Another trip down the dial

Post info or questions on stations you have heard or are trying to hear ... the world of DX!

Another trip down the dial

Postby radiofan » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:28 pm

The past day or two, a few interesting sunrise / pre-sunrside catches

A mix of at least four stations of 610 .. IDs from CHNL in Kamloops and KONA in Richland, WA. There was a Spanish speaking station, until I can confirm it, I'd say it was Medford, OR.

On 860 a nice mix with KPAM Portland (Troutdale, OR) to the south and CFPR Prince Rupert with Daybreak from Prince George to the north.

From Bakersfield, (Wasco) CA KERN 1180. At the end of December KERN's N/T programming and call letters moved from 1410 to 50kw 1180. The KERI 1180 programming moved to 1410. For historianms .. KERI were the original calls for Bellingham's 104.3 when the station was co-owned with 550 KARI in Birch Bay. Also on 1180 was Oldies KOFI from Kalispell, MT.

Under KVI on 570 was a country station which I thought might be CKSW from Swift Current, SK. Turned out to be CKWL from Williams Lake, another station I haven't heard for years. When Quesnel was on 920, it was pretty regular here.

KIDO 580 from Nampa/Boise ID was like a semi local. You may remember when KIDO was on 630 and KFXD was 580. In the past couple of years owner Clear Channel swapped frequencies for the two stations.

As sky has mentioned, KUGN 590 Eugene is in regularily these days, along with KQNT Spokane.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
User avatar
radiofan
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 13719
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:24 pm
Location: Keremeos, BC

Postby jon » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:17 pm

The great conditions for Eastern signals continue here in Edmonton. Though I guess ESE might be a better description.

KSTP St. Paul, Minnesota on 1500 was the station I forgot to mention last week, and in again very strong this afternoon. CBW-990 Winnipeg excellent, as well.

But it was 1290 where I spent my time while driving. Sunset today was 4:42, but CFRW all alone at the 4:19 p.m. break. Raccoon Carney on PM Drive, doing Today in History. Not the usual stuff. But HIS personal Today in History. 35 years ago today, he was walking to work at CFAR in Flin Flon, and it was -45 (Fahrenheit, I would assume). No wind, but still the coldest temperature it sounded like he had ever experienced.

For a brief period, CFRW almost disappeared completely, and I heard an ad for a car dealer named "Des Moines". No station in Iowa on the frequency, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a car dealer in another state use "Des Moines" as their name.

Hmm. Just checked and Washington state has its own city named Des Moines, near Sea-Tac airport, but no 1290 station nearby (KKOL is on 1300, and 1290 Port Angeles is too far away). Also checked out the Des Moines River and no 1290 stations along its path.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Postby radiofan » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:19 pm

Jon

KGVO in Missoula, MT is on 1290. When I lived in Calgary, it was almost a regular.

I did some Googling, and there is a car dealer in Missoula called Demarois Buick GMC.

This might be what you heard. At the time you caught it, KGVO would have had syndicated talker Glen Beck on the air.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
User avatar
radiofan
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 13719
Joined: Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:24 pm
Location: Keremeos, BC

Postby jon » Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:21 pm

All of this finally inspired me to hook up a receiver near a south-facing set of windows. And the difference was amazing, compared to my previous attempts in a North-facing room.

Admittedly, I had a borrowed antenna from Radiofan.

Lots of things on the dial, but the oddest was probably 850. KOA Denver dominant with nothing behind it, then a slow fade, and 850 Athabasca, about an hour's drive North of here, almost alone on the frequency for about a minute, then back to KOA. Athabasca probably puts about 50 watts South at night. As usual, 1370 Westlock was very clearly still running their 10,000 non-directional watts of their day pattern.

Radiofan's antenna is a tuned loop, and it is very telling if you tune it wrong, as all you can get is local stations on every frequency. That is the problem with being in one of the South-most areas of the City with all the local stations' transmitters just South of the City with very North-oriented directional patterns at night. CFRN-1260 and CHFA-680 are particularly troublesome as their transmitters are very close.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Postby jon » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:58 pm

I didn't mention it last night, but in view of Sky Valley Radio's 4th birthday today (the station, not the person), I should mention a station I heard that is not exciting as DX, but was musically tasty.

