AM Frequency of the week: 920

Schroedingers Cat said:

The Night minor lobe of WOKY is the equivalent of about 500 watts at about 200 degrees true. I think if the CP had been issued, they could use 1250 watts nondirectional for the proofs. So it would be stronger, and if you were near Lake Michigan, the Night 1 kW pattern would have been even less than the Fox Valley areas some of you describe.

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That dovetails pretty much exactly with my experience. If you went east of me (day or night) towards Lake Michigan, you would lose WOKY. Go west of me at night, and the same thing happens. But if you were to go south of me "back in the day" along the Fox River, you'd have a listenable signal almost all the way to Naperville and Aurora. The town where I grew up is about ten miles east of where I am now. WOKY's night signal there is /was stronger than it is here. Listenable, despite occasional intrusions from CKCY and, to a lesser extent, WBAA. Of course, were talking about a minor lobe, a small "spike". Most of the signal at night goes north, where it's currently solid for about 60 miles.

As for proofing with (then) WEMP. I used to think those two might be diplexed. They're not, but their towers are only within a couple of miles of each other, southwest of the city. About 50 miles from where I grew up, and about 60 from where I am now.

cyberdad said:

Well, it's been a little over a week, but let's bring on another one.... What are you guys hearing these days on 920?

Here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago, it's a weak WOKY from Milwaukee daytime. 5kw, but I'm in a rather severe null. Sometimes, WBAA from West Lafayette, Indiana can be heard underneath, or more commonly in the car in WOKY dead spots.

At night, WOKY goes to 1kw, but the night pattern sends more signal in my direction. Today that usually means barely enough to stay on top of the mess. But back in WOKY's heyday as a top-40 powerhouse, on a less crowded channel, it made for an easier listen. Currently there's usually no station that's reliably on top other than WOKY. Although I have heard WBAA a couple of times. CKCY from Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario used to be a frequent pest, but they're long gone.

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When I was growing up and first started listening to the radio around 1975 I lived 3 miles from WOKY and their old transmitter location at 74th and Edgerton. They were so loud I sometimes could hear them when I opened the refrigerator. Seriously! I can remember riding my bike past there many times, it's now a shopping mall. Some years later, they moved another 5 miles north and made it possible to null them with a loop antenna to barely hear stations underneath them at night. I've recently moved 25 more miles away to the southwest and while they dominate during the day, it's more of a jumble at night. This winter I'll spend some time and see who can actually hear on 920.

What did the old array look like? Just like the new array? Five towers, a 3 in a line completed by two more to make a parallelogram with the end towers of the 3? I do remember it seemed very strong around 1975, like many new arrays seem. When the radials and distribution systems are shiny and new, they seem to get out better.

Yeah, I was 14 or 15 yo, so I don't remember A friend of mine said he put his crystal set near a metal fence during school recess back then and WOKY came in loud and clear!

Had terrible insomnia last night so I dragged out my BCB loop and monitored 920. WBAA West Lafayette and CFRY Portage La Prairie MB dominated until sunrise when WOKY took over, 30 miles east of me.

Did he have a Rocket Radio? With a good 1N34, and a good longwire antenna, you cold hear 5 mV/m signals. A typical connection would get 25 mV/m signals if they weren't too close together in frequency. Then you could orient the inductor correctly and get things next to vertical metal objects like fence posts if the signal was strong enough. Newly manufactured ones are often junk unless you replace the 1N34 diode with a good one.

Nothing local here in Baldwin County, so it's quiet as a church mouse during the day.

Nights are a jumbled mess with no one station ever really dominant. The only IDs I recall hearing lately on this frequency are KARN Little Rock and WMOK Metropolis, IL.

Me, me, I had one, I remember what seemed like a huge earplug, but of course I was much smaller at the time.
I do not recall which way the shiny metal thing in front or on the top tuned (in, out, high, low).

The metal rod controlled a ferrite slug which went in and out of the coil. As the ferrite increased the inductance, the resonant frequency went down when you pushed the rod in, and went up as you pulled the rod out. The resonant frequency in inversely proportional to the square root of the inductance and the capacitance. I always wondered where the capacitor in the Rocket Radio was. I took it apart frequently to repair and resolder the wires. I always thought that the C was derived from the structure of the other components. I looked many times but could not find it.

Daytime is nothing but splatter from local 930 KLUP. At sunset, I usually get XERE, "La Comadre," in Salvatierra, KARN and KYST. At night it's those three to varying degrees plus a weaker KYFR in Shenandoah, IA, which plays traditional Christian music. There's still some KLUP splatter, but it's easily mitigated by off-tuning a bit.

If I aim NW and null those stations out, I sometimes get a weak KFLB, "Family Life Radio," in Odessa, TX. When propagation conditions are good, at sunrise I can sometimes get a weak KLMR, a country station in Lamar, CO.

I used to get XEQD, "95.7 Romance," in Chihuahua at night, but I never hear it any more. I assume that the station has been migrated completely to FM.

jim-satx said:

Daytime is nothing but splatter from local 930 KLUP. At sunset, I usually get XERE, "La Comadre," in Salvatierra, KARN and KYST. At night it's those three to varying degrees plus a weaker KYFR in Shenandoah, IA, which plays traditional Christian music. There's still some KLUP splatter, but it's easily mitigated by off-tuning a bit.

