What would You say were Your five best AM DX catches were?

[BRNout]

I recall someone here once saying a 5000 w station could be heard cross country in the right conditions.

You have to realize that what you're saying is true of groundwave, but not of skywave. Yes, a low end frequency like 550 can make 5 kw sound like 50 kw given decent ground conductivity. Great example here in the midwest: 550 KTRS (5 kw) versus 1120 KMOX (50 kw). During the day, KTRS gets out almost as far as KMOX with 1/10 of the power. However, at night, KMOX makes the east coast without any trouble at all via skywave, KTRS is enhanced a bit in N. Illinois - but it's NOT heard in VA or PA.

This is why I'm in the position of skeptical buzzkiller here. I don't believe that KUZZ was audible in VA with 5 kw on 550 when there are so many other possibilities. If anything, you have a harder time getting that distant skip on 550 than you would with something like 1070 or (even better) 1520 - with all things equal. Which they are not.

 

[gar hi]

I understand the thing about groundwaves, however I was quite surprised to hear WIOD that time more than 1000 miles away at night and it was a very audible signal like what I'd expect to hear from a 50kw.

Another time in New Jersey when I was up there visiting, I once got the then WRBQ 1380 right around sunset before they went to their nighttime pattern and that too sounded as loud as a 50 kw.

And remember that Sweetjumper heard WQAM from Pennsylvania and that's only a 1000 w ND signal.

 

[davideduardo]

Early this morning about 3 AM EST I heard a country music station on 550 AM mixed with a bunch of other 550's being talkers...I heard a Dwight Yoakam song and someone said "California" and possibly heard "Bakersfield". Looking at the logbook the only country 550's I've seen are KUZZ Bakersfield, CA, KRAI in CO, KBOW in MT and WAME in NC operating 53 W. It was a very weak, difficult signal that was heard for a short period of time and disappeared later.

KUZZ is a modern conuntry station, a simulcast with market leading KUZZ-FM. They hardly play any Yoakum. I verified with MediaBase and KUZZ played nothing by him all day Saturday and in the early hours of today.

Yoakum did an album of Buck Owens songs, a tribute to Owens and his "Bakersfield" sound. So it's entierely possible that even a talk station, or an ACC affiliate might have done an interview segment or feature that included the song.

Or, it could have been the station outside Charlotte, despite the low power. Skywave reception is much more dependent on conditions than on power; I recall a 250 watt Hawaiian coming in as clearly as a 10 kw one in the early 60's in Ohio. KUZZ, or KAFY in the past, was not a widely heard station by DXers... I had the 500 watt KARI in Blaine, WA, and 1 kw KOY in Phoenix on that frequency and never a hint of Bakersfield, which may be in part due to the very directional pattern of the station or the high Sierras to the back of the array.

 

[davideduardo]

I recall someone here once saying a 5000 w station could be heard cross country in the right conditions.

Not just 5000 watts, 1000 watts, 500 watts or even 250 watts.

http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive Cleveland/California Verification Optimized.pdf has a few verifications of stations from California heard in 50 years ago in NE Ohio.

 

[Tincap]

From my location, here in eastern Ontario, all of them this season.

1. 783 (300kW) ORTAS 1, Syria
2. 1575 (800 kW) Radio Farda, UAE
3. 1134 (600kW) HRV, Croatia
4. 783 (100kW) MDR Info, Germany
5. 747 NOS 5 (200kW), The Netherlands

All catches made with Realistic DX-440, internal antenna.

~BG

 

[w9wi]

Early this morning about 3 AM EST I heard a country music station on 550 AM mixed with a bunch of other 550's being talkers...I heard a Dwight Yoakam song and someone said "California" and possibly heard "Bakersfield". Looking at the logbook the only country 550's I've seen are KUZZ Bakersfield, CA, KRAI in CO, KBOW in MT and WAME in NC operating 53 W. It was a very weak, difficult signal that was heard for a short period of time and disappeared later.

