RadioBanter - Longest distance MW, AM broadcast you ever had ???

RadioBanter (https://www.radiobanter.com/)

- Shortwave (https://www.radiobanter.com/shortwave/)

- - Longest distance MW, AM broadcast you ever had ??? (https://www.radiobanter.com/shortwave/38731-longest-distance-mw-am-broadcast-you-ever-had.html)

Longest distance MW, AM broadcast you ever had ???

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???
--
Respectfully,

Michael

Home Page: http://md_dxing.tripod.com/
Northern NJ
R75 w/DSP, Kiwa agc/sync & audio mods
G5RV & 200ft longwire w/ICE-180
MFJ-1048 preselector
SoundBlstr Live PC card w/five piece Cambridge
speakers & full software mixer/eq.

Michael wrote:

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???
--
Respectfully,

Michael

Actually posted one of mine a few weeks ago here, but my two best
catches have been (the station now known as) KNUS in Denver, CO from my
room at home in Detroit when I was a kid (1964). A 5,000W station from
1200 miles away. I still remember that late afternoon (KNUS was on the
grayline at the time I got the reception).

I also pulled CMBV from Wajay, Cuba not long ago, which was my first
foreign (excluding Canada) AM broadcast. That's about 1350 miles from
where I live now, but it is listed as a 500,000W station! But it was a
heck of a kick to know I was listening to an ordinary AM station from
another part of the world.

Tony

----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

Behold, Michael signalled from keyed 4-1000A filament:

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you
ever got ???

Insane DX about a month ago. Pulled in a Korean station from here in
Vancouver.

--
Gregg
*It's probably useful, even if it can't be SPICE'd*
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca

Norway to Pennsylvania. I didn't find it on my own, I happened to read about it
on this newsgroup a few years ago and tuned in while the band was still open.

Caracas, Venezuela or PJB Bonaire, Netherland Antilles from here in Milwaukee ,
WI. Each approx 2,500 miles. Mexico City is pretty regular here, thats about
1,700 miles.

I've actually done better on Longwave hearing Iceland and Europe, thats about 3
- 4,000 miles.

jw
wb9uai
milwaukee

Michael wrote:
Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Talk Radio U.K., 1053 and 1089KHz. (both frequencies heard) Exact
distance is hard to estimate, as they have several high-powered
transmitters on both frequencies and there's no way to know which
transmitters I was hearing. (probably the sum of several)

I've heard a loud 1KHz heterodyne against 1520 WWKB, which almost
certainly came from Saudi Arabia, but with no audio heard I'm not
claiming it.

Going the other direction, my best Western DX would be 690 CBU and 1130
CKWX, both Vancouver, Canada. CBU heard battling with flea-powered KOAQ
in western Nebraska and a French-language station in Saskatchewan, with
the 50KW powerhouse in Montreal off the air. CKWX is actually heard
surprisingly often here on the big antenna.

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

I kinda hate to throw water on the fire, but are you SURE you heard KMJ?

California is pretty tough even from here, let alone from New Jersey.
Most East Coast DXers report 640 KFI, 680 KNBR (the most reliable
California signal here), and 1070 KNX. I don't think I've ever seen a
report of KMJ from east of the Rockies. KMJ is only 50KW during the day
(they reduce to 5KW at sunset) and is directional during the day. (my
educated guess is they protect Boise and Topeka. The latter null is in
a line to your location.)

I won't say it's *impossible* you heard KMJ but I do think it's rather
unlikely. My guess is you heard some other station (maybe WHP
Harrisburg?) carrying the same network as KMJ and mentioning the
California station.

Keep at it. You *will* hear California soon enough!
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Tony Meloche wrote:
I also pulled CMBV from Wajay, Cuba not long ago, which was my first
foreign (excluding Canada) AM broadcast. That's about 1350 miles from
where I live now, but it is listed as a 500,000W station! But it was a
heck of a kick to know I was listening to an ordinary AM station from
another part of the world.

Most observers believe many of the Cuban stations listed with extremely
high powers are not using anywhere near as much power as listed. (with
the loosening of relations between Russia and Cuba, they're having an
electricity crisis and power for operating broadcast transmitters is
scarce) It's quite likely CMBV's power was a lot close to 50,000W,
making it an even better catch!
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Michael wrote:

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

I guess it would be PJB Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles on 800-Khz. I've
never had any luck with catching a west coast MW station from my QTH in
the NE-US, but I have never built a good MW antenna for that purpose
either.

