Your dominant skywave regionals (and non-A's on class A channels)?

[pianoplayer88key]

Hi guys,

Was just wondering... what are your dominant skywave stations on regional channels, as well as on clear channels when you're out of range of an "official" class A clear? (For the purposes of this discussion, in the case of downgrades, stations like WOWO would still be counted as a class A.) Co-channel interference is sometimes permissible, but the target station should usually be sufficiently on top to be relatively easily heard. (It doesn't have to be David-Eduardo-15mV/m-in-Los-Angeles quality, though.) Stations listed should not be available via daytime groundwave at your location without top-notch equipment (high-end tuner, beverage antenna, low-noise location, etc) and even then should at best be just a carrier with a slight trace of audio modulation. I guess one "twist" to the rules could be you could list a skywave station that's heard under a co-channel local.

Here's my list...

550 - KUZZ Bakersfield, CA
560 - KSFO San Francisco, CA
580 - KMJ Fresno, CA
620 - KTAR Phoenix, CA (used to be a regular under local XESS, still can be heard sometimes with XESS nulled)
630 - KHOW Denver, CO
650 - KMTI Manti, UT
660 - KTNN Window Rock, AZ
700 - KALL North Salt Lake City, UT (not sure I should list this one, though, as I have heard it around noon in winter using a PL-606 and Select-A-Tenna)
720 - KDWN Las Vegas, NV
740 - KCBS San Francisco, CA
770 - KKOB Albuquerque, NM
780 - KKOH Reno, NV
840 - KXNT North Las Vegas, NV
890 - KDXU St. George, UT
940 - KYNO Fresno, CA
960 - KKNT Phoenix, AZ
970 - KHTY Bakersfield, CA
(note: 1030 KTWO Casper, WY, used to be regular here until XESDD signed on a few years ago.)
1140 - KYDZ North Las Vegas, CA (very tough due to splatter from local 10kW 1130 KSDO only 6.3 mi N of me)
1180 - KERN Wasco-Greenacres, CA
1200 - KYAA Soquel, CA
1290 - KCUB Tuscon, AZ (not sure if this should be listed, though, as it's a new log (unless I don't remember previously hearing it) and is only 1kW ND, and as I'm typing this it's fading down & co-channel KAZA Gilroy, CA, is intruding.)
1320 - KCTC Sacramento, CA
1380 - KTKZ Sacramento, CA
1430 - KFIG Fresno, CA
1440 - KUHL Santa Maria, CA
1500 - KSJX San Jose, CA
1580 - KMIK Tempe, AZ (possibly my most listened-to nighttime signal)
1620 - KSMH West Sacramento, CA
1680 - KGED Fresno, CA
1690 - KFSG Roseville, CA

Now what are your dominant non-class-A skywaves?

P.S. not included in my list are cases where 2 or more co-channels can be selected based on where I aim my antenna. If you guys choose to include those in your listings, I prefer that you not use highly-directional arrays, phasers, etc. A portable loop, or your radio's built-in loopstick, should be sufficient.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I have never measured a skywave much more than about 10 mV/m. Others here have said they have measured somewhat higher. Those were Class As that I measured with an actual FI meter.

WMVP (WCFL) 1000 day or night
WOWO 1190 at 50 kW night
WCKY 1530 on DA at night

Regionals that would measure near 10 mV/m at times in the Straits area of Northern Michigan:

WFDF 910 on 50000 watt day pattern right before or after pattern change especially when pattern change is scheduled before actual sunrise or after actual sunset.
WWJ 950 on day or night pattern
WXYT 1270 in the Alpena area
WLQV 1500 in the Alpena area on 50000 watt day pattern at sunrise and sunset

Classic 5000 watt regionals with strong night signals heard most nights, especially before a lot of new stations came on at night.

WKBN 570
WTVN 610
WOKY 920 on day pattern at sunrise and sunset
WONE 980
WHIO 1290
WSAI 1360
WSPD 1370
WING 1410
WAKR 1590

 

[spunker88]

The strongest ones are usually:

660 WFAN
740 CFZM
760 WJR
770 WABC
880 WCBS
1030 WBZ
1080 WTIC
1560 WQEW

Chicago stations will get just as strong later at night.

 

[crainbebo]

He meant stations not on 1-A channels. Regionals only.

My list goes like this...
550 KOAC Corvallis, OR
610 KONA Pasco
620 KPOJ Portland
790 CFCW Camrose on a good night will boom in like a local
920 KXLY Spokane
930 CJCA Edmonton, same situation as 790
940 KYNO Fresno
960 CFAC Calgary
1290 KUMA Pendleton, OR OR...
1290 KGVO Missoula, MT. Both big, and during C2C both KUMA and KGVO as well as KPAY, cause a nasty echo effect.
1350 KRLC Lewiston
1390 KWOD Salem or KTCR Yakima
1410 CFTE Vancouver
1420 KITI Chehalis
1460 KUTI Yakima always obliterates KARR to the East
1480 KBMS Vancouver or KRXR Gooding, both big signals
Not a lot of strong ones on the X-Band. 1690 KFSG is one of them however.

-crainbebo

 

[pianoplayer88key]

Just to clarify...

I'm interested in your current nightly channel-dominant reception of skywave signals that are not licensed as Class A clears.  Which Class B stations dominate their channels nightly?  Including stations occupying Class A channels is ok, just please leave off the "A" stations themselves.  I've already seen a high percentage of Class A mentions (every single station mentioned 2 posts up is a Class A, I believe) and historical reception mentions (situations in past decades before other co-channels signed on).

