Unusual daytime DX

[cyberdad]

I decided to join the party this afternoon at about 1:30 CST to see what might be out there at my location in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. I was using a Realistic DX 375 receiver. Nothing all that unusual on the lower half of the band, although the distant stations seemed to be getting out better than usual. Some skip was apparent on the upper half of the band. Some of the highlights....

540: KWMT clearly audible with WAUK nulled
550: KTRS very noticably stronger than normal. Stuff in the background....probably WSAU, but I couldn't identify it.
650: Thought I might have heard a very weak WSM
750: Something underneath semi-local WNDZ
800: KXIC stronger than usual with CKLW underneath
910: WSUI with stuff underneath
1090: KAAY. This was the biggest surprise of the day
1140: WVEL...which is usually very weak or completely absent but here today with gospel music underneath (WBXR?)
1210: WJNL. First time I've heard this one, but probably shouldn't be all that unusual on 50kw day power
1500: KSTP Strongest skip signal...blasting in.
1540: KXEL Fairly good signal. (Note that two others from this "neighborhood, WLAC and WCKY were absent).
1630: KCJJ Completing the Iowa City "full house"
1650: Cedar Falls, IA...Up the road from KCJJ (I forget the calls...KCFI?)

 

[gar hi]

This time of year in Tampa, I can always hear at least a little of 1700 WJCC from Miami and 1660 WCNZ from Marco Island all day.

They are absent spring, summer, and fall midday.

 

[stormy01]

1650 from Cedar Falls, IA is KCNZ.

On 1560 hearing a Christian station today about 1:30-2:00 time frame. Possibly KLNG Council Bluffs, IA? 10kW daytime ND. WNWN 1560 Portage (Kalamazoo), MI [Urban Contemporary] normally heard daytime in this area apparently absent.

 

[FreddyE1977]

CBW is the most distant station I can get with regularity here in the Pittsburgh area.
Just looking at a map of Manitoba and all the lakes up there, I'd have to say their
ground conductivity is just killer!

 

[pqgeorge]

Daytime DX @ 12:00 noon, Monday, 1/3/11 (Brockton, MA at Wendy's West Side)
Receiver: Grundig YB 305 (3 volts, portable handheld)

820 WNYC New York - Noisy, but listenable
1010 WINS New York - Almost local (except for WBZ IBOC slop)
1050 WEPN New York - Almost local (more WBZ IBOC slop and WQOM/1060 slop)
1080 WTIC Hartford - Notching out WILD/1090
1090 WBAL Baltimore - Noisy but listenable over WILD (notching out)
1100 WHLI Hempstead, LI - Strong, w/standards
1130 WBBR New York - Very Strong, Bloomberg news
1160 WVNJ Oakland, NJ - Pretty strong
1180 WHAM Rochester, NY - Strong at times
1190 WLIB New York - Strong, gospel mx
1210 WPHT Philadelphia - "The Big Talker 1210", noisy but usable
1350 WEZS Laconia, NH - Oldies, strong
1350 WINY Putnam, CT - Strong fading between WEZS
1360 WTOC Newton, NJ - "The True Oldies Channel"
1500 WFED Washington, DC - Strong at times, with WFIF Milford, CT.
1520 WWKB Buffalo, NY - Strong at times between WIZZ Greenfield, MA and the 1521 het from Saudi Arabia
1560 WQEW New York - Radio Disney as usual, strong

The middle of the day and still getting skywave !! Very cool!

73,
-Pete (K1XRB)

 

[radioman148]

Daytime DX @ 12:00 noon, Monday, 1/3/11 (Brockton, MA at Wendy's West Side)
Receiver: Grundig YB 305 (3 volts, portable handheld)

820 WNYC New York - Noisy, but listenable
1010 WINS New York - Almost local (except for WBZ IBOC slop)
1050 WEPN New York - Almost local (more WBZ IBOC slop and WQOM/1060 slop)
1080 WTIC Hartford - Notching out WILD/1090
1090 WBAL Baltimore - Noisy but listenable over WILD (notching out)
1100 WHLI Hempstead, LI - Strong, w/standards
1130 WBBR New York - Very Strong, Bloomberg news
1160 WVNJ Oakland, NJ - Pretty strong
1180 WHAM Rochester, NY - Strong at times
1190 WLIB New York - Strong, gospel mx
1210 WPHT Philadelphia - "The Big Talker 1210", noisy but usable
1350 WEZS Laconia, NH - Oldies, strong
1350 WINY Putnam, CT - Strong fading between WEZS
1360 WTOC Newton, NJ - "The True Oldies Channel"
1500 WFED Washington, DC - Strong at times, with WFIF Milford, CT.
1520 WWKB Buffalo, NY - Strong at times between WIZZ Greenfield, MA and the 1521 het from Saudi Arabia
1560 WQEW New York - Radio Disney as usual, strong

The middle of the day and still getting skywave !! Very cool!

73,
-Pete (K1XRB)

How many, if any of those stations could you hear at mid day in spring or summer?

 

[MarcB]

Yesterday I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of Shoprite Plaza in Southington, Connecticut at 12:15PM and WWKB 1520 was coming in strongly. WIZZ Greenfield, Mass was weak underneath.

I got an un-id talk station on 1650. No ID or newscast at the bottom of the hour.

