Your most distant AM DX catches

[radioman148]

What are your farthest DX catches on AM? Please list your location.

My best ones are listed below:


In Oahu Hawaii:
1--1116AM Brisbane, Australia 5,000+ miles (2010)
2--WLS & WBBM Chicago 4,300 miles (1978)

In London, UK
WCBS AM (1977) ( not the furthest, but one I'm most proud of because I was in downtown London
& DXing from there isn't easy)

From my home base north of Chicago:
1134AM Croatia 5,000+ miles (2009-2010)


What are yours?

 

[Icangelp]

I too, would have to say 1134/Croatia, or maybe Algeria.

 

[crainbebo]

What are your farthest DX catches on AM? Please list your location.

My best ones are listed below:


In Oahu Hawaii:
1--1116AM Brisbane, Australia 5,000+ miles (2010)
2--WLS & WBBM Chicago 4,300 miles (1978)

In London, UK
WCBS AM (1977) ( not the furthest, but one I'm most proud of because I was in downtown London
& DXing from there isn't easy)

From my home base north of Chicago:
1134AM Croatia 5,000+ miles (2009-2010)


What are yours?

Didn't you get 530 Cuba out there as well?

For me, it would be for my three farthest catches:

1610 Caribbean Beacon Angulia (~3800 mi, from Jan. 10)
540 XEWA San Luis Potosi, Mexico (2129 miles, NOT XESURF, confirmed w/ W Radio stream back around Jan. of this year)
1700 KVNS Brownsville, TX (2021 miles, from 2009)

For a tentative catch...
1134 Croatia (~5000 mi) Dec. 09, with moderately strong carrier, no audio however


I did get 50kw WLS and KTZN-AK last night, for another new state! See the thread for more information.

-crainbebo

 

[ddsparxx]

Last year at the NC coast, I got the 1134 station, this was late last September, probably Croatia, unknown distance.

Earlier this year, the farthest US station I heard in Manassas, VA is Denver's KOA at 1471 miles.
That's it, so far.

 

[gr8oldies]

From Ohio: KFI in the 80s. Elsewhere: XEW Mexico City on 900 and several Colombians and Venezuelans.

 

[cd637299]

From Florida, in the 1970s, TWR Monaco (on 1466 at that time).

From Alaska, 1143 Poro, Philippines, 5200 mi.

On vacation in Newfoundland: 1053 AND 1089 "the new Talk Radio" UK

cd

 

[radioman148]

What are your farthest DX catches on AM? Please list your location.

My best ones are listed below:


In Oahu Hawaii:
1--1116AM Brisbane, Australia 5,000+ miles (2010)
2--WLS & WBBM Chicago 4,300 miles (1978)

In London, UK
WCBS AM (1977) ( not the furthest, but one I'm most proud of because I was in downtown London
& DXing from there isn't easy)

From my home base north of Chicago:
1134AM Croatia 5,000+ miles (2009-2010)


What are yours?

Didn't you get 530 Cuba out there as well?

For me, it would be for my three farthest catches:

1610 Caribbean Beacon Angulia (~3800 mi, from Jan. 10)
540 XEWA San Luis Potosi, Mexico (2129 miles, NOT XESURF, confirmed w/ W Radio stream back around Jan. of this year)
1700 KVNS Brownsville, TX (2021 miles, from 2009)

For a tentative catch...
1134 Croatia (~5000 mi) Dec. 09, with moderately strong carrier, no audio however


I did get 50kw WLS and KTZN-AK last night, for another new state! See the thread for more information.

-crainbebo

I couldn't confirm 530 Cuba in Hawaii. I heard the music but never confirmed an ID.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

I'm slightly south of El Cajon, CA, near 32 45 40 n 116 56 50 w....

Farthest nighttime 50+kW skywave:
780 WBBM Chicago, IL (under KKOH and local 760 KFMB's 50kW splatter)
720 WGN Chicago, IL (KDWN Las Vegas was off the air at the time)
830 WCCO Minneapolis, MN (probably under or mixing with KLAA Orange)
1500 KSTP St. Paul, MN (this one is probably my most likely to repeat)
(Not sure of distance, but) 900 XEW Mexico City, and maybe 1570 XERF.
I've also heard something besides a TIS on 530, but never ID'd it.

Farthest "every night" 50kW skywave:
1520 KOKC Oklahoma City, OK

Farthest nighttime graveyard:
1240 Albuquerque, NM, Radio Disney (KNSN, then KSON, whose co-channel transmitter is about 10-12 miles west of here and I'm in their good quality nighttime service area, was broadcasting an unmodulated carrier at the time)

Farthest daytime graveyard:
1340 KCLU & 1490 KSPE Santa Barbara, CA (both share a tower with 500-watt 1290 KZSB, which is also heard here)

Farthest nighttime TIS:
The two DFW stations in the 1600s, before anything else was on the air.

Farthest daytime TIS:
The LAX airport TIS on 530. Recently a nearby Cal-Trans HAR (I think in Descanso, but I haven't gotten a positive ID)

Farthest midday skywave in winter:
1530 KFBK Sacramento, CA

Farthest daytime groundwave not over a large body of salt water:
700 KALL North Salt Lake City, UT

And, a couple others...

