Sault Sainte Marie Ontario pre-sunrise Bandscan Highlights - May 2, 2019

[schmave]

When I attended college in Toledo, the only Detroit-area AM stations you'd hear at night were WJR and CKLW. WWJ and WDFN were absolutely gone, and even during the day neither put much signal into the Toledo market because they shot so much power north at all hours.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

WWJ was Nondirectional 5 kW with a 186 degree tower Daytime. It had a decent signal, but did lose signal as you went North, surprisingly fast. Night was better. Toledo was less because the WWJ transmitter was North of Detroit, and the DA at Night going North.

 

[cyberdad]

A lot of the Detroit stations are directional to the north and throw
decent signals up that way.

Same goes for Milwaukee and the Twin Cities. In fact there's a strong signal on 1130 in each of those places doing exactly that. I'm about 35 miles southwest from the stick for the Milwaukee one, and I never hear it.

 

[radioman148]

A lot of the Detroit stations are directional to the north and throw
decent signals up that way.

Yes they do and in the winter you can hear at least two of them on the Arctic SDR in Norway.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

According to one of the Finland DX-peditioners, the "pests" that are there all the time are the ones with pattern maximums to the North Northeast. That favors WMAX 1440 2500 watts Night, WOOD 1300 20000 watts Night, and WXYT 1270 50000 watts Night, as well as WLQV 1500 10000 watts Night, and CKLW 800 50000 watts Night.

 

[cyberdad]

According to one of the Finland DX-peditioners, the "pests" that are there all the time are the ones with pattern maximums to the North Northeast. That favors WMAX 1440 2500 watts Night, WOOD 1300 20000 watts Night, and WXYT 1270 50000 watts Night, as well as WLQV 1500 10000 watts Night, and CKLW 800 50000 watts Night.

With the exception of WMAX on 1440, "the gang was all there" in SSM last Thursday morning!

 

[schmave]

WWJ was Nondirectional 5 kW with a 186 degree tower Daytime. It had a decent signal, but did lose signal as you went North, surprisingly fast. Night was better. Toledo was less because the WWJ transmitter was North of Detroit, and the DA at Night going North.

My mistake ... that does make sense though. 950 and 1130 were noticeably tougher than WJR and CKLW daytime, although they were listenable. Still on my to-do list as a radio buff is crossing those directional patterns at night between Toledo and Detroit to hear for myself how severe they are. Never happened in a car with college buddies heading to Windsor!

 

[cyberdad]

.....in a car with college buddies heading to Windsor!

Windsor? What's in Windsor for college kids?.....Oh wait, never mind!

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Like many Old Regional stations, WWJ 920/950 (and WXYZ(T) 1240/1270) went Directional when they increased power to 5000 watts Nighttime, from 1000 watts Nondirectional Nighttime in the 1930s. The two tower DA protected WPEN Philadelphia, and KPRC Houston to the 1000 watt IDF level. Both WFDF 910 and WWJ 950 now protect vacant channels in Canada formerly operating in the Toronto Region. So the IDF toward Scandinavia may be reduced. They both reach IDF Maximum slightly West of North.