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Week in Houston & a day on the TX Gulf.

I

Icangelp

Heading by car to Houston soon. Since my wife is flying down, that means I pack the car, and DX equipement space is controlled by me.

I'd like some help on setting my Day/Night/Sunrise/Sunset DX listening priorities for AM. One of the recrivers I'm bringing is my Grundig G8, so some help on FM DX would also be appreciated.
 
You should try these Tampa/St. Pete stations during the middle of the day....

WFLA 970 - 25,000 w Talk

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFLA&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

WDAE 620 - 5600 w Sports

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WDAE&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

WHNZ 1250 - 25,000 w Talk

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WHNZ&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

WWMI 1380 - 5000 w Radio Disney

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWMI&service=AM&status=L&hours=D


I'd be fascinated to hear what you get. Daytime saltwater DXing is awesome.
 
Thanks, gar. When we visit Galveston for the day, I will try for Tampa. Since It is 750 miles from Galveston to Tampa, it may be the impossible dream.

Won't have much evening time, but my sunrise, sunset and night domestic targets will be KFI & some of the "new" stations on the former clear channel frequencies. Main focus will be MX, Central and South America.
 
To get the best possible chance of reception, I'd suggest going down to the beach where the water is. Being up above that seawall on that tall solid block of land could possibly reduce the reception.

As far as what you might get, someone here once said they got 620 WDAE with a listenable signal in New Orleans away from the water during the day. And I'm not sure if it was here or somewhere else but someone also said they got it driving west as far as the Texas border in the daytime too.

When I was at the Gulf here in central Florida, WWL and WLNO came in real strong and would have sounded almost like locals if it weren't for splash over from local neighboring frequencies.

I hoped to hear an ID of KTRH from Houston but WYGM Orlando and some Spanish station dominated the frequency. There was a weak third station in the background but the other two stations made it impossible to hear what they were saying. I wouldn't rule out the possibility it was KTRH.

Can't wait to hear what you get from there!
 
1700 KVNS should come in pretty good on the coast.
FM DX is almost a constant on the coast with their near constant Tropo.
 
LibertyNT said:
1700 KVNS should come in pretty good on the coast.
FM DX is almost a constant on the coast with their near constant Tropo.
Click to expand...

KVNS is as close to a guarantee in Galveston as you'll get, just like WWL. I went down to the beaches last May to DX and ended up taking KVNS nearly 10 miles inland on my trip back to the Houston suburbs.
I am excited to see what you report. One thing I miss about living down there is the great DXing opportunity at the Gulf.
 
Schmave. I'm off to Houston this Saturday. My brother-in-law, who also does a little DX, and his fam are staying in our house for the week. Kind of a D Xchange.

I've got everything plotted out DX wise.

Any restaurant suggestions while I'm in Houston? Doing a day trip to Galveston also.
 
Are you bringing a loop antenna with you?

Ever since I finally decided to get one, I've been amazed looking at all the demonstrations of home made and store bought loops on You Tube.

I can't wait till mine arrives and I'm heading over to the Gulf asap.
 
Icangelp said:
Schmave. I'm off to Houston this Saturday. My brother-in-law, who also does a little DX, and his fam are staying in our house for the week. Kind of a D Xchange.

I've got everything plotted out DX wise.

Any restaurant suggestions while I'm in Houston? Doing a day trip to Galveston also.
Click to expand...

Oh my. There are a lot of places where you can't go wrong ... depends on what part of town you're staying in. Restaurants that are all over the place and I liked during my time there included the entire Pappa's family of restaurants, Luna's and Landry's. If you find yourself in the League City area, I will suggest Mely's, a pretty decent Mexican restaurant. Follow 518 about 3-4 miles east of 45 and it's on the right about a mile or so past Clear Creek High School.
Enjoy your stay. February is one of the best months weather-wise in that part of the country.
 
Just returned from Houston, but only had a couple of opportunities to DX, and then from the hotel room. (New Embassy Suites on Katy Freeway) I'll say this. The Houston AM dial is crowded both day and night.

It will take a little time to sort things out, but on the trip down to Houston, the strong day signal of 50 KW non directional 640/WCRV in Collierville (Memphis) TN seemed to go on forever in MS. 550/KTRS St Louis daytime coverage reached well past Memphis in both TN and MS.

810/WSJC 50KW non directional days was the dominant MS station on I-55. Also got to hear my old sunset skip favorite 940/WCPC in Houston MS.

