I looked at the line from High Island out in the Bronx where WCBS's stick is to Daytona beach and noticed it goes over eastern part of North Carolina, however it's an area that's largely water but with some land too. I then looked at the groundwater maps for those areas of more solid land and found there's saltwater intrusion into those areas so I don't think there would be much signal loss.

Maybe next time, I can go into your old neighborhood, park there, and see what I get.

I just hope the neighbors don't think I'm up to no good. ;D
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
gar fla said:
If you can get right to the beach where the waves are crashing, maybe you wouldn't need all the extra stuff, maybe just a good portable radio?

BTW, can you get KVNS during the day where you are in Houston or is that too far inland?

I'm willing to bet you could pick it up in Galveston in the daytime.
Click to expand...

A GE SR-2 was all I used in Daytona Beach Shores - the thousand mile stuff was consistent and amazing. The barrier island was only two blocks wide, right by the Dunlawton bridge (6 Venetian Circle was the address). The house had a dock in the back on the intercoastal waterway, which was only down a couple of feet from the backyard. Needless to say, I was living on brackish sand, so the ground conductivity in under that house was amazing.

KVNS does fade completely during the day, leaving only a trace of KKLF. But - this time of year - the least little bit of skywave and it is booming in.
Click to expand...

I went down to Galveston on Memorial Day weekend to DX and listened to KVNS in the car until I was about 10 miles inland. It comes in very well on the island daytime.
 
I've been listening for about 15 minutes tonight up until around 10 pm and KTRH is ruling 740 here in Tampa.

Not too strong a signal but listenable with other stations in the background, including WYGM in Orlando. :eek:

What a difference it is from night to night.
 
Very nice. I have to say I'm a bit surprised considering KTRH doesn't throw a huge amount of power in that direction, but then again I personally have heard it dominate 740 up in Panama City on a nightly basis.
 
schmave said:
KVNS does fade completely during the day, leaving only a trace of KKLF. But - this time of year - the least little bit of skywave and it is booming in.
Click to expand...

I went down to Galveston on Memorial Day weekend to DX and listened to KVNS in the car until I was about 10 miles inland. It comes in very well on the island daytime.
[/quote]

Revision to that! I have it all day in my location between Katy and Cypress. There is a 4 mile stretch of road away from power lines, it was listenable in the car without a trace of KKLF interference. Very weak, but listenable. On GE SR-1's and 2's, it is pretty much all day, but with a little KKLF interference. I even got it with an un-modified Sangean HD tuner, but the Sony couldn't get it. Impressive coverage by that station - it has to be close to 300 miles away.
 
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