How much power do they actually input to the WKLJ 5/8 wave tower? My calculation is 2.7 kW to the antenna. 8 percent more transmitter output for losses, to get the efficiency shown on the record. Lots of stations did this and many still do. They would have had to have a SLR back in the day to call it 5000 watts.
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Your closest unheard AM station
- Thread starter CADXER
- Start date
I don't know the answer to that question. Then or now. In 1970, when I was there , it didn't get out very well. But neither did any of the other stations in the area. To generalize, the terrain was sandy, rocky, and hilly. You had to go about 40-50 miles to the southeast towards (then-) WMIL to get into good ground conductivity.
These are all during the day, and these are the weakest stations I can pick up in south San Jose. The closest one is out of Carmel, California at just shy of 50 miles. None of these can be heard indoors. I must go outside with my best radios (C.C radio plus, RF-2200, GE super radio 2, Sony EX5Mk2) to actually hear one of these stations.
780KHz - KKOH-- Reno--------50KW--(201 miles) Nothing but IBOC hash
830KHz- KNCO--Grass Valley--5Kw-- (143 miles), trace of audible signal
930KHz--KKXX---Chico---1Kw---(171.2 miles), barely audible
970kHz--KHTY---Bakersfield---1KW-- (204.4 Miles), barely audible signal
1060KHz--KTNS---Oakhurst---5Kw--( 124 miles), barely audible signal
1390KHz--KLOC---Turlock----5Kw-- (66.4 Miles), Basically nothing
1410KHz--KRML----Carmel---500W---(49.8 miles) Signal is barely there
1440KHz--KVON----Napa-----5Kw---(73.6 miles), trace of audible signal
1490KHz--KZMB---Petaluma---1Kw-- (79.3 miles), trace of audible signal
780KHz - KKOH-- Reno--------50KW--(201 miles) Nothing but IBOC hash
830KHz- KNCO--Grass Valley--5Kw-- (143 miles), trace of audible signal
930KHz--KKXX---Chico---1Kw---(171.2 miles), barely audible
970kHz--KHTY---Bakersfield---1KW-- (204.4 Miles), barely audible signal
1060KHz--KTNS---Oakhurst---5Kw--( 124 miles), barely audible signal
1390KHz--KLOC---Turlock----5Kw-- (66.4 Miles), Basically nothing
1410KHz--KRML----Carmel---500W---(49.8 miles) Signal is barely there
1440KHz--KVON----Napa-----5Kw---(73.6 miles), trace of audible signal
1490KHz--KZMB---Petaluma---1Kw-- (79.3 miles), trace of audible signal
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formula, I think the original post was for the weakest AM signals within your own market that are difficult to hear within much of the same market. A few of these are probably well heard in their home cities but would be difficult to get in San Jose. I am impressed about KRML though. The transmitter is about 1 1/2 miles from my dad's home in Carmel. It's just a short metal pole behind some apartments on the banks of the Carmel River. If you didn't know where to look, you'd never know. Anyway, that signal, especially at night has difficulty getting even five miles away from it. Also, KTNS in Oakhurst - my sister used to live in Coarsegold and I remember ten years ago when they were at 1Kw with an automated AC format. Driving south the signal was pretty bad once you got about ten or fifteen miles away but the station could actually be heard in the car to about Visalia before it fizzled out completely.
CORRECTION: I think I did misread the post wrong...I see that others are reporting stations from several miles away and from other markets. I was thinking it was those weak AM stations from a few miles away that couldn't be heard - in my case the mentioned stations were:
KURS - 14 miles
KNSN - 14 miles
KFSD- 21 miles
KKSM - 33 miles
CORRECTION: I think I did misread the post wrong...I see that others are reporting stations from several miles away and from other markets. I was thinking it was those weak AM stations from a few miles away that couldn't be heard - in my case the mentioned stations were:
KURS - 14 miles
KNSN - 14 miles
KFSD- 21 miles
KKSM - 33 miles
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Closest unheard station...whether 10, 50 or 100 miles away as I understand.
