Pirate on 1710

I heard a pirate station on 1710 kHz, Wednesday evening starting at 0020 UTC. No station identification or voice announcements, the station played 1950's rock songs continuously. It was S-7 on the 80-meter inverted Vee antenna and S-9 on the Hy-Gain 18 AVT/WB-A vertical antenna. I connected the Terk Advantage antenna to the ICOM IC-R8600 to locate where the station was located and the signal peaked at 0°/180°.

Something Different

I have only two loggings on 970: WHCU and WWL in Ithaca and New Orleans, respectively, so I sat on that frequency last night hoping to add a new one to the log. I heard three stations: WHCU, a station broadcasting the Kansas vs. Villanova basketball game and a station way down in the mud playing mid-20th Century MOR.

I never heard an I.D. from the two unidentified stations, but from about 0245 to 0315 UTC, I heard a Morse Code transmission of the letters "RR" once per minute. I had no idea, so I searched the Internet for a clue and the consensus was that it was Radio Rebelde transmitting 1 kW from Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, 1409 miles to the south-southwest. I used my Elecraft KX3 and Terk Advantage antenna for this catch.

That is my third Radio Rebelde logging on three different frequencies, but the first two were traditional voice and music broadcasts; the third was something completely different!

WURD on 900

CHML dominates 900 kc here most of the night, but frequently other stations do battle with CHML and try to takeover the frequency. They always lose, but my goal this week was to log a new one on 900 (in addition to CHML, I also have WGHM in the log for 900).

The top of the hour is the most productive time to nab a new one, so I started listening at 2255 UTC last night and heard two or three stations depending on which antenna I used and which way they were swung (for the two that I can swing).

Once I identified CHML, I nulled it out with my two swinging antennas and I could hear a station down in the mud, but in the clear that was either to my northeast (WGHM?) or southwest (?).

There was no station identification at 2300, but I hung in there and was rewarded a minute later with the I.D. of WURD transmitting 1 kW in Philadelphia, 180 miles to the southwest. I was using the Elecraft KX3 radio and Terk Advantage antenna at the time of the I.D.

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.

1590 x 2

Logged two new ones on 1590 kc last evening.

WAKR in Akron, Ohio, transmitting 5 kW, 450 miles to the west with a station ID at 2133 UTC, I logged this one driving home from work on the stock AM-FM radio and antenna in my 2007 Subaru Outback Sport.

WPSN in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, transmitting 15 watts (!) to the west with a station ID at the top of the hour (2359 UTC). Logged from home on my Elecraft KX3 and Terk Advantage antenna.

1070 Night

It was an interesting night!

With 1080 kc occupied by 50,000 watts of WTIC and its IBOC 12 miles away, 1070 kc can be challenging. So I always check 1070 to see what’s happening.

Last night, shortly after sunset, there was no interference from WTIC (was IBOC off?) and I could clearly hear a weak station playing Christmas pop songs with the KX3’s receiver and the 80-meter inverted Vee. I listened for a station id, but I could never decipher what the announcer was saying. I quit listening after the signal faded into the noise.

I checked again around 1 AM local time (0600 UTC) and same thing: one Christmas pop song after another, but the announcer’s voice was muddled and I could not get any useful information.

Up at 5 AM EST /1000 UTC to feed the menagerie, I checked 1070 again and Christmas pop songs are still on the air. I switched to the Terk Advantage loop antenna and heard more of the same, but turning the antenna about 30 degrees, I nulled out the mystery station, but now I could hear an even weaker station also playing Christmas pop songs (Elvis’ Blue Christmas).

I switched back to the 80-meter antenna and sat on 1070 for awhile. Finally, I could decipher what the announcer was saying. After a couple of ads for businesses located in “Greenville,” I figured I was hearing WNCT in Greenville, NC, transmitting 10 kW 481 miles to the south-southwest.

Good Catch

This week, I monitored 1200 kc off and on because I could often hear other stations down in the mud under WXKS, which dominates that frequency here. Thursday evening at about 2345 UTC, I was rewarded with an unknown station broadcasting modern black gospel music; it was coming in so strongly that at times, I could not hear WXKS at all. The signal got stronger at the top of the hour approached, but I missed a station identification. However, I did hear the name of the program that was on at 0000 UTC: the Big Brother CJ Show.

Checking my sources, there are not many gospel stations on 1200 in my neck of the woods. I narrowed the choices down to WCHB near Detroit and WMIR in South Carolina. The station's signal peaked with my Terk Advantage loop antenna favoring the south and north, so WMIR was more likely than WCHB to the west. Checking with WMIR, they do broadcast the Big Brother CJ Show at 0000 UTC, so that is how I logged it using my Elecraft KX3 transceiver with the Terk.

WMIR is 630 miles to my south-southwest and was transmitting only 11 watts at the time!

Two New Ones

Monday evening, I finally identified the Spanish language station on 920 kc: WURA transmitting 7 kW from Quantico, Virginia, 310 miles to my southwest. The station was very weak, but solid until sunset when it switches to 750 watts and lets WHJJ and CKNX vie for 920.

At 1056 UTC Saturday, I caught the station id of WKMB transmitting 250 watts from Stirling, New Hersey, 100 miles to my southwest. This was a nice catch because it was on the often difficult 1070 kc... difficult due to the IBOC QRM from the 50-kW WTIC on 1080 kc, 15 miles to my northeast.

Both new ones were captured using the Elecraft KX3 with the Terk Advantage antenna.

CKNX... not new

920 kc has been my hang-out for the past few nights. WHJJ in Providence dominates 920, but when I null it out with the Terk Advantage antenna I hear a Spanish station just after sunset, which gives way to a country & western station that competes unsuccessfully with WHJJ the rest of the night.

