What's the most impressive/surprising nighttime AM signal you get on a regular basis?

[charlestondxman]

For me, it would have to be the 1700 from Brownsville, TX. I've heard it 3-4 times over the last couple months since I've gotten my loop from Charleston. It is usually there under the Miami signal. Pretty good for 880 watts. 1470 from Rome, GA (WRGA) is also a very reliable night signal here.

 

[cyberdad]

Also, 1090 KAAY in Little Rock (about 30 mi. from their tower) goes from crystal clear to absolutely nothing at dark. I live right in it's alleged nighttime signal pattern but in reality it doesn't exist. I heard their tower was messed up at one time but I haven't heard it at night in years so not sure what the deal is anymore.

The issues with KAAY have been discussed from time to time here. I stand to be corrected, but I believe they were off the air for a time after thieves broke into their transmitter site, dug up the radials and/or stole some of the tower components (all for scrap metal). Whatever the deal was/is, KAAY hasn't been its former robust self for years. When I spent a night in Little Rock last summer, KAAY sounded weak and badly modulated.

As for KMOX and WTAM, both of them sound fine around here (northwest of Chicago) at night. Given their power and distance from me, in each case, that's pretty much what could be expected. Maybe KMOX is just a tad weaker than it used to be, but WTAM is usually a monster.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

To get back on topic, 1100 WTAM in Cleveland shows up regularly here and pretty strong. I know it's a clear-channel but from living a little over 700 miles away from the tower I think it's still pretty impressive to be so consistent.

What is now WTAM made it to Lubbock, TX in the 70's before station glut.

 

[FreddyE1977]

KAAY was a regular nighttime catch when I lived in Columbus.
Here in Pittsburgh 1090 is dominated by WBAL.

 

[jim-satx]

While I don't hear it every night, I'm surprised how often 1400 KCYK in Yuma, AZ, does make it here in S.A. from 973 miles away. I've never even received any other 1 kW graveyard stations beyond the 500-mile range.

 

[crainbebo]

You get Yuma on 1400 often? That is amazing! Even here in the NW, I can't get more than 530 miles on a regular night without Au enhancement (then I can get 700-750 mi CA stations at times on the GY channels). The 530-mile GY reception that I usually get is KACH-1340 Preston, ID (running soft rock).
Yuma has been heard on FM a few times via skip, but never on AM. The only good chance is 560-KBLU on 1kw, but KSFO is a powerhouse during aurora. Maybe I could get them in Idaho via Au, farther to the east, where the coordinates align with Yuma.

 

[gr8oldies]

In the KAAY top 40 heyday in western Ohio, I could get them roughly between our sunset and Little Rock's sunset.

KAAY was a regular nighttime catch when I lived in Columbus.
Here in Pittsburgh 1090 is dominated by WBAL.

 

[formula72]

For me, it was and still is KPLZ 1380 kHz, a little country music station out of Parker, Arizona.

This little bugger is supposed to be running only 58 watts @ night, and 2500KW during the day. I can hear it regularly, albeit not exactly clear, but its there with fade.

I can attest its not running 2.5KW, as I can get 500W stations that sound pretty good coming from southern California ( 400+ miles )

Its distance is nearly 490 miles away from me. If they are running only 58 Watt's, that is one outstanding setup.

I pick up KPLZ every time I'm outside DXing at night...

 

[cyberdad]

Hanging around radio transmitters can really play havoc with your memory. My guess is that KPLZ is "forgetting" to power down at night.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

One station I had difficulty logging Day or Night when I lived in Genesee County, Michigan was WIND. WKMF on 1470 24/7 had an image at 560 before I devised loops and preamps to preselect 560. WHND 560 was nearly always on in the Daytime. But I first heard it after WHND signed off on the Delco (different IF frequency) car radio in the 15 minute interval before WIND pattern change. Before they rebuilt the 4 tower top loaded parallelogram with a 4 tower monopole parallelogram, I never logged it on Night pattern. I don't know if it was the four tower pattern which might have been changed when rebuilt or the vertical pattern of the top loaded towers.

 

[formula72]

Hanging around radio transmitters can really play havoc with your memory. My guess is that KPLZ is "forgetting" to power down at night.

Its possible, but it is very weak for 2.5KW considering the distance at night. There are a few 500W beamer's that are pretty strong ( much stronger than KPLZ ), and sometimes a ***** to null out, that are about the same distance. It might be the band, the height of the transmitter, the ground conductivity, I really don't know. Looking at the radiation pattern, they shouldn't get much further than Bakersfield. It might be possible they are running on 500W at night now, and not 58. Something is definitely off. They are not running 58 watts, but they don't sound like they are running on day power either. My guess, the FCC has not updated this stations output ( as was approved not long ago ) and it very well maybe somewhere in the ballpark of 500 watts with a null somewhere in between.


How is there a way to tell?

 

[cyberdad]

How is there a way to tell?

At the risk of making a dumb comment, short of walking in and asking if you can take transmitter readings, I'm not sure. The only other thing I can think of is being in the area and checking out the groundwave at night. Probably not worth the trip. The fact is there are so many variables with skywave behavior, it's almost impossible to tell. One approach that might give you a clue is see if you can catch them when you know they should either should be powering up or powering down. Sounds simple, but on a crowded channel where the only chance of hearing the station in question is via skywave, everything has to go right in order for you to make the determination.

 

[icybluelake]

I think WTAM deserves a mention here because it often has such a beast of a signal around here at night. I'd expect it to be there most of the time, but it blasts in like nothing I can remember besides KAAY in the 70s. (WTAM, then called WWWE, with Pete Franklin's toilet, wasn't that strong around here in those days.)