RadioWest.ca

I can finally join the club of west-coast DXers who have heard WBZ 1030 Boston. Last night there were signs of good east-west conditions so I recorded on 1030. I just reviewed the recording and found that it had caught a TOH ID at 05:00 UTC (21:00 PST) which was half-clear and another at 06:00 that was fainter and also only half-clear. The "WBZ" call was 100% copy both times, though.

Both times I also heard a KMAS ID but not KTWO or any of the other lower-powered ones that sometimes show up on 1030. A KTWO ID was heard at 07:00 though, so propagation had changed. I expect it was KMAS partly stomping over WBZ's ID both times.

My Pennant antenna is pointing at Japan but a Pennant has a cardioid pattern. I haven't plotted my antenna's actual gain pattern but I haven't noticed extra difficulty with hearing stations as far around as directly South or directly East, and beyond. So it's directional but not very, suggesting that the antenna is good for nulling a specific direction without impacting others much; a data point, at least.

I hope tonight will have similar propagation!

It was good luck that paid off that night, as yesterday conditions were back to normal with KTWO and KMAS battling it out for 1030.

The WBZ recording shows a 20 minute window where it was dominant or not quite dominant. I heard "WBZ News Radio 1030" and "cbsboston.com" a couple of times, and a "WBZ news time 12:03". So WBZ ID's itself more often than just the top of the hour.

I remember when I first heard KTWO in 1985, I was sooo excited as it was the first from Wyoming and for a while it was the furthest east. It was six weeks later that I heard WHO just a nudge up the dial on 1040. KTWO is now a pest when trying to hear beyond it and WHO is buried beneath CKST. That's DX.

Yes, I remember in 1964, being amazed at first hearing something so far as KFBK in Sacramento.