Trip to Phoenix

[crainbebo]

1100 I was hearing a very weak station on the frequency with a mention of a Scottsdale business, so I assume it was a harmonic of 550.

Nope. KFNX Cave Creek, AZ, a local. Heard them one time here a LONG time ago.

-crainbebo

 

[michael hagerty]

And KFI's signal into Phoenix hasn't been as good since the plane crashed into the tower a few years back.

 

[davideduardo]

At least last night, it was obvious that the Mexicans have abandoned the AM band.

Not yet. And the pesky ones from Nogales, San Luis Río Colorado, Cd. Juárez, Mexicali, Tijuana, etc. are not moving at all; no frequencies for them on the border.

The AMs away from the border in Northern Mexico are just now being built out on FM and they have a year to simulcast... so the end is near, but hasn't started for the most part.

PHX has so few decent AM signals as most of the good allocations were handed out in the 30's when pre-aircondioning Phoenix was a small backwater with some rail junctions. By the time the city started growing, there was no prime real estate available. Other than KTAR and KFYI, everything else is wedged in, or just plain signal challenged.

 

[jd]

Maybe I'm imagining things but it seems like many of the Mexican powerhouse AM's just don't pack the punch that they used to here in East Texas. XEWA and XEG don't appear to be nearly as strong as they should be, and the same goes for XEX, XEB and even XEW. But it's interesting that even though XERF runs a fraction of the power they once had their signal is generally still quite good.

 

[pqgeorge]

Before the Clears were destroyed in the 80's, I was able to dig out the 50k blowtorches from the east with pretty good reception in Downtown Phoenix at night. Back in '86, I got WLS/890, WHAS/840, WBBM/780 and even WBZ/1030! KRVN/880 was a killer signal even two hours before local sunset as well as KBOI and KSL (in fantastic AM Stereo). Today of course, the old Clears are no better than the regionals. Back in the day, most of the California stations (even the regionals) were pretty strong at night including KRLA, KABC, XETRA, KFI and others. AM skywave reception was at one time a veritable treasure trove of great local radio from far away. Alas, the damage has been done and to add more insult to injury, the IBOC is only making it worse. I'm thankful that I had the chance to do some fantastic DX'ing in "The Valley Of The Sun", back in the day!

 

[davideduardo]

Maybe I'm imagining things but it seems like many of the Mexican powerhouse AM's just don't pack the punch that they used to here in East Texas. XEWA and XEG don't appear to be nearly as strong as they should be, and the same goes for XEX, XEB and even XEW. But it's interesting that even though XERF runs a fraction of the power they once had their signal is generally still quite good.

XEG used to run 50 kw day, and then upped to 150 at night. I am told they are running 50 kw fulltime now.

XEWA is definitely lower powered, and is ready to leap to FM. In fact, the FM is already on and simulcasting.

The three Mexico City AMs you mention are victims of urban sprawl. Once on the edge of Mexico City, they are all now surrounded by developments. The XEW site even has a soccer training camp on the grounds, with a big indoor field as part of it. As a consequence of the urban sprawl the ability of those stations to get out is lessened. I think all three have shorter towers now so that they can live with less land. Most AMs in Mexico City are of limited value, while the land is priceless.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm thankful that I had the chance to do some fantastic DX'ing in "The Valley Of The Sun", back in the day!

Phoenix was a pretty good DX location. I lived there in the early 70's, and was fortunate to be to the far east side of the market, so most of the directionals in the city aimed away from me.

My best catch, I think, was WRSJ, San Juan, PR, on 1560 with 250 watts. With today's noise levels and 1580's slop, that one would likely never make it.

 

[Icangelp]

Back from warm, low humidity days.

Of course, I heard all the locals, including 1440 playing oldies. Other than KFYI, I didn’t list them.

Only night DX (no transition hours DX)
Three evenings, two of those were from our hotel room, which as I may have mentioned, generated surprisingly little electrical interference.
Time constraints prevented me from spending much time on any given frequency.

540 - Weak in Spanish, so I presume XEWA.
550 – KFYI
Our rental car had an AM HD receiver, so it was interesting to observe first-hand, a weakness of HD. KFYI would drop out of HD, even in areas I would consider local. The back and forth got irritating in the times we were taking day trips and driving away from the primary service area.
560 – KFYI spillover.
570 – Spanish. Didn’t get an I.D. Went back through some past issues of the DX Digest, but nothing listed for Mexico.
580/590 – Nothing.
610 – Sports. Possibly KVNU in Logan, UT.
630 – KHOW Denver. I think I heard an I.D., or a mention of Colorado.
640 – KFI Los Angeles. As I posted, weaker than I expected.
640 – Spanish. I assume, Mexico?
650 – Manti UT
660 – KTNN Window Rock AZ
670 – Nothing above the threshold, at least the times I listened. No Chicago.
680 – KNBR San Francisco
690 – Stuff there but not above the threshold.
700 – Kall N. Salt Lake UT
710 – Mix of Spanish and English talk stations. I assume the Spanish was KBMB.
720 – Did not hear KDWN, nor WGN.
730 – Nothing.
750 – Nothing.
760 – Nothing.
770 – KKOB NM
780 – Local on this freq., so no WBBM.
790 – Nothing.
800 – Nothing.
810 – No KGO when I was listening.
820 – WBAP Ft. Worth. Good signal every time I tuned in.
830 – KFLT Tucson AZ (Daytime-Of course, not a long distance reception)
840 – No WHAS.
850 – KOA Denver. Listened to them as I watched the Reds vs. Rockies game.
870 – Nothing.
880 – Nothing.
890 – Nothing.
900 – Nothing.
1000 – Strong Spanish, no I.D.
1020 – Spanish religious.
1030 – English talk + Mexican music mixing. I assume KVOI Tucson for the English.
More to follow.

