1710 Mystery Station

Mike, KA3JAW, asked, "Do you hear a multicultural station on AM 1710 that also comes in during the day time at about  the same signal strength?"

I replied, "I have never heard it during the day. I do hear it occasionally at night (maybe once every two or three weeks). I thought it might be a pirate. If you are hearing it during the day, it is probably a lot closer to you than me."

That exchange started a weeklong quest to figure out what we were hearing. 

The only other stations I hear on 1710 are the Springfield (MA) Armory TIS and WQFG689, the Hudson County (NJ) TIS. I usually hear one or both each night, but the mystery station is a little rarer.

For about one week, I monitored 1710 whenever I had the radio on at home and in the Subaru. This is what I discovered:

When the station shows up, it is usually around sunset for 15 to 30 minute appearances. One time, I also heard it very briefly on the car radio at sunrise.

One evening, I was able to receive it very weakly on the directional antenna (a C.Crane Twin Coil Ferrite on a turntable). The signal peaked to the southeast/northwest, approximately 135/315 degrees. There is not much to the southeast... just some small towns in southeastern Connecticut, the eastern tip of Long Island and then the Atlantic Ocean. The northwest is more likely the source... Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, NY and Toronto and Hamilton, ON.

Mike mentioned that he thought he heard Canada mentioned a few times, so perhaps it is a Canadian station.

The station remains a mystery... maybe a little less mysterious, but still a mystery.

680 to 690

Monitoring 680 kc got me two new ones, CFTR mentioned in the previous post and WINR in Binghamton, NY. Transmitting 5 kW, 150 miles to the west-northwest, I heard WINR out of the blue for about 10 minutes around 2315 UTC on the KX3.

Yesterday morning, I moved the car radio to 690 and listened to a station way down in the mud for about half my commute until CKGM took over the frequency. I never heard a station I.D., but I thought I heard West Virginia mentioned. Looking up West Virginia 690 radio stations, I found only one: WELD, but I had my doubts that it was WELD because it was only transmitting 14 watts at the time.

This morning listening to 690, I heard the station again, but today the signal was much better and I heard the WELD I.D. more than once: 14 watts, 370 miles to the west-southwest on the stock radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru!

Dry Spell Ends

Conditions have been very good lately. The Canadians have been loud and clear on my car radio during my morning commute and in the evening, stations from the south and west have been solid on the KX3. But for ten days, I had nothing new to show for it until last night.

ESPN Radio 1270, WDLA, from Walton, New York, dominated 1270 kc at the top of the hour of (2300 UTC) transmitting 89 watts* 120 miles to my west-northwest. Received with the Elecraft KX3 and C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite antenna.

* I go by the book when I list the stations' power. Some will say that WDLA must have been running daytime power in order to be heard by me. Maybe so, but how do I know ― how does anybody know? So I check if my logging occurred before or after sunset/sunrise and list the legal power for that station at that time.

1510 in the morning

Logged two new ones just before dawn on 1510 kc:

WFAI on Thursday morning 1145 UTC transmitting gospel music with 2500 watts from Salem, NJ, 190 miles to the southwest. Elecraft KX3 radio and C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite antenna were the equipment.

WLAC on Friday morning, 1125 UTC, transmitting 50,000 watts from Nashville, 830 miles to the west-southwest. Began hearing WLAC as I pulled out of my driveway and continued hearing it until it was captured by WMEX about half way to work. Also heard WFAI briefly near the end of my commute. Equipment was the stock radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport.

CHIN

Monday evening (2220 UTC), I logged Chinese language station, CHIN, transmitting 30 kW from Toronto on 1540 kc. CHIN is 360 miles to the north-northwest. Equipment used was the Elecraft KX3 radio and C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite antenna.

1710 TIS

Earlier this week, there was a discussion on the International Radio Club of America (IRCA) e-mail list about the low level of activity on 1710 kc. During the e-mail exchange, some folks listed the stations that they had heard on 1710. Among those stations was the Travelers Information Station (TIS) for the Springfield Armory National Historic Site.

Springfield is less than 40 miles away as the crow flies, so I thought that that TIS was my best shot at logging something on 1710.

I began monitoring 1710 on the car radio during my daily commute to and from work, but did not hear any intelligence.

At home, I did the same with the KX3 switching between antennas to hear what I could hear.

Tuesday evening with the KX3 connected to the C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite antenna, I could hear a station down in the mud, but it was too weak to make any sense of it. Wednesday evening, conditions were better and I heard a woman describing the Armory and giving directions to the Armory from the nearby Interstate highways. Her announcement was on a continuous loop and was repeated every minute or so.

The Springfield Armory is 38 miles to the north-northeast and their TIS is transmitting a maximum of 10 watts. Looking it up on the FCC database, there is nothing listed for this station, so I have no call sign for it, but nevertheless, it is now in my log.

The time now is 4:45

Driving to work this morning listening to a Tower of Babble on graveyard frequency 1400 kc, I heard, "The time now is 4:45," but nothing more. Considering that it was 6:45 when I heard that time check, it would have been a very good catch if I identified the source two Time Zones to my west (a minimum of 1400 miles away), but I did not.

C'est la vie.

I started listening to 1400 on the way to work Monday morning. I don't know why they call 1400 and the other graveyard frequencies "graveyard" frequencies because they sure are alive. 1400 sounds more like a beehive than a graveyard.

I continued listening to 1400 when I returned home after work and was rewarded with a clear station identification at the top of the hour (0300 UTC): WICK in Scranton, Pennsylvania, transmitting 1 kW, 140 miles to my west. Heard that on the Elecraft KX3 and the Terk Advantage antenna. By the way, I think I heard WICK briefly on the car radio this morning, too.

Sunday evening (2200 UTC), tuning around, I stopped briefly on 700 kc to listen to somebodies whining about their constitutional rights on WLW (Cincinnati). Listening closely, I could hear a weak Spanish station under WLW, so I nulled out WLW as best I could with the C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite antenna and managed to identify WDMV transmitting 5 kW from Walkersville, Maryland, 275 miles to my southwest.

WDMV was a nice catch ― only the second station logged on 700, which is usually dominated by WLW in my neck of the woods.

2 New with the 2E

After my C.Crane Radio 2E Enhanced tied for first place in the Midday C.Crane Shoot-Out, I decided to spend some time using it to chase broadcast band DX. I immediately caught two new ones on the AM band:

CJEU on 1670 kc transmitting 1 kW from Gatineau, Quebec, 300 miles to the north-northwest.

WUNR on 1600 kc transmitting 20 kW from Brookline, Massachusetts, 100 miles to the east-northeast.

CJEU was playing contemporary French music, whereas all I heard from WUNR was its ID at the bottom of the hour and then it disappeared!

In both cases, I was using the C.Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna with the 2E Enhanced receiver.

Where's WHEN? Here (Hear) on 620

First new logging of the new year occurred at 2200 UTC on January 1, when I heard WHEN on 620 kc transmitting 5 kW from Syracuse, New York, 194 miles to my northwest. "Central New York's Only R&B" had an S-3 signal on my C.Crane CC Skywave receiver and C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite external antenna.

820 Action

Last evening, I parked my receivers on 820 kHz because there were three or four stations vying for dominance of the frequency. I managed to identify two of the stations ― both new loggings here in Downtown Wolcott.

“Gamut Radio,” WWFD in Frederick, Maryland, 283 miles to my southwest was prepping to broadcast the Washington Capitals hockey game and was the dominant station on 820 transmitting 430 W, which resulted as an S-1 to S-3 signal in my neck of the woods at 2347 UTC.

“The Answer,” WNTW in Chester, Virginia, broke through WWFD at 2349 UTC transmitting 1 kW 379 miles to my south-southwest. Its signal peaked at S-1 at 2349 UTC just as it broadcasted its station identification.

I used a C.Crane CCRadio SW receiver with an C.Crane CC twin coil ferrite external antenna to log WWFD and a C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver with a Terk Advantage antenna to log WNTW.

I plan to revisit 820 kHz tonight and try to pick off some more stations from that busy frequency.

WEGP

WEGP out of Presque Isle, Maine, popped up on 1390 kHz with a pet talk show Friday evening at 2327Z. A very variable signal ranging from an SØ to an S3 running 10 kW, 424 miles to my northeast. I received WEGP on both AM radio setups: the C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver with the C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna and C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced radio with the Terk Advantage antenna.

WCAT

I love listening to AM radio stations playing golden oldies from my error and last night I found one down in the mud on 1390 kHz with a less than S1 signal. The music was audible and recognizable, but voice was not. It took some doing to finally identify the station as WCAT in Burlington, Vermont, a few minutes before Big Ben struck midnight (UTC). The station was transmitting 5 kW, 199 miles to my north and I received it on both AM radio setups: the C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver with the C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna and C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced radio with the Terk Advantage antenna.

