New Loggings with New Radio

I have been AM DXing with a new radio, the Qodosen SR-286 AM/LW/FM/SW portable. One attractive (to me) feature is the ability to electronically disconnect the internal AM/LW antenna and use an external antenna via a jack on the side of the radio. 

I took advantage of this feature and connected the SR-286 to the DX Tools Quantum Loop QX antenna, which is an amplified external ferrite antenna on a mount that allows you to rotate the antenna for maximum (or minimum) signal reception.

I used this combination for a few evenings and I was impressed hearing many DX stations, but nothing new for the log until the last two nights when I logged the following new entries:

WIZR transmitting 28 watts on 930 kHz from Johnstown, New York, 118 miles to the north-northwest,

WVAE transmitting 1000 watts on 1400 kHz from Biddeford, Maine, 197 miles to the northeast.

WFLI transmitting 2500 watts on 1070 kHz from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, 811 miles to the southwest.

WCBS 880 Going Away

ESPN is shutting down all-news radio station WCBS, 880 kHz in New York City. Although we live 68 miles from the WCBS transmitter, it is like a local station here and it is my station of choice in the Subaru. It will be a sad day when they finally pull the plug at WCBS.

Although it has been one of my favorite stations for a long time, I only wrote about it here once. In honor of WCBS’s imminent demise, I am repeating that May 2019 post here now.

AM Radio at Dawn on I-80

The second leg of my drive home from Hamvention began at 6 AM, about 5 minutes before sunrise on Monday morning in Hubbard, Ohio. Since nighttime propagation was still in effect, I was curious as to what the AM flamethrowers on the East Coast sounded like in the Midwest.

First, I tuned to 880 to listen for WCBS. My favorite news station was in and out vying with an unidentified religious station.

Next, I tuned to 1010 to listen for WINS, my other favorite news station. I was surprised to find 1010 completely dead.

I tuned up to 1080, the home of WTIC, my local flamethrower and it was loud and clear with no sign of another station on frequency. I was impressed.

1700 was my next target. Hoping to hear WJCC – not a flamethrower, but a 1 kW FLA station I heard mobile in Connecticut. Instead, I found the reborn WRCR with a weak, but solid signal.

I tuned back to 880 to see how WCBS's signal behaved as the sun rose. For nearly a half hour, WCBS hung in there. Most of the time, it was very weak, but occasionally, it was solid for a minute or two. It finally dropped out of sight at about 6:45. I did not hear WCBS again until I was in Eastern Pennsylvania four hours later.  

WWAC

Sundown Wednesday, I heard oldies on 1020 kHz, a place where I normally don’t hear oldies, so I hung back and waited for a station ID. The station identified between each song and it took a few songs before I figured out the ID: "wibbage."

It took some Googling on the Internet to figure out what was wibbage.

“WWAC began operations in the mid-1960s as WSLT on 1520 kHz, featuring such notable radio hosts as Larry Keene, Phil Sheridan and Bob Everland. The call sign was changed to WIBG in 1978 after the call went out of use in Philadelphia. The station broadcast with various formats over the years including MOR, Top 40, oldies and country. In the early 1980s WIBG moved their transmitter and tower from Somer's Point to Palermo, changing its frequency to 1020 kHz in the process. The call letters were changed to WWAC in 2021. Today WWAC airs "Wibbage Gold", a tribute to the original "Big AM 99 in Philadelphia with 50s/60s oldies music and local talk on the weekends.” (Source: WIBG.com)

So it turns out I logged a new one: WWAC transmitting 680 watts on 1020 kHz from Upper Township, New Jersey, about 190 miles south-southwest of here using the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 120-ft Loop Underground (LUG) antenna.

July 7 E-skip

Mid-afternoon Sporadic E / E-skip noted here today. Relogged two stations on 90.9 MHz:

1930 UTC, WJKV in Jacksonville, Florida, transmitting 41,000 watts, 920 miles to the south-southwest

1950 UTC, WOWB in Brewton, Alabama, transmitting 100,000 watts, 1057 miles to the southwest 

Both were received with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

May 31 E-skip

I have been checking 90.9 MHz every morning for any sign of life. As I mentioned before, 90.9 MHz is the only FM band channel that is unoccupied here, so anything heard on 90.9 is an indication that the band is open.

WBUR on 90.9 from Boston was loud and clear at 9 AM, but I did not get back to the radio until 11 AM when the band was hopping with E-skip.

I relogged two stations and logged one new one. I relogged KLRC in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, 1224 miles to the west-southwest and WOWB in Brewton, Alabama, 1058 miles to the southwest.

The new logging was WATP in Laurel, Mississippi, 1106 miles to the west-southwest.

All were heard with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

WJFP and WTJZ

Logged two new ones.

WJFP in Chester, Pennsylvania, 177 miles southwest transmitting 1,000 watts on 740 kHz.

