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Tone heard over WLS (890) Evenings

K

kf4rca

Guest
Can anybody hear a tone on 890 over WLS. Its not Radio Progresso because I can hear them too in there.
Sounds like about a 1 KHz. tone. Not a beat note.
Might be the local daytimer (WJTP) screwing around.
They've gone dark recently due to improprieties with their connection to the Chinese government.
I thought maintenance period was after midnight.
Thanks.
 
That's likely a heterodyne from the powerful Algeria station on 891. It's not a tone the station is transmitting, it's the result of 2 stations you are receiving 1kHz apart generating the tone.
 
kf4rca said:
Can anybody hear a tone on 890 over WLS. Its not Radio Progresso because I can hear them too in there.
Sounds like about a 1 KHz. tone. Not a beat note.
Might be the local daytimer (WJTP) screwing around.
They've gone dark recently due to improprieties with their connection to the Chinese government.
I thought maintenance period was after midnight.
Thanks.
Click to expand...


Theyve likely gone dark because the guy who owns it is selling it off and no longer wishes to pay the bills. There have been "alleged" improprieties but thats not why theyre off
 
Thanks For The Update.

Yes that would generate a 1 KHz. tone. I'll tune to 891 and see if I can hear program.
How much power is Algeria running? Thanks.
 
kf4rca said:
Yes that would generate a 1 KHz. tone. I'll tune to 891 and see if I can hear program.
How much power is Algeria running? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Per the latest World Radio Handbook, it is 600 kw.
 
WRTH shows they run half-power at night. Maybe they are trying to be nice (or save electricity).
 
Crap...I just noticed I don't have the 2020 WRTH. Gotta take care of that.
The 2018 also says they sometimes run DRM.
 
Algeria was off the air on 891 kHz for a while. They returned to the air with test tones sometimes in December 2019 and with regular programming in January 2020. They have been the dominant station on any European based SDR's since. They are most likely using the 600 kW that DavidEduardo has posted above.
 
CADXER said:
Algeria was off the air on 891 kHz for a while. They returned to the air with test tones sometimes in December 2019 and with regular programming in January 2020. They have been the dominant station on any European based SDR's since. They are most likely using the 600 kW that DavidEduardo has posted above.
Click to expand...

That explains why virtually nothing else could be heard on 890 on the Arctic receiver this year.
 
It hasn't been a problem for me except in the last month. Radio Progresso was more of a problem since it is on a north-south axis and can't be nulled. Algeria would be east of here and can be nulled. Are they directional?
Probably a Thomson transmitter.
 
CADXER said:
Algeria was off the air on 891 kHz for a while. They returned to the air with test tones sometimes in December 2019 and with regular programming in January 2020. They have been the dominant station on any European based SDR's since. They are most likely using the 600 kW that DavidEduardo has posted above.
Click to expand...

That fits with my admittedly small sample size experience. During the years I was going to London, Stuttgart, and elsewhere in Europe once or twice every year (1999-2012), Algeria on 891 was usually an easy nighttime catch wherever I went. Nothing remarkable, but typically a solid, reliable signal. Now. on the Arctic SDR, they've become a monster. I guess 600kw would explain that.
 
kf4rca said:
It hasn't been a problem for me except in the last month. Radio Progresso was more of a problem since it is on a north-south axis and can't be nulled. Algeria would be east of here and can be nulled. Are they directional?
Probably a Thomson transmitter.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of the Lybia station on 1251 which I could frequently hear in mid-afternoon in my car in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There was no local on 1250, and 1240 and 1260 were far across the island. At one point, until it got tiring, I had a push-button in my car for the heck of it when stuck in what has the be the US' worst traffic...
 
I remember hearing that 1 kHz tone on WLS at Night in Michigan during the 1970s. I knew it was from an overseas station on 891 kHz but never knew exactly where it was from.

Algeria is closer than you might think. I think there were a few reports from Algeria on the scatter map for WKBW 1520 Buffalo, NY in the 1960s.
 
A question that might be (un?)worthy of consideration:
Would a tone that is caused by a station on 891 KHz but that is weaker than WLS be "over" WLS or "under" it?
The frequency is definitely over it but the level is equally definitely under it. Hmmm?
 
ai4i said:
A question that might be (un?)worthy of consideration:
Would a tone that is caused by a station on 891 KHz but that is weaker than WLS be "over" WLS or "under" it?
The frequency is definitely over it but the level is equally definitely under it. Hmmm?
Click to expand...

An overly simple answer is that the beat is created by the interaction between the stronger and weaker signal in your radio and will, thus, sometimes be as strong as the stronger signal.
 
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