No FL stations audible during our day visit to Galveston. Mostly TX stations including 570/KLIF 5KW directional from Dallas. That's a 250 mile journey. WWL was there also at about 300 miles.
 
schmave said:
Any good Mexican pickups? I am sure KVNS rolled in too.
Click to expand...
Yes, KVNS was heard while we were in Galveston.

I didn't have time to identify a lot of MX stations, however what I presumed to be XEWA was there on 540 KHZ at night. No XEROK on 800 KHZ the couple of times I tried to hear them. 1570/XERF was there. Both of those stations are co-channel to local Houston stations. More later.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but 810/WHB in KCMO had a strong signal down south prior to powering down and going directional.
 
Sorry you didn't get any Florida stations.

Did you go down to near the water or stay up on the level of the seawall?
 
Icangelp said:
schmave said:
Any good Mexican pickups? I am sure KVNS rolled in too.
Click to expand...
Yes, KVNS was heard while we were in Galveston.

I didn't have time to identify a lot of MX stations, however what I presumed to be XEWA was there on 540 KHZ at night. No XEROK on 800 KHZ the couple of times I tried to hear them. 1570/XERF was there. Both of those stations are co-channel to local Houston stations. More later.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but 810/WHB in KCMO had a strong signal down south prior to powering down and going directional.
Click to expand...

I used to hear 810 most every night I tried when I lived down there. They're a non-entity here in Ohio.
I've written here that XEROK has a pathetic night signal next to what they used to be, and this seems to corroborate that. XERF and XEG on 1050 from Monterrey blast into Houston every night. 1560 The Game has little to no bearing on XERF in much of the area, nor does 790 on XEROK when that signal makes it in.
 
gar fla said:
Sorry you didn't get any Florida stations.

Did you go down to near the water or stay up on the level of the seawall?
Click to expand...
Right down to the waters edge.

It was 34 degrees and the wind was howling. No hat. No gloves. My hands were frozen. My wife was complaining. My ears were burning. I stood there with my modified Eton E100 tuning the dial and focused on finding a Tampa area station. No luck.

You owe me one.

I did hear La Estrella 50 KW days on 810 in Tampico MX, which would have been a 500 mile daytime reception. I'm thinking I was getting a skywave effect.

11:00 am, and the day was overcast. Probabaly did not reflect typical daytime reception conditions.
 
11 AM for the frequency of 810 sounds like a groundwave to me. The sun is already a lot higher now.

I don 't think the overcast sky would have mattered one way or the other.

Remember, WWL is just about 500 miles from here and it comes in loud and clear right over at the Gulf beaches.

It was 34 degrees and the wind was howling. No hat. No gloves. My hands were frozen. My wife was complaining. My ears were burning. I stood there with my modified Eton E100 tuning the dial and focused on finding a Tampa area station. No luck.

You owe me one.
Click to expand...

I haven't gone back to the Gulf here with my loop antenna to try to get an official ID from the Texas station KCTA 1030 which I'm almost certain I was hearing last time because it's been SO friggin cold here too and if there's a day I'm able to go that's at least a little better, it's windy as can be.

I'll make it there soon and my goal is to at least get an official ID from KCTA on video. The problem is, religious stations like that seldom give their station ID.
 
What I heard coming from Mexico, Caribbean, Central & South America while on my visit to Houston.

About 1 hour total DX time.
Palstar R30A
ALA 100 antenna with 21 ft of wire in an inverted triangle.
Eton E100 modified with a slider ferrite bar antenna.

All are night or sunset-skip receptions and were made in a couple of locations in the Houston/Galveston area, + en route back from New Braunfels.

I either heard their station branding, or a country or location.

Columbia
770 HJJX Bogota
810 HJCY Bogota

Cuba
The usual pests Ohio DXers deal with including 530, and several more to boot.

Mexico
540 XEWA San Luis Potosi
730 XEX? No I.D. Mexico City DF
810 La Estrella Tampico – Galveston late morning, cloudy, rainy day
900 XEW Mexico DF
940 XEQ Mexico DF
1050 XEG Monterrey
1570 XERF Ciudad Acuna

St. Kitts
895 Voice of Nevis presumed

Venezuela
780 YVMN

I heard a lot of other Spanish language stations at night, but I had neither the time nor the patience to wait for an I.D. Shame on me.
 
Icangelp, you said you got KVNS in Galveston and I take it this was during the day?

On a scale of 0 to 10 (with 0 being no signal at all and 10 being like a local), how would you say it sounded during the day?

I'm interested because, even over land according to the Radio Locator maps, KVNS seems to go much greater distances than other stations on that frequency during the day or even other stations at that end of the AM band.

Upper AM band stations are not supposed to have good groundwaves like lower band but this station seems to be an exception for some reason.
 
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