Most likely this is KUZZ heard here in VA though I wasn't able to ID the station. The loop antenna positioned to receive east/west signals and to null out WGR Bufalo. I made this loop and it has pretty sharp nulls and the radio is the Sony HD tuner. Wow!

IMHO it's VERY unlikely you heard KUZZ in Virginia. There are too many stations operating on 550 at night, and KUZZ has a very deep null to the east in their night pattern. (as one might guess, with stations as close as Phoenix on the same frequency) Transcontinental reception on regional channels is essentially unheardof in the time I've been DXing. (since the mid-1980s)

I concur with the suggestions you heard WAME. 53 watts at the bottom of the band can do surprisingly well.

 

[w9wi]

At my location near Nashville:

1. and 2. (tied): TalkRadio UK on 1053 and 1089. (now TalkSport, IIRC)
3. KGA-1510 Spokane, logged in the null of local WLAC 15 miles away.
4. CBU-690 Vancouver, logged with 690 Montreal off the air.
5. KFBK-1530 Sacramento.

(CKWX-1130 Vancouver would be a VERY close #6.)

 

[gar hi]

I recall someone here once saying a 5000 w station could be heard cross country in the right conditions.

Not just 5000 watts, 1000 watts, 500 watts or even 250 watts.

http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive Cleveland/California Verification Optimized.pdf has a few verifications of stations from California heard in 50 years ago in NE Ohio.

WOW!!!

I'd say you have the proof that it IS possible to hear those stations at that distance.

Of course, there are a lot more stations on any given frequency these days but that doesn't mean the signal from all the way across the country can't be there.

Thanks for this reply.

 

[pqgeorge]

1. KGU/760 kHz, Honolulu, HI (1971), under WJR, legal ID (East Wakefield, NH)
2. KFI/640 kHz, Los Angeles, CA (1978), just before sunrise (Great Barrington, MA)
3. ZBVI/780 kHz, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (1977, Great Barrington, MA)
4. KXLO/1230 kHz, Lewistown, Montana (1970, East Wakefield, NH)
5. YVOZ/1200 kHz, Caracas, Venezuela (1973, Randolph, MA)

Honorable mentions
KSL/1160 kHz, Salt Lake City, Utah (1979, Westfield, MA)
XERF/1570 kHz, Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, MEXICO (1974, Randolph, MA)
WHO/1040 kHz, Des Moines, Iowa (1972, East Wakefield, NH)

 

[davideduardo]

I'd say you have the proof that it IS possible to hear those stations at that distance.

Of course, there are a lot more stations on any given frequency these days but that doesn't mean the signal from all the way across the country can't be there.

Thanks for this reply.

Back then, nearly every AM in the country shut down on Monday morning at midnight and until 5 AM or 6 AM for maintenance. It was sort of traditional, for some reason.

Many frequencies were totally empty. Sign-ons from deep South America at 4 AM EST were relatively easy ones... 1090 from Uruguay, Argentines on 870, 830, 950 and more. Brazilians on 880, 1000, 1040, 860, 1220 and more. And as stations signed off at midnight, you could find ones like KXLF in Montana on 1370 alone on the channel. Or KTFI 1270 in Idaho. Others on nearly empty channels were KPRO in Riverside fighting with KMED in Medford, KRKO in WA, KENO 1460 in NV, KERN in CA on 1410 and plenty of others. Also heard were lots of Lesser Antilles sign ons at 6 AM AST, 5 AM EST... as well as numerous Puerto Ricans (550, 1480, 850, 1370, 1140, 580, 740, 1280, etc.)

Back in the 30's and 40's, it was common to hear 100 watt Australian station in the US.

 

[gar hi]

I've been listening on 610 for over an hour tonight and WIOD, which usually is there most of the time, is virtually absent and what I can hear sounds like numerous weak stations at once, almost like a graveyard frequency.