 

[Icangelp]

Back from warm, low humidity days.

Of course, I heard all the locals, including 1440 playing oldies. Other than KFYI, I didn’t list them.

Only night DX (no transition hours DX)
Three evenings, two of those were from our hotel room, which as I may have mentioned, generated surprisingly little electrical interference.
Time constraints prevented me from spending much time on any given frequency.

540 - Weak in Spanish, so I presume XEWA.
550 – KFYI
Our rental car had an AM HD receiver, so it was interesting to observe first-hand, a weakness of HD. KFYI would drop out of HD, even in areas I would consider local. The back and forth got irritating in the times we were taking day trips and driving away from the primary service area.
560 – KFYI spillover.
570 – Spanish. Didn’t get an I.D. Went back through some past issues of the DX Digest, but nothing listed for Mexico.
580/590 – Nothing.
610 – Sports. Possibly KVNU in Logan, UT.
630 – KHOW Denver. I think I heard an I.D., or a mention of Colorado.
640 – KFI Los Angeles. As I posted, weaker than I expected.
640 – Spanish. I assume, Mexico?
650 – Manti UT
660 – KTNN Window Rock AZ
670 – Nothing above the threshold, at least the times I listened. No Chicago.
680 – KNBR San Francisco
690 – Stuff there but not above the threshold.
700 – Kall N. Salt Lake UT
710 – Mix of Spanish and English talk stations. I assume the Spanish was KBMB.
720 – Did not hear KDWN, nor WGN.
730 – Nothing.
750 – Nothing.
760 – Nothing.
770 – KKOB NM
780 – Local on this freq., so no WBBM.
790 – Nothing.
800 – Nothing.
810 – No KGO when I was listening.
820 – WBAP Ft. Worth. Decent signal at the times I tuned in.
830 – KFLT Tucson AZ (Daytime-Of course, not a long distance reception)
840 – No WHAS.
850 – KOA Denver. Listened to them as I watched the Reds vs. Rockies game.
870 – Nothing.
880 – Nothing.
890 – Nothing.
900 – Nothing.
1000 – Strong Spanish, no I.D.
1020 – Spanish religious.
1030 – English talk + Mexican music mixing. I assume KVOI Tucson for the English.
More to follow.

 

[radioman148]

Very surprised that you didn't hear KDWN, & KGO. They should come in fairly well down there.

 

[michael hagerty]

We don't have a local 780, unless you count KAZM, Sedona, which is 100 miles away and (I believe) a daytimer. If you got a catch, it would be KKOH, Reno, not WBBM.

And I'm with the earlier poster. KDWN is off and on, but KGO is usually easy.

As for KFYI HD, what seem like small hills can be enough of an obstacle to cause it to switch back to analog. Tall buildings, too...or short ones if you're right up against them (as in pulling up to the door of Target or a large grocery store...anything that puts you in the shadow of the building and the tower behind it).

 

[cyberdad]

It's been about 6-8 years since I've spent a night in Phoenix, but I remember both KDWN and KGO being "iffy"....especially KDWN. I also remember regularly hearing KCBS under the local 740. As for the Chicagoans, WGN and WLS were relatively easy. As were WHO, KFAB, and KMOX.

I also remember the Mexican blowtorches....especially XEG and XERF. I hadn't heard XEG anywhere in my travels until one night a couple of months ago in St. Pete. My last copy of XERF was a couple of years ago just outside Houston. I also hadn't heard them anywhere else for probably at least five years before then, and I haven't heard them anywhere since. I believe David had said somewhere that they were either now or about to be turned off. And I think when I did hear them, they were running 25-30kw or something like that through an already compromised physical plant. (Yet the audio still sounded quite good!)

 

[davideduardo]

I also remember the Mexican blowtorches....especially XEG and XERF. I hadn't heard XEG anywhere in my travels until one night a couple of months ago in St. Pete. My last copy of XERF was a couple of years ago just outside Houston. I also hadn't heard them anywhere else for probably at least five years before then, and I haven't heard them anywhere since. I believe David had said somewhere that they were either now or about to be turned off. And I think when I did hear them, they were running 25-30kw or something like that through an already compromised physical plant. (Yet the audio still sounded quite good!)