My understanding as well.
With that in mind, KJMP is my weakest signal despite radiolocator.com saying that it provides distant coverage to Cheyenne while being just over 50 miles away.
Still, I can hear it on my better radios whilst outdoors during the day, so my farthest unheard is still KLDC Denver
thank you for the local history nuggets, i never new about this macomb county canal
That's what I had in mind.
The station(s) that are closest to your receiving location, but you have never heard.
I've heard neither. Streator is about as far away as Knox, Ind., so I'll add WSPL to WKVI on the closest unheard list.
WRHL, I'd have no shot at daytime with WHFB at 1060, not to mention KYW in critical hours. (And at night, their low wattage is real. You can see what city lights there are of Rochelle in the distance before WRHL takes over for KYW.)
As I suspected, WRHL puts you in a deep null to protect WHFB, which benefits from the water path over Lake Michigan. Strange things can happen, so best of luck receiving WRHL!
I did some checking on WSPL Streator and it appears they are operating under an STL with 110 Watts during day and 35 Watts at night, using only the remaining 40 foot section of the south tower. No wonder they can't be heard:
Probably KIFG 1510 Iowa Falls, IA, 1000 watts days, about 90 miles away.
I was offered a job there back in the early '70. I declined. Seeing the place was enough for me. So I don't need it.
Seriously....WRHL actually has a fairly decent signal going west. They make it a little beyond the river into Iowa.
I took the post to mean 'never heard', as well.
Back in Queens NY, near JFK Airport was where I did the bulk of my AM DXing, as a kid and then as a terminally arrested-development kid. From there, WHRF 1570 Riverhead, 62-miles East, was a DX tooth missing from my comb. They signed on in the early 60's as 'WAPC' to be a companion / co-owned station of the WPAC Patchogue L.I. squires. I don't know what station(s) WHRF and its two sticks primarily protected : WPAC or WQXR NYC.
Either way, WQXR and WPAC were quite protected. WHRF started to act directional at the Riverhead traffic circle west of the two towers.
(I worked at WPAC for a while ... great fun. It was also a treat to drive the William Floyd Parkway .... tune the radio to 1575 .... and hear the echo during the American Information News that was simulcast on both stations).
WSNG 610 in Torrrington CT was another 'snarl'. They were 83 miles off. Never heard a peep from them, what with WIP Philly and splash from local WVNJ 620. WSNG supposedly had a scheduled 'frequency check' every month between midnight and 0005. No tones, no morse code, no nothing. Just WIP and sometimes WIOD Miami.
No doubt ; the intrigue in these closest-unheard pursuits parallels other ventures. A pal was working on his boat one day on a canal, thumping and clanking and swearing, going through all the old favourites plus some new, hyphentaed ones. When I asked Lenny how he was enjoying the day, he screamed 'This is my HOBBY!!! Hobbies are SUPPOSED to drive you and your wife crazy!!!'
Back in Queens NY, near JFK Airport was where I did the bulk of my AM DXing, as a kid and then as a terminally arrested-development kid. From there, WHRF 1570 Riverhead, 62-miles East, was a DX tooth missing from my comb. They signed on in the early 60's as 'WAPC' to be a companion / co-owned station of the WPAC Patchogue L.I. squires. I don't know what station(s) WHRF and its two sticks primarily protected : WPAC or WQXR NYC.
Either way, WQXR and WPAC were quite protected. WHRF started to act directional at the Riverhead traffic circle west of the two towers.
(I worked at WPAC for a while ... great fun. It was also a treat to drive the William Floyd Parkway .... tune the radio to 1575 .... and hear the echo during the American Information News that was simulcast on both stations).
