Another board used to do something like
this, and I loved it. And, even though
it's sort of a game, there are no winners
or losers.
Somebody picks a frequency on the AM
broadcast band. Then, for a week or so,
replies are posted by a bunch of those
who are interested.
AND the replies are just - what you hear
at your "monitoring set-up" - whatever
that is, and everybody reads what everybody
wrote. It's fun to see what people in differentbig
parts of the country can hear, especially when
far apart monitoring set-ups hear the same
broadcast stations.
So - you post what you hear during the daytime,
at night, and morning and evening critical hours
if you want. And if you are outside of the U.S., and
nearby, you can post frequencies that don't end in
zero, although maybe that should be a slightly different
category(???)
Well anyhow, I'll spin the AM BCB frequency ticker wheel...
tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...
.................tick....................................................tick
AND the frequency it stopped on is...
650 kHz. OOOOh. An easy one.
So today is May 1, 2016. In a week, we'll
spin the wheel again.
So, what do you hear on 650 kHz???
Not everyone at once please.
Brooce (Goofy Experiments, and THIS post
is yet another one.)
Hello Goofy Experiments... This is a game I can actually understand, unlike football.
And with 650 AM being the first challenge I knew what to expect, but that's not what I found.
As soon as I read your Game Rules I went straight over to that desk... the one in the Corporate Penthouse of the Internet One-Story Building... and tuned the Sangeon S505 to AM 650.
I heard the Mischke Roadshow which was just getting started on KDX Worldround Radio.
At that point you may well ask, "But Carl, you never said KDX was transmitting at 650 kHz on AM," and you'd be right... I never said it.
But you've got to understand, that location is 2-feet from the Wintenna, the metal window frame all lit up by AM 1550 transmitting from an AMT3000 with triangular loading coil, and you tell me why, I get a signal on 650 kHz.
Fact is it's weak and fades out in only a few feet, doesn't even show up on the spectrum analyzer, so I ignore it until something like this game comes up.
Next thing I did was shut-down AM 1550 and then checked AM 650... mostly static but some country music way in the distance., that being, however far it is to Atlanta, Georgia.
Some times of the day it slams in here like a local, othertimes it fades way out but is almost never completely gone.
You know what I'm talking about.
More comments to follow.
Brooce
Yes, I could get into this game. 650, hmmm. 5kW WHLO is on 640 about 5 miles away so I'll probably hear a little bleed over but let's give it a try.
Yes, at 0742 Eastern I'm hearing some spit and sputter from 640. Otherwise, clear at this time.
I'll tune in this evening and report back.
Audio clip tuning from 650 to 640 and back to 650: 650 kHz
I'm listening on a vintage Hallicrafters S 20R using a random wire antenna.
Carl and Bob. There are so many things
I want to say here, I can't think of them all.
Carl, the 650 signal you heard was probably
generated inside the receiver, I guess.
Bob, in Hartford CT when I was a boy
WHLO in Akron was audible at sunset.
Back then I think it was 1 kW day only,
but it might have been less power. My
AM DX buddy had a recording of WHLO signing
off. Their sign-off info was announced over the music
of an electronic Moog (?) synthesizer, I think the
song was called "The Minitaur" or something like that.
I'm sure you remember that song.
After that 640 was dominated by a Cuban signal
all night long.
Then some of my lucky friends heard KFI in LA, CA
on 640 at sunrise. It was just barely there.
I tried many times but never got it.
Back to 650, I'm going to check it at sunset.
Brooce
Brooce
I can get KFI mornings here in North Texas, as for 650 it is totally dominated by WSM. Daytime it is dead quiet aside from some moderate splatter from KSKY on 660 and KWMP on 640.
The nearest 650 to my location is KIKK, a 250 watt daytimer out of Houston nearly 300 miles away.
Nothing but buzz on 650 here at 5:57 PM ET WSM is in there but not something you'd want to listen to with all the buzzing. I confirmed it to be WSM after hearing station ID in a couple seconds. At night I can tell you for sure , it will be WSM in all of it's glory.
Sounds like bacon frying at 650 kHz 5:32 PM CDT Monday, May 2, 2016.
Gray overcast all day and cool.
I turned on the Hallicrafters at 21:34 and heard a station fairly well but didn't get the call before they faded away.
A few minutes later, almost hear them. WHLO on 640 must have cut their power by now as no spit or sputter from them. There's also a station on 660 now but no interference.
WSM Nashville is probably the closest station on 650. Perhaps thats what I'm hearing.
Hear it here as I tune from 650 to 660, down to 640 and back to 650. You can hear some country music in the noise.
EDIT: UPDATE-At 22:25 announcement that sounds like he said WSM
Turned on the G8 at 23:30 and clearly audible was WSM. Still lots of QSB.
I heard them say WSM at about 10:55 PM my
time EDT. It was not a full ID with location but
the WSM callsign was clear.
The receiver that did the work was a GE Superadio 3.
The signal was not very strong. If it had been my
HQ-140X (at my brother's house) I would say it was
an S4 or an S5.)
The geomagnetic readings are not very good, but I
really don't understand this sort of thing. I guess
scientists are still trying to figure it out, too.
Later on, around midnight, on a Kaito 1103, I listened
to it again and heard country music as only WSM could
play. The signal was a little better.
So MRAM, I love your recordings and I know what your
Hallicrafters S-20R looks like (beautiful) so it's almost like
being in your shack.
During the daytime I get something else on 650 -
a teeny little daytimer about 100 miles from here.
Actually, I don't know for sure.
More on that follows.
Brooce
It's high noon here in the midwaste, although you'd never know it because the sun hasn't been seen for days.
Is there such a thing as a low noon? If all noons are high, what's the point of saying "high"? Maybe it's spelled hi... "Hi, it's noon!"
650 kHz is just sizzling bacon, no station.
I was around at 3:30 AM this morning, but was messing with hardrive management and didn't think of DXing, so I could kick myself.
In fact I have always been curious, can I kick myself?
............ that didn't go well. From the floor, this is Carl.
So I get a weak carrier (with the
BFO on) from what I think must
be WSRO in Ashland (?) Mass. on
650 kHz. I've been working on
setting up my magnetic loop for that
one.
It's been a long time since many of us
had vacuum tube receivers connected to
long wires.
I want to see if I can pull WSRO out of the
noise on 650. That may take a couple of
days.
Back in the good old days, I heard a good one
on 1080 kHz. My 4 miles away 50,000 watt WTIC
on 1080 was doing it's antenna switch in the morning.
In that 7 second switch, I heard a Gary ?, Indiana
1080 signing on. At that time, it was a 250 watt
daytimer.
You've got to love critical hours.
You know who likes AM listening
during critical hours is... Carl.
Brooce in Hartford CT
The numbers are just the same.
I was not hearing a 650 station at all.
No WSRO.
But WSM will probably be there tonight.
Brooce
WSM Nashville is loud and clear on the G8 tonight.
As you said, country as only WSM can do.