Can This Really Happen?

[Arp2]

500-watt directional AM station travels ~250 miles and lays a really good signal on ya, and you're not even in one of its lobes.

Night after night, this has been happening, and I wasn't able to catch any ID and figure out who it was until tonight. How likely is it they're not powering down and switching to directional? Or can this really happen on a frequency that is by no means clear?

[genlock]

Yes, It can happen.
But not realistically.
Bad array, If directional.
Not powering down is possible.
Recent construction in area of antenna could fire a lobe at you.
What is the call of station? ( PM is OK)

[Big Media]

... ( PM is OK)

Stop trying to out Arp. You should know better. If he posts the calls that will narrow his geographic identity down to a 250 mile radius..... Then, we'll know exactly who he is.

I bet he works for Clear Channel

[Arp2]

If he posts the calls that will narrow his geographic identity down to a 250 mile radius.....

Thanks for that....I guess I just about blew it!

But, then again, "~" means "about," and "250" is a very rounded number already anyway.

[fmksey]

I use to pickup WVOK in Birmingham in Parkersburg. WVOK was a 50,000
watt ND daytimer at 690. It would always be around the critical hours in the winter shortly before sign off for dayimers ---- 5:15, 5:30. The signal was strong, but cluttered ---- it would last about 10 minutes - and was gone.

[AmpedNow]

... ( PM is OK)

Stop trying to out Arp. You should know better. If he posts the calls that will narrow his geographic identity down to a 250 mile radius..... Then, we'll know exactly who he is.

I bet he works for Clear Channel

God forbid, but if this board ever comes to an end, the grand finale should be Arp's true idenity revealed!

[Hoosier Daddy]

AM 1530 was another fun one. Back when WSAI played Real Oldies (R.I.P.), I'd listen a lot. Great daytime signal, halfway decent nighttime signal, but during those critical hours, there was a daytimer in Tennessee (WDAP, Huntingdon -- now dark) that did live Religion and just tore up WSAI for about a half-hour every winter evening.

It was like WCAK on Sunday mornings back in 1975. Amazon Buffalo Pentecostal women with beehive hairdos, homemade dresses, Wal-mart reading glasses and a deceased relative's false teeth in place, with a guitar and a piano and those God-awful hillbilly singing voices just givin' it hell until 5:15 pm every day.

The sign off was live (I think), probably verbatim from the copy book, and was read by the obviously rookie board op. It reminded me of myself thirty years ago at my first radio job. The station did play the Star Spangled Banner before unscrewing the fuse. That brought back some old memories ...

[sportsvoice]

AM 1530 was another fun one. Back when WSAI played Real Oldies (R.I.P.), I'd listen a lot. Great daytime signal, halfway decent nighttime signal, but during those critical hours, there was a daytimer in Tennessee (WDAP, Huntingdon -- now dark) that did live Religion and just tore up WSAI for about a half-hour every winter evening.

It was like WCAK on Sunday mornings back in 1975. Amazon Buffalo Pentecostal women with beehive hairdos, homemade dresses, Wal-mart reading glasses and a deceased relative's false teeth in place, with a guitar and a piano and those God-awful hillbilly singing voices just givin' it hell until 5:15 pm every day.

The sign off was live (I think), probably verbatim from the copy book, and was read by the obviously rookie board op. It reminded me of myself thirty years ago at my first radio job. The station did play the Star Spangled Banner before unscrewing the fuse. That brought back some old memories ...

Sounds like WPAY on a Sunday morning.

This is the season for a lot of interesting DX, since some AM's use the special "friday night football authority" power. The narrowband audio from analog phone feeds cuts through the clutter somewhat as well.

[lastone]

I'd give it 60/40; the DA is off or it's the weather. We are in the change of season and radio does strange things in spring and fall. Like FM's covering the entire band before a thunderstorm or DA's changing with the water table or a bad ground connection since the weather is cooler. Then there is the outside chance a large metal structure within a mile has gone up and is "directing" more signal toward you. I have had this happen when three or four train cars were parked close by and another time when a billboard went up. But then a 500 watt DA? The're most likely protecting someone and if it's the DA, they will hear about it!

