Video of daytime AM reception at the Gulf in Central Florida

[gar hi]

Well, I took a little trip to a remote beach in Dunedin to see what I could get during the day. I spent about an hour and a half there and the only station I could ID was WWL which was also the strongest. It would have sounded better if not for our local on 860 which also spilled over into 850. Our local station on 1040 also spilled over into 1030. 740 had two stations, one talk and the other Spanish. Being that the one from central Florida has both formats, I didn't know which one it was. 790 was fairly good and had sports on along with what sounded like a foreign Spanish station. 850 had sports too. 1030 was some Spanish speaking station. What's real interesting is that I actually heard something on 1700 so faint but just enough to know something's there. It was English speaking which seemed to be periods of fast talk and some music.

Here is a little video I captured....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7MaeyYuq4

 

[radioman148]

Well, I took a little trip to a remote beach in Dunedin to see what I could get during the day. I spent about an hour and a half there and the only station I could ID was WWL which was also the strongest. It would have sounded better if not for our local on 860 which also spilled over into 850. Our local station on 1040 also spilled over into 1030. 740 had two stations, one talk and the other Spanish. Being that the one from central Florida has both formats, I didn't know which one it was. 790 was fairly good and had sports on along with what sounded like a foreign Spanish station. 850 had sports too. 1030 was some Spanish speaking station. What's real interesting is that I actually heard something on 1700 so faint but just enough to know something's there. It was English speaking which seemed to be periods of fast talk and some music.

Here is a little video I captured....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7MaeyYuq4

I guess the frequencies are too crowded to have any shot at Texas.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[schmave]

Well, I took a little trip to a remote beach in Dunedin to see what I could get during the day. I spent about an hour and a half there and the only station I could ID was WWL which was also the strongest. It would have sounded better if not for our local on 860 which also spilled over into 850. Our local station on 1040 also spilled over into 1030. 740 had two stations, one talk and the other Spanish. Being that the one from central Florida has both formats, I didn't know which one it was. 790 was fairly good and had sports on along with what sounded like a foreign Spanish station. 850 had sports too. 1030 was some Spanish speaking station. What's real interesting is that I actually heard something on 1700 so faint but just enough to know something's there. It was English speaking which seemed to be periods of fast talk and some music.

Here is a little video I captured....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7MaeyYuq4

I agree ... thank you for sharing.
I read somewhere that the Orlando 740 has returned to sports from previously being in Spanish. I would think, though, that that 740 would be far stronger in Dunedin than the noise on your recording even with its westward null. For that reason alone, I think you might have caught Houston.
I'm not as optimistic re. 790 from here.
So nothing at all on 560?

 

[gar hi]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had something on 560 that turned out to be WQAM. I've listened to 740 at night from Tampa for some time now and it seems I either get Spanish or sports and I thought anyway the central Florida station had both formats.

 

[vibe]

There HAS to be a place somewhere N of Tampa-St. Pete that right on the Gulf that can pull in TX during the day w/o skywave. That is until thge Gulf makes it's bend S of Tallahassee. I don't think there are any overpowering AM's up that way.
I wish I had hung out longer in Yankeetown (actually about 2-3 mi W of that) to do some serious DXing but is was hot, muggy, and buggy in mid October but the area I want to focus on is further up the in the town of Steinhatchee near Deadman Bay. Any opinions? Anybody been there and played with the radio??
Seafood must be good, some sightseeing ops in Manatee Springs SP (near Chefland) and in Perry. Maybe play golf and fish w/ the locals...
Good video. Maybe we can identify some other targets... For example, at what point does one lose the 1600 out of Key West and get the 1600 out of Golden Meadow LA??

 

[gar hi]

I checked out 740 here in Tampa today and it's English but extremely weak and in the direction of Orlando. Probably what I had on 740 yesterday but whatever I heard was talk, not sports. I'd still like to know what that was on 1700. It didn't sound like the Miami one at all from what I heard. With New Orleans so strong, you'd think at least something from Houston would show up.