WTEM

I did not have much time for radio this week, but I did nab a new one Thursday evening: number 184 in the AM radio log, WTEM on 980 kHz running 50 kW from Hyattsville, Maryland, 280 miles southwest (see Bing Maps image above) with studios located in Washington, D.C. Signal varied from S-ø to S-2 with competition from WILK in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Equipment used was a C.Crane CC SW Pocket AM/FM/SW radio and and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

Four on the Fourth

After logging WILI on Sunday, I wondered how many other AM stations in Connecticut I could add to my log. So I perused a couple of websites and put together a Connecticut AM Radio Station Needed List consisting of eight stations.

Using the list, I logged two of the needed stations midday today, log entries 172 and 173:

WLAD transmitting 1 kW on 800 kHz from Danbury, CT, 35 miles WSW with a solid S-7.

WNLK transmitting 1 kW on 1350 kHz from Norwalk, CT, 42 miles SW with an S-1 signal competing with another S-1 signal on 1350.

Six to go!

In the evening, I logged entries 174 and 175:

WILK transmitting 5 kW on 980 kHz from Wilkes-Barre, PA, 160 miles W with an S-2 signal.

WDEL transmitting 5 kW on 1150 kHz from Wilmington, DE, 180 miles SW with an S-0 to S-1 signal.

Logged WLAD and WNLK using the stock radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport. Logged WILK and WDEL using a C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

(Photo courtesy of Bing Maps.)

WILI

Logged WILI transmitting 1 kW on 1400 KHz from Willimantic, CT, 40 east with a steady S-4 signal. Equipment used a C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

WILI is number 171 in my AM log. Above image of the WILI transmitter site is courtesy of Bing Maps.

WKND

Sunday morning, I added AM radio station number 169 into the log: WKND transmitting 0.5 kW on 1490 kHz from Windsor, Connecticut, 21 miles to the northeast. It was a steady S-4 all the time I monitored it with a C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

CJLO

Montreal AM radio stations were in the air around Downtown Wolcott last evening and I added a new one (#168) to the log at 0010 UTC: Concordia University’s CJLO transmitting 1 kW on 1690 kHz. The transmitter is located in Lachine, an industrial area southwest of Montreal and 260 miles north of here. The signal varied from S3 to S6 during the half hour I monitored the station using a C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

WPTX

Logged WPTX on 1690 kHz at the strike of midnight UTC. The Lexington Park, Maryland station is number 167 in my AM radio log; it transmits 10 kilowatts 300 miles to my southwest. The signal varied between S0 and S5, but peaked momentarily at S7 when the station id was announced at the top of the hour. Equipment used were a C. Crane CCRadio-SW receiver and C. Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite antenna.

Stats

Lately, I have been chasing DX on the AM and FM broadcast bands and the LW mixed-use band. I have been concentrating on AM and LW and visit FM when the band is open.

Here are my stats for the three bands:

LW - 56 stations logged - best DX: BBC4, London, UK, 3375 miles
FM - 13 stations logged - best DX: WOMR, Provincetown, MA, 147 miles
AM - 152 stations logged - best DX: WWL, New Orleans, LA, 1256 miles

Here is my radio equipment for the three bands:

Receivers:
   2007 Subaru Outback Sport standard radio (for AM, FM)
   Crane CCRadio-SW  (for AM, FM)
   Crane CC SW Pocket (for AM, FM) (see photo)
   Kenwood TS-440S (for LW, AM)

Antennas:
   40-meter inverted Vee  (for LW, AM)
   Built-in whip antennas on the Crane radios (for FM)
   Built-in ferrite antennas on the Crane radios (for AM)
   Built-in antenna on 2007 Subaru Outback Sport (for AM, FM)
   Crane CC Twin Coil Ferrite (for AM)
   Terk Advantage (for AM) (see photo)

AM DX Log

2013-03-10   0411Z   WKCW   1420 kHz    60 W   Warrenton, VA   320 m SW   station id (1)
2013-03-12   2300Z   WENE   1430 kHz   5 kW   Endicott, NY   160 m W   station id (1)
2013-03-17   2317Z   WINY   1350 kHz   5 kW   Putnam, CT   58 m ENE   station id (2)

My receiving equipment: C.Crane CC SW Pocket and built in whip antenna (1) or CC twin coil ferrite antenna (2).