• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Unusual Catch in Kentucky

K

KR4BD

This morning around 5:45 AM, a little over an hour before sunrise, I was scanning the dial on my digital readout clock radio when I heard a very strong news/talk station on 570. I thought I had WKBN in Youngstown or WWNC in Ashville, NC (both common here at night), but when they gave the temperature in Celsius, I realized it must be a Canadian. While I receive many Canadian stations here, I have never heard one on 570. It turned out to be CHYM in Kitchener. While the distance is not that far, it is a VERY DIRECTIONAL station with 10 KW with all the signal headed NORTH... It was giving me a very solid signal for about 10 minutes before falling down into the noise. I wonder if they were having phasing issues with the signal....

Here's the pattern for both day and night for CHYM:

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=CHYM&service=AM&status=F&hours=U

I am in Central KY.
 
Interesting catch. I am in Watertown-Carthage, NY and despite being closer to CHYM than you are, Ive never heard them. Thats because I have WSYR near me at 5kw D/N. That may be CHYM I hear in the background though sometimes. This is one of the stations that the directional CHYM protects, the other is probably WKBN in Youngstown, OH. Its still possible to get them being directional, 10kw is a good amount of power at night even if its mostly all going north.
 
Never recall getting CHYM "News 570" in Northern IL in the past...has the CRTC allowed them to change their signal pattern/s? Been hearing CHYM regularly the last couple of weeks...
 
CHYM-570 must have changed their pattern --- OR --- something is wrong with it. They were again BLASTING into Central Kentucky last evening, at times much stronger than my local WVLK on 590. Now, I must add that WVLK-590 is only about 7 or 8 miles from me, but I am deep in one of their many nighttime nulls. I've monitored 570 from this location for over 25 years and NEVER heard CHYM. Now, its come in strong for two days in-a-row. I can't imagine they have legally changed their pattern as they would now cause all sorts of trouble to WKBN-570 in Youngstown and the 570's in New York.
 
CHYM might be operating nondirectional on the Canadian equivalent of an STA. I had an inquiry a few weeks ago about hearing CHYM in Michigan. I have heard it on groundwave under WKBN or nulling out WKBN years ago, but I haven't tried lately.
 
I'll have to check to see if I hear anything interfering with WSYR tonight. I imagine people would complain if interference was bad enough, but who knows since WSYR now has an FM simulcast, few people probably tune the AM signal.
 
Restricted as they are to WKBN, WRDT, CKWW, WSYR, and others I can't think of offhand, I doubt that they officially changed their pattern. In fact, the 25 uV/m signal probably goes over nearly all of Lake Erie, nearly overlapping WKBN's 0.5 mV/m over land at the Lake Erie Shore. I think its either out of parameters or on Canada "STA" omni.
 
Last night in Indiana, there was a station broadcasting a Texas auto race on 570 (seems unlikely that was CHYM) and the Cuban Clock which was presumably what was sending out an easy to copy "RR" in Morse code near the top of each minute.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
Last night in Indiana, there was a station broadcasting a Texas auto race on 570 (seems unlikely that was CHYM) and the Cuban Clock which was presumably what was sending out an easy to copy "RR" in Morse code near the top of each minute.
Click to expand...

The "RR" station is indeed "Radio Reloj" from Cuba. While the station's name, translated literally, is indeed "Clock Radio", the clock isn't really the point. It's an all-news operation.
 
I don't recall having heard CHYM here in Northern Illinois, either. Their signal isn't all that great around southern Ontario....except, I suppose, unless you're right where their juice is aimed. R. Reloj, OTOH, shows up here from time to time. (As does WKBN, WNAX, and most commonly WKYX).

My thought, also, in reading this thread was also that perhaps CHYM is on the Canada's version of STA, so I'll probably see if I can catch them.
 
I've heard them ID multiple times in the past week as CHYM.

Radio Locator also says CHYM:

http://radio-locator.com/info/CHYM-AM

Radio-Locators says the FM is:

CKGL-FM 96.7 MHz
Kitchener, Ontario
 
Radio Locator and The FCC Querys both use the FCC database. The FCC does not update call letter changes for Canadian stations. That explains that. They still have 93.9 in Windsor listed as CKLW-FM the last I checked, for example. Why 570 would be identified as CHYM is puzzling. Wikipedia also says CKGL is 570.
 
JD is right: as of last Tuesday, the calls on AM 570 are CKGL. 96.7 is CHYM-FM.

Source: Industry Canada database on http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/engineering/engdoc/baserad.zip .

The FCC database and sites based on it should be considered suspect with regard to foreign stations. Information that has nothing to do with interference (call letter changes, for example) tends to be slow to be updated.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom