What's the longest distance you've been able to pull in a station?
 

Let's see who has been able to pull in the furthest station "radio only," without the help of an external antenna or signal amplifier. I was able to get a Minneapolis AM station from about 1600 miles away one night around 2 am on my (now gone to another owner) '56 Philips table radio. How about you?

One time late at night I pulled in an Albequerque station (about 1000mi away from here) on my 1948 Stromberg Carlson console.

Every now and then, I pick up Albuquerque and Denver on my little 1955 Motorola table radio.

Dumont-First with the finest in television:yes:

a little help from uncle sam
 

Sidi Yahia Morocco, pulled in WLS, Chicago, WGY Schenectady, and WNEW NY,
R-390a, (1968-69)

Well not sure how to handle this question my 1936 Silvertone has no internal antenna having been designed to work with a long wire. I have pulled Austrailia Japan, South Africa, Russian, And the BBC with it from Silverton Oregon on a 75' long wire.

My Heathkit Mohican has pulled in South Africa on it's built in antenna. But that was some time I ago.

Omaha, Nebraska on my GE Superadio III (no external antenna). Shortwave...the Hammurlund and old Sony portable pick up stations from Russia, France, Africa, etc. with ease.

Most any night I can get AM stations from Oklahoma City and the occasional Texas signal pretty easily with my GE Superadio using just the built in extend-o-tenna. Lots of stuff from the Bay Area too (1000 mi).

My best signal-pulling tubie is a Zenith H 845; good enough to pull in FM stations from 200 miles away and clear AM signals from L.A. I have an outside wire-set up done, using my house's old TV pole and spread to the peaks on my roof. I haven't hooked anything to it yet tho-

My brother uses a Zenith T/O 1000-1 and tells me he gets signals from some pretty crazy distances. I've just *got* to get me one of those! But one of the later ones, with FM.

Pulled in a Chicago AM station in Juneau, AK on a cheap Aiwa mini-boombox. Oddly, I couldn't get it on my home systems.

Once got a Jesuscaster from Iowa on 1530 (IIRC) here in New Jersey. Another time, picked up a station near St Louis, broadcasting a local college basketball game.

On my "civilian stuff", I guess the most impressive was WLAC one nite on my 1938 2-tube Arvin set..On my "military" stuff, I think I've picked up carriers from Europe a few times in the dead of winter on the R-389....pretty good for MW stuff..

While station hopping one evening, I paused and briefly heard "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" but I'd be hard pressed to say exactly where it was originating from...

AM DX in northern Ohio
 

One Sunday morning about 25 years or so ago, when I lived in a suburb of Cleveland, I heard KOA-AM, 850 kHz, from Denver, on my Zenith Allegro stereo system. Cleveland has a station on 850, but it was off the air for technical maintenance at the time. Haven't heard the Colorado station, or anything much west of Chicago except WBAP 820 in Dallas, Texas, since then. I usually hear stations in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Richmond, Virginia and Pittsburgh, not to mention WLW in Cincinnati, several smaller Ohio stations, New York City, Buffalo and Schenectady (WGY Schenectady booms in here at night), and several 50kW Canadian stations, such as AM 740 in Toronto and CKLW in Windsor, after dark from my present location. I guess it's because Ohio is the easternmost state of the Midwest that I cannot hear most of the region's other big stations (I have yet to hear any stations from Missouri except St. Louis, the Dakotas, Illinois except Chicago, Indiana except Fort Wayne, etc). The Southwest? From here, no. I have yet to hear stations from Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and so on (even the big 50kW giants), although I don't use anything fancy for an antenna on my radios either (just the built-in ones); living in an apartment building means putting up a long wire antenna is out of the question. Another reason I don't hear most of the Midwest's/Southwest's 50kW AMs may be that, after the FCC did away with clear channels about 20 years ago, all the smaller stations on those frequencies (most of them licensed for daytime-only operation), not to mention the big stations now having to restrict their night antenna patterns and/or reduce their power output from 50kW to 10kW or less, now means most if not all of those big former 50kW "giants" aren't so "big" anymore. Cincinnati's WLW, for example, calls itself "The Big One", but since 700 kHz is no longer a clear channel, I doubt if that slogan means much anymore. Oh well; I'm sure many of those 50kW former clear-channel bruisers are now saying "it was fun while it lasted."

How many of you are able to pull in AM 780 WBBM from chicago? I went on a trip to florida back in 2000 I brought my TO royal 3000 with me (before 911, they aloud me to bring my TO onto the plane as a carry on) I picked up the station excellent in Naples. Ive heard its an "easy to dx" station. Just curious. WBBM is a 50KW station broadcast from the Sears Tower.

WBBM is fairly easy to get in NE Arkansas.

i can get wbbm on a regular basis up here in the great white north.(winnipeg, manitoba)

After dark (EST), WBBM booms in at my location near Lake Erie (Fairport Harbor, Ohio, near Cleveland) as if it were local.