 

[schmave]

The only other 740 I can think of that *conceivably* could have reached you is WMSP, a sports station from Montgomery, Alabama. But given the horrid ground conductivity in that area, I think that's doubtful.
If it was talk, you might have had KTRH. That's what they usually run outside of Astros games; yesterday, their Astros coverage would have started around 3 your time, then there was a break around 5-6 your time for another talk show because the Astros were in a rain delay.

 

[ALRocker]

Listen close and you can hear Cuba's "tick-tock station" on 790, especially on the last scan.

 

[drt]

Listen close and you can hear Cuba's "tick-tock station" on 790, especially on the last scan.

That doesn't surprise me at all; I live about 35 miles s.s.e. of Dunedin Beach/Honeymoon Island and all I hear on 790 is WLBE,WAXY 790 (Sports) out of Miami and Radio Reloj out of Cuba; all coming in with about the same signal strength; that refrequency is a mess in this area. (I'm about 4 blocks from Tampa Bay and about 5 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

If I had thought of it before, I would have suggested Pine Island state park near Hernando Beach as a better place to dx; less splatter from the Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater stations, just a little further from Cuba......... maybe there Texas might be receivable. Pine Island state park is right on the Gulf of Mexico and is about 25 - 30 miles north of where GAR FLA did the dx'ing.

I don't know if the extra drive would be worth it or not; someday I may try there and see what stations are receivable there.

At my northern most dx'ing location on the west coast (Indian Shores--- just south of Clearwater Beach) I did receive the 1600 out of Key West;whereas just a few miles south of there, the splatter from 1590
WRXB - St. Pete Beach completely covered the 1600 frequency.

drt

 

[radioman148]

Listen close and you can hear Cuba's "tick-tock station" on 790, especially on the last scan.

I didn't hear it the first time. Thanks for the "heads up" Al.

 

[gar hi]

If I had thought of it before, I would have suggested Pine Island state park near Hernando Beach as a better place to dx; less splatter from the Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater stations, just a little further from Cuba......... maybe there Texas might be receivable. Pine Island state park is right on the Gulf of Mexico and is about 25 - 30 miles north of where GAR FLA did the dx'ing.

I don't know if the extra drive would be worth it or not; someday I may try there and see what stations are receivable there.

So you think that if it weren't for the Florida stations, I could have otherwise heard Texas from where I went?

And speaking of which, the only more or less open frequency I heard a faint solo station on was 1700 and although it was too weak to get any ID, I'm pretty certain it was not the Spanish one from the Miami area.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Well, I took a little trip to a remote beach in Dunedin to see what I could get during the day. I spent about an hour and a half there and the only station I could ID was WWL which was also the strongest. It would have sounded better if not for our local on 860 which also spilled over into 850. Our local station on 1040 also spilled over into 1030. 740 had two stations, one talk and the other Spanish. Being that the one from central Florida has both formats, I didn't know which one it was. 790 was fairly good and had sports on along with what sounded like a foreign Spanish station. 850 had sports too. 1030 was some Spanish speaking station. What's real interesting is that I actually heard something on 1700 so faint but just enough to know something's there. It was English speaking which seemed to be periods of fast talk and some music.

Here is a little video I captured....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7MaeyYuq4

I parked on Fort Walton Beach several years ago and Marco Island on 1660 was my best catch at 425 miles or so. It wasn't strong, but it was an easy ID at high noon.

 

[gar hi]

Though I wasn't specifically looking on these frequencies, I remember getting something on 1660 and an even stronger station on 1640. Also, there was a very faint station on 660 and Spanish on 640, probably that Cuban one often heard at night.

 

[drt]

Hi GarFla,

I think Pine Island State Park would offer a better chance of receiving Texas, that further south; you would be closer to the latitiude of Houston and a little further west than Honeymoon Island.