I'm starting to think my chances of picking up KEAR may be as good if not better than KFI because the problem with 640 here is that loud annoying Cuban station and some other weaker Spanish station too.

It was about a year ago I got KFI for a few minutes and then it vanished into the slop for good since then and I figured I should have been able to hear it more often but that certainly isn't the case.

610 here is a very open frequency with no real dominant station at all when WIOD isn't there like tonight or when it goes into one of it's fade cycles on a usual night.

I would also like to hear WIP too, as I'm also turning the radio in that direction as well.

Among the mess of weak stations on 610 I've been hearing tonight, I did hear the word "San Francisco" but of course I have to be reasonable and know that just hearing that in no way means I was hearing KEAR, as it's not as if any station can't mention the name of some American city.

The way it's going so far, I don't see me getting any real ID anytime soon.

 

[stormy01]

The Five Best AM DX Catches

1) 1134 Zadar, Croatia 4816 miles (first heard 2006; every year since then including 2010)
2) 1312* Kvitsoy, Norway 3903 miles (2006)
3) 1210 YVMN Radio Coro - Coro,Venezuela 2410 miles (in the 70's)
4) 625* TIRICA San Jose, Costa Rica 2251 miles (in the 70's)
5) 655* YSS R. Nacional, San Salvador, El Salvador 1977 miles (in the 70's)

"Honorable Mentions"

680 KNBR San Francisco 1829 miles (not heard since "I-BLOC" turned on WSCR; though I have heard WCTT, WPTF, KFEQ and CFTR with "I-BLOC")
1130 CKWX Vancouver, BC 1736 miles (2010)
834* Radio Belize Belize, British Honduras (now Belize) 1727 miles (in the 70's)
1070 KNX Los Angeles 1732 miles (since the 70's; have heard in 2010 several times)
640 KFI Los Angeles 1722 miles (since the 70's; not since the 90's have I heard KFI again)
690 XETRA Tijuana, BCN, Mexico 1710 miles (70's, 80's)
780 KCRL (now KKOH) Reno, NV 1653 miles [not heard since the 70's; WBBM rarely off air for maintenance with modular main transmitter, backup transmitters & generator plant]
720 KDWN Las Vegas, NV 1499 miles [not heard since the 70's; WGN rarely off air for maintenance with modular main transmitter, backup transmitters & generator plant]

*These frequencies have been decommissioned.

 

[ddsparxx]

OK, I may have goofed.
It was hard to tell which country 550 I heard that other night, and didn't think I would hear WAME to the south-southwest of my location considering that if I turn the loop to hear it I would hear WGR from the north-northwest instead, and as I null out WGR (5kW), I apparently didn'tcompletely null out WAME (53W). It did sounded like a classic country station and I should have mentioned that earlier. I did heard Yoakam. I looked at KUZZ's website and it looks like KUZZ is a regular country station. There's another country station in Bakersfield on 107.1 and it may be classic country and it has no website. I'm beginning to think that I may have heard WAME instead, especially if KUZZ didn't play Dwight. (there was no list of songs KUZZ played on its website) WAME has no website either and Wikipedia says it's classic country as BRNout pointed out. I almost never heard Yoakam on regular country stations these days, anyway, and I had said to myself, "did KUZZ really play that Yoakam song?"

I decided that the 550 I heard was most likely WAME in NC instead.

 

[davideduardo]

I looked at KUZZ's website and it looks like KUZZ is a regular country station. There's another country station in Bakersfield on 107.1 and it may be classic country and it has no website.

KUZZ 550 and KUZZ-FM 107.1 are a simulcast 24/7.

