Part 15 people listen to the whole dial, including radio stations, in between stations, and above and below the dial.
Part 15 people listen to the whole dial, including radio stations, in between stations, and above and below the dial.
In the search for a low frequency carrier current spot I often go below the 5kW station at 550 and check 530, which has a history.
Last year there was an Illinois TIS (Traffic Information Service) station at 530, with the transmitter 7-miles away on the other side of the Mississippi River. But reception was from good to poor, but it was there all the time.
Until one day, when it wasn’t there. 530 had gone blank and nothing was detectable.
Around that same time an entirely different frequency had a change of ownership, up at 1430kHz, 5kW, with an unlimited non-directional signal from a farm field in Illinois. Although the programming is automated, the signal was conspicuously beefed up and modulation levels go more “over the bank” than any other station. Without any digital (HD) signal, the splash-over at 1420 and 1440 is major.
And strangest of all, the audio for 1430 AM suddenly comes in at 530kHz, for awhile as a weak signal, but now almost as strong as a full power. Could this licensed station be sending a pirate signal on an un-assigned frequency?
I doubt it…
A licensed station wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that. But it could be a pirate, perhaps testing the range of their signal by simulcasting 1430, before they begin putting their own programming on the air. Could also be an “image” created by your radio.
Most Likely
Most likely a ghost image. Around here, KTWO AM 1030 tends to belch all over the band, especially around 630, 1230 and 1630. They are a full clear channel 50Kw omni pattern in the day, and a partial clover leaf pattern at night. Two sticks.
At night the belching does not present itself on those other frequencies. But during the day….licensed to spit and spatter and jitter and splatter.
RFB