I'm about 45 miles south of WISN's stick and all I hear at night is WBBR and I'm not even in their directional pattern. During the day WISN comes in well.
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Your Closest Unheard?
- Thread starter Steve Green NEPA
- Start date
for gr8oldies 1340 from Muncie has been WXFN for almost 13 years now when they flipped to Sports format in the mid to late 90's they changed Calls from WLBC to WXFN
radioman148 said:
I'm about 35 miles S/SW of WISN, and I can barely hear them at night. They're a local grade signal in the daytime. Usually I hear KWKH Shreveport in the evenings and in the overnight*, WDFN Detroit before sunrise, and sometimes WBBR NYC in the evenings. Haven't heard KFAN from the twin cities in years. *Note that KEEL 710 Shreveport has been coming in more reliably than in the past.
Stations I have heard, but are rarely heard (so these are just about unheard in a 100 mile radius) at my location are:
WMCS 1290 5kW Greenfield, WI 46 miles DA - aimed away from my location.
WCFJ 1470 1kW Chicago Heights 66 miles DA - aimed almost straight at my location at night but WMBD Peoria drowns them out if they're there.
WSPY 1480 1kW-D; 0.5kW-N Geneva, IL 26 miles DA - for being aimed almost right at my location, and at 26 miles, they have a horrible signal. WBIG 1280 Aurora has the same D/N power as WSPY and I hear them better day or night at 35 miles. When 1480 was WGSB they had a much better signal day or night at my location.
WCSJ 1550 Morris, IL 0.25-D 65 miles ND - usually lost in the noise - will try to get them before 1550 in Northbrook might get licensed. Probably have a good chance of getting WCSJ now that WZRK Lake Geneva was taken off the air (silenced).
stormy01 said:
WISN is fine here during the day, but non existant at night. I also haven't heard KFAN in years. I remember in the 60s when they were Top 40 WDGY I could hear them around sunset in the fall before they powered down.
Everyone complains about WISN. I live about 125 miles northeast of Milwaukee and WISN comes in strong at night. They must send most of their 10kW toward Green Bay and Traverse City.
Back on topic, my closest unheard is WKLA (1450) from Ludington, about 20 miles away from my location in Manistee, Michigan.
Back on topic, my closest unheard is WKLA (1450) from Ludington, about 20 miles away from my location in Manistee, Michigan.
cparkes92 said:
I believe WISN shoots north as do the other close 1130s in Detroit & Minneapolis.
I'm less than 20 miles from WNVR in Vernon Hills, but can barely hear them at night under WBZ.
radioman148 said:
I've heard WKLA from McHenry, Cook and Kenosha counties!
Yes, WISN as well as WTMJ, WOKY, WSSP, WMCS and WGLB send their signals north at night from the Milwaukee area. Only 620, 920 and 1250 are audible at night just east of Crystal Lake. Once in a while the barely discernible WISN night signal rises above the clutter on 1130 (when atmospheric conditions don't allow KWKH or WBBR to be heard as well as they usually are at night)
WNVR so far as I know, has not operated at night (120 watts) since 2005. The signal is only solid for about 3-8 miles depending on where you are in its nighttime lobe, centered near Rtes. 176 & 47, Woodstock and particularly to the north and south of Woodstock, where it aims its night signal. The WNVR night signal only really covers McHenry County at night at best. Elsewhere in the area, the WNVR signal is chopped up really badly by WBZ. Too bad WNVR didn't keep their TX/tower on Rte. 45 in Vernon Hills (also their COL) for night operation, the Woodstock site is nearly useless for reaching their target audience at night.
Regarding 1130, I wonder what it's like at night listening to that frequency way up in northern Canada?
You've got WDFN, WISN, & KFAN all beaming in the same direction.
You've got WDFN, WISN, & KFAN all beaming in the same direction.
The terrain does crazy things here in the Commonwealth. I live in Glasgow, KY...maybe 90 mins south of my ol' hometown of L'ville...I can't pick up WHAS to save my life. I listen to C2C on the ir stream...I'm doing it right now....BTW, if you can PAY C2CAM to stream from THEIR site, you'd think they'd clamp down on all the affiliates streaming. There's even a directory site out there that lists the ones doing it.
stormy01 said:
I'll bet you're right. That frequency must be a mess to listen to up there.
cyberdad, your ears are not deceiving you. The towers listed in the FCC database no longer exist, they are now acyberdad said:
subdivision. WSPY(WFXW) is or was as of March still broadcasting on an extended STA, from a long wire on a communications
tower in Batavia. They are at 125 watts day and night, and running the ABC Timeless format. They are virtually the same as
WSQR. The signal starts cracking up about 5 or 6 miles from the tower during the day. They have an application on file to move
the station to Millbrook, Il. which is is NW of Peoria and east of Galesburg, a few miles north of I 74. I don't think they will ever
return to Geneva.
While on the topic, the station I would like to pick up is WSQR AM 1180. The station is present, very faintly under AM 1200's
buzzsaw. On days when AM 1200's I Block is off, I get the signal clear enough to listen too in my car, despite being about 7
miles west of AM 1200. However with the HD on it's not listenable. I imagine it will be worse when they are on their new
towers at 20kw.