KVAN-1560 in Burbank, Washington, had a really rich bass sound, simulcasting KUJJ-FM's Smooth Jazz format. Pretty much all alone on the frequency, despite only 1600 watts at night. Burbank is in the Kennewick-Richland-Pasco "Tri-Cities" market.

The KVAN call letters have a pretty interesting history, too. Mostly in the Vancouver, Washington, in the metro Portland market. Didn't Willie Nelson do DJ work there before his singing career took off?
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Postby skyvalleyradio » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:23 pm

jon - I too have picked up KVAN 1560 at the south end of Salt Spring in my work truck. Its a location I usually check KZIZ 1560 and I was VERY surprised to hear smooth jazz instead of southern gospel music! It was fading pretty badly and "swapping" with KZIZ so I never did catch an ID but did hear an ad for a Kennewick business. This was about 1pm that I heard it. A little research on the 'Net revealed this to be KVAN 1560 Burbank, WA. I heard it again a few weeks back on the open-deck ferry from Swartz Bay to SSI an hour before sunset and heard the KUJJ station ID and some local ads.

Don't quote me but I think it was KISN 910 Portland that Willie Nelson did a DJ stint at during its pre-Top 40 era. You might be correct though that it was KVAN Portland instead.
User avatar
skyvalleyradio
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1109
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 1:16 pm
Location: The Goofy Islands

Postby Russ_Byth » Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:30 am

We received an email from a listener this morning who said he was picking up News1130 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
User avatar
Russ_Byth
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1298
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:08 pm
Location: West Kelowna

Postby jon » Fri Jan 16, 2009 11:54 am

Thinking about it, CKWX probably has the "frequency to die for" in Vancouver right, if there were such a thing on AM anymore. I've previously joked about what a mistake the CBC made, abandoning the frequency for 690 in the early 1950s, just because 690 was a Canada-Mexico clear channel, while U.S. stations were allowed on 1130 (at night).

Admittedly, there are some lower powered stations on 690 in the U.S., but no one at the CBC seems to have imagined the effect of a 50KW upgrade to the Tijuana station, with a tight Northern pattern. Which is exactly what happened about 5 years later.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Postby Neumann Sennheiser » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:14 pm

Russ_Byth wrote:We received an email from a listener this morning who said he was picking up News1130 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.


1130 is the only AM Vancouver signal I can hear in the Seattle neighborhood. As for FM, the Q in Victoria comes through like a local; a good one to have on the car pre-select too!
When I lived in Winnipeg in the mid 70's, late nights I could pick up everything from WABC in New York to (occasionally) CFUN in Vancouver with WWWE in Little Rock very strong, also CHEC in Lethbridge.
And of course WLS anytime from sunset on through the night. What a signal and what a station.
Speaking of CFUN; when I worked allnights there in '74 I'd get postcards from places like New Zealand, Kwajalein in Micronesia and Norway.
I'm pretty sure the 50,000 kw 1410 signal must have been booming right over the pole into the USSR.
"You don't know man! I was in radio man! I've seen things you wouldn't believe!"
User avatar
Neumann Sennheiser
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1129
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:43 pm
Location: Port Ludlow, Washington, USA

Postby jon » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:50 pm

Yes, Robin Mitchell talks, on his web site, about how easy it was to hear Red Robinson on CKWX from Portland, before Red moved to Portland in the late 1950s.

Yes, most stations in Vancouver had to shoot a lot of their signal North, especially at night, to get approval for 50KW in the mid-'60s to mid-'70s time frame. For a couple of reasons. Most of the Vancouver frequencies were regional channels in the U.S. which, in those years, didn't get approved for more than 5KW stateside.

Then, of course, there is the "whoever is there before you must be protected" rule, which basically says that you cannot degrade an existing station's (licensed?) coverage. Even if you were on the frequency first, your request for a power increase effectively makes you brand new, based on that rule.

All of which is why you get crazy things like CHQM with 50KW, but KCPX Salt Lake City with their long held 5KW license, being able to have a strong night node pointing right at Vancouver. Or KXTL in Butte, Montana, can be non-directional with 5KW on 1370 KHz, when CFOK Westlock is on the same frequency with 10KW, but KXTL is dominant most nights 5 miles South of the CFOK transmitter site, if CFOK actually switched to their night pattern, which puts about 50 watts South. I haven't heard CFOK switch to their night pattern in over a year now, but that is another story.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton


Return to As The Dial Turns

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 78 guests