Skywave Daytime AM

[schmave]

I've been able to listen to WMVP at almost all hours here in central Ohio some December, January and February days. This gets me even more excited for the good DX season ... one of the few reasons I embrace cold weather.

 

[davideduardo]

As for Mario's question, it gets a little more difficult as you go farther south.

That is a good observation. When I was at Quito, about 7 miles south of the Equator, I can not recall any incidents of daytime skywave, even on dates like Good Friday when nearly every local station was off the air in those years. Or when there were city-wide power outages, and only a few stations stayed on with generators (maybe 3 or 4 out of the 42 AM stations).

When in Puerto Rico during the 70's and 80's, I never heard anything, either, although the band was very crowded.

But one interesting and frequently occurring thing was mid-afternoon reception even on a car radio of the Libya station on 1251, often being quite readable. And during the period of each year when there was Saharan sand / dust in the air (and across the entire mid-Atlantic path) the signal seemed even stronger and more readable.

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Bongwater, you would probably even know the park where I was listening to KFBK- Marymoor in Redmond WA. YOU may still be able to get them, as I think you are at least 70 miles north of KKXA/1520's Iboc. I will not, being less than 10 miles away.

Cannot imagine one would ever get daytime skywave in Quito. If there was ever a place where you cannot get out from under the sun, it would be there!

I don't understand the Sahara sand wave and AM prop- but I be someone on this board could let us in on the why's of that one.

 

[radioman148]

What time of year was the Saharan Sand effect?

 

[Tom Wells]

A lot of wind blowing sand into the air is likely to cause a lot of local ionization and may have created something like a
mw/sw "launching point" point for skywave radiation that would normally be supressed by solar ionization in daylight.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

This morning in southern Riverside county, CA (just north of Temecula/Murrieta) I was hearing 1530 KFBK Sacramento, using only a Tecsun PL-606's built-in stock ferrite loopstick antenna. The radio was in the back window of a Honda Accord, and it was around 9:30 am or thereabouts.

Also, quite often in the shorter-day winter months (November-February or so) I hear 50kW 1580 KMIK Tempe, AZ, at my house about 300 miles east of me, in the middle of the day. They're usually competing with (and sometimes overpowering) 50kW 1580 KBLA Santa Monica, CA, about 119 miles northwest of me. Much of the time I need an external loop antenna to be able to hear them well, but sometimes they can be heard just with the small ferrite.
Also in the middle of winter around midday, the graveyards in the daytime can sound, with the loop antenna, almost like they do at night with only the built-in ferrite.

 

[davideduardo]

A lot of wind blowing sand into the air is likely to cause a lot of local ionization and may have created something like a
mw/sw "launching point" point for skywave radiation that would normally be supressed by solar ionization in daylight.

These were dust clouds, born on the air currents from subsaharan Africa (Think "Burkina Faso" for example) to the eastern Caribbean, often being rather visible as a haze in the San Juan and Eastern Puerto Rico sky. While prevailing late summer winds would have lifted the dust, it was so light that it carried over several thousand miles of ocean and is a regular annual happening. It's apparently a hazard for aviation, just as the grit from volcanoes is, as well.

 

[davideduardo]

What time of year was the Saharan Sand effect?

Late summer. Of course, there is no real summer in the tropics but temperate zone seasons are understood. August, for example, in the PR, has lighter rainfall and is often characterized by dwindling water levels in the reservoirs fed from mountain streams. So the heat may be a bit higher, but the humidity is a bit lower.

For DX, realize that sunrise and sunset were nearly the same time all year round, and that there really is no DX "season" although long-haul DX is better at winter at the point of origin... like South Africa, Argentina, or Europe and Canada. Pure east-west paths were the hardest in general.

 

[Bongwater]

Bongwater, you would probably even know the park where I was listening to KFBK- Marymoor in Redmond WA. YOU may still be able to get them, as I think you are at least 70 miles north of KKXA/1520's Iboc. I will not, being less than 10 miles away.

Cannot imagine one would ever get daytime skywave in Quito. If there was ever a place where you cannot get out from under the sun, it would be there!

I don't understand the Sahara sand wave and AM prop- but I be someone on this board could let us in on the why's of that one.

