Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

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Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby skyvalleyradio » Sat Dec 14, 2013 12:42 pm

Yesterday a medical appt in Victoria offered plenty of "bandscan" time both in the city and at S.S. Island and Swartz Bay ferry terminals. With fog prevalent, ground-wave signal extension on FM was notably enhanced. While shielded by Mt Tolmie from CJSU 89.7 "Sun-FM" I tried to hear KXIR 89.9 the new fulltime repeater of KSER 90.7 but was disappointed instead by reception of KGHP in Gig Harbor, in the clear with no sign of other signals in the background. Perhaps Bongwater, who regularly travels through Skagit Co. has an answer or someone else who can tell me if KXIR is on??

The power increase on volunteer community station KSQM 91.5 Sequim makes this quite listenable driving around Victoria for those who enjoy MOYL/Adult Standards from the 40's 50's & 60's. It used to disappear or fade travelling the hilly terrain of the city, but no longer. Considering KSQM serves listeners 65+ I'm guessing this station has been discovered by a few of Victoria's retirement age listeners. Yesterday, they even had an hour of vintage country! Throughout the day we flipped our SUV radio between this and Classic Country KXA 1520 which also has city-grade coverage of Victoria. There was a real mess at 91.9 + 92.1 CBU-FM. From Isle View beach in Saanich just across from San Juan Island, I'm guessing KSJU 91.9 or KPTZ 91.9 were part of this noise and can't imagine how listeners in the islands or Port Townsend can receive these without severe interference from CBU 92.1

Travelling on the open-air deck ferry mid-morning at winter solstice offers a chance to see how much AM DX there is at that time of day when the AM band is supposed to theoretically have no DX. Usual KFBK 1530 pounded in and 810 was a noisy mix of KTBI and KGO. KFI 640 CBR 1010 KGA 1510 KFSG 1690 Roseville, CA also loud and 1090 a noisy mix of KFNQ Seattle and XEPRS
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Re: Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby jon » Sat Dec 14, 2013 6:09 pm

skyvalleyradio wrote:Travelling on the open-air deck ferry mid-morning at winter solstice offers a chance to see how much AM DX there is at that time of day when the AM band is supposed to theoretically have no DX. Usual KFBK 1530 pounded in and 810 was a noisy mix of KTBI and KGO. KFI 640 CBR 1010 KGA 1510 KFSG 1690 Roseville, CA also loud and 1090 a noisy mix of KFNQ Seattle and XEPRS

For a couple of winters in the late '60s, I, and several other IRCA (DX Club) members, kept a separate "Daytime DX Log" of our AM catches. The Rules we all played by were 11am-1pm local standard time.

I was always convinced that XERB-1090 (the current XEPRS) would have had a strong signal into Vancouver if KING (1090 Seattle) was off the air. Your reception verifies that, as I understand the day and night patterns haven't changed since XEPRS was Wolfman's XERB.

KGBS-1020 and KFI-640 were regulars. The "best" regular was 1550 in Salt Lake City, a 10,000 watt daytimer. An easy null of KKHI San Francisco. Not sure if I had to null KGAR in Vancouver, Wash. or if they were off the air for financial reasons, as KOQT Bellingham was. KGA, of course, was a welcome listen as they were Top 40 during most of this time.

CBR Calgary is the one (of your catches) that surprises me, as I don't know anyone in the Vancouver to Portland corridor that heard anything over the Rockies in those days, from 11am-1pm. Back around 2001, Bruce Portzer in Seattle even heard CBK-540, as well as a lot of Alberta stations. I had tipped him off that Saturday as I was getting KEX, KIRO, KOMO, KJR and most of the Vancouver stations from here in Edmonton. Think I might even have got KFBK.

As you can guess, "Daytime DX" got old fast. But was worth a quick check every day once I'd heard all the regulars. Because some days seemed to have this magic corridor of Skywave Signal Path. One day it was from South Burnaby to Nampa, Idaho. Both stations coming in great. Still have one of them on tape, advertising a Strawberry Alarm Clock concert in the War Memorial Arena, I think it was called.
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Re: Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby skyvalleyradio » Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:37 pm

CBR 1010 is a regular daytime signal here & never completely disappears mid-days. However, on the open ferry deck, it was LOUD. The battle on 1090 was pretty fierce too - usually XEPRS doesn't overtake KFNQ during the daytime - both signals tend to have equal levels. I have 'static strips' installed on the bottom of our vehicle chassis to give better "grounding" to DX AM on the boats and improve conditions
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Re: Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby Tape Splicer » Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:33 pm

skyvalleyradio wrote: I have 'static strips' installed on the bottom of our vehicle chassis to give better "grounding" to DX AM on the boats and improve conditions

Don't tell BC Ferries or they'll charge you extra for the privilege of using their deck plates as a DX platform. (great idea though).
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Re: Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby Bongwater » Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:37 am

Yes, KXIR is on the air (simulcasting KSER).

You can't get KXIR in Mount Vernon due to first adjacent KMWS 89.7 and it's HD noise...A sign of ugly things to come for FM radio at this rate.
If you're happy and you know it, share your meds.....
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Re: Is KXIR 89.9 on air?

Postby skyvalleyradio » Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:42 am

Bongwater - thanks! I knew you were the dude who would know. I managed to get myself at the SE base of Victoria's Mt Tolmie to null out CJSU 89.7 "Sun FM" Duncan and did manage to pull in KMWS as I heard their "NW Public Radio" ID, but no sign of KXIR. I agree that the regional FM band is pretty saturated, but...hey that just adds to the DXing challenge :-)
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