 

[Icangelp]

From Indianapolis using my Zenith Trans Oceanic & a friend's Hammarlund SP-600. Date: Just after man began to walk upright (1960-1969):
I lost my logbook on this phase of my DX life, so I called upon my excellent memory.
1439 Kilocycles RTL "Radio Luxumbourg" (The only trans-Atlantic I had ever heard until this past year.)
550 Kilocycles Venzuala "Radio National"
610 Kilocycles Honduras "Radio Americas"
740 Antilles
775 Costa Rica "Radio City"
785 Barbados
800 PJB Bonaire
885 Nicaragua "Radio Libertad"
1075 Costa Rica TIFC "Faro del Caribe"
1079 Canary Islands Didn't get an ID, but we were almost certain.

From the late 70's and early 80's, and from right here in Cincinnati:
525 TICAL Costa Rica "Radio Rumbo"
575 TIRN Costa Rica "Radio National"
595 Dominca
640 Guatamala TGW
655 El Salvador "Radio National"
660 KSKY Dallas Sunset skip10KW days
730 XEX Mexico City
810 Columbia "Radion Sutatenza" 250KW
825 St. Kitts "Radio Paradise"
834 Belize "Radio Belize"
850 Dominican Republic "Radio Clarin"
900 Mexico XEW 250KW
910 KGLC Miami Okla
940 Mexico XEQ
960 Columbia Maganqguecol "Radio Sutatenza"
990 KRSL Russell Kans
1000 Mexico XEOY "Radio Mil"
1035 Haiti 4VEH Cap Haitian
1050 XEG Mexico
1100 WWWE Cleveland "3WE"
1190 Mexico XEWK
1205 Cayman Islands
1325 Haiti "Radio Haiti-Inter"
1580 KPIK Colorado Springs CO Daytimer

The End Times (For AM radio)
1134 Croatia
700 WLW "The Nations Station" I must have tried a 1,000 times before I got an ID on this one.

Oops. It was supposed to be our 5 best. Sorry.

 

[radioman148]

From Indianapolis using my Zenith Trans Oceanic & a friend's Hammarlund SP-600. Date: Just after man began to walk upright (1960-1969):

The Zenith Trans Oceanic is the radio I used during the 60s also to snag all of my MW DX. 1961 is when I got mine and it was recently restored to working order thanks to a fine gentleman who posts here. It's still my favorite radio of all time.

 

[ddsparxx]

I looked at KUZZ's website and it looks like KUZZ is a regular country station. There's another country station in Bakersfield on 107.1 and it may be classic country and it has no website.

KUZZ 550 and KUZZ-FM 107.1 are a simulcast 24/7.

The website says that KUZZ simulcast on 107.9 unless it's wrong.

 

[davideduardo]

The website says that KUZZ simulcast on 107.9 unless it's wrong.

Sorry, my typo. My point is that the AM is simulcast with an FM, any FM, and not independent. The classic country FM does not have an AM counterpart.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

David : What was the purpose of situating Belize on 834? Why not 835? Was there another station on 835 in Central or South America?

Fwiw, when I lived in Masachusetts, the only 'split' I heard in about two years of DXing was Radio Paradise 1265. That was odd/ironic because WSPR's two sticks were right out my window across the Connecticut River on 1270. WSPR used to go off overnight, though.

 

[davideduardo]

David : What was the purpose of situating Belize on 834? Why not 835? Was there another station on 835 in Central or South America?

While Radio Istmania did operate on 835 for a while in Tegucigalpa, 834 seems to have no reason to it. 834 was not a European channel as 818, 827, 836, 845 was the European sequence at the time.

When 834 operated, Panama had many stations on the "even" splits like 1045 Ondas del Canajagua and 1025 La Voz del Barú, etc. Costa Rica had allocations every 25 kHz starting at 550, so there was 550, 575, 600, 635, etc. Nicaragua had a number of splits, like Radio Managua 965, Tadio Cosigüina 1475 and Radio tic Tac 555. Honduras had many, such as Radio Televisión 715. Guatemala had one or two, such as Radio Palmeras on 575. El Salvador had the national station on 655, La Voz de Centroamérica on 1175, and a couple of other splits... like the one on 1015 that operated for a few years.