Trans Atlantic noises

[Toomas Losin]

Europe seems to be opening up. I'm hearing carriers tonight on 693, 1215, and 1269. The first is obvious, the others are faint. Earlier tonight 693 was stronger and the signal may have become strong enough for voice, or maybe it was my imagination — that's how faint it was. Nothing suitable for an ID, obviously.

Last night I heard WBBM Chicago take over 780 from KKOH Reno for about a minute with a strong signal and an ID! before fading to a faint voice underneath KKOH. KICY 850 was audible again with Russian and music. The aviation weather on 529 from Level Island was in with a strong signal; it's also audible faintly tonight, so Alaska may open up again.

I recorded overnight on 945 and was rewarded with time pips at the top and bottoms of the hour from China National Radio but no intelligible audio that could be used for a better ID. I'm hearing the same words after the time pips but they're not intelligible. I'll try again tonight.

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Hi Everyone,
Interesting dx again Toomas, good seeing it all!!!! Well to RadioFan, Toomas and everyone else that dxes on Radio West guess what???? I finally heard CFRY 920 Portage La Prairie here in Baltimore, Ontario. Of all days it was about 5:l5 AM October 31st (Wed.) Halloween of course, not a bad trick or treat! Anyway they were coming in between 5:15 and 7:30 AM Eastern Time with an above average signal strength with weather, spots and some local farm information for the area. Heard some country tunes as well but not all that many. Definite CFRY 920 station Id. heard. However what really tipped me off on this one was this: I first heard CBW 990 Winnipeg about 5 AM and they were just blasting in here with local Winnipeg CBC news etc. then tuning down the dial I got CFAM 950 Altona, Manitoba coming in with a very good signal strength too! So thought I would try for CFRY 920 and whammo there they were. First time ever I have heard them outside of travelling by Portage La Prairie, Manitobe. Now with a little luck maybe I can hear them again when I get back to Langley, B.C.. Sure glad I got them in Ontario though. Interesting on 920 the early morning of October 31st, I got WMPL 920 Hancock, Michigan with weather and temperatures for Pelkie and Ironwood, Michigan too, CFRY faded out and WMPL came in. Cousins on my Dad's side of the family live in the Pelkie area of Northern Michigan and we visited them way back in 1978. Its a rural area with Hancock and Houghton been the largest towns near Lake Superior's south shore, nice area, really liked it! Reminded me a bit of the Cariboo area of British Columbia with less mountains though. Sort of like around 100 Mile House.

Also on 920 I got a brief fade-in from the station in Wadena, Minnesota for about 5 or 10 minutes. I think they are only 1000 watts so not bad. The am calls I think were KWAD but I think they simulcast at least partly with the FM station which has different calls. So all in all I heard about 5 new AM stations here on early Halloween morning of October 31st, 2012 that I had never heard here or in Western Canada dxing before. Toomas you might want to try for CFAM 990 Altona they seem to put out a good signal. Oh one more thing CBW 990 I actually have heard several times in Langley, B.C. so that was not new except I don't think I had ever heard them in Ontario before. Usually in Langley and Surrey CBW 990 put in a fairly good signal at times. From Langley I can null CKNW 980 slopover quite well most nights or overnight at least. From the North Surrey area it is much harder though.

I guess I could have gotten more stations dxing but was too tired to carry on later. Anyway I was happy to get CFRY 920 finally after trying for them here for 2 months or longer!!!!

Anyway hope the dx is good where you are. Oh on the Hurricane Sandy, winds in Cobourg and Baltimore were at most only 55 mph that is miles per hour not Kph. Out in Langley about November 2007 our power went out for two days with winds being almost 90 miles per hour in most of Greater Vancouver. A real wind storm, they don't call them Hurricanes out in B.C. just Pacific Storms. I have experienced many of them with 70 to 80 miles per hour winds in the fall and even winter with rain coming at you horizontally etc.. In fact practically every fall you get one good windstorm with rain in Greater Vancouver ever since I grew up there. There was only one storm in my lifetime they called a Hurricane and that was Hurricane Freda in 1964 I believe. The rest are just Pacific storms some with stronger winds than others. So this so-called Hurricane Sandy was actually just an average wind storm to me by B.C. Pacific storm standards. I think the strongest winds from it were in Sarnia and Windsor topping off about 70 miles per hours. Of course all this would be in more in kilometers per hour but I am stuck on the old mileage system, old school rules!!!! That is with wind speeds and sometimes temperatures too, yeah I can convert it but why bother!!!! Anyway you get the idea. I know Hurricane Sandy did a lot of damage along the New Jersey and New York Atlantic coastline but you must remember those cities and towns are facing the open Atlantic with no Vancouver Island shielding them either!!!! Also the wind speeds down there were stronger of course! Was listening to WOND 1400 Atlantic City on my Grace Wi-Fi Radio and did some airchecks of them. Did a great job of reporting everything and taking local phone calls even the sports talk show (which is local) dumped sports for storm coverage and aftermath storm coverage. WOND is local talk and news with Coast to Coast all-night. I think Coast is one of the few network talk shows they carry. Also WCBS 880 New York City which blasts in here every night did a great job of covering the storm etc... they almost were knocked off the air by flooding at their swampy transmitter site near the Bronx but managed to stay on-air, just lucky the water did not rise higher on them!!! Most large AMs including KYW 1060 Philly, WTIC 1080 Hartford, and WTAM 1100 Cleveland were all on as well as most of the major NYC AM stations. Also WWVA 1170 Wheeling , West Virginia on with a strong signal and reporting up to 2 feet of snow from the storm falling in Elkins and other locations in West Virginia, apparently some highways closed there too for a day or so. Anyway that gives you some idea of the storm from this end. The pattern of Sandy was kind of strange compared to most Hurricanes from the Atlantic affecting lake wave height as far west as Chicago and Cleveland.