I have been unable to identify the Spanish station mainly because my Spanish is weak.

The country & western station has been too weak to identify until last night at 0220 UTC when it dominated 920 for about ten minutes. Turned out to be CKNX, about 450 miles to my north-northwest in Wingham, Ontario.

I thought CKNX was a new one, but I had already logged it back in June 2013.

Now, if I can only identify the Spanish station! I am sure it would be a new one.

By the way, I was using the Elecraft KX3 with the Terk antenna.

WCAP

After a few fruitless days of scanning the AM band, I finally logged a new one this morning at 0435 UTC ― WCAP in Lowell, Massachusetts, transmitting 5 kW, 108 miles to my northeast. Playing 1960's oldies, "the Beatles and before," the station was vying with two other stations, one unidentified, the other identified as "ESPN 980" (probably WTEM in D.C., which I logged previously).

I used my C.Crane CC Skywave receiver with my Terk Advantage antenna to catch this new one.

820 Action... Not So Much

I monitored 820 kHz between 2230 and 2345 UTC last evening and all I heard was the previously logged WNYC out of NYC (actually transmitting from Kearney, NJ, 85 miles southwest of here). There was not a peep from any other stations on 820 last evening as compared to the three or four I heard the previous evening.

Go figure propagation!

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.

Dust Settling

After months of family health issues, the dust is finally settling and I can hunker down next to the radios to hear what I can hear.

In the past few days, I made two new entries into the log.

WMEX is a new call sign for a previous entry (WWZN). Transmitting 50 kW from Boston (104 miles to my north-northeast), it had a solid S-5 signal here on 1510 kc on December 1 at 2345 GMT.

WAIK is a real brand new one for the log. Transmitting a mere 55 W from Galesburg, Illinois, 902 mile to my west, their signal on 1590 kc wavered between S-0 and S-2, but I heard their station identification at the top of the hour on December 9 at 0000 GMT.

Both loggings were made using my C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver and Terk Advantage antenna.

By the way, rumor has it that I will be gifted with a radio on December 25: the brand new C.Crane CC Skywave AM, FM, Shortwave, Weather and Aviation Band receiver. If the rumor is true, you can expect my review of the radio here in the near future.

WCHR 1040 AM

Heard a preacher on 1040 kc last night at 2305 UTC and it turned out to be a new station for the AM log: WCHR in Flemington, New Jersey, transmitting 1500 watts 131 miles to my southwest putting an S0 to S3 signal into my CC Radio 2E and Terk Advantage external antenna.

Also heard a Spanish language station on 1050 kc that I failed to identify. I was pretty sure that it was not WEPN which I already have in the log. Other possibilities were WBQH and WVXX, but what I heard on the air did not match what those stations were streaming on the Internet. I will listen for it again tonight.

Dayton’s WONE

I go to the Hamvention in Dayton every year, so it was cool to log a Dayton AM radio station last evening at 2247 UTC: WONE transmitting 5 kW on 980 kc, 656 miles to my west southwest. Signal was S0 to S2 into the CC Radio 2E and Terk Advantage external antenna. WONE’s transmitter is located in Woodbourne, a suburb south of Dayton, just about one mile from the banquet hall where I attend the TAPR-AMSAT annual banquet each year during Hamvention.

WVBF and CFMJ

Added two new stations to the AM radio log last night:

At 2300 UTC, I heard WVBF on 1530 kHz transmitting 2 watts 106 miles east-northeast from Middleborough Center, Massachusetts. Signal was S0 to S2 into the CCRadio-SW and CC twin coil ferrite external antenna.

At 0200 UTC, I heard CFMJ on 640 kHz transmitting 50,000 watts 348 miles west-northwest from Lincoln, Ontario. Signal was S0 to S1 into the CC Radio 2E and Terk Advantage external antenna.

WMVX

After a dry spell, I logged a new one at 2300Z Thursday: WMVX transmitting 30 kW on 1570 kHz from Beverly, Massachusetts, putting in an S0 to S3 signal on my C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver and Terk Advantage loop antenna, 126 miles west southwest of WMVX. I have heard this station a few times in the past was unable to identify it due to the combination of a very weak signal and a language barrier (Spanish), but I positively identified it last night for number 230 in my AM radio log.

WFNY 1440

I logged WFNY on a very crowded 1440 kHz last evening at 2245Z transmitting 5 kW from Gloversville, New York (121 miles north-northwest). Most of the time, WFNY’s signal was an S0 to S1, but it perked up to an S4 when I logged it using my C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver and Terk Advantage loop antenna.

WSAN

Not hearing anything new on 1460 kHz, I slid up to 1470 and nabbed WSAN at 2255Z Thursday evening. WSAN was running 5 kW from Allentown, Pennsylvania, 145 miles west-southwest. It seemed to be simulcasting sister station WAEB (790 kHz) and was a solid S-7 into the C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver and Terk Advantage loop antenna.

The WSAN antenna farm is in an unusual location --- in the middle of a shopping mall parking lot! I bet the antenna farm was there first and the mall was built up around it.

Two more on 1460

Tuesday evening, I logged two more stations on 1460 kHz (that’s five new ones in the last three days, all on 1460):

• WIFI at 2250Z transmitting 5 kW from Florence, New Jersey, 140 miles southwest with an S0 to S1 signal
• WTKT at 2255Z transmitting 5 kW from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 230miles west-southwest with an S0 to S5 signal

Equipment used:C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced receiver and Terk Advantage loop antenna.