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Old 09-23-2016, 07:53 AM
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musichal musichal is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Norman, OK
Posts: 34
New To AM DXing, Portable

I wasn't sure where to post this, or for that matter, even whether to post at all. However, as that as never stopped me before...

...and because I ain't skeert of appearing stupid... here goes

This may just be totally boring to amateur radio fans, like something you did when you were young, but graduated into the world of ham radio, about which I know zip. But I've read jayallen's fm/lw/mw/sw radio reviews for a couple years or so, and bought a CCRadio-EP and a Sangean PR-D5 am/fm radio based on his recommendations. Just to listen to a ballgame now and then.

Recently I also acquired a couple of Kenwood KT-615 tuners also, for listening to FM. I think they have AM, too, and maybe that section also works. So, I've never been into dxing - just didn't see the point. But those Kennies did one thing - they brought me back to the magic that is radio, which in turn led me to dust off my CCrane, slap in new batteries (at least I knew enough not to try the AC input) and try my hand at a little light dxing.

After discovering the night before last just how ignorant I am about my radio environment, I realized that to make any progress, and not be stuck on confused, I needed to log some stations, and learn more about the frequencies and transmission power of local stations, as well as some of the 50k stations surrounding me for about 500 miles or so. And thus I've begun that journey.

I logged (yes, received) the following, mostly 50kw stations:

KMOA St Louis 1120khz 50kw 465 miles clear signal
KFAB Omaha 1110khz 50k 425 mi pretty clear, slight fading
WOAI San Antonio 1200khz 50k 405 mi clear
KRLD Dallas 1080khz 50k 175 mi not as clear as I'd have thought, but ok
KOA Denver 850khz 50k 520 mi pretty clear
KSL Salt Lake City 1160khz 50k 875 mi noisy, but understandable
WSB Atlanta 750khz 50k 750 mi noisy, as above
WGN Chicago 720khz 50k 700 mi clear
WBBM Chicago 780khz 50k 700 mi pretty clear
WLW Cincinnati 700khz 50k 760 mi pretty clear
WWL New Orleans 870khz 50k 565 mi pretty clear

and somehow WGNU St. Louis 920khz with a whopping 500W and 465 miles away came in clearly for 20 minutes when I quit listening and moved on.

So, there has to be better descriptions than clear/ pretty clear... tips abut that? Any standard descriptors?

What other facts should I log, if any?

Next I will make a list of other 50w stations to seek out, and learn more about my locals. I think I did okay my first night, with the goal of figuring out what is where so that I can recognize a great catch if I stumble upon one. I get now why it's fun, you learn all kinds of things. Gotta keep my grey cells busy while the synapses still fire fairly well.

I was surprised and excited about how tightly packed the stations are at night, and impressed with the EP's selectivity and sensitivity. Seems pretty good for a portable. Any comments, pointers, or heckling is invited, since I am such a noob.
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