AM Radios

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

AM DXing is almost pointless, except for the thrill of hearing stations hundreds of miles away from one's home.

I thought "the thrill of hearing stations hundreds of miles away from one's home" WAS what AM DXing is. Is it supposed to possibly be something else?

[Jon A.]

I can pick up 1010 WIN in New York on my old Ford AM-FM 8-track stereos at night. The reception is horrid though. Never tried it since moving to the third floor, all of my car stereos have been in storage since, got to pull one out and hook it up.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

I thought "the thrill of hearing stations hundreds of miles away from one's home" WAS what AM DXing is. Is it supposed to possibly be something else?

In answer to your question, no. AM DXing only means one thing, and you said it. I don't know what I was thinking when I said what I said in my post. I was going to delete that particular statement and reword it, but by the time I realized my mistake it was too late--I had already posted the reply.

BTW: I guess that will (should, anyway) teach me to read my posts carefully before clicking the "submit reply" button, for once a post is submitted it can't be retracted, edited or deleted by the original author of that post.

[Electronic M]

One can edit their own posts after submission...There should be an edit button near the quote button.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

BTW: I guess that will (should, anyway) teach me to read my posts carefully before clicking the "submit reply" button, for once a post is submitted it can't be retracted, edited or deleted by the original author of that post.

That is not the case...there is an "edit" button at the bottom of the post that can be used. The post can't be deleted, but the content may be replaced. I normally replace with "deleted" or "oops! double post" or something like that.

jr

[ChrisW6ATV]

My worst AM DXing event: Listening for almost an hour in Chicago to a weak station that was coming in and out, after hearing unfamiliar call letters (not listed in the Communications World guide for that frequency at the time), then figuring out eventually that they announced the sister FM call sign for KOIA in Iowa, only one state away.

My best AM DXing event: After moving to the San Francisco, California area in 1984, using my new Sony multi-band radio and hearing WLS from Chicago on 890, almost 2000 miles away.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

My best AM DXing event: After moving to the San Francisco, California area in 1984, using my new Sony multi-band radio and hearing WLS from Chicago on 890, almost 2000 miles away.

That was, if I remember right, the year before the FCC did away with AM clear channels, where there were only one or, at most, two stations on the frequency after dark. Any daytime stations on the clear channels were required to sign off at sundown. That was almost certainly why you heard WLS in San Francisco; the frequency must have been absolutely clear. This would be all but impossible today, since daytime-only stations on formerly clear channels are now allowed to operate full-time, with lower power and directional signal patterns after dark.

In Canada, the rules must be slightly different. Station CKLW in Windsor, Ontario has been the only full-time station on 800 kHz as long as I can remember, although there were a number of daytimers on the frequency which had to leave the air at sunset due to the Canadian station's seniority. I don't know how long CKLW has been on the air, but my best guess is at least 60-70 years. I live within one mile of the south shore of Lake Erie and can hear CKLW just fine, any hour of the day or night. When I was growing up in suburban Cleveland, the station also boomed in as well as any local station; CKLW was a music station at that time (late '60s-'70s). They did away with the music format some years ago, replacing it with talk, including at least one American talk host--I don't recall which one.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

My best AM DXing event: After moving to the San Francisco, California area in 1984, using my new Sony multi-band radio and hearing WLS from Chicago on 890, almost 2000 miles away.

From the west coast, in the middle of winter, early in the morning sometimes JOUB 774 kHz (500 kW) from Akita Japan can be heard, or at least detected using "CW" mode on a communications receiver. I have heard program audio on occasion with nothing more than an Eton E-5, using its built-in antenna. Give it a try next winter.

jr

[MarioMania]

KDXU signed on in 1957 on 1450 kHz. It moved to 890 kHz in September 1985

What was 890 before 1985?

[ed857]

My Dad, while in the Navy stationed in San Diego in the early-mid 40's, told me he could hear WLW, 700 Cincinnati .

Was this the era when WLW's ERP was 500,000 watts?

[WISCOJIM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLW

In January 1934 WLW began broadcasting at the 500 kilowatt level late at night under the experimental callsign W8XO. In April 1934 the station was authorized to operate at 500 kilowatts during regular hours under the WLW call letters. On May 2, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a ceremonial button that officially launched WLW's 500-kilowatt signal.[3] As the first station in the world to broadcast at this strength, WLW received repeated complaints from around the United States and Canada that it was overpowering other stations as far away as Toronto. In December 1934 WLW cut back to 50 kilowatts at night to mitigate the interference, and began construction of three 50 ft. tower antennas to be used to reduce signal strength towards Canada. With these three antennas in place, full-time broadcasting at 500 kilowatts resumed in early 1935. However, WLW was continuing to operate under special temporary authority that had to be renewed every six months, and each renewal brought complaints about interference and undue domination of the market by such a high-power station. The FCC was having second thoughts about permitting extremely wide-area broadcasting versus more locally oriented stations, and in 1938, the US Senate adopted the "Wheeler" resolution, expressing it to be the sense of that body that more stations with power in excess of 50 kilowatts are against the public interest. As a result, in 1939 the 500-kilowatt broadcast authorization was not renewed, bringing an end to the era of the AM radio superstation.[4] Because of the impending war and the possible need for national broadcasting in an emergency, the W8XO experimental license for 500 kilowatts remained in effect until December 29, 1942. In 1962 the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation again applied for a permit to operate at 750 kilowatts, but the FCC denied the application.

[radiodayz]

AM is not what it was 30 years ago, that's for sure; but it's a glass half full/half empty scenario, I suppose. In the Seattle area I can still hear (at night) big band music, rock oldies, Mexican music, Indian music, and the all-news stations from Seattle, Vancouver BC, San Francisco, and occasionally LA, which are sometimes interesting. Plenty of Fox Sports, ESPN sports, CBS Sports, and political talk.

[devoid]

If you want the real (read: colorful) deal on WLW then go here: http://www.ominous-valve.com/wlw.html

[Charlie]

Sometimes I can pick up 650 WSM at night... one of the few strong stations that still play music. I do get a small thrill out of discovering where I might be getting reception from, but it does kinda suck being only talk radio in most cases. I can usually get WWL and WBAP... but those are fairly close to me... both appx 5 hour drives. Sometimes I pick up stations in North Louisiana and Missouri that still play music. There's a local station about 20 miles north of me, but it's only 1000 watts and it's not easy to tune in due to all the tall pines around me.

[Sandy G]

When I got my R-389 back from Rick Mish, I turned it on, it was tuned to 839 or thereabouts, I thought, "Well", put on a set of phones, licked my index finger, stuck it to the antenna jack, & WHAS in Louisville came BOOMING in.. Now, granted, that's only about 250 miles away, but still... It had virtually NO antenna...