I just heard WQEW a few minutes ago, just past solar noon. Let me know if any of you hear anything else. No WADO partly because of WXYT IBOC. I'll try for WWRL later.
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WQEW Daytime Skywave-Solar Noon
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
Pardon the lapse here, Schroedinger ; I'm sorta new to this internet DX stuff.
As they say here in PA and other locales bereft of grammer : Where are you at?
As they say here in PA and other locales bereft of grammer : Where are you at?
Southeastern Michigan.
From my experience daytime skywave in the winter seems to favor the upper frequencies a little bit more, they act more like shortwave. Groundwave on the other hand does better with lower frequencies. This time of the year most of the NYC 50kw stations make an appearance where I am but WQEW is one of the stronger ones.
I heard WWRL 1600 at 4:00 PM and they said the call letters 4 times within a few minutes. I worked my way down that dial, and heard WQEW 1560 again. 1280 was IBLOCKED, 1190 was also, heard WHAM 1180 a little, a MOYL type format on 1160 unIDed, 1140 IBLOCKED, KYW 1060, WINS 1010, WFMD 930 Frederick, MD, WCBS 880, and WFNR 710 Blacksburg, VA, along with some regulars and presumptive IDs such as WABC, all by 4:30 PM driving in the car in SE Michigan. Sunset and December pattern change time is 5:00 PM EST here.
Schroedingers Cat said:
December is the best time for early afternoon DX. Way back in the 60s when I used to regularly DX from the Chicago area I often heard WABC as early as 2:30--3PM CST. I could often listen to the last two hours of Dan Ingram's show. WBZ also came in well here at that time. WCBS used to fight it out with WRFD until WRFD signed off. The others you mentioned like KYW, which was WRCV when I first heard it & WHAM came in well too, long before sunset in the Chicago area.
1060 was interesting as I could hear KYW if the radio was oriented east/west, or WNOE if the radio was north/south. WNOE would disappear at 5PM when they went to their night pattern. I can't get WABC anytime now because of WBBM's IBLOCK.
If you like to DX the AM band December is prime time.
It's quiet here so far today also. There are so many electronic noisemakers in the house that I'd have to shut off and unplug everything to hear the band better. But I'll check again later in the car.
Do you work 160 Meters, N4GBK? Did you try yesterday afternoon? WQEW is probably a good indicator of daytime openings. Expanded AM BCB frequently has a little daytime skywave.
I posted this yesterday as a heads up, and I'll try to keep observing in the car for AM DXers and 160 meter enthusiasts.
Do you work 160 Meters, N4GBK? Did you try yesterday afternoon? WQEW is probably a good indicator of daytime openings. Expanded AM BCB frequently has a little daytime skywave.
I posted this yesterday as a heads up, and I'll try to keep observing in the car for AM DXers and 160 meter enthusiasts.
Yup...I saw where Baltimore's 1370 uses two different, 6 tower sites, both with high power. Neither of them shoots much signal westward in my direction. I have DXed for many years and never heard them here in Central KY. FYI, WBAL-1090 from Baltimore WAS NOT coming in at the time so I doubt there was some sort of "pipeline" in my direction. I can frequently hear WBAL weakly at night mixing with KAAY from Little Rock. The Baltimore Sports 1370 was very strong for some time last evening however. I LIKE YOUR idea of having both their sites on together. That would certainly create something "different" pattern- wise!
A friend and neighbor of mine worked as a staff engineer at a local 5000 watt day/1000 watt night DA-2 radio station. One night, my S meter was reading much higher than it should have at night on the station. I called and my neighbor just happened to be on duty. He figured out who it was. He rocked the phasor switches a few times and the signal went back to normal night level. He claimed that he had previously reduced power and changed patterns, and from what you are saying, that could have been the case, N4GBK.
But it IS possible to get a rogue catch in the absense of a "pipeline." Last week from Central Mass, no sniff of WSB 750 or WWL 870 but I got (1st time) Jacksonville FL on 690. Other times I've pulled in a ridiculously loud statio from 4400 or 500 mi with little/no signal from the more common/stronger station. "It's the conditions, mon."
vibe said:
That usually happens when one frequency is in the low part of the band and the other in the high part, or with daytime skywave. Usually, high solar noon daytime skywave cuts off below about 850 kHz.
In December, during critical and near critical hours, in the Straits Area if Michigan, WFDF and WWJ will have a signal that pins the signal meter, while WJR 760 is at groundwave 50 uV/m range. The major lobes are much bigger than WJR's omni inverse field, but there is fading, and the WFDF and WWJ groundwaves are also in the 50 uV/m range.
Particularly in the summer months, there have been times when WGRB (WNUS) skywave came in better than WSCR (WMAQ), WGN, WBBM, WLS, and WMVP (WCFL) skywave in SE Michigan.
Daytime winter skywave is always fun. I've had WBZ at noon in Dayton, Ohio (never any of the NYC clears thought), KXEL, WHO, WLAC and a plethora of others on days the nighttime conditions never go away. Driving between Knoxville and Nashville one day last January, I had interference on Crossville's WEAW-1330 in the county it originates from, chatter under WLAC in Davidson County, WCKY-1530 strong all day, and at 3pm EST/2pm CST, IDs from WING and WHIO in Dayton just outside Nashville.
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