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AM frequency of the week - 1250khz

cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
What are you guys hearing on 1250?

Here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago days, it's a weak WSSP Milwaukee.

At night, it's pretty much a mess with WSSP on top only occasionally. Back when the Milwaukee 1250 was WEMP, it had a fairly reliable nighttime signal around here. WREN from Topeka, KS would sometimes be underneath, and once in a while, it would break through and be on top. WREN on 1250 is long gone....having been replaced by a Spanish station rebuilt in nearby Kansas City. The night pattern of the newer station is not favorable in my direction (although the day pattern is). Indeed I have heard Spanish a few times on the channel, but I haven't been able to identify anything.
 
Yakima, WA
Days a weak KWSU Pullman, WA.
Nights mainly KWSU and KKDZ Seattle. When KWSU signs off, mainly KKDZ, but there are many other possibilities. 129 watt KNEU Roosevelt, UT is common in the winter months with Real Country. Have also heard KBRF Fergus Falls, MN fading up for a 1:00AM PT/3:00AM CT ID before.
Also heard on 1250: KCFM Florence, OR (sunset once, doesn't get out well), KLLK Willits, CA (heard once during aurora with La Gran D), and KIKC Forsyth, MT a couple times close to their sunset in the winter. Once with an ag report! Also have heard a weak SSer straight east before (KYYS?) and some unid sports station (maybe KZDC?) both were heard in the overnight hours. It seems like 0000-0100 PT is a good time because KKDZ is not as strong, at 0100 and later they boom in.

-crainbebo
 
1250 is usually an indistinct talk grumble here in the day, from downstate omni WYYC in York. Lol -- I have them logged as 'WQ--' from when I first moved out here, because I forgot the rest of the letters. There is a WPEL from upstate Montrose PA in the log, but Curt Schwarzwalder of Wilkes-Barre says they've since moved to 800.

Usually, 1250 means having to wait for SSS before lucid things start coming in. WMTR from New Jersey makes it here.
At night, loggings have been CHWO and WTAE/WDDZ Pittsburgh.

* * * * * * *

Gosh, Cyberdad. What our bunch near JFK Airport in the 60's would have done to hear WREN. Kansas was a real challenge of a state to hear. The best I ever did from near JFK on 1250 was WDAE Tampa on a non-Auroral overnight Monday morning. There had to be at least a half-dozen stations off for that to've happened.
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs it's a very weak Milwaukee 1250 (whatever their calls are now) during the day. Years ago when it was WEMP the signal was stronger. At night a mess which I've never sorted through.
 
WCJ said:
Here in deep SE Texas it's KDEI, Radio Maria from Port Arthur 5k,1k DAN.
Click to expand...
KDEI is directional WSW (pretty much down Gulfway Drive) if the pattern is right...it has to protect Little Rock and KC on 1250....it throws maybe 500 watts toward Orange at night...with all the refinery and power line construction around the site, I somehow doubt the pattern is correct...but the null to the north is probably more than it should be so as long as they dont complain, the FCC will probably not check (I KNOW Radio Maria did not check the pattern after rebuilding the 500 ft tower in the array after the original fell during Rita nor did they check it after Entergy built the new substation in the main lobe of the night pattern...)
 
KDEI is and has always had a very listenable signal in Orange. Used to listen to it in it's KPAC top 40 days, and it stills gets into Lake Charles at night with a readable signal as there is a minor lobe directed toward the NE. Coming back from the east last night and tuining around heard them. I worked the board there at night in the late 60's and would get requests from L. C. occasionally. At 10PM programming was taken over at the transmiter. In the rare times they are off the air I have heard a weak KZDC from San Antonio at night.
I concur on the pattern now as they peg my VU meter all the time.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
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Gosh, Cyberdad. What our bunch near JFK Airport in the 60's would have done to hear WREN. Kansas was a real challenge of a state to hear. The best I ever did from near JFK on 1250 was WDAE Tampa on a non-Auroral overnight Monday morning. There had to be at least a half-dozen stations off for that to've happened.
Click to expand...

WREN might have been doable around NYC if enough stations were off. I'm not sure what their night pattern was like. Whatever it was, it was capable of making the hop to northern Illinois. Now that the 1250 signal is based in Kansas City, the night power has been reduced to 3700 watts (IIRC) and aimed mostly west. (It's also a notable pest at the hotel where I usually stay when I'm in the KC area).

As for the difficulty of hearing Kansas, it's not exactly easy here in the Chicago area, either. KCSP (formerly WDAF) is easy at 5kw ND night and day, but they're actually a couple of miles across the state line in Missouri. There were a couple of others that were discussed in recent threads that you could catch at sunset while still on day power....KGGF and KKOW (KOAM), but I haven't heard either of those in quite a while. KFH from Wichita was also a semi-regular on 1330. And then, one of the best night signals in the state was KSAL from Salina on 1150. They're in an area west of Topeka with fabulous ground conductivity. I'm in a null of their night pattern, and I don't think I've ever heard them here, but I've heard them in quite a few places in my travels. I'm guessing that crainbebo may well have heard them at some point where he is in Washington State.
 
For me it's a strong signal from WHNZ day and night.

Their towers are only a couple miles from me, the same towers that 970 WFLA also uses.

During the day, both stations cause some splatter throughout the entire AM band on my Sangean PR-D5 on the empty frequencies or the ones with barely audible signals.
 
cyberdad said:
WREN might have been doable around NYC if enough stations were off. I'm not sure what their night pattern was like. Whatever it was, it was capable of making the hop to northern Illinois. Now that the 1250 signal is based in Kansas City, the night power has been reduced to 3700 watts (IIRC) and aimed mostly west. (It's also a notable pest at the hotel where I usually stay when I'm in the KC area).

As for the difficulty of hearing Kansas, it's not exactly easy here in the Chicago area, either. KCSP (formerly WDAF) is easy at 5kw ND night and day, but they're actually a couple of miles across the state line in Missouri. There were a couple of others that were discussed in recent threads that you could catch at sunset while still on day power....KGGF and KKOW (KOAM), but I haven't heard either of those in quite a while. KFH from Wichita was also a semi-regular on 1330. And then, one of the best night signals in the state was KSAL from Salina on 1150. They're in an area west of Topeka with fabulous ground conductivity. I'm in a null of their night pattern, and I don't think I've ever heard them here, but I've heard them in quite a few places in my travels. I'm guessing that crainbebo may well have heard them at some point where he is in Washington State.
Click to expand...

Besides The old WDAF which was a regular into the Chicago area, I used to be able to catch KCMO which was the 810 from Kansas City in the 60s right before sunrise when WGY had faded out. Otherwise Kansas was a pretty tough catch for me in The Chicago area.
 
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