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Rita & AM DX

V

vtjazy

Listening tonight on my walkman around downtown Blacksburg, VA and around campus at VT, I noticed that I was getting all sorts of stuff from the south, and the usually reliable northern stations were hosed tonight.

670 had 2 spanish stations fighting
710 has spanish drowning out WOR
740 had KRMG and CHWO duking it out, KRMG winning more often then CHWO (I've only recieved KRMG here twice before, at night, AM 740 is usually almost as strong as WKEX is during the day, and their tower is literally just down the street.)
760 had WJR (never got them here, and 77WABC was nowhere to be heard)
870 - WWL was blasting in stronger than usual, and had spanish talking underneath it.
890 - WLS getting completely drown out by some spanish AC sounding stuff that sounded like a local - usually WLS stands out in its clarity.
1530 - WCKY was coming in so strong, it was drowning out 1520 WWKB!

And then on 1700, in a jumble of about 4 stations (or just intermod maybe?) I heard the call letters WHIY and an unintelligible string of words that sounded like a COL, but teh intarweb in all its majesty tells me that WHIY is a daytimer in Alabama on 1190. :p


Would this southernly swath of DX be more attributed to Rita, or a combination of meterological factors?
 
It could be attributed to daytimers staying on at full power through the night during the storm.<P ID="signature">______________
17-year-old radio geek
Location: Princeton Junction, NJ
AIM: KewlDude471</P>
 
> And then on 1700, in a jumble of about 4 stations (or just
> intermod maybe?) I heard the call letters WHIY and an
> unintelligible string of words that sounded like a COL, but
> teh intarweb in all its majesty tells me that WHIY is a
> daytimer in Alabama on 1190. :p

According to http://www.ac6v.com/clearam.htm (which is in turn lifted from Popular Communications Magazine), WHIY simulcasts WEUV-1600 and WEUP-1700 in Huntsville, Alabama. I believe I heard the same simulcast while visiting Huntsville last month. The latter two stations are *not* daytimers so I suppose you can reasonably presume you heard WEUP.

> Would this southernly swath of DX be more attributed to
> Rita, or a combination of meterological factors?

For the most part, meterological factors don't affect AM DX. (thunderstorms cause considerable noise, and there is some evidence that snow cover improves ground conductivity, improving AM propagation. Rita should only cause the former effect in areas within a couple of hundred miles of her landfall - and it would make reception *worse*. Don't think I need to say anything about the latter phenomonon<grin>.)

Conditions in higher levels of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, are probably involved. Storms *on the sun* can result in unusual ionization and aurora borealis. (the same thing that causes "northern lights") This results in increased absorption of radio signals crossing northerly paths. The stations in the South weren't any stronger than usual -- but the Northern stations that normally interfere with them were *weaker*. The effect can be pretty dramatic.

The other reply, suggesting that some stations were on day power after hours for emergency coverage, is one worth keeping in mind for DXing. KSEV-700 near Houston was widely reported running day facilities last night. I don't think this applies to your specific receptions, but it's worth keeping in mind.
 
The sun has been very active lately. More than likely "auroral conditions" which wiped out northern signals, with good skip from the south at the same time. <P ID="signature">______________
Greetings from Ohio-where the governor wants everyone to know he's sorry.</P>
 
> According to http://www.ac6v.com/clearam.htm (which is in
> turn lifted from Popular Communications Magazine), WHIY
> simulcasts WEUV-1600 and WEUP-1700 in Huntsville, Alabama.
> I believe I heard the same simulcast while visiting
> Huntsville last month. The latter two stations are *not*
> daytimers so I suppose you can reasonably presume you heard
> WEUP.
>

Ok, that makes sense. The website actually has WEUP in the URL.

> The stations in the South weren't any stronger than
> usual -- but the Northern stations that normally interfere
> with them were *weaker*. The effect can be pretty dramatic.
>
>
> The other reply, suggesting that some stations were on day
> power after hours for emergency coverage, is one worth
> keeping in mind for DXing. KSEV-700 near Houston was widely
> reported running day facilities last night. I don't think
> this applies to your specific receptions, but it's worth
> keeping in mind.
>


Oh ok, those both make sense.
 
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