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

I picked up a station in Mexico city from the Texas hill country. With a
crystal set.

Ian Smith wrote:

From here in Scotland, managed Beijing, China on 1521kHz at winter
sunset via polar route. Got to be at least 4000 miles. Probably high power
transmitter.

Scotland to Beijing = 4925 miles. Nice catch.

-BM

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

Doug Smith W9WI wrote:

Tony Meloche wrote:
I also pulled CMBV from Wajay, Cuba not long ago, which was my first
foreign (excluding Canada) AM broadcast. That's about 1350 miles from
where I live now, but it is listed as a 500,000W station! But it was a
heck of a kick to know I was listening to an ordinary AM station from
another part of the world.

Most observers believe many of the Cuban stations listed with extremely
high powers are not using anywhere near as much power as listed. (with
the loosening of relations between Russia and Cuba, they're having an
electricity crisis and power for operating broadcast transmitters is
scarce) It's quite likely CMBV's power was a lot close to 50,000W,
making it an even better catch!
--
Doug Smith W9WI

Thanks, Doug - I had thought myself that that was possible - one
should be able to hear a 500,000K AM station from Cuba at night in
Michigan on a pocket transistor radio!

Tony

----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

KORL 650 Honolulu, from Albany NY, in 1965.

Respondents note: there is no "t" in my email address.

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 23:39:30 GMT, Michael wrote:
Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???

Not the most distant MW stations I've ever heard, but latley I've been
able to hear quite a few US stations here on Merseyside. WINS has been
particularly strong. A couple of years ago an oldies record show on a
Canadian station (CJON??) was extremely strong and I would have liked to
have phoned up with a record request but they only gave out an 800 number
which you can't call from abroad :-(

--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb .at. dial .dot. pipex .dot. com
(Remove any digits from the addresses when mailing me.)

The future was never like this!

Here in Sactown, back in the late 80s, heard Trans World Radio, 800 khz,
Bonaire(as clear as a Radio Netherlands broadcast)on a Realistic car receiver!
Got home, and tried to tune it in on a Panasonic RF-2200 (my main s.w. rig of
that time), and nothing. Went back out to the car, and heard nothing but
ststic.

I've heard 730khz XEX Mexico City here in Milwaukee with a cheapie Walmart boom
box with it's filters wide as a barn door.

jw
wb9uai
milwaukee

"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
Michael wrote:
Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you
ever
got ???

Talk Radio U.K., 1053 and 1089KHz. (both frequencies heard) Exact
distance is hard to estimate, as they have several high-powered
transmitters on both frequencies and there's no way to know which
transmitters I was hearing. (probably the sum of several)

I've heard a loud 1KHz heterodyne against 1520 WWKB, which almost
certainly came from Saudi Arabia, but with no audio heard I'm not
claiming it.

Going the other direction, my best Western DX would be 690 CBU and 1130
CKWX, both Vancouver, Canada. CBU heard battling with flea-powered KOAQ
in western Nebraska and a French-language station in Saskatchewan, with
the 50KW powerhouse in Montreal off the air. CKWX is actually heard
surprisingly often here on the big antenna.

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW
station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW
conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

I kinda hate to throw water on the fire, but are you SURE you heard KMJ?

California is pretty tough even from here, let alone from New Jersey.
Most East Coast DXers report 640 KFI, 680 KNBR (the most reliable
California signal here), and 1070 KNX. I don't think I've ever seen a
report of KMJ from east of the Rockies. KMJ is only 50KW during the day
(they reduce to 5KW at sunset) and is directional during the day. (my
educated guess is they protect Boise and Topeka. The latter null is in
a line to your location.)

I won't say it's *impossible* you heard KMJ but I do think it's rather
unlikely. My guess is you heard some other station (maybe WHP
Harrisburg?) carrying the same network as KMJ and mentioning the
California station.

No question about it. It was KMJ. I've actually heard it three times. The
first time I heard it was by accident while I was MW DX'ing in SSB. I could
tell it was either a powerful distant transmitter or a weaker one that was
not so far away. When it was audible, I heard the station ID as KMJ. I
returned to it several other times when MW conditions were good, and I was
able to hear it on two other occasions. All three times I was able to hear
it, including the first time, were between 9 and 10pm est. The last time I
heard it was a month ago. The signal went from inaudible noise to barely
audible to perfectly audible a few times over a period of about three
minutes before it went out completely.