WSNG 610 in Torrrington CT was another 'snarl'. They were 83 miles off. Never heard a peep from them, what with WIP Philly and splash from local WVNJ 620. WSNG supposedly had a scheduled 'frequency check' every month between midnight and 0005. No tones, no morse code, no nothing. Just WIP and sometimes WIOD Miami.
No doubt ; the intrigue in these closest-unheard pursuits parallels other ventures. A pal was working on his boat one day on a canal, thumping and clanking and swearing, going through all the old favourites plus some new, hyphentaed ones. When I asked Lenny how he was enjoying the day, he screamed 'This is my HOBBY!!! Hobbies are SUPPOSED to drive you and your wife crazy!!!'
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Partisan University of Michigan Football Announcer Bob Ufer often gave a shout out to UM fans in the Chicago Area listening on WHFB. One is on the LP/CD "Ufer of Michigan", produced from the weekly off air tapes made by Art Vuolo.
Rick Sklar had one of his first jobs at WAPC 1570 and WPAC 1580. Believe it or not, when Metrocom sold the stations in the early 1970s, my next door neighbor in Michigan did the accounting and physical inventory, while the engineer was also someone I knew who did the engineering studio transmitter site inventory. She told me that the studios of the then WHRF 1570 were no bigger than a small two car garage. She pointed to our garage.
Rick Sklar had one of his first jobs at WAPC 1570 and WPAC 1580. Believe it or not, when Metrocom sold the stations in the early 1970s, my next door neighbor in Michigan did the accounting and physical inventory, while the engineer was also someone I knew who did the engineering studio transmitter site inventory. She told me that the studios of the then WHRF 1570 were no bigger than a small two car garage. She pointed to our garage.
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Yessir, Shroed.
The studios for WHRF-WAPC-et al were in some clam shack or potato shed in Flanders, WAY out on Long Island with the windmills and ducks and next to the Flanders drive-in movie. Some cat nestling under their transmitter rack gave issue to a pride of kittens, one of which scared the snot out of Don Cannon -- DON CANNON, later of Philly radio -- by swiping his paw over the copybook as Cannon was reading a live spot.
The studios for WHRF-WAPC-et al were in some clam shack or potato shed in Flanders, WAY out on Long Island with the windmills and ducks and next to the Flanders drive-in movie. Some cat nestling under their transmitter rack gave issue to a pride of kittens, one of which scared the snot out of Don Cannon -- DON CANNON, later of Philly radio -- by swiping his paw over the copybook as Cannon was reading a live spot.
These are the nearby stations I have not been able to hear (day, SSS, SRS, or night):
1220 KZEE Weatherford - 44 miles - 1600/200 - This should be semi-local, appears to be off the air.
1250 KZHN Paris - 101 miles - 500/95
1290 KWFS Wichita Falls - 105 miles - 5000/73 - Pattern map shows I am in fringe coverage, but not a trace heard.
1330 KGLD Tyler - 116 miles - 1000/77
1330 KSWA Graham - 86 miles - 500/51
1410 KNTX Bowie - 56 miles - 500/150
1420 KFYN Bonham - 66 miles - 250/148
1420 KPIR Granbury - 56 miles - 500/500
1510 KWJB Canton - 80 miles - 500/---
1550 KMAD Madill, OK - 76 miles 250/---
1220 KZEE Weatherford - 44 miles - 1600/200 - This should be semi-local, appears to be off the air.
1250 KZHN Paris - 101 miles - 500/95
1290 KWFS Wichita Falls - 105 miles - 5000/73 - Pattern map shows I am in fringe coverage, but not a trace heard.
1330 KGLD Tyler - 116 miles - 1000/77
1330 KSWA Graham - 86 miles - 500/51
1410 KNTX Bowie - 56 miles - 500/150
1420 KFYN Bonham - 66 miles - 250/148
1420 KPIR Granbury - 56 miles - 500/500
1510 KWJB Canton - 80 miles - 500/---
1550 KMAD Madill, OK - 76 miles 250/---
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