I wonder what it must be like in Bermuda, with what seemingly hundreds of those Atlantic Coast regional AMers lasering their signal through the downtown COL and out to sea in Bermuda's direction.
Also, I wonder what frequency is reponsible for the most 'closest unheards'. One would think that a graveyarder would be the case, but I dunno. Those are basically all omni, which can solve a lot of problems.
Quite possibly, 1480 is a frequency with some textbook examples of closest unheards. For instance, Philadelphia's 1480 was *the* singularly toughest Philly catch up on Long Island. It couldn't've been much better for DXers W or NW or N of there. In fact, I once drove to work from Levittown (PA) to Media PA during the day, which essentially means staying on I-95 all through Philly. I could take WBCB 1490 all the way except for maybe a quarter mile stretch where, obviously, WDAS's signal was the most intense ......
.... and then heard WBCB again on the *other* side of WDAS's signal.
The old WLEE Richmond, 1480, must've been a real pain in the biscuit to hear for a lot of DXers to the N, NW and W. Even in their loud, top 40 heyday they had to've been non existent at night even in the Richmond Metro. Charlotte, Augusta, New Bedford ...... the same directional story.
Reciprocally, I wouldn't bet too much that the Scandinavian DXers hadn't heard something from this continent on that same 1480. LOL ; they're probably to listening to at least one now as you read this. There are at least a half-dozen 1480 signals, two from Canada, which send it all that way.
Also, I wonder what frequency is reponsible for the most 'closest unheards'. One would think that a graveyarder would be the case, but I dunno. Those are basically all omni, which can solve a lot of problems.
Quite possibly, 1480 is a frequency with some textbook examples of closest unheards. For instance, Philadelphia's 1480 was *the* singularly toughest Philly catch up on Long Island. It couldn't've been much better for DXers W or NW or N of there. In fact, I once drove to work from Levittown (PA) to Media PA during the day, which essentially means staying on I-95 all through Philly. I could take WBCB 1490 all the way except for maybe a quarter mile stretch where, obviously, WDAS's signal was the most intense ......
.... and then heard WBCB again on the *other* side of WDAS's signal.
The old WLEE Richmond, 1480, must've been a real pain in the biscuit to hear for a lot of DXers to the N, NW and W. Even in their loud, top 40 heyday they had to've been non existent at night even in the Richmond Metro. Charlotte, Augusta, New Bedford ...... the same directional story.
Reciprocally, I wouldn't bet too much that the Scandinavian DXers hadn't heard something from this continent on that same 1480. LOL ; they're probably to listening to at least one now as you read this. There are at least a half-dozen 1480 signals, two from Canada, which send it all that way.
TR1992 said:
No wonder their signal is next to non-existent in the NW suburbs. There are no other stations in Geneva, IL, AM or FM, so I hope the FCC denies their request to move. (Then they will just shut it down altogether - take it silent - what a shame) WGSB/WFXW had a nice signal and programming I liked up into the Crystal Lake area 'back in the day'
Steve Green NEPA said:
I would imagine alot of east coast AMers can be heard in Bermuda at night. In fact I've heard that in the winter a few can be heard during the day.
TR1992 said:
So THAT's what's going on with WSPY(or WFXW as the case may be). Explains everything...including why it's gone five or ten minutes out of town.
As for Northern Ontario....My experience up there is mostly to the north of International Falls. Fort Frances up highway 71 to Kenora and even north of there. KFAN blasts in every night throughout that particular area.
Closest on FM from outside Duluth, MN:
"Full" Power
88.3 WLVM, Ironwood, MI (97 miles) - Runs 300 watts, vertical only (I have an APS-9). New station. More distant class C WHWC and demolishes it. I have heard it driving along the North Shore, however, where it is almost just as distant, but there's a nearly 100% water path between me and it there.
92.1 WYRQ, Little Falls, MN (111 miles) - May have heard it when local WWAX (9 miles away) was off a long time ago, but never logged it.
Similar situation - locals 9 miles away - on 94.9 (KMXK Cold Spring, 121 miles), 91.3 (KNBJ Bemidji, 121 miles), etc.
Closest high-power (1 kW or over) station that is not on a frequency occupied by a local I still have not heard is KXDL, Browerville, MN, 131 miles distant.
Closest class-C(1,2,3) station not sharing a frequency with a local I have not heard is Three Lakes, WI on 93.7.
"Full" Power
88.3 WLVM, Ironwood, MI (97 miles) - Runs 300 watts, vertical only (I have an APS-9). New station. More distant class C WHWC and demolishes it. I have heard it driving along the North Shore, however, where it is almost just as distant, but there's a nearly 100% water path between me and it there.
92.1 WYRQ, Little Falls, MN (111 miles) - May have heard it when local WWAX (9 miles away) was off a long time ago, but never logged it.
Similar situation - locals 9 miles away - on 94.9 (KMXK Cold Spring, 121 miles), 91.3 (KNBJ Bemidji, 121 miles), etc.
Closest high-power (1 kW or over) station that is not on a frequency occupied by a local I still have not heard is KXDL, Browerville, MN, 131 miles distant.
Closest class-C(1,2,3) station not sharing a frequency with a local I have not heard is Three Lakes, WI on 93.7.
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