I suggest we save the class A mentions for another thread, as well as the past times / pre-congested-bands reception of Class B stations.  (We could possibly also include Class C's in that thread as well, provided groundwave reception was impossible.)  Before clicking "post" I also thought what about sunrise/sunset station dominations of class D stations that are not receivable at midday, as well as B's & maybe A's that have severe power/pattern changes at sunrise/sunset and disappear overnight.  Another thing I'm curious about (but this will also be relegated to a different thread) is situations where the strongest nighttime received signal is a skywave, even stronger than the strongest groundwave "local".  These are for different thread(s) though.  I also think I remember sometime in the past making a thread asking what your top few strongest skywave signals are, regardless of class or the existence of stronger local groundwave signals.  Maybe I should dredge up that thread again sometime, if it exists?

For this thread, though...  what are your nightly dominant skywave Class B signals (including those occupying class A channels)?
It's ok if a listed station is licensed for 50 kW at night, just not class A stations.  In my earlier post, 50kW non-A stations mentioned are KMJ, KTNN, KDWN, KCBS, KKOB, KKOH, KXNT, KYNO and KMIK.

Crainbebo, you can include class B stations occupying class A channels.  Examples from my previous post are KMTI, KTNN, KALL, KDWN, KCBS, KKOB, KKOH, KXNT, KDXU, KYDZ, KERN, KYAA, KSJX and KMIK.
Usuallly weak (but still dominant) stations from my list are KSFO, KHOW, KMTI, KHTY(?), KYDZ (due to splatter from local KSDO), KYAA(?), KCTC, KTKZ, KFIG, KUHL, KSJX, KSMH, KGED and KFSG.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

PP88, we like your enthusiasm for DXing, but all the rules take all the fun out of it.

Actually WOWO is a Class B now, but it really was only a dominant skywave when it was a Class A. At least it's pretty disappointing compared to the old days.

And most of the old Class B 5000 watt night III-As and III-Bs that I mnetioned are still dominant in some areas, just not all over the place like they used to be.

It's getting harder and harder to have a Class B with 5000 watts to be dominant, as so many of them have much of their former de facto skywave service interfered with by new stations. WAKR is a prime example, now having their de facto skywave interfered with by stations like WCGO, WTVB, and the WHLX PSSA service. It's true that it was never intended to have a protected skywave.

 

[fybush]

There's virtually nothing I can think of that meets Stephen's criteria here in upstate New York. The Eastern dial is just too crowded on regional channels for anything to dominate via skywave on most of them at night. About the only ones that come to mind here, albeit rather weaker than I think the original post had in mind:

630 WMAL Washington - audible most nights, but in a pileup that also includes CFCO Chatham-Kent ON and sometimes WPRO Providence
920 CKNX Wingham ON - but only because they haven't used their night pattern in probably a decade now
980 WTEM Washington - but lost here, often, under WDCX 990 IBOC
1440 WHKW Warren OH
1480 WHBC Canton OH
1590 WAKR Akron OH

Most of the classic III-A/III-B regional channels from 1250-1480 here are either nearby locals, splatter from locals, or have a bunch of signals fighting each other at night.

 

[cyberdad]

Far northwest surburban Chicago, these are the strongest/most regular skywaves IME on the old "regional" channels....

550: KTRS
590: Omaha (ex WOW)
610: WDAF
980: WONE
1150: CKOC
1260: St. Louis radio Disney (ex-WIBV)
1290 WIRL
1470: WMBD
1590: WAKR

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Most impressive coast to coast 1000 watt III-B signal:

KVIS (formerly KGLC) 910 Miami, Oklahoma

 

[schmave]

I have never measured a skywave much more than about 10 mV/m. Others here have said they have measured somewhat higher. Those were Class As that I measured with an actual FI meter.

WMVP (WCFL) 1000 day or night
WOWO 1190 at 50 kW night
WCKY 1530 on DA at night

Regionals that would measure near 10 mV/m at times in the Straits area of Northern Michigan:

WFDF 910 on 50000 watt day pattern right before or after pattern change especially when pattern change is scheduled before actual sunrise or after actual sunset.
WWJ 950 on day or night pattern
WXYT 1270 in the Alpena area
WLQV 1500 in the Alpena area on 50000 watt day pattern at sunrise and sunset

Classic 5000 watt regionals with strong night signals heard most nights, especially before a lot of new stations came on at night.

WKBN 570
WTVN 610
WOKY 920 on day pattern at sunrise and sunset
WONE 980
WHIO 1290
WSAI 1360
WSPD 1370
WING 1410
WAKR 1590

You get all those Ohio stations that well in northern Michigan? Very nice. I once heard WTVN faintly in a hotel in Mount Pleasant, Mich. This was in February 2000. I imagine the signal was much better outside, but I still was floored to hear a station from my hometown almost 300 miles away (partly because I was well west of the strong due-north nighttime lobe).

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

You could get them pretty much all over the LP at night. They all have big directional lobes that go north. The western UP and other states would be different like Wisconsin where you would get the Chicago, Peoria, and St. Louis stations.

 

[stacker]

Most impressive coast to coast 1000 watt III-B signal:

KVIS (formerly KGLC) 910 Miami, Oklahoma

Yep. KVIS was a station built back when land was cheap. Three towers, with 270 degree spacing between them. If you're in one of the major lobes (NE/SW--70 and 260 degrees) that 1 kW throws about 2.5 kW.

 

[N4GBK]

From NE NC class B night time stations that dominate almost every night.
580 WCHS
600 WSJS
630 WMAL
990 WNML (WNTP nulled)
990 WNTP (WNML nulled)
1070 WFNI
1150 WDEL
1260 WWRC
1290 WHIO
1410 KQV
1460 WTKT
1590 WAKR
Almost all of these run 5 kW at night.