WTJZ (photo above) in Norfolk, Virginia, 376 miles south-southwest transmitting 50,000 watts on 1110 kHz. WTJZ was buried in the slop from WPRX 2 miles down the road, but using the IC-R8600’s passband tuning, I managed to hear it in the clean and add a new one in the log.

Both stations were received with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver; WJFP with the Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical antenna and WTJZ with the 120-foot loop underground antenna.

87.9 MHz Mystery Station

About a week ago, I noticed a radio station on 87.9 MHz. It was a Spanish language station playing continuous Spanish contemporary music (perhaps, Spanish Christian contemporary music). The only voices heard were short announcements at the 27 and 57 minutes past the hour. 

Despite taking Spanish in high school and college, I had a difficult time translating the announcements, but I believe that the station is called “Radio de Morte e Vida” (Death and Life Radio).  

Springfield, Massachusetts was mentioned once, so the station may be located in that city or thereabouts, which is about 40 miles to the north-northeast. (I can receive the station on my car radio if I travel north or northeast from my home in the general direction of Springfield. Traveling south of here, there is no signal.)

As you know, there are supposed to be no radio stations on 87.9 MHz in the USA. So when I first heard the station, I figured it was a fly-by-night pirate that would pull the plug soon. But the station has been on the air 24/7 everyday since I first heard it. With a name like Morte e Vida, maybe it is a Halloween pirate station that will go away after the holiday.

I’m stumped, but I will stay tuned and let you know if I discover anything more.

Equipment used ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

UPDATE: Less than one day after publishing the above, I tuned to 87.9 and find a dead carrier – no audio, just RF; an S-4 signal with the pre-amp on.

UPDATE 2: The dead carrier lasted all day on Friday, but this morning, the audio (voice and music) has returned.

Radio Progreso

WSB on 750 kHz was off the air for maintenance, so I monitored 750 last night to hear what I could hear and Radio Progreso transmitting 10 kW from Palmira, Cuba was loud and clear for awhile and then disappeared into the noise. Radio Progreso is a new logging 1408 miles to the south-southeast. Also heard CBGY in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland (1050 miles, east-northeast) on 750, but CBGY was already in the log.

Equipment used: ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 130-foot loop underground antenna.

WSRS

It has been a slow summer for DX, basically due to what I wrote in the previous post. But I did manage to log a new station driving a mile from the QTH: WSRS on 96.1 MHz transmitting 16.5 kW from Worcester, Massachusetts, 70 miles to the northeast.

Traveling north a mile from my house, I drop down a steep ridge from over 1000 feet ASL to 200 feet ASL. I lost count how many DX stations I have caught on this ridge, which I call the “Willis Street RF Trap.” 

WSRS is only 70 miles away and not great DX. But I have also caught some really great DX, like KTBT in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (almost 1300 miles away) on the “Trap” in my trusty 2007 Subaru Outback Sport.

Another Sunday Morning Test

The May 1st, WCGA test was a success here 880 miles from its transmitter. 

Began hearing the test just after 0400 UTC with the “Star Spangled Banner” under WTAM, followed by Morse code, sweep tones, etc. until I shut off the IC-R8600 and went to bed about 15 minutes into the test. Best heard on the 120-foot Loop Under Ground antenna, weaker on the remaining leg of the 80-meter dipole and nothing on the HyGain 18AVT/WB-A vertical.

Sunday Morning Test

Two Kentucky radio stations conducted simultaneous DX tests 0400 to 0600 UTC on April 10.

Receiving WMST 1150 kHz was easy. Strong signals heard on all four antennas (including a VHF/UHF discone) and the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver.

WWKY 990 kHz was a no-go. Not a surprise since WNTY is four miles from here on 990. I listened for about 45 minutes hoping that WWKY would break through WNTY, but it never happened. So I went to bed.

WMST is located in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and was transmitting 2500 watts, 632 miles to the west-southwest.

WSDE in the log

Logged WSDE at 0046 UTC on 1190 kHz transmitting 20 watts from Cobleskill, New York, 107 miles to the northwest. Used my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and one leg of my 80 meter dipole antenna (the other leg came down in a storm earlier this winter).

Mid-winter FM Catch!

Running errands this morning, I had the Subaru radio tuned to W241CG-FM on 96.1 MHz. Although W241CG-FM is located in the next town, it is only transmitting 210 watts, so it sometimes drops out as I traverse the hills and dales of Wolcott, Connecticut. When it dropped out at 1502 UTC, I heard the station identification for WAMU in Washington, DC (American University’s radio station).

Actually, WAMU transmits on 88.5 MHz and what I heard on 96.1 was the WAMU HD Radio  stream. That’s a first for the log!

WAMU is located 282 miles to the southwest... a nice mid-winter FM catch!

Colombia on 770

Two new loggings to report:

November 8 : WBRV on 900 kHz transmitting 52 watts from Boonville, New York, 179 miles to the northwest. 