The Korean Station on 1660 WWRU out of Jersey was stronger than it normally is during the day in Central Connecticut.

I heard ethnic music on 1690 which I think it out of Canada.

And I heard music (very weak) I couldn't even tell what type of music or what language it was in on 1700.

At night on 1650 if I get anything on the house radio and car radio it's an ethnic station out of Canada? I heard Indian Music on it a couple days ago. And I'm sorry but it sounded like someone was torturing a cat.

 

[radioman148]

Yesterday I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of Shoprite Plaza in Southington, Connecticut at 12:15PM and WWKB 1520 was coming in strongly. WIZZ Greenfield, Mass was weak underneath.

I got an un-id talk station on 1650. No ID or newscast at the bottom of the hour.

The Korean Station on 1660 WWRU out of Jersey was stronger than it normally is during the day in Central Connecticut.

I heard ethnic music on 1690 which I think it out of Canada.

And I heard music (very weak) I couldn't even tell what type of music or what language it was in on 1700.

At night on 1650 if I get anything on the house radio and car radio it's an ethnic station out of Canada? I heard Indian Music on it a couple days ago. And I'm sorry but it sounded like someone was torturing a cat.

It's prime time of year for daytime DX.

 

[cyberdad]

Just looking at a map of Manitoba and all the lakes up there, I'd have to say their
ground conductivity is just killer!

It is "killer"....in the prairies. Those are by and large to the south and west of the city. Go about an hour east of town and you hit the Canadian Shield area....pretty much solid rock. (Although chock full of lakes).

In the '90s I used to make the drive from Winnipeg to Duluth a couple of times each year. To do that you go east on the Trans-Canada highway, then hang a right on route 71 at Kenora, Ontario. Kenora is about 120 miles east Winnipeg....the first town of consequence you encounter a few minutes after crossing the Ontario-Manitoba border. By the time you reach Kenora you're in the shield zone....nd the signal strength of the Winnipeg blowtorches quickly plummets. I used to stop for the night quite frequently in Kenora. The result of the shield....and the fact that this is a largely unpopulated (but ridiculously beautiful) area meant that most of the a.m. band was vacant during the daytime.....save for the then local CJRL, and the weak Winnipeg signals. Of course at night, the place was a DX-ers paradise.

 

[Icangelp]

Just looking at a map of Manitoba and all the lakes up there, I'd have to say their
ground conductivity is just killer!

It is "killer"....in the prairies. Those are by and large to the south and west of the city. Go about an hour east of town and you hit the Canadian Shield area....pretty much solid rock. (Although chock full of lakes).

In the '90s I used to make the drive from Winnipeg to Duluth a couple of times each year. To do that you go east on the Trans-Canada highway, then hang a right on route 71 at Kenora, Ontario. Kenora is about 120 miles east Winnipeg....the first town of consequence you encounter a few minutes after crossing the Ontario-Manitoba border. By the time you reach Kenora you're in the shield zone....nd the signal strength of the Winnipeg blowtorches quickly plummets. I used to stop for the night quite frequently in Kenora. The result of the shield....and the fact that this is a largely unpopulated (but ridiculously beautiful) area meant that most of the a.m. band was vacant during the daytime.....save for the then local CJRL, and the weak Winnipeg signals. Of course at night, the place was a DX-ers paradise.

Totally off the subject of DX, but I used to travel North America's fruited plains, and occasionally ended up in Roseau MN, thanks to spending some Windshield time with my Upper Midwest sales guy. The first time I made a trip with him, we were in Roseau after the sales visit . Now I knew we had made a very long trip, but didn't realize how dangerously close we were to Canada where wild animals roam free, and women have freckles and talk funny. Then I looked at the map.

Anyway, I commented that we were only a few miles from Canada, and he suggested we take Friday off and go fishing in Canada at his favorite spot. Naturally, I thought this was a great idea. My wife didn't, but she was back home in Ohio, so her opinion didn't count and she couldn't hit me until I got home.

After a short 3 hour car trip, we ended up in...Kenora...had a great time but as a punishment for disobeying the wife, I was not allowed to bring my catch back home...a small price to pay for a great weekend near...Kenora.

 

[fangio28]

I heard that "wife crap" too, so after 33 years, I divorced her.
Been 6 of the BEST years of my life since. Got back into DXing and
enjoying living in North Idaho (came here sight unseen to get the divorce,
originally.)

 

[Icangelp]

I like the living in N. Idaho part, but marriage and me they agree. My wife put up with my weekly traveling for 40+ years, and accepts all my faults including my tendency to excessively DX. Heck, she even tolerates my constant tuning of the car radio to static filled, fading AM signals from cities she has absolutely no interest in.

 

[cyberdad]

Mrs. Cyberdad has no problem with my DX-ing, although I try to avoid it in the car when she's with me. Even at that she tolerates a little of it. Aside from being in the car, usually I've got headphones on, so it's not an issue. Congrats, Icangelp on 40 years! We had our 40th in November, but were too busy to do anything other than crack open a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. Actually we're having our belated celebration this weekend with family & friends, including our daughter who's home from London.

As for Kenora....yeah, it's on the northern end of Lake of the Woods and surrounded by scads of other lakes, so it's a fishing hotspot. Then at night it's a DX hotspot.