XERF, upon being nationalized for failure to pay taxes, became a part of IMER, which serves rural and indigenous populations. They apparently put in a new 100 kw Nautel, but found that it was not giving a big payback way up at 1570 so they reportedly ran well under 50 kw.

XEG is reported using 50 kw all the time. They used to run 50 kw days, and then 150 at night but there is no revenue now in night broadcasting so that is gone.

Similarly, XEROK is reportedly running a single 50 kw transmitter at about half power.

 

[cyberdad]

Similarly, XEROK is reportedly running a single 50 kw transmitter at about half power.

.....which explains why I haven't heard them here in the Chicago area in ages. They used to be a regular....either alone or fighting it out with Bonaire.

 

[jd]

David, thanks for the info. That answers a lot of questions about the big stations, especially the ones in Mexico City.

[As an aside, I can appreciate your Bobby Bragan quote, because of his association with the Fort Worth Cats minor league baseball team; that's my hometown. There are "Yogi-isms" galore, but certainly Bragan had a way with words, too.]

Back to the subject, I remember XEG and XERF from my early DX'ing days. XEG would give their mailing address as "Fort Worth, Texas." And XERF once had a sales office on the old highway 183 near Euless, east of Fort Worth. Both of them seemed so powerful back then (and I was so young and naïve) I thought they were locals!

 

[schmave]

Similarly, XEROK is reportedly running a single 50 kw transmitter at about half power.

.....which explains why I haven't heard them here in the Chicago area in ages. They used to be a regular....either alone or fighting it out with Bonaire.

That's a heck of a lot better than it used to be, though. I remember David saying a few years ago that XEROK was running as little as 500 watts daytime.
Up here in Ohio, we're just too far north to get the big Mexican blasters on a regular AM radio. In Houston, XEG and XERF were blasters every night, and I might have heard XEROK five times tops in the two years I lived there. Really no idea where the Mexican stations' skywaves start to fall off.
David: You mentioned the urban sprawl in Mexico City. It reminded me of WSB's tower site. How is the ground conductivity in that part of the world?

 

[Icangelp]

We don't have a local 780, unless you count KAZM, Sedona, which is 100 miles away and (I believe) a daytimer. If you got a catch, it would be KKOH, Reno, not WBBM.

And I'm with the earlier poster. KDWN is off and on, but KGO is usually easy.

As for KFYI HD, what seem like small hills can be enough of an obstacle to cause it to switch back to analog. Tall buildings, too...or short ones if you're right up against them (as in pulling up to the door of Target or a large grocery store...anything that puts you in the shadow of the building and the tower behind it).

I don't know where I came up with the local 780 statement.

You are right about KFYI, the switches usually involved hills. I guess it was annoying just because I had never heard HD AM other than at home.

 

[Icangelp]

I know it's boring for people in the West, but for a Midwesterner like me, it was pretty exciting to hear these stations.

I'm sure if had had spent more time on each frequency, and listened longer to each station heard, I would have a much longer list and fewer question marks.

880 Previously listed nothing, but heard KRVN in NE.
1040 Spanish music on Sunday
1050 Spanish
1070 KNX
1080 KRLD Dallas
1090 English-interview with Australian
1110 KFAB 2 of 3 listens
1120 Nothing
1140 Nothing
1160 KSL Salt Lake City
1170 Spanish music station + KVOO
1180 Nothing
1200 WOAI San Antonio
1210 Guymon OK
1220 Nothing
1500 Nothing
1510 Although there is a local on channel, I also heard a business news station & assume it was KSPN Ontario CA
1520 KOKC Okla City OK
1530 Didn’t hear Sacramento, but did hear SS talk on Sun eve.
1540 Another local channel, but on Sunday I heard Korean talk. Assume it was KMPC Los Angeles
1550 Nothing
1560 Nothing
1570 Nothing
1580 Nothing
1600 The only regional I spent any time on. Heard 60’s oldies station.
1620 Nothing
1630 SS music
1640 KDIA
1650 SS music mixing with KFOX Torrance CA
1660 KRZI Waco TX + SS music
1670 SS religion. KHPY Moreno Valley CA?
1680 KGED Fresno CA?
1690 KFSG Roseville?
1700 Strong SS

 

[michael hagerty]

The local on 1510 is a business news station (KFNN) with a fairly weak nighttime signal. That's probably what you heard.

 

[crainbebo]

1630 SS music
1650 SS music mixing with KFOX Torrance CA
1660 KRZI Waco TX + SS music
1670 SS religion. KHPY Moreno Valley CA?
1700 Strong SS

1630 - KRND Fox Farm, WY. It could be XEUT Tijuana however.
1650 - KBJD Denver, CO.
1660 - KXOL Brigham City, UT.
1670 - Yes you are right.
1700 - XEPE Tijuana. Probably running one of their Sunday night SS programs. Usually are ESPN.

-crainbebo

P.S.: The strong 1000 SS is likely XEFV. Did you get KOMO by any means during the trip?