Anyway take care everyone, hope there are no more strong winter storms or fall storms. Also keep those earthquakes away from Greater Vancouver too!!!!

73s, Safety First Always, Eldon

[Toomas Losin]

Congratulations on hearing CFRY! Last night I tuned to 1580 and heard garbled music (no KGAL!) and within a minute heard "CKDO Classic" mangled by noise. A few minutes later KGAL faded up and CKDO vanished.

Trans-Pacific signals have been poor for a few days, although last night had a Japanese opening. I woke up once, checked the radio, and found good Japanese voice on 774, 747, and 828; 1287 had voice, as did 1566 but much weaker. Nothing on 945 where I'm looking for a better CNR ID than its time pips! Nothing for trans-Atlantic signals after that disturbance a few days ago.

KJR Seattle dominates 950. The antenna pattern for CFAM at night suggests it won't be heard well at all in the Lower Mainland but the day pattern is pushing some energy this way. Just need to null KJR and listen during Manitoba's sunrise.

[jon]

KJR Seattle dominates 950. The antenna pattern for CFAM at night suggests it won't be heard well at all in the Lower Mainland but the day pattern is pushing some energy this way. Just need to null KJR and listen during Manitoba's sunrise.

Memory dims, but you may have to use phasing as the only station I ever recall getting by nulling out KJR was KBOI in Boise, Idaho, before they moved to 670 KHz in the mid-1960s. And KJR was only 5KW back in those days.

Here in Edmonton, KJR is a powerhouse heard 24/7 for most of the winter now that they have 50KW.

OK, I just looked at the KJR day and night directional patterns. Vancouver is in a moderate Null of both, and Edmonton is directly in the biggest lobe of both.
Day - http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php ... 5&sHours=D
Night - http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php ... 5&sHours=N

[radiofan]

In the New Westminster area, KJR's signal is not near as good as it was back in the day that they had 5kw. Ever nulling the NW slop, there is times they are almost non-existent.
It would be nice if something else would pop up on 950 that was ID'able.

[jon]

KJR always had a killer signal into Vancouver, day and night, in the 1960s. 5KW.

In the day, they were non-directional. And at night, a two tower symmetrical pattern that sent a bit more than 5KW equivalent to Vancouver, and had a relatively loose null towards Boise (KBOI) and Denver (KIMN). Which is what you would expect from a station that had been on the air since the 1920s.

The 5KW night pattern http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php ... 6&sHours=N

[Toomas Losin]

Hmm. I have to withdraw my statement about KJR dominating 950. It seems I've been living in the past, avoiding 950 because of that past dominance. At the moment I'm only hearing a weak signal which I assume is KJR.

My only other logging on 950 is KMTX Billings, MT in 1985.

[radiofan]

KJR will never get back the signal they had when their towers were grounded to the railway tracks on Harbor Island. The weak nullable signal has only been happening for the past couple of months. Maybe they
are running with reduced power or suffering like CISL from leaning tower syndrome. Hopefully the new weaker KJR will result in some new catches on 950 as well as 940 and 960 this winter.

[Dan Sys]

Toomas.....give KOZE 950 in Lewiston, Idaho a shot during sunrise DX. They are often heard here battling it out with KJR.

[Toomas Losin]

KJR at night was respectable. In the morning I heard the pattern switch at 1514 UTC (0714 PST), about 10 minutes after sunrise: The signal went off the air for a second and came back weaker. Interestingly, thirty seconds later this weaker signal started to fade, culminating a minute later in a very sharp drop into the noise leaving just a murmer, where it stayed. I wonder if that was further antenna feed changes or simply the sun having its way with the signal.

Dan, I heard something under KJR before Idaho sunrise but it was very weak. I wasn't using the loop, which proved to be a mistake. The strength difference is such that KJR needs to be nulled to have a chance at it.

The night's other target, coincidentally a few kHz down at 945 kHz but far across the Pacific in China, didn't make any noises at all.