Farthest at least semi-regular FM station:
103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara, CA

Strongest nighttime skywave:
1580 KMIK Tempe, AZ, hit 62dBu a few times on my Tecsun PL-380, 1dBu shy of the 63dBu meter "peg". (KECR 910, 5kW @ 9 miles, is a dB or two weaker in the daytime)

 

[cd637299]

About Radio Enciclopedia on 530....it was originally intended to be a jammer for Radio Marti when it used 530 from airplane transmissions. Marti on 530 AFAIK is history, but Enciclo remains. I'd think it to be directional to the north/northeast. Not sure.

cd

 

[gar hi]

My most distant nighttime AM catch was KFI in New Jersey right outside Philadelphia in the winter of 1977/78 at 2390 miles.

Fast forward more than 30 years and I heard KFI one more time here in Tampa in early 2009 - 2152 miles.

As far as my documented video catches with an ID go, the most distant nightime catch was KNX here in Tampa at 2152 miles.

My most distant daytime AM catch with an official ID is KTRH from Houston at the Gulf in Dunedin at 775 miles.

Though I didn't get to hear any ID, my most distant daytime catch may actually be WAPA from San Juan, Puerto Rico from Daytona Beach at 1198 miles which could only be heard with the loop.

I ruled out the Cuban on 680 because it would have to cover about 300 miles of land through Florida and the signal direction didn't match that of Cienfuegos, Cuba. Not only that, the person was talking about coupons for Papa John's pizza which they don't have in Cuba. The .69 kw station from St. Pete was at a 90 degree angle null to the direction the radio had to be faced to hear the station I was getting so I don't see how it could have possibly been that station.

But for now, my undisputed farthest daytime catch is KTRH from the Gulf here in central Florida which may have seemed unlikely too until I finally got their ID.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I wonder what reference the "dBu" actually is, tfcwings. If it were actually 62 dBu above 1 uV/m, that would only be about 1.25 mV/m. The Tempe, Arizona 1580 station has a maximum at 240 degrees of 5995 mV/m inverse field at 1 km. Roughly 350 miles from El Cajon. I suspect the 10% skywave would be in the 7-8 mV/m range, without looking any graphs up.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

That dBu is how relative signal strengths are indicated on my Tecsun PL-380. According to Scott Willingham, one of the Si47xx chip designers, it is relative to one microvolt input to the antenna terminal on the chip, IIRC. If I use a Select-A-Tenna, the numbers increase. Also, I'm about 299 miles from KMIK's transmitter.

 

[vibe]

Daytime (no skywave) KCRA 1030 Corpus Christi TX from Englewood FL 800 mi?
Nightttime KFI Labor day 2009 from Richmond IN (on the OH-IN border) 1700 mi?

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I would still expect that the 10% skywave would be far in excess of 1.25 mV/m. Can you borrow a field strength meter and measure it? Do you know any directional AM station enigineers in the area? One thing I've encountered is that the S meters are inaccurate and nonlinear at the low and high end of the range.

Here's a link on the problems with calibrating S meters (of any description).

http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Amateur Radio/Experimentation/SMeterBlues.htm

 

[gar hi]

Daytime (no skywave) KCRA 1030 Corpus Christi TX from Englewood FL 800 mi?

I'd say more like 900 miles.

I can vouch for that reception too beacuse up the coast right on the Gulf, I can hear a religious station with preaching behind some louder Spanish station and I think the religious station can't can't be anything other than KCTA by the process of elimination.

I never heard any official ID so I didn't count that as my most distant daytime catch.

Vibe, did you also have any problem with that dominating Spanish speaking station where you were? I don't know where that comes from but I only hear it on 1030 at the beach, not here well inland.

 

[tanner]

In the 70's from Raleigh KSL was regular before WJJD Chicago 2141 miles

In the early 80's from Whidbey Island Washington WHAS 2362 miles, WLS 2104 miles, WWL 2719 miles

 

[charlestondxman]

For me, usually, just S of Charleston, SC, my most distant catches are:

AM daytime: WCBS 880 about six or seven years ago on a cloudy afternoon, 657 miles
CMEA 570, Santa Clara, Cuba, 714 miles, picked up almost every day at the beach, even here a few miles inland
Several Miamis, including 940 and 610, probably around 530-550 miles

AM nighttime: KFAB Omaha, ZBM Bermuda, WHO Des Moines (comes in every night). From Spartanburg, KOA Denver.

Regular AM daytime: WEFL Tequesta, FL, 540/580/740/1080 and others from Orlando, WIOD Miami

 

[Tincap]

1. Radio Farda on 1575 kHz, Al-Dhabbaya, UAE, from my location north of Brockville ON, at a distance of 10840 KM (6735 miles).

2. Syria`s Radio 1 on 783 kHz, Tartus, Syria, at 8815 KM (5475 miles).

Both of these I posted here, as I picked them up on several occasions last season (exciting times indeed!).

Equipment used: Realistic DX-440 on internal antenna.

BG

 

[crainbebo]

Where on Whidbey Island was this, tanner? Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Langley?

-crainbebo

 

[gr8oldies]

I guess I need to count 834 in Belize when it was on the split frequency. Daytime was WBZ when I heard it at high noon in Ohio.