I can understand why you would question that one though. The first time I
heard it, I didn't believe it myself. That's why I went back to it so many
times :-)

The next time we have prime MW conditions, I'll make a wav file recording of
it if I can get it again and put it up on my web page.

--
Respectfully,

Michael

Home Page: http://md_dxing.tripod.com/
Northern NJ
R75 w/DSP, Kiwa agc/sync & audio mods
G5RV & 200ft longwire w/ICE-180
MFJ-1048 preselector
SoundBlstr Live PC card w/five piece Cambridge
speakers & full software mixer/eq.

Keep at it. You *will* hear California soon enough!
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

From my location on central Vancouver Island on Feb 12, 1996 at 615
UTC I heard HJCY Bogota , Columbia on 810 kHz. It was a strange
night as KGO usually booms in here. There was not a trace of KGO.
What I did hear was a station jingle and "Radio Caracol". Was using
a GE Superradio and no external antenna. I heard them poorly under
KGO again in Nov but not since.

My strangest AM radio experience was in the early 1970's on a
hike down the west coast trail on Vancouver Island. I got up a bit
before sunrise and moved down the beach so as not to disturb those
still sleeping. I pulled out my trusty RS Flavor radio (Lime) to get
the news. There were no North American stations audible. But the
band was full from end to end with Japanese stations.
Bob

Columbia South America, late sunday night back in 1975, to New York.
Had a great Panasonic Radio that had am/fm/ low and high police and
UHF . Wish I could remember the model #

Mike

On 18 Oct 2003 03:42:28 GMT, (J999w) wrote:

Caracas, Venezuela or PJB Bonaire, Netherland Antilles from here in Milwaukee ,
WI. Each approx 2,500 miles. Mexico City is pretty regular here, thats about
1,700 miles.

I've actually done better on Longwave hearing Iceland and Europe, thats about 3
- 4,000 miles.

jw
wb9uai
milwaukee

"Mike DeMeo" wrote in message
...
Columbia South America, late sunday night back in 1975, to New York.
Had a great Panasonic Radio that had am/fm/ low and high police and
UHF . Wish I could remember the model #

"Columbia" is a district, a river, a university and a space shuttle. It is
not a country.

The country is "Colombia."

I've had very good trans-atlantic reception when I was in Montreal. I used to
receive Virgin Radio UK on 1215 kHz, Norway on 1314 kHz, Croatia on 1134 kHz,
France on 1467 kHz on a regular basis. I managed to pull in Saudi Arabia once
on 1521 kHz. I was using a KIWA MW loop and various boatanchor receivers
(HQ-180, SP-600 and R-390A). The KIWA loop is a top-notch antenna - I often
would null out the local Montreal station on 990 kHz and listen to CBC
Winnipeg.

John Barnard

Michael wrote:

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???
--
Respectfully,

Michael

Home Page: http://md_dxing.tripod.com/
Northern NJ
R75 w/DSP, Kiwa agc/sync & audio mods
G5RV & 200ft longwire w/ICE-180
MFJ-1048 preselector
SoundBlstr Live PC card w/five piece Cambridge
speakers & full software mixer/eq.

porcupine wrote:

KORL 650 Honolulu, from Albany NY, in 1965.

Nice catch. What was the receiver, antenna type and time of year?

BTW- That year (1965) was close to the minimum of the sunspot cycle
then, which favors MW DX'ing.

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Paulb wrote:

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

They like to use very long antennas for MW DX'ing.

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 03:58:23 -0400, starman wrote:
Paulb wrote:

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

They like to use very long antennas for MW DX'ing.

Rotatable loop antennas are usually considered better for MW as you
can null out local stations.

--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb .at. dial .dot. pipex .dot. com
(Remove any digits from the addresses when mailing me.)

The future was never like this!

Jack wrote:

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 20:13:47 -0400, Tony Meloche
wrote:

Michael wrote:

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???
--
Respectfully,

Michael

Actually posted one of mine a few weeks ago here, but my two best
catches have been (the station now known as) KNUS in Denver, CO from my
room at home in Detroit when I was a kid (1964). A 5,000W station from
1200 miles away. I still remember that late afternoon (KNUS was on the
grayline at the time I got the reception).

I also pulled CMBV from Wajay, Cuba not long ago, which was my first
foreign (excluding Canada) AM broadcast. That's about 1350 miles from
where I live now, but it is listed as a 500,000W station! But it was a
heck of a kick to know I was listening to an ordinary AM station from
another part of the world.

