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Can the DFW pull in KFYO at night?

T

The Rimshot

KFYO just became an Astros affiliate and was wondering if the station's groundwave/skywave was strong enough to enter Dallas on a terrestrial radio basis.

I know 710AM out of Amarillo can be heard in the DFW, although it fights with KEEL in Shreveport.


Thanks in advance.
 
I think much of North Texas and DFW is in KFYO's null, I can't remember ever catching it.
The unusually easy catch is KGYN 1210 up in Guymon, which is always there in the clear at night despite tossing much of its power to the west.
 
I could do it in Ft. Worth on my car radio, but it was very weak. Back in Dallas and where I lived in Plano, nothing but very weak KOSY mixed with very weak KBME. That was all daytime. At night - the usual jumble of stations, nothing listenable.
 
LibertyNT said:
I think much of North Texas and DFW is in KFYO's null, I can't remember ever catching it.
The unusually easy catch is KGYN 1210 up in Guymon, which is always there in the clear at night despite tossing much of its power to the west.
Click to expand...

KFYO is non-directional in the daytime, and even the 0.5 mV/m signal does not even reach Abilene. 0.5, of course, is far too weak to be usable in today's noisy environment.

At night, the station drops power to 1,000 watts and has a null towards the Dallas-Ft.Worth area. The usable interference-free signal does not leave Lubbock County to the East.

Generally, sports contracts are based on primary or usable coverage... in the case of AM it would likely be the 5 mV/m contour. That signal covers Lubbock County and parts of the six surrounding counties.

While a DXer might hear it in parts of the Dallas area, it does not provide any usable signal anywhere in the market... just as you say!
 
Last edited:
rbrucecarter5 said:
I could do it in Ft. Worth on my car radio, but it was very weak. Back in Dallas and where I lived in Plano, nothing but very weak KOSY mixed with very weak KBME. That was all daytime. At night - the usual jumble of stations, nothing listenable.
Click to expand...

The question was about night reception. KFYO nulls its night 1 kw towards the east, so the answer is "NO".
 
Thank you for your response. Looking at the nighttime power, it certainly didn't look as if KFYO's signal traveled to the DFW on a terrestrial basis. Although I've caught some stations at night that, on paper, I shouldn't catch. Listening in Victoria, I've been able to catch 1640AM out of Biloxi and 1680 out of Monroe at night.

Please tell me more about KGYN. How far east can you expect to pull in KGYN at night, can you pick it up in the car in say, Shreveport?

Also, can you haul it in as far south as say, Del Rio?

When you say KGYN tosses most of its power to the west at night, how far west does it travel?
 
The Rimshot said:
Thank you for your response. Looking at the nighttime power, it certainly didn't look as if KFYO's signal traveled to the DFW on a terrestrial basis. Although I've caught some stations at night that, on paper, I shouldn't catch. Listening in Victoria, I've been able to catch 1640AM out of Biloxi and 1680 out of Monroe at night.

Please tell me more about KGYN. How far east can you expect to pull in KGYN at night, can you pick it up in the car in say, Shreveport?

Also, can you haul it in as far south as say, Del Rio?

When you say KGYN tosses most of its power to the west at night, how far west does it travel?
Click to expand...

Go to radio-locator at this URL http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=KGYN-AM&h=N

Use the + to expand the map view, and you can see where the night signal is directionalized. It essentially protects Philadelphia with a broad null to the ENE, and has a good signal elsewhere. How far you can hear it depends also on propagation conditions, other stations on 1210, etc.

Shreveport is in the null to some extent, while Del Rio gets the major lobe.
 
Unless I'm missing something, the map doesn't really tell me a whole lot, except that the lobe extends to the south and to the west better than it does to the east.

I was hoping the link would lead me to a map that would show the expected nighttime reach, which is hard to estimate I know.

http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-border-blasters-xeg-and-pjb.html

This map show XEG's potential reach, but yes there are some exceptions.

Good to know that KGYN gets into the DFW, I'm glad I got that confirmation from LibertyNT. Thanks again for that.

I'll be able to take a trip to Amarillo in the summer, so I'll be looking forward to listening from Junction to Amarillo, hoping to get a clear signal from KGYN.

Also, I picked up Macon, GA's 1670AM in Victoria at night on a regular basis, albeit faintly, pretty excited about that. Really no explanation as to how its signal travels so far. I was able to pull it in at night from Lake Charles to Baton Rouge as if I was in Central Georgia.
 
AM tends to propagate much further at night as the signal bounces off the atmosphere. Stations above 1600 especially see this effect due to their proximity to the Shortwave band. Stations lower on the dial travel farther by day, stations higher on the dial travel farther by night. Though stations on the low end still experience excellent skip, WBAP on 820 for example is commonly heard in at least 38 states at night.

1680 Monroe is a pretty usual catch, almost any X-Band (1610-1700) station is going to get out very well due to the lack of interfering stations, in fact KVNS Brownsville is a pretty common catch in Europe with reports as far inland as Germany.

In North Texas I typically get the Iowa 1670.
 
I got KFYO in Tulsa a few times about 25 years ago but never got it in Dallas. It was always just before sunset, and the long deleted KCLR 1530 often came in, too, though on some rare occasions KXTD was actually on-air and overpowered KCLR without much effort.

As for KGYN, its directional pattern nulls to the east, though it's a little stronger to the southeast than it is to the northeast. It might be possible to receive in some parts of the Metroplex, but reception would probably be pretty spotty and not guaranteed. My experience with AM in DFW is a little more than 20 years old, but 1190 tended to stomp on 1210 while KZEE 1220 rendered anything on 1210 unlistenable in the daytime and during the so-called critical hours period.
 
I wonder if KTKR-760 San Antonio makes it into DFW, even on the 1KW night. They might be a better bet for catching Astros games than trying for KBME/KFYO-790.
 
KRJO is a ton stronger, KGYN has nobody else on 1210 to compete with so its a faint but very reliable and easy catch in Texoma. I seem to recall getting it in McKinney just the same.
 
How about Little Rock's KAAY? I remember catching 1090AM in Austin, but never tried it in the DFW?

It seems as though KARN 920AM out of Little Rock has a shot to make it in the DFW at night as well.
 
The Rimshot said:
How about Little Rock's KAAY? I remember catching 1090AM in Austin, but never tried it in the DFW?
Click to expand...

Dallas is right in the middle of the deepest night pattern null for KAAY.
 
Plus, KRLD is right next to KAAY.

Not sure about KARN 920, though I suspect at least some of the area will get splatter from 910 if trying to get KARN.
 
KRLD makes KAAY almost impossible to get.

KOMA, er KOKC 1520 is kind of present. I've never been able to get them very well, I assume DFW is in the Cancellation zone.

Seems like KZLS 1640 is a regular, KWPN 640 is an easy Daytime catch cannot recall if I've ever tried for it at night. I honestly cannot recall catching any stations from New Mexico, it seems like the AMs there have a null to the east.
 
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