How about that AM in Cuba on 570AM with the time signal seconds tick overlayed on the talk-radio audio all the time. At the top of the minute is the time tone followed by a Morse code signal ("RR" I think) coming in to Philadelphia. Either CMNA at 10kw or CMEA at 30kw. There are a few US 570 stations with a nighttime 5kw rating that may interfere.

Heard it tonight on the car radio 50 miles north of Phila. Any corrections appreciated.

Dave A

I can pull in WBBM loud and clear here in Southeast Minnesota, and also was able to pull it in on occasion when I lived in Nebraska. I can also receive WLS and WGN here in MN as well.

Here in MN I've been able to catch WABC from New York and KOA from Denver on occasion.

Maybe 15-18 years ago I picked up Mexico City on my Philco model 90 using a metal window frame as an antenna. Station XEW was (is) 250,000 watts, and I picked up the very, very weak signal at 1-2 in the morning. On another occasion I was using one of my Zenith Trans-Oceanics with built-in antenna (either a 1000 or a 3000, can't remember for sure). Station KSDO here in San Diego signed off on 1130 KHz, and when the carrier went down, KWKH in Shreveport, LA came in. This was at about 2 in the morning or so. On another occasion with the Zenith I was able to pick up WLS in Chicago. Again in the wee hours and all of this DX went on in winter time. It sure was a lot of fun to DX!!

Gilbert

Back when there were clear channels...
 

Copied the then WCAU-AM, a NJ-based (just across the T-P bridge from Philly) 50-kW one-tower omnidirectional clear channel on 1210 kHz, on a Heath 'hi-fi' AM tuner with a hank of wire for an antenna. I was a stone's-throw away from Nenana, Alaska, circa 1961. Also, during the same period and at the same location, the then WHN, 1050 kHz, from NYC.

What about FM? I picked up a station in Warner-Robbins, Georgia, in Surgoinsville, Tennessee in a '79 Cutlass on its in-dash radio...On top of my grandmother's apartment was an FM antenna that, until the lead wire fell off, I could routinely pull in Atlanta stations, & stuff out of Raleigh/Durham in Rogersville...I had one of those JVC 4.5" color TV/AM/FM boomboxes, admittedly NOT the world's greatest DXing machine, but hooked up to that antenna, it came ALIVE on FM..

Back about 25 years ago, I was working the night shift at the old WDGY-1130 in Minneapolis...50KW days and 25KW nights...with an EXTREMELY tight night pattern beamed a little east of north. So tight, you could be driving in to the city from the south, see the lights on the 9 tower array, and barely hear the station. Well, one day I pull a packet from my mailbox covered with strange foreign stamps. Inside was a note, and a cassette from a DXer in Finland! On the tape was 10-15 minutes of my show!! There was some fading evident, but the signal was damn good. Needless to say the fellow got a QSL card, a bumper sticker and a coffee mug for his efforts! Even at 25KW, antenna gain in the main lobe gave an effective power of approximately 530KW...more than enough to make it over the pole. In fact, the station's Chief Engineer claimed the Russians had operated a jammer on 1130 during the height of the Cold War in the early 60's...evidently that decadent Western rock n roll was coming in like a local!
And, like other posters have mentioned, the mushrooming of stations operating at night on clear channels (even at ridiculously low power levels) has taken a lot of fun out of AM DXing. There's still some catches out there, though. Nearly every night in the dead of winter I could pick up a station on 530 from, I think, the island of Anguilla in the Carribean. 50KW on a relatively unpopulated frequency seems to work well. Same holds true for the expanded AM band from 1610 to 1710 khz...relatively unpopulated, and with slightly better propagation afforded by the higher MW frequency. Years ago, when the skip zones were aligned right, PJB, Trans World Radio 800kHz from Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles was an easy catch in North America. An honest 500Kw helped do the trick, too. And, if the skip zones WEREN'T aligned right, XRock 80 out of Juarez at 150Kw occupied the frequency.

Wow, some really impressive stuff here. So should it be possible that, given the right conditions and equipment, an LA listener (for example) might pick up a Boston station? I'd imagine it would have to be nearly perfect conditions, but could it conceivably be done?

That's "Radio Reloj" (Radio Clock), it is sort of a Cuban radio version of CNN where it is a news station. When I can't get Art Bell/George Noory/Ian Punnett on 104.7 Mc FM here in Pittsburgh, I listen to it on WKBN (that's the talk station you might be hearing) 570 kc out of Youngstown, OH. There are times though that even here in Pittsburgh, Radio Reloj "walks over" WKBN.

My records, well, 1610 KDIA (IIRC) from Berkeley, CA on my 1994 Ford Explorer's radio. I also received the Carribean Beacon on my DX-440 out of Anguila in the West Indies. I did receive a 1 kw station on 1620 out of College Station, TX on my little 8 transistor Magnavox. I did get WWV on 2500 kc on my grandfather's 5 tube 1953 Philco 2 bander using the internal antenna.