Tony

I lived in upstate New York when I was a kid and actively DX'ed BCB.
Here's a couple I recall.

There were two high-power Cuban stations on the lower part of the BCB
that I used to pick up in the almost every night in early/mid 70's.
(Anybody recall the ones I mean?)

I also used to listen to KSL in Salt Lake City, Utah every night back
then. The fact that it was a clear-channel 50 KW'er helped.

There were many more that I can't remember. Conditions were good
those years, and got it into my head to attempt to receive at least
one DX station on each assigned AM BCB frequency. I checked them off
on xerox copies of White's Radio Log. (Wish they were still
publishing it)...

You had to love White's! The last time it was published - and it was
a "resurection" - was in 1983, so far as I know, by a fellow named Don
Gabree and his wife (or maybe daughter) Lari Gabree. He had input from
such people as Don Jensen and Glen Hauser in doing it, and it was
supposed to be an "annual", but AFAIK that was it. I still have it
though it's hideously outdated now. The WHAM logs are good, but just
not the same as grabbin' that well-thumbed Whites
and flippin' the pages . . .

Tony

----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

Tony Meloche wrote:
You had to love White's! The last time it was published - and it was
a "resurection" - was in 1983, so far as I know, by a fellow named Don
Gabree and his wife (or maybe daughter) Lari Gabree. He had input from
such people as Don Jensen and Glen Hauser in doing it, and it was
supposed to be an "annual", but AFAIK that was it. I still have it
though it's hideously outdated now. The WHAM logs are good, but just
not the same as grabbin' that well-thumbed Whites
and flippin' the pages . . .

You *are* aware of the NRC AM Radio Log (http://www.nrcdxas.org), right?

(still, White's *was* a radio institution, sad to see it go...)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

You know David...I never realized that is was
"COLOMBIA" and not "Columbia"

Thanks
Mike

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 00:21:41 GMT, "David Eduardo"
wrote:

"Mike DeMeo" wrote in message
.. .
Columbia South America, late sunday night back in 1975, to New York.
Had a great Panasonic Radio that had am/fm/ low and high police and
UHF . Wish I could remember the model #

"Columbia" is a district, a river, a university and a space shuttle. It is
not a country.

The country is "Colombia."

"--exray--" wrote in message
...
Ian Smith wrote:

From here in Scotland, managed Beijing, China on 1521kHz at winter
sunset via polar route. Got to be at least 4000 miles. Probably high
power
transmitter.

Scotland to Beijing = 4925 miles. Nice catch.

-BM

Thanks, but all credit due to sunspot minimum causing weird MW
conditions here at 56 deg. north. Could get skip during day, every day, even
at noon. A lot of Europeans came rolling in which you would normally only
expect at night, including Czech station with local-level signal steady as a
rock. Got Beijing at 1pm and every hour thereafter until 8pm. Of course,
sunset here about 3.30pm at Christmas.
Will be resurrecting the old loop antenna soon for this winter season.
Managed at least 120 north American AM stations years ago when I had the
classic teenage insomnia. A bit harder to do now, I must admit!

"Mike DeMeo" wrote in message
...
You know David...I never realized that is was
"COLOMBIA" and not "Columbia"

And the origin is simple...

We say "Columbia" from the spelling of Christopher Columbus.

In Spanish, he is Cristóbal Colón.

Thus the " o" instead of the "u."

"starman" wrote in message
...
porcupine wrote:

KORL 650 Honolulu, from Albany NY, in 1965.

Nice catch. What was the receiver, antenna type and time of year?

BTW- That year (1965) was close to the minimum of the sunspot cycle
then, which favors MW DX'ing.

In 1960-1961, from Cleveland, OH, on an HQ-180 and a tuned but not amplified
air core loop, I had these Hawaiians

650 KORL 10 kw
690 KULA 10 kw
760 KGU 10 kw
830 KIKI 250 watts
870 KAIM 5 kw I believe (not sure these were the calls then)
1040 KHVH 5 kw
1270 KNDI 5 kw
1380 KPOI 5 kw.

I think there were a couple of others, but definitely verified those above.

Stan Barr wrote:

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 03:58:23 -0400, starman wrote:
Paulb wrote:

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

They like to use very long antennas for MW DX'ing.

Rotatable loop antennas are usually considered better for MW as you
can null out local stations.

