Finally, some good news regarding AM radio

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I remember that, I think it was around 1100 kc, I think Radio Habana Cuba was "walking over" WWWE (now WTAM) out of Cleveland when I was listening to them here in Pittsburgh. Sometimes I like to listen to George Noory/Art Bell and Michael Savage on WKBN, 570 kc, out of Youngstown when the Pittsburgh Pirates pre-empt those shows (104.7 Mc, FM) and at night, I can always hear Cuba's "Radio Reloj" (Radio Clock) under WKBN's signal. There are times when Radio Reloj "walks over" WKBN as well.

That's interesting. I never had that kind of interference, even at night, when I would listen to WWWE back in the '70s-'80s in suburban Cleveland, and certainly never before then when 3WE (as the station was known in the '70s before they went to news-talk) was a music station. However, I guess that's because WWWE (now WTAM) is a local station to the Cleveland area; the signal anywhere in the metropolitan area is strong enough to override any interference from any other station on the frequency. But when you're listening from out of town, it can be and very often is anyone's guess what may come in with the signal you're trying to listen to.

I haven't listened to Youngstown's WKBN for years (I can hear it here fairly well most of the time), but was certainly unaware that any Cuban station could be heard underneath their 5kW signal. The Cuban station must be running a blockbuster signal if it can be heard in the Pittsburgh area, almost like the high-power unregulated "blowtorch" stations in Mexico, across the border from Phoenix, Arizona. However, the latter have made a shambles of the AM broadcast band in that area after sunset, except for a few news-talk and sports stations; at least in greater Pittsburgh, the interference to WKBN you're getting doesn't seem to be a constant problem. Again, it's likely due to the fact that you're listening to WKBN from outside their normal listening area. I honestly don't think that station's listeners in the greater Youngstown area have interference problems from any other signal; if they did, I'm sure the FCC would have heard about it long ago. I don't recall offhand how far Pittsburgh is from Youngstown, but if it's any appreciable distance, the AM radio signals from the latter may be and likely are far weaker in your area than they would be in the immediate Youngstown area.

While not nearly as common as long-distance AM reception, a similar condition can occur with FM radio under the proper conditions. I'm sure you may have heard FM repeaters or FM broadcast stations from other parts of Pennsylvania or even northeastern/eastern Ohio during temperature inversions and other unusual weather conditions; around here, 35 miles east of Cleveland and one mile (more or less) from the southern shore of Lake Erie, I often hear standard FM radio stations from Canada (southwestern Ontario), Detroit, Toledo, Ohio and even Youngstown and Erie, Pennsylvania, as well as the local FM stations from Cleveland. When the conditions are right, the FM radio dial in this area just lights up with stations, especially on my Zenith C845 and MJ1035 radios, both of which are designed for high-performance, long-distance reception even using simple antennas (a built-in antenna on the C845 and an old pair of TV rabbit ears on the MJ1035). I almost hate to think how many stations I'd get under summer/early fall propagation conditions if either of these sets were connected to a really good outdoor antenna--I'd probably have more signals coming in than I could count. No wonder so many 2-meter FM repeaters which are normally open access during fall and winter have to be put on tone-access mode (CTCSS or PL) in the summer.