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AM Frequency of the Week: 900

cyberdad

cyberdad

Moderator
Staff member
Far northwest suburban Chicago area.....

Days: Splatter from WLS (890)

Nights: Usually CHML from Hamilton, ON (Which is located at the western end of Lake Ontario, roughly midway between Toronto and Buffalo). But this morning (7/25/21) a new catch! KFAL from Fulton, MO. Fair but steady signal with classic country music and a positive ID. About two hours before local sunrise. I'll assume 1kw ND day power (as opposed to 130 watts authorized for nighttime. 305 miles on the C Crane skywave.

Normally, if I hear country music on 900 it's a weak WDLS from Wisconsin Dells, WI. That's what I thought I had this morning until the KFAL positive ID came through. No identifiable trace of CHML, which has been missing at my location for the past few months.

Other location. I used to hear a very weak KFAL in the daytime when I was in college in southeast Iowa during the late 1960s. It was there almost every day....definitely an overachireving 1kw signal.
 
Near north Chicago suburbs: days are splatter from WLS. Nights usually CHML and not much else.
I have heard WDLS a few times around afternoon critical hours.

Retro: Used to hear XEW from Mexico City fairly often, but haven't heard it in awhile.
 
Chicago by the lakeshore:

Daytime: nothing.

Nighttime: CHML in Hamilton, with an OK signal. I sometimes hear some music in the background, but every time I get an ID it's CHML.

Retro: 80's SF Bay Area. CJVI, in Victoria BC was the most common. It's now called CKMO. I also heard one of the renditions of KALI in Gardena, CA
 
From the southwest suburbs of Chicago:

Living so close to WLS's tower, I haven't bothered much with 900. The two stations I have gotten, both logged years ago, are CHML Hamilton (relogged a couple of winters ago) and XEW Mexico City, when it was still 250 kW.
 
Used to catch XEW almost every night in Houston, usually quite loudly. Here in Ohio, it's a pretty dead frequency day and night from what I've heard over the years.
 
Notice that WDLS 900, KKLS 920, and WLSI 900 were all daytimers in areas where WLS 890 had a strong skywave right adjacent to them at night.

I could get WFRO 900 in Genesee County by nulling out WFDF 910 in certain parts of the house where reradiation from wires, pipes and HVAC vents favored WFRO. WFRO was turned in by ABC/Disney to upgrade WFDF 910 to 50000 watts Daytime. WATC...WSNQ Gaylord occasionally could be heard presunset before signoff. Some say it was also part of the deal to upgrade WFDF, but it wasn't officially part of the "upgrade". Interestingly, WFDF had a better signal in the Daytime in many parts of Northern Michigan with 5000 watts than with 50000 watts from further South. At Night, it reaches 7 mV/m skywave at times, second only to WWJ 950, which reaches around 10 mV/m at Night. Usually, it is CHML at Night.
 
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Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: nothing
Nighttime: CHML

DX/Retro: others heard in the past include KFAl (Fulton, MO), WFRO (Freemont, OH), WDLS (Wisconsin Dells, WI), WFIA (Louisville, KY), WKDA (Lebanon, TN), XEW (Mexico City) and the now defunct CKTS (Sherbrooke, PQ)
 
schmave said:
Used to catch XEW almost every night in Houston, usually quite loudly. Here in Ohio, it's a pretty dead frequency day and night from what I've heard over the years.
Click to expand...
Maybe I should have clarified that I still hear XEW when I'm in Texas and nearby parts of the Southwest. I wonder if perhaps they're running less than their authorized power. I seem to remember having read something about that.
 
schmave said:
Used to catch XEW almost every night in Houston, usually quite loudly. Here in Ohio, it's a pretty dead frequency day and night from what I've heard over the years.
Click to expand...
Here in west Houston, XEW still dominates the frequency at night. At times I've heard Cuba underneath. During the day here, it's local KREH in Vietnamese. KREH is supposedly on the air at night with 10 watts, but I've never heard them after sunset. I have heard KPYN up in Atlanta, TX at sunset.

EDIT: XEW moved transmitter locations and reduced power to 100 kw in 2016 (if my rusty Spanish is right). See page 5 of the linked document:

 
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East Tennessee: Day and night-local WKXV
Retro/other: All points north, CHML dominates at night with various and sundry others.
Ohio: One must remember the late WFRO, Fremont OH. A (I think) 500 watt signal that seemed to go everywhere, including Fort Wayne, IN and just north of Dayton. As you probably know, WFRO was silenced in order to allow WFDF-910, Flint MI to move closer to Detroit as a Radio Disney affiliate.
 
gr8oldies said:
As far as I know, XEW is still in Mexico City, not coastal Mexico. MWList has them at 250kW, which is likely also not accurate
Click to expand...
Correct. That is an error.

But they have reduced power long ago. They are either 60 kw or 100 kw, not sure on that.
 
The reduced power must be the reason I haven't heard XEW in a long time. Although other Mexico City stations do better with less power. I wonder if the new transmitter location is the reason?
 
The Mexico Database shows it as 100 kW, DA-D for the main XEW facility. There are apparently other satellite stations using the same call letters.


The station is 250 kW nondirectional in the Region II Database. What this mainly means is that US and Canadian stations are required to protect the predicted 250 kW 50% predicted skywave within Mexico under the Agreement between Mexico and the United States. Those agreements also use old skywave model, which predicts the 0.5 mV/m 50% contour going out farther than the newer skywave model used in US Domestic skywave prediction.
 
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gr8oldies said:
East Tennessee: Day and night-local WKXV
Retro/other: All points north, CHML dominates at night with various and sundry others.
Ohio: One must remember the late WFRO, Fremont OH. A (I think) 500 watt signal that seemed to go everywhere, including Fort Wayne, IN and just north of Dayton. As you probably know, WFRO was silenced in order to allow WFDF-910, Flint MI to move closer to Detroit as a Radio Disney affiliate.
Click to expand...
Here is the description of the old WFRO 900 facility. 500 watts Day, 287 watts Night. Blanket Nighttime authorization automatically made it Class B because it was over 250 watts. The Cavell Mertz site shows the tower placement diagram and pattern.


FCCInfo Results

FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.
fccinfo.com
 
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