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WLW 500 kW Directional vs. 50 kW Nondirectional 5 mV/m and 1 mV/m 50% Skywave Map

I didn't get where Clint's character could put on that 7 inch reel of tape, go home and rescue his girlfriend from the deranged fan, and get back before the end. I'm figuring a half hour playing time tops
At 3 3/4 I think there was "ultra thin" 0.5 like Ampoex 671 tape that you could get two hours off of. At that speed, it would still be AM quality... sort of.
 
It still does with "just" 50 kw for DXers. It is heard in Europe, and frequently reported in New Zealand and Australia. I used to hear it fairly regularly in Quito, Ecuador, too.

But back in the 30's, there were far fewer stations world wide, and WLW could be heard just about everywhere with a decent radio (and patience for good conditions).
When I was in Puerto Rico about 10 years ago, WLW was the most dependable stateside station I could hear most nights.
 
At that time could WLW get to Hawaii?

Software specs would need to confirm it could accurately predict skywave signal at that distance, approximately 4,500 miles.

Without local interference in Hawaii, I'd say WLW @ 500 KW could be heard in Hawaii during a period of time when there is night between Cincinnati and Hawaii. Would need to work out darkness path to see if stations Japan, Korea, etc. could interfere with Hawaii reception of WLW later in the night, before sunrise in Cincinnati.

Would need to research to determine who might have been present in Hawaii at that time, equipped and motivated to listen to WLW.

Mario, you may already have read or participated in threads about folks hearing Asia on SDRs located on the west coast.
Btw NIF contour values of AM stations in Hawaii are low, as you would expect, but then again if software database does not contain Asian stations, NIF could be incorrect.
 
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WGN and WBBM can still be heard in Hawaii on certain nights during the winter. I have heard them recently on the Kaneohe, Hawaii receiver. In fact as recently as last week I heard WBBM over KKOH. Therefore, I must assume that during the days of clear channels WLW could be heard in Hawaii during the winter.
Back in the late 70s I heard WBBM and WLS in Hawaii on my very good (at the time) panasonic radio. Now WLS is very difficult to hear out west as there are several stations on 890 in the west. The last time I heard WLS on one of the Hawaii SDRs was probably about 5 years ago.
 
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I believe you are correct on this. In all the years I lived in southern Wisconsin, I never recall daytime reception of WLW, except during rare daytime skywave and during critical hours, of course. During the years I grew up in Peoria, you could just barely receive WLW during the day, especially in winter. When I went to college in Macomb, IL., WLW could only be received at night.

Bob
On a trip to Minneapolis in July, I can remember getting the last breath of WLW at a rest area just west of Madison around noon. When I lived in the Quincy-Hannibal area, there was no WLW during the daytime, save one occasion of winter daytime skip. It was always solid at night.
 
Yes, radioman 148 key phrase is "during the days of clear channels". Now there is a 10 KW non-d unlimited 690 in Honolulu, and a 10 KW non-d unlimited co-channel in Alaska. Depending on their night ERP to Hawaii some of the other western US co-channel stations might impair WLW in Hawaii.
 
Didn't some real life DJ, seems like it was a college radio station, put a tape like that on, go murder somebody, come back, and think he had a perfect alibi? Or was that a TV show or movie too? Could have been a Hallmark Murder Mystery, sounds exactly like one of their predictable plots.
I remember a movie or a TV episode (I'm thinking Larry Hagman was in it?) where the DJ puts on a tape, murders his girlfriend, and his alibi is being on the air. He sent through a dedication during the show over a Marti-like device, over a record, and it was the squelch tail that convicted the character.
 
When I was in Puerto Rico about 10 years ago, WLW was the most dependable stateside station I could hear most nights.
Where in PR were you? In my homes in a aguas, Río Piedras and Guynabo, when WTIL in Mayagüez was on the air WLW was difficult. Perhaps if I were on the north shoreline, WLW would have performed better.
 
Where in PR were you? In my homes in a aguas, Río Piedras and Guynabo, when WTIL in Mayagüez was on the air WLW was difficult. Perhaps if I were on the north shoreline, WLW would have performed better.
I was in the NE side of San Juan not too far from the airport and near the ocean. What I noticed most from the few nights I was able to DX there was that the NE stations from the US and the midwest stations usually didn't come through on the same nights, but WLW was in very well almost every night I listened. Several stations from Florida were heard each night, but that wasn't a surprise.
 
Yes, radioman 148 key phrase is "during the days of clear channels". Now there is a 10 KW non-d unlimited 690 in Honolulu, and a 10 KW non-d unlimited co-channel in Alaska. Depending on their night ERP to Hawaii some of the other western US co-channel stations might impair WLW in Hawaii.
Yes, now you have a 700 in Utah which kills WLW out west. As far as the 690 in Honolulu, if you were on one of the other islands it wasn't much of a problem. The Utah station is the bigger problem in the west.
 
Below is a graphic showing the daytime and nighttime coverage areas of WLW using software based on the present-day methodologies of the FCC.

Comparing the nighttime plot to the 50 kW non-D plots of SC's graphic in the opening post shows some differences...

WLW Day & Night Coverage Areas, FCC Methods.png
 
Powell Crosley built WLW at 500kW (he actually wanted a megawatt) for the purposes of:
* Bragging rights, and to sell his brand of radios
* To get in good with the U.S. Government by using WLW's night skywave capabilities as a propaganda medium to foreign governments.

My father told me once that WLW's past high power use was one of the reasons the Smith Mundt act of 1948 was created. Essentially, that propaganda intended toward foreign governments by the United States should not be broadcasted to U.S. citizens.
 
I guess that the "propaganda" aspect resulted in the US taking over their Shortwave station, WLWO, for the Voice Of America.
Exactly. Medium Wave was the only OTA form of broadcasting in the U.S., while other countries relied on Short Wave. Sticking "propaganda" on WLWO was a quick solution.
 
Below is a graphic showing the daytime and nighttime coverage areas of WLW using software based on the present-day methodologies of the FCC.

Comparing the nighttime plot to the 50 kW non-D plots of SC's graphic in the opening post shows some differences...

View attachment 1622
That map is accurate for me as I can receive WLW in the near north Chicago suburbs during the day.
 
The OWI took over all of the shortwave stations being operated by commercial broadcasters at the start of the war - Crosley's in Ohio, CBS in New Jersey and California, NBC in New Jersey and California, WRUL in Massachusetts, Westinghouse in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and GE in New York and California.

Some of the sites ended up as VOA sites after the war - the Crosley site, of course, as well as the CBS and RCA sites in California (Delano and Dixon). Others were operated under contract to VOA (Westinghouse's WBOS, for instance), and I think some of the equipment was moved to the Greenville NC sites after WBOS closed.

And of course a couple of the stations were returned to their owners after the war - KGEI in California and WRUL in Massachusetts.
 
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