[lil mole]

I've heard WEBS from Calhoun, GA. They are on 1030 am, same as WBZ. I picked up this station at around 1 or 2 am from here in Southern Ohio and they were overpowering 50,000 watt WBZ with their .003KW night time signal. Their daytime signal is only 5,000 watts, so it would still have been unusual to pick them up even if they didn't lower their power. This happened several nights in a row a couple of winters ago.

[SPIKE NESMITH!]

I've been able to pick up WCBS for a few nights running now - very clean signal, extremely listenable. Every 10 minutes or so it fades away completely and then comes back within 2 minutes. Odd.

[Mark Hallburn]

I used to listen to 640 KFI at night in The Bahamas... They used to have a field around their towers and, according to a competing station's engineer, watered the field regularly.

Clear Channel sold off the extra Real Estate a few years ago, and I haven't been to The Bahamas since the 90's, so I don't know if that's still the case.

When I worked at KERI outside of Bakersfield in 1984-1985, we were tweaked north/south. At full power we went about 50 miles east. But when there was snow on the mountains I took request calls from Houston...

[Arp2]

KFI's tower went down when a plane crashed into it, and zoning has made it very tough for them to rebuild it there. I don't know what the current status of it is.

In addition, 640 has become a little cluttered by more on at night and jamming from Cuba.

[AmpedNow]

KFI's tower went down when a plane crashed into it, and zoning has made it very tough for them to rebuild it there. I don't know what the current status of it is.

In addition, 640 has become a little cluttered by more on at night and jamming from Cuba.

They have been running 25kw since the accident.



Still, their primary coverage area remains relatively unchanged, and their ratings haven't suffered at all.

Why can't they just run 50kw into the tower? It's only one, non-directional.

[sportsvoice]

How'd you get a coverage map for their temporary authority at 25kW? I've never had much luck getting technical details for STA facilities from the FCC search engine.

[AmpedNow]

It's the map still at radio-locator.

Come to think of it, that may be their full power map... That's a pretty big footprint.

[fmksey]

In the late 70s there was a cool little daytimer in Alburquerque. KFMG, 500w at 1520. It was a rocker, just as professional as the two other AM, fulltime rock stations in the market. When they signed off at sundown, KOMA in OK City was right there and just as clear and loud as KFMG. KOMA was 50kw with a directional pattern to the southwest, right over Alburquerque. If you were listening to KFMG at sign off and not paying attention - you never knew you were listening to another station since the
formats were about the same. KFMG would get some ratings at night that really belonged to KOMA.

[Arp2]

That KFI map has brought back a memory....

See Ridgecrest on the northern edge of the purple line? Many years ago, I was there. I woke up my last morning there and needed to get back to LAX to catch a plane. I allowed four hours to drive the 150-160 miles, return the rental car, get to the terminal, and get on the plane (carry-on luggage only). I thought that was enough but realized it might be cutting it close. Still in Ridgecrest and thinking it might be a good idea, I turned on KFI and listened to it for traffic almost all the way there. That was a good idea -- there was real trouble.

Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do (as far as I knew then, at least) to avoid that trouble. I was delayed for a good amount of time, but, having done 90-100 for long stretches in the desert, I thought I could still make it. I whipped in that lot, begged the guys to check me back in quickly, hopped on a shuttle that had already once started to make the trip, got to the airport,...and missed my terminal. Completing his pass past all the terminals, the driver wanted to know why I was still on the shuttle. I told him I didn't see my airline. He told me it was the first or second (I don't remember) and kindly made another pass. Ten minutes to go...I still thought I could make it. I did the "airport run" to security and the "airport run" up to the gate....just in time to see the yellow light on the bottom of the jetway start turning and flashing and the jetway rotate away from the plane.

I think the planes might have been full the rest of the day...I seem to recall staying another night and listening to and recording KIIS.....but I remember getting home and trying to and succeeding in picking up KFI.

[Cameron]

500-watt directional AM station travels ~250 miles and lays a really good signal on ya, and you're not even in one of its lobes.

Night after night, this has been happening, and I wasn't able to catch any ID and figure out who it was until tonight. How likely is it they're not powering down and switching to directional? Or can this really happen on a frequency that is by no means clear?

Perhaps the engineer that programmed the remote control has one EST/EDT parameter for October. The station stays at the high-power one hour later than licensed until the proper configuration hits on the 29th.

[Arp2]

I've heard it at 11p, 12a, 1, 2, 3, and 4...somehow, it's just really good.