November 10: WABC (770 kHz) was off the air for maintenance for about an hour. Band conditions were poor due to a recent sun flare, yet I heard three very weak Spanish language stations and managed to identify one: JX (RCN Radio) in Bogota, Colombia, transmitting 100 kW 2555 miles to the south (photo above).

Both loggings were with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and Hy-Gain 18AVR/time WB-A vertical antenna (WBRV) and 120-ft Loop on Ground antenna (JX).

Aurora (November 7 UTC)

Powered up the radio at midnight local time and conditions were good. Lots of DX on the LW and MW/AM bands, but nothing new to log. 

However, I did hear the effects of aurora on a handful of stations including Radio Rebelde and WBBM. Oddly, Radio Rebelde was much stronger than usual and WBBM was much weaker than usual (go figure), but both had the watery echo audio that is characteristic of aurora.

Fun on 1080

Friday at 2150 UTC, I turned the radio on and randomly tuned up the AM band from 860 kHz. When I arrived at 1080 kHz, I found no one there! I live 12 miles from the transmitter site of WTIC, a 50,000-watt IBOC station on 1080 and because of that proximity, I have never logged another station on 1080 except WTIC. I don’t know why WTIC was off the air, but here was an opportunity to log something new on 1080.

Initially, I heard nothing except splatter from WBAL on 1090. Gradually, a gospel station starting building strength, but I never heard a station ID, nor could I match it with any AM radio simulcasts on the Internet. 

A second station appeared, a religious station with a preacher preaching. The signal eventually came up. There was no station ID, but I did match it exactly with WWNL’s Internet simulcast. WWNL is located in Pittsburgh transmitting 25,000 watts west-southwest of this location.

WTIC returned to the air at 2232 UTC with no mention as to why it was off the air,

It was fun while it lasted!

Earlier in the week, Wednesday at 0545 UTC, I logged a new one on 550 AM: WAME in Statesville, North Carolina, transmitting 53 watts, 586 miles to the southwest.

The WAME logging was better DX than the WWNL logging, but the WWNL logging was a once in a lifetime (so far) logging!

Halloween Loggings

WFME on 1560 kHz moved about 15 miles west from Queens, New York, to West Orange, New Jersey, and have been running a continuous test from their new transmitter site. In the evening, they are easy pickings and I entered them in the log at 0330 UTC on October 31. The new transmitter site is about 90 miles to the southwest.

Also on the 31st (at 0408), I logged a new navigational beacon: WG on 248 kHz in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1300 miles to the northwest.

Both loggings were with the ICOM IC-R8600 and Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical antenna (for WFME) and the 120-foot Loop on Ground antenna (for WG).

Catch-Up

On Tuesday, I had robotic inguinal hernia repair surgery, so I have not been too wordy on the blog front lately. 

I did log a new station on 1650 kHz: CKZW (Radio Shalom) transmitting 1 kW from Montreal, 269 miles to the north.

I also had a few relogs. 

Radio Rebelde on 1620 kHz transmitting 5 kW from Guanabacca, Cuba, 1388 miles to the south-southwest.

WHRM on 90.9 MHz transmitting 81 kW from Wausau, Wisconsin, 871 miles to the west-northwest via E-skip.

WLFE on 909 MHz transmitting 100 kW from Cutler Bay, Florida, 1204 miles to the south-southwest via E-skip.

Various antennas were used with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver.

Still More E Skip

On Wednesday, 90.9 MHz was open all morning and I logged four new stations.

1339 UTC: WOWB in Brewton, Alabama, transmitting 100,000 watts, 1057 miles to the southwest

1401 UTC: KLRC in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, transmitting 100,000 watts, 1224 miles to the west-southwest

1506 UTC: WKMD in Madisonville, Kentucky, transmitting 20,500 watts, 830 miles to the west-southwest

1611 UTC: WDCB in  Glen Ellyn, Illinois, transmitting 5,000 watts, 780 miles to the west-northwest

Also on Tuesday at 0000 UTC, I logged a new TIS station on 1630 kHz, WQKY728, a Rhode Island DOT station in Cranston, Rhode Island, transmitting 10 watts 75 miles to the east

Receiver: ICOM IC-R8600, Antennas: ICOM AH-7000 discone, HyGain 18 AVT/WB-A vertical

Pipeline to Missouri

I have been monitoring 90.9 MHz often the last few days. There was a brief signal burst Thursday at 1521 UTC that lasted about 5 seconds, but just long enough to identify the station as a new logging: WMAO in Greenwood, Mississippi, transmitting 100,000 watts, 1117 miles to the southwest.

90.9 seemed dead otherwise, then about an hour later KTBG in Warrensburg, Missouri, appeared and became stronger over the next half hour – so strong that it sounded like a local. I logged KTBG for the first time on June 28, heard it again on July 2 and once again yesterday. So what’s with this pipeline to KTBG?

As usual, the receiver is the ICOM IC-R8600 and the antenna is the ICOM AH-7000 discone.