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Stations with Call Signs Other Than W, K, C or X

G

Gregg.

How many AM stations have you picked up while in the contiguous U.S. that do not have call letters beginning with a W, K, C or X? I know that some dedicated DXers have heard stations from Asia, Europe and the Middle East on very sensitive receivers.

I just scan the dial in my car radio when on vacation. Here are the ones that come to mind for me...

1. Radio Martí - 1140 Marathon FL - 100,000 watts - I heard it while in Southern Florida - Not regulated by the FCC so it has no call letters.

2. ZNS-1 - 1540 Nassau, Bahamas - 50,000 watts - Also heard while in Southern Florida

3. Trans World Radio - 800 Bonaire in the Caribbean - I heard it several times, many years ago on a home radio at night in the NYC area. I believe the station was half a million watts in those days. It no longer has that power.

4. VOCM - 590 St. John's, Newfoundland - 10,000 watts - Actually, I wasn't in the contiguous U.S. at the time. I picked up VOCM clearly while in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. But those locations are only a couple of hundred miles from the Maine border, so I think I could hear it there as well. The call sign dates from the 1930s, before Newfoundland was part of Canada.

5. I've heard several Cuban stations while in Florida and even sometimes fighting with stations in the New York area. Radio Reloj at 790 and 950, Radio Enciclopedia on 530 plus others. But they once had C call letters from when Cuba was cooperating with other North American countries, so maybe we shouldn't count Cuban stations.

6. I've heard stations playing Caribbean and Reggae music while in New Orleans and Florida. But the sound was muddled and I didn't hear any talking. Were they from Jamaica? Another Caribbean country? I don't know. So I don't think I can count stations that I could not identify.
 
HL - HLAZ, HLKA, etc. from South Korea
JO - JOAK, JOUB, JOGB, JOBB, many others from Japan, mostly NHKs
HJ - HJZO 680 Barranquilla, Colombia...one extraordinary night in late October 2018 (the time period where I snagged many TPs and KFQD/KICY)
BEL2 - 738khz Taiwan Fisheries...my farthest AM to this day at 6,200+ miles.
 
TWR in Bonaire used to go by the call letters PJB. This may still be true. They have returned to high power at 440 kW:

TWR’s Bonaire Facility Gets 440,000 Watt Makeover

I presume they have different directional arrays they deploy based on the target audience. A photo of their facility can be viewed here: Trans World Radio - Wikipedia

I logged VOCM once many years ago when I lived in Wisconsin. A rare catch.

ZNS is on my "want list" from my present location in Overland Park, Kansas.

Bob
 
Gregg. said:
How many AM stations have you picked up while in the contiguous U.S. that do not have call letters beginning with a W, K, C or X? I know that some dedicated DXers have heard stations from Asia, Europe and the Middle East on very sensitive receivers.
Click to expand...
Stations have call letters for ITU purposes, even if they don't use them on the air.

When I had a group of stations in Ecuador, it was not allowed to identify by call letters on the air, even though each station was licensed as HC--- where the third position was a number indicating the province and then two arbitrary letters.

From Cleveland, I heard over 70 countries on Medium Wave, each with its own calls whether used or not.

The Cuban stations still have call letters. Most station's don't use them on the air, though.
 
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Of the stations you mentioned I've heard ZNS-1, Radio Marti, PJB. I also heard the 1134 from Croatia, but I can't remember the calls.
 
Just three from San Antonio:

780 HJFV - Pasto, Colombia
800 PJB - Kralendijk, Caribbean Netherlands
1570 TGVE - Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala
 
I don't have an extensive list but some at least one YV on Medium Wave (a one-time logging of YVOC, Ecos del Torbes on 780), I'm sure I've heard other Venezuelans and Colombians but can't think of them. PJB, Bonaire. Even though some DXers use pre-Revolution call letters for present-day Cuban loggings, I don't know what governing body, if any, figures out what calls go with what facility. I know a few call letters are still used on air but not many. Also: I don't remember if Radio Belize on 834 had call letters in the 70s.
 
@ OP Gregg :

Slight correction .... I didn't see mention of it here yet. Cuban stations, back when they behaved, were
granted the prefix CM.

I don't speak any Spanish, so I don't ever remember hearing any call letters - city of license ID off a station from there.
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
@ OP Gregg :

Slight correction .... I didn't see mention of it here yet. Cuban stations, back when they behaved, were
granted the prefix CM.

I don't speak any Spanish, so I don't ever remember hearing any call letters - city of license ID off a station from there.
Click to expand...
I don't necessarily believe pre-Revolution call letters are applicable today (I doubt "CMQ" has been uttered on 640 much past 1959).
 
PJB and the Cuban networks are what come immediately to mind. PJB on 800. As for Cuba, R. Enciclopedia on 530. R, Progreso on 640, Rebelde (as the "Cuban Chorus) on both 710 and 1180, R. Reloj on 870 and 950.

In the 1960s the R. Moscow relay on 600 from Cuba was something of a regular at my home location. I also recall hearing Jamaica on 560 at our beach location near Pensacola during daytime. Most recently in the 90s IIRC.
 
cyberdad said:
PJB and the Cuban networks are what come immediately to mind. PJB on 800. As for Cuba, R. Enciclopedia on 530. R, Progreso on 640, Rebelde (as the "Cuban Chorus) on both 710 and 1180, R. Reloj on 870 and 950.

In the 1960s the R. Moscow relay on 600 from Cuba was something of a regular at my home location. I also recall hearing Jamaica on 560 at our beach location near Pensacola during daytime. Most recently in the 90s IIRC.
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Yeah, Jamaica abandoned all AM about 20 to 25 years ago. Today, nearly all the Lesser Antilles is also all FM.
 
cyberdad said:
PJB and the Cuban networks are what come immediately to mind. PJB on 800. As for Cuba, R. Enciclopedia on 530. R, Progreso on 640, Rebelde (as the "Cuban Chorus) on both 710 and 1180, R. Reloj on 870 and 950.

In the 1960s the R. Moscow relay on 600 from Cuba was something of a regular at my home location. I also recall hearing Jamaica on 560 at our beach location near Pensacola during daytime. Most recently in the 90s IIRC.
Click to expand...
I remember that, and in Sarasota it came in during the day, starting at 3pm (the rest of the day was one of the other Cuban networks).
 
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