Loops are not sensitive enough for very long MW reception compared to
other antenna types. The folks down under prefer very long beverage
antennas orientated in the direction that favors Europe.

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"starman" wrote in message
...
Stan Barr wrote:

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 03:58:23 -0400, starman wrote:
Paulb wrote:

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

They like to use very long antennas for MW DX'ing.

Rotatable loop antennas are usually considered better for MW as you
can null out local stations.

Loops are not sensitive enough for very long MW reception compared to
other antenna types. The folks down under prefer very long beverage
antennas orientated in the direction that favors Europe.

I logged 87 countries from 1959 to 1963, as well as getting verification of
over 2,300 stations total.

The best combination today would be phased beverage antennas if you have the
land... about 1000 feet needed... or phased slopers (big yard needed).

But a loop is sensitive enough under most conditions... it is the most
common antenna of most AM DXers, few of whom can put up 1000 foot aerials.

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 23:39:30 GMT, "Michael"
wrote:

My longest this fall would be Manitoba to Brisbane, Australia - about
8,400 Miles.
I'm pretty sure I've had Perth in the past to get up to around 10,000
miles. - using about 2300 feet of beverage antenna.

Hiya..

Any offerings regarding the longest distance MW, AM broadcast that you ever
got ???

Mine, here in NJ, has been: 580 KMJ in Fresno, CA. It's a 50KW station
that I have been able to hear a few times during exceptional MW conditions.
I had to use SSB, NB, several tweaks to the pbt and my "Frankenstein"
antenna, but I was able to hear the station ID.

Any other war stories out there ???
--
Respectfully,

Michael

Home Page: http://md_dxing.tripod.com/
Northern NJ
R75 w/DSP, Kiwa agc/sync & audio mods
G5RV & 200ft longwire w/ICE-180
MFJ-1048 preselector
SoundBlstr Live PC card w/five piece Cambridge
speakers & full software mixer/eq.

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 18:45:46 -0400, starman wrote:
Stan Barr wrote:

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 03:58:23 -0400, starman wrote:
Paulb wrote:

Dxers in New Zealand and Australia have heard European MW stations,
which is about as far as you can get. Sorry I've not got the details
to hand

--
Paul

They like to use very long antennas for MW DX'ing.

Rotatable loop antennas are usually considered better for MW as you
can null out local stations.

Loops are not sensitive enough for very long MW reception compared to
other antenna types. The folks down under prefer very long beverage
antennas orientated in the direction that favors Europe.

Sensitivity is not a problem, in my experience. I used to run an active
tuned MW loop and my Rx could hear the background noise on a quiet frequency
easily, any more sensitivity than that is a liability rather than an
advantage. It depends a lot on the local noise levels, I am in a rather
noisy urban environment, if you live out in the Australian outback the
situation would be different, of course. The ability to rotate the
antenna to null out a local broadcaster and hear the dx station underneath
is the big advantage of a loop.

--
Cheers,
Stan Barr stanb .at. dial .dot. pipex .dot. com
(Remove any digits from the addresses when mailing me.)

The future was never like this!

"--exray--" wrote in message
...
Check this out....

http://www.geocities.com/MarkWA1ION/nfdx2001.htm

And from this side of the pond......

http://www.dx.freewire.co.uk/

regards,

Ian

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've had very good trans-atlantic reception when I was in Montreal. I used to
receive Virgin Radio UK on 1215 kHz, Norway on 1314 kHz, Croatia on 1134 kHz,
France on 1467 kHz on a regular basis. I managed to pull in Saudi Arabia once
on 1521 kHz. I was using a KIWA MW loop and various boatanchor receivers
(HQ-180, SP-600 and R-390A). The KIWA loop is a top-notch antenna - I often
would null out the local Montreal station on 990 kHz and listen to CBC
Winnipeg.