If I aim NW and null those stations out, I sometimes get a weak KFLB, "Family Life Radio," in Odessa, TX. When propagation conditions are good, at sunrise I can sometimes get a weak KLMR, a country station in Lamar, CO.

I used to get XEQD, "95.7 Romance," in Chihuahua at night, but I never hear it any more. I assume that the station has been migrated completely to FM.

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...That'd be correct on Chihuahua Capital. I'm fairly sure XHQD's even HD Radio these days. XERE won't migrate: it's part of a permanent combo dating to 1994.

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I can't get a 920 because KGME comes booming in with HD Radio and, well, oof. The iHeart AMs here all run HD Radio and blow out the adjacent frequencies. KMIK used to, but I doubt the new KHEP will go HD ever — my reception of XERF has certainly improved a bit.

Another frequency of the week that I haven't got to yet.
Daytime in Yakima brings along loads of KYAK splatter, and a faint KXLY Spokane (if you can get around the splatter, with news talk).
Nights bring KXLY, KSHO Lebanon OR (Standards) and CFRY Portage La Prairie MB (Country). KGTK WA is also possible (news talk), as is KVEL Vernal, UT (News/Talk).
Rarer catches include KIHM Reno (Immaculate Heart Radio), KBAD Las Vegas (Sports), KVIN Ceres CA (Standards) and KVEC San Luis Obispo, CA (News/Talk).

On the wishlist includes the elusive KWYS West Yellowstone. A kilowatt daytime should be easy winter pre-sunrise, but it sure isn't. Also would like to bag KKLS Rapid City (may have heard them tentatively in the jumble one morning), and maybe KLMR CO or KDHL MN. What will my loop do this winter? Who knows!

KDHL strikes me as an interesting one for you with the loop. They have nice signal in the Twin Cites day and night. I've driven by their antenna farm several times, and I would imagine their six towers might be a little tough to maintain. If it's leaking or if you can catch enough of their west lobe, I'd think you'd have a chance. But speaking of leaks, judging by the increasingly common nature of CFRY around here, I could see where they wouldn't exactly help matters for you.

South of Minnesota River (Suburban Mpls)

Daytime and Nightime - KDHL Faribault, MN

unclehonkey said:

South of Minnesota River (Suburban Mpls)

Daytime and Nightime - KDHL Faribault, MN

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I remember when that station was all polka, all the time. First time I ever heard it was in the mid 80's and we were driving back to Winnipeg, and it was the strangest thing I had ever encountered on a commercial radio station at that point.

mimo said:

I remember when that station was all polka, all the time. First time I ever heard it was in the mid 80's and we were driving back to Winnipeg, and it was the strangest thing I had ever encountered on a commercial radio station at that point.

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I don't remember it as ALL Polka, but you may be right. I DO remember a polka show in the evening. The 1980s was when I was travelling to the Twin Cities every few weeks because at the time 3M was my biggest customer.....9 different divisions worth! KDHL was listenable throughout most of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro 24/7.

mimo said:

I remember when that station was all polka, all the time. First time I ever heard it was in the mid 80's and we were driving back to Winnipeg, and it was the strangest thing I had ever encountered on a commercial radio station at that point.

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cyberdad said:

I don't remember it as ALL Polka, but you may be right. I DO remember a polka show in the evening. The 1980s was when I was travelling to the Twin Cities every few weeks because at the time 3M was my biggest customer.....9 different divisions worth! KDHL was listenable throughout most of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro 24/7.

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They still do polka six days a week
M-F 1-3
Sunday 1-5 then the syndicated "Its Polka Time" from 5-7

Now that the Twins season started that will change for pre-emptions

On the talk about polkas KCHK New Prague, MN 1350/95.5 (not a FM translator...it use to be KRDS) has polkas lets see
M-F mornings they mix in some polkas
M-F 1-3
Sunday from 6am-9pm (minus the 4 or 5 church services)

They are very unique programming. M-F local (except where noted)
5-9 "morning show" with classic country/polkas/50s/60s hits
9-11:25 is classic country
11:25-noon is trading post (think craigslist for old people)
noon-1 news
1-3 polkas
3-6 "dance party" (50s/60s)
6p-5a classic country (satellite fed...)

Fridays they do "Live musician Fridays" where they bring in a polka/old tyme band to play. They go from 6:50-9:30ish. Theyve been doing it for 4+ years now (almost 250 weeks)

sorry to get off topic

jim-satx said:

Daytime is nothing but splatter from local 930 KLUP. At sunset, I usually get XERE, "La Comadre," in Salvatierra, KARN and KYST. At night it's those three to varying degrees plus a weaker KYFR in Shenandoah, IA, which plays traditional Christian music.

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KARN and KYFR battle it out here north of Austin, TX, near the Georgetown, TX, area, at night.
Sometimes one is stronger than the other, but both are very weak and faintly heard. They don't come in every night, though sometimes either may be stronger than expected.