Due to flooding, the nighttime pattern switching failed and they've requested an Special Temporary Authority to operate with 1250 Watts Non Directional from the single daytime non directional tower. I don't see a date this is effective to but they're usually for at least 30-60 days minimum but often longer. This might make them easier to catch for some. A directional station can request an STA to operate non directionally and usually gets 25 percent of its licensed directional power for non directional operation.
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WNAX 570 Yankton, SD Operating Non Directional At Night With STA
- Thread starter SomeRadioGuy
- Start date
the STA was granted today till March 20, 2020 but they say they'll likely have it done in 90 days
I've never yet heard WNAX via skywave here yet, but they have a fabulous groundwave signal which I've heard as far east as Galena, Il.
I've had the opposite problem with this frequency... I've never gotten anything other than WNAX there. So I decided to go to a location near the lake where I've had some luck with DXing AM stations before to see if the new pattern would help reduce its signal. I wasn't disappointed. I managed to log WSYR in Syracuse NY for the first time.
I've heard WSYR in the Chicago area a couple of times.
I tried for WNAX two evenings ago, here in NE PA. I heard just a jumbled bunch of 570 stations, all of which were talkies. There was an ESPN station there, amid the mess.
This past midnight I tried for them again for an ID. Then I saw the red wire from the HQ-180 dangling. There was no longwire antenna! I had unclipped it so's lightning wouldn't hurt the radio.
With the antenna finally secured this time, just about midnight, in was coming a loud ....
WMCA.
If at first you don't succeed, try to fail again. I'll try for 'em tonight again. South Dakota is one tough state to hear.
This past midnight I tried for them again for an ID. Then I saw the red wire from the HQ-180 dangling. There was no longwire antenna! I had unclipped it so's lightning wouldn't hurt the radio.
With the antenna finally secured this time, just about midnight, in was coming a loud ....
WMCA.
If at first you don't succeed, try to fail again. I'll try for 'em tonight again. South Dakota is one tough state to hear.
K
kf4rca
Guest
570 is usually dominated by WTBN, a Salem station, out of Florida here. They run 5KW at night so I don't think I'll be able to hear South Dakota here.
That should be a tough one. Once you get away from WTBN, you run into R. Reloj from Cuba. At my sister's place near Punta Gorda, R.Reloj is a major pest for WTBN 24/7. Where we go regularly near Pensacola, R. Reloj owns 570....also 24/7. Weak but alone days, strong enough to be on top nights.
And @radioman....At my college location in southeast Iowa, our carrier current campus radio station was on 570. Being a very small school, we didn't sign on until 4pm If we were off, WNAX was relatively easy duty on good radios. Very weak, but listenable.
Our carrier current station at NIU was on 640. Also, we had our own over the air station on 930 at night. A Part 15 AM transmitter with a very lengthy antenna. Back on topic, I never heard WNAX during the day in De Kalb. I was not quite far enough west.
"Role reversal of a sort" I guess. You don't get WNAX, but snag WSYR for the first time. Seems like I've heard them just about everywhere else in the upper Midwest, but never at my home location. I've also driven by the WNAX transmitter site a couple of times.
Then at 4am CDT this morning I finally catch WNAX for the first time at my home QTH with a positive ID leading into CBS news. 50-plus years of waiting and trying finally is over! Signal was fair (at minimum) and comfortably on top. The fact that 570 was...as usual...otherwise relatively empty certainly didn't hurt matters. No trace of WKYX which is what usually is the most likely to surface here.
WSYR? I've heard them in a number of places in Ontario and Quebec, Canada day and/or night. But never here. So, indeed, congrats on your new catch.
Thanks, and congrats on finally getting WNAX.
I get stations like WSYR by going directly up to the lake and listening for them. Because of all the tall buildings and interference, even several blocks away the reception is noticeably poorer. Over the last few weeks I've been listening on the lower frequencies and I've gotten several new 1 to 5 KW stations in the lake-favored directions. Besides WSYR I've picked up WGR 550 in Buffalo, WMCA 570 in New York City, WTCM 580 in Traverse City. I may have also gotten CKAT 600 in North Bay, Ontario, but I couldn't quite make out an ID for that one.
Wow--good catches, especially WMCA. I tried for that for many years and never got it. I guess the buildings along the lake help block out stations from the west and give you a better shot at the east. Good job!
Both WMCA and WSYR I logged after this thread started. I only heard WSYR one time but it is a news station and I heard the identification twice before it faded out. With WMCA I believe I heard it a few times but it doesn't identify itself as frequently. On the top of the hour one time I heard "This is W<faded> in New York City." I counted it even though the call letters were garbled since there is only one station with religious broadcasting in New York City on 570. But this raises the question of when should I "count" a station as having been heard... should I have to actually hear the call letters or can I assume when I have enough identifying information that I've heard it? I tend to give myself the benefit of the doubt since it's all just a game to me anyhow.
As for location, I usually go to a park or near-park location past all the buildings, not necessarily right on the lake itself. It's funny, one time I drove up the actual lakeshore to DX, and the same cop car kept passing me. It was pretty cold out and I wonder if he thought I was doing a drug deal or something. So I tend to avoid parking right there on the lakeshore itself, because I'm not sure they'd believe me if I said I was trying to catch distant AM radio stations.
Being at the lakeshore definitely helps groundwave signals. At the lakeshore I can hear WGTO from right across the lake in Michigan pretty well. Just a little further west reception is much weaker.
Makes perfect sense. The lakesshore for DX. Not for the...er..."transactions". LOL
Seriously, congratulations on also landing WMCA. I've never heard it at my location. But I have heard WTCM on rare occasions, as well as CKAT a few times around sunrise. Presumably on day power. Always glad to hear it....my mom's side of the family is from that part of Canada.
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