John Barnard

Reply:- Let me add my voice to that of John Barnard to tell that Trans-Atlantic MW signals are indeed booming in (at times) in the Montreal area. Using an old Sanyo MCD-S830 boombox receiver, I regularly get Spain-585, sometimes with armchair readability (this was mostly impossible back on when CFCF or CIQC were on 600 splashing 20 kHz on either side) and I also get Croatia-1134 if I'm lucky enough to null out Blomberg News Radio in New York City on adjacent 1130, there would as I barely tune above 1130 on it's beautiful analog dial ! They used to be more entertaining before, when they were knew as Hrvatski Radio, since they played a lot of nice contemporary Croatian pops. Since they moved domestic "Hrvatski Radio" to FM and begun simulcasting their foreign SW service "Glas Hrvatska" on 1134 kHz MW, they begun a whole lot less entertaining with endless news. Also, there are times when WBBR is unnulable... By the way, Croatia-1134 is the most distant MW station I was able to identify so far, though I tentatively had Saudi-594. I can't listen to 1521 Duba on my rather unsophisiticated gear because of WWKB-1520, but even the wide 4 kHz split Duba-594 would still be a splendid catche on my limited setup ! I also use a Sangean CST-818 which is LESS sensitive than my Sanyo boombox receiver, but a WHOLE LOT MORE selective than the former one and there are times when WBBR is nullable and Croatia-1134 is rather weak; then the Sanyo MCD-S830 will do the job; other times when Croatia-1134 is fairly strong but not too strong, harmed by local-like overspills from Blomberg-1130, then the not-so-sensitive-but-very-selective Sangean CST-818 will pick it up... I've also randomly heard other TAs (maybe the most challenging being Algeria-549, my only mediumwave African, with CHLN-550 gone - making it possible even on my rather unsophisitcated gear), but these are the easiest ones on mediumwave. On longwave, it's a different story using a Sangean CST-818 rx along with the Austrlian homemade PK's Shielded Magnetic LW loop ! Of course, I'm not much of a technical zealot, so most of my TA MW DX is limited to the prime conditions. If anyone is interested in hearing how Spain-585 and Croatia-1134 do sound on my barefoot Sanyo MCD-S830, please let me know and I'll see what I can do - I have more airchecks of Spain, than of Croatia, but I'll se what I can do !

On the other hand, I've had better luck with Latin Americans. I identified around 12 or 13 YVs, depending on how one feels with a strongly presumed Venezuelan on 1130 AM (with WBBR destroyed by auroral conditions) and 6 or 7 HJs.

DXing is a matter of picking up AS MANY STATIONS as possible from AS MANY PLACES as possible, right ? Therefore, since the only countries in South America likely to be heard away from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Massachussets or Maine are VENEZUELA and COLOMBIA, in order to motivate myself going after "new" South Americans, I count the Venezuelan states, not only the Venezuelan stations. Indeed, Venezuela is divided into 23 different states, the same way the USA are divided into 50 different ones. So far, I have 12 or 13 Venezuelan stations in 6 different states. The central Distrito Federal area is the most logged area with 550, 670, 750, 910, 1130 (presumed), 1200 followed by Anzoátegui (640 and 1080), Sucre (1110 and 1500), Falcón (780), Zulia (1070) and Aragua (570). I even wrote an article regarding Venezuelan mediumwave DX, as it can be heard from the Montreal area, on the Sanyo MCD-S830 barefoot and got published in Monitoring Times, back in 2006 ! As you can see, almost all the Venezuelan "estados", I logged are on the north-coast of the country with the only exception of Aragua and a very futil log of Radio Rumbos on 570 that dates back to March of 2001, when I was in the heyday of my DX activity - but it faded barely in for a few seconds and then it was lost to the QRM clutter !

However, due to a total lack of auroral conditions, it's been a LOOOONG times, since I've last logged a new Venezuelan station, let alone a new Venezuelan "estado" ! High on my list are Lara (YVMR 690 Barquisimeto Seis Noventa is the most reported station from Lara, but this one is impossible for me unless CINF Infos 6-90 is closing down for good - likely, as they are financially in big trouble especially with all that WLW 700 IBOC hash, which can be nulled, as Cincinnati loops WSW from Montreal and Barquisimeto, estado Lara loops SSE, YVSX Radio Cristal on 610 is also remotely possible, but I haven't seen this conclusively reported yet, but Mark Connelly often hears YVMR-690 in Massachussets !), Carabobo (several possible), Nueva Esparta (several possible), Táchira (several possible, though YVOL-860 is the most likely one), Merida (Radio Occidente, Tovar, 1100 kHz would be the most likely one, though it's very seldom logged in North America - I'll need luck here) and Guarico (ahh, Villa de Pascua, YVYE 860 would likely mix with San Cristobal, Táchira YVOL, also on 860 kHz)... There are a few other states that are, at least, remotely possible from the Montreal area, but quite unlikely, especially with the current run of not-so-low-not-too-high geomagnetic conditions when I'm lucky if I get a