Is this considered cheating?

http://www.west.net/~jay/ariss.html

Well, not counting Shortwave (Radio Japan, Australia, Radio Moscow, etc.), I would have to say that one morning early waiting for a haircut before dawn in the winter I was sitting in my car listening to a station in Atlanta...I was at the south shore in CT. On a regular basis, in the evenings, I listen to stations in Virginia 1110 AM, Chicago, Canada, etc.

In the early mornings on Saturday I listen to the Old Military Radio Net on 3.885 MHz--a few weekends back I was listening to a fellow in Punta Gorda in Florida from up here in CT--clear as a bell--excellent skip--just the interior telescoping antenna on my little portable Sony radio...most of the other Hammers were from NJ. CT, RI, ME, MA, etc.

I love radio.

Walker-I used to LOVE to listen to the hi-jinx on 3868, 3898, 3894...There was one guy Zimbabwe Jim, I think he lived in Virginia, who could stir 'em up just by keyin' his mike...Ever got a "numbers" station? Ever got a Pirate?

Oh yes, Oh yes there Sandy. There were some REAL clowns on about 2 or 3 nights ago on about 3.895, I think. Keyin', belchin, laughin' and havin' a gud ol' time yessir! Some guy was also playin' some prerecorded sound effects er sumpin'.

Yeah, the byrds on 3898 & 3894 would get into a "war" w/each other"-Why, I'll give you a Good, Old-Fashioned Radio Ass-Whuppin'..." <grin> They'd insult each other's radios, bird dogs, mamas, spouses...

South Caicos Island
 

I was at Andrews AFB in Maryland last year. I had just completed a long flight from central Asia and my internal clock was all messed up--I was wide awake at 0300. Using my TO 3000-1 I just caught the station ID "Radio Vision Cristiana, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Island" or something very similar in English ~530KHz. Then it went to Spanish.

Where you are right now, Steve, would be a WILD place to do some DXing...IF you could understand what they're saying...

On my Hallifcrafters I can pull in the world, as well as the Zenith transoceanic. On my Emerson 541 and my Crosley 124 I can easily pull in WSM on saturday nites for the Grand Ole Opry, which is a few hundred miles from my Fowler IL home. Winter cloudy nites are the best for reception. Summer time storms mess with reception. Neat thread and really enjoy how others listen to the airwaves.
Dan

Yes indeed...a good thread...

It's too easy to plug-into an internet based station...there's just something about wrestling with an analog dial and a drifting station on AM or SW.

I remember, late one night in the 1960s in Massachusetts, my new little crystal radio that I made (with an outdoor copper wire antenna) for AM reception started pulling in VOA (Voice Of America--a broadcast to Africa...not sure where the transmitter was though).

I remember fooling around w/my dad's Grundig portable-I got Radio Moscow on it-WOW !! The Russians ! The Godless Commies !! An' here I was listenin' to 'em ! I was hooked.

I'll never forget a "radio reception" experience I had as a teen. It was 1974, and one summer night I was driving back to the farm in my dad's new Ford pickup, returning from a wedding I'd attended. There was a terrific thunderstorm going on right on top of me, thundering and lightning non-stop. As the truck only had an AM radio, I was trying to tune in some of the local stations to get weather reports, but the static was so bad, it was basically worthless.

Suddenly, at one point on the dial the static was completely gone, and a station came in clear and strong. I listened for a little while, and while I don't remember the call letters, I do remember for certain that it was out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was driving in central North Dakota.

I still live here, and often listen to AM at night. I routinely pick up Chicago stations (WGN, WBBM, WLS), Salt Lake City (KSL?), Denver (KOA) and sometimes WBAP out of TX, to name a few. Usually reception is better in winter, maybe because of snow on the ground?

I listened to Radio China for awhile (English broadcast) on the '65 Sony portable last night.

DXing in Kyrgyzstan...
 

In my dorm room I can barely receive anything--inside a big metal box. The only advantage living in a tent has over a dorm room is canvas doesn't block radio signals! :D I was very limited in my baggage so I brought a Kaito KA-1103 portable instead of my trusty 3000-1. When it warms up enough at night I'm going to try to do some DXing outside here. I am able to get Chinese AM stations on the radio in my truck....

I remember vividly listening with my Dad on his, now mine Zenith transoceanic to the thrilla in manilla fight back in the 70's. Dad is now gone but I have 3 of the family radios, Crosley 124, Emerson 541 and the Zenith. I keep them well used and cared for. Yes, internet radio is neat and easy, but I agree, tuning in to the airwaves still has a magic to it. Heck, I still always look up in the air when I hear an airplane. My brother says it makes me look like a hick. I dont care. lol
Dan

All of this brings up an interesting question. Is there any reason that it seems tube equipment often brings in stations from further away than transistor equipment does? I'd think that, all other things being basically equal, it should be about the same, but is there any real difference?