That being said..... do I really think you have a good chance of receiving Texas and the short answer is no! But the odds wouldn't be as stacked against you as it was on Dunedin Beach/Honeymoon Island.

As far as receiving the NYC Clear Channels during the day on the east coast of the state of Florida; I think that just isn't going to happen during the mid day time period; but there are many interesting catches nonetheless. (not to mention the surf and enjoying the beautiful Atlantic.)

fyi; the furthest point east in Florida is the town of Palm Beach.... but don't look for any public beaches there; Palm Beach doesn't encourage any non-residents to go there; unless it's too drop some money at the exclusive shops on Worth Ave.

drt

 

[gar hi]

I've seen DXpedition reports from Newfoundland where they claimed to get Boston stations in the daytime and that's around 800 miles.

One reason I thought Texas was possible is that someone recently mentioned getting WDAE and a couple other Tampa stations mid day in SE Texas. But based on all I've now heard, I wouldn't go across the state to try for NY in the daytime. What could I possibly have been hearing on 1700 when I was at the beach? It didn't sound Spanish at all like the Miami station and there wasn't constant music or any old songs I could recognize. It sounded like most fast talking as if it were some promotional thing most of the time with some music too but again, no song I could identify because of the very weak signal. I know the high frequency AMs aren't known for their strong ground signal as are the lower frequencies.

 

[radioman148]

I still think it would be possible for you to get a Texas station across the gulf in Florida if the frequency was clear and there was little to no splatter.
However, that situation doesn't appear to exist.

 

[vibe]

Just as Bob on the Job from Ft. Walton got the 1660 from Marco Island (near naples FL), I got the x Banders on 1620 and 1640 at 1-2 PM from Placida FL (about 25 mi NW of Ft. Myers). I estimated the distances to Pensacola and Biloxi to be in the 450 mi range give or take. And the old standby WWL was quite listenable, not city grade, not faint. THAT has to be 600+ mi from Placida FL ("a drinking town with a fishing problem").
What I find interesting is receiving the 1600 out of Key West in Englewood-at the beach and at least 2-3 mi inland. I think it is a 500 watt station and the distance (all salt water) must be in the 200 mi range, over the Gulf reception (TX to FL) is doable. Just need the right time and place,receiver, maybe some luck.

 

[radioman148]

Just as Bob on the Job from Ft. Walton got the 1660 from Marco Island (near naples FL), I got the x Banders on 1620 and 1640 at 1-2 PM from Placida FL (about 25 mi NW of Ft. Myers). I estimated the distances to Pensacola and Biloxi to be in the 450 mi range give or take. And the old standby WWL was quite listenable, not city grade, not faint. THAT has to be 600+ mi from Placida FL ("a drinking town with a fishing problem").
What I find interesting is receiving the 1600 out of Key West in Englewood-at the beach and at least 2-3 mi inland. I think it is a 500 watt station and the distance (all salt water) must be in the 200 mi range, over the Gulf reception (TX to FL) is doable. Just need the right time and place,receiver, maybe some luck.

Those X banders can be weird and sometimes take on some skywave properties during the day due to their high frequency.

 

[gar hi]

There's a chance I may be going to Fort De Soto Park next Sunday as some of the family are having a get together. It depends on if they're able to rent a cabana there. That's at least 35 miles south of where I was on Saturday and maybe I could have more luck because I've noticed from looking at the Radio Locator maps for many Houston stations that the main direction of their signals tend to go more to the SE than the ESE. It's worth a try anyway.

 

[radioman148]

There's a chance I may be going to Fort De Soto Park next Sunday as some of the family are having a get together. It depends on if they're able to rent a cabana there. That's at least 35 miles south of where I was on Saturday and maybe I could have more luck because I've noticed from looking at the Radio Locator maps for many Houston stations that the main direction of their signals tend to go more to the SE than the ESE. It's worth a try anyway.

Not being familiar with the area is that location right on the gulf?