Sure do know that park! Used to bike there every Sunday and back from Fremont to Redmond along the Burke-Gilman trail.

Sand wave? Now I HAVE heard (of) EVERYTHING......

 

[BRNout]

And the farther north you go, the more often this happens. Three years ago, I spent much of early-mid December in Alberta, Canada - between Calgary and Edmonton. Daytime skywave was present every day. In the late morning, I had stations from Portland, OR, Seattle, Fargo, ND, Reno, NV, northern CA, Montana, etc. Vancouver and Salt Lake were in all day. Given the distance, I can confirm that all were thanks to skywave. They'd fade to zero every once in a while and be gone for a few minutes before coming back loud and clear for 30-45 minutes at a time - much as LW does. More stable than at night.

Also heard WLS and WBBM from between Ottawa and Pembroke, ON at midday during December. Same characteristics as described above.

My guess is that you'd experience skywave during the daytime quite often during winter if you're in a place like Alaska. Unless auroral activity interferes......

 

[radioman148]

That was going to be my next question, what is DXing conditions like in the winter in Alaska, without Auroral conditions.

 

[cd637299]

That was going to be my next question, what is DXing conditions like in the winter in Alaska, without Auroral conditions.

Having lived there 2 years, it's really bizarre....sometimes you get DX at night, sometimes nothing at all. I never even saw the Northern Lights until my friend and I drove OUT of Alaska toward my next duty station (I think it was northern BC where we saw the Lights); so I don't think there was enough Aurora effect to miss out.

I only caught about 125 AM stations, *including* the locals, in the whole 2 years i was there; but then again, i didn't have the best equipment. The GE Superadio didn't come out for another year, and being in barracks, I was limited in facilities. My Delco car radio was the best. (My best catch was WWL 870, and my farthest was the Poro AFN on 1143 Philippines. It didn't help that I don't know foreign languages well; although I did get a QSL card from JOKR TBS 954 Tokyo.)

cd

 

[radioman148]

Sounds to me like you did well considering.

 

[cyberdad]

They'd fade to zero every once in a while and be gone for a few minutes before coming back loud and clear for 30-45 minutes at a time - much as LW does. More stable than at night.

Good point. This has been my experience with daytime skywave. I've also had WBBM and WLS on daytime skywave around Ottawa.

And, it's a two way street. A few years ago I had 740 from Toronto (then as CHWO) all day long here in Northern Illinois. Same deal....it would fade completely for a couple of minutes, then bounce back and be steady for a half hour or more. (and repeat). I think it was early January.

 

[BRNout]

Did anyone else here in the Midwest see the Aurora Borealis tonight? Was out walking at about 8:30 and shocked to see bright red/pink skies and quite high overhead (as opposed to near the north horizon). And it was waaaay brighter than I ever would have dreamed. For that reason, I actually doubted whether that's what it was. Had my crappy Walkman with me and noted some skywave (WCBS was audible as was KOA) with others like CFZM and WCCO non existent. WJR was also very weak.

Will do a little more checking now on a better radio. In the meantime, has anyone else caught anything odd?

As an addendum, I am shocked that there's no mention of this in Chicago media tonight - we had a front-row seat here! Other markets are all over the story.

 

[KR4BD]

The northern lights were seen in Central KY too. I really like auroral conditions on the AM band. All stations to the north are severely attenuated. KOA was coming in like a local on my new Tecsun PL-606. Many signals from the south were very strong. Interesting conditions!

 

[crainbebo]

I heard KACH 1340 Preston, ID booming in at sunset yesterday, but didn't get to DX much else. Stuff from the south was at regular strength, KFBK, etc.

-crainbebo

 

[cyberdad]

Missed it! Serves me right for watching football and the world series.

 

[boiseengineer]

Few years ago on a sunny winter day around 11am had 890 Dawson Creek BC booming in.
Now that KRKO is 50 kw noticed they cover semi-local KSRV for an hour or two after sunrise and a couple hours before sunset in Boise. Even occasionally shows KRKO on the car radio display.

 

[MarioMania]

Thanks Guys for the Info

I will look out for XEPE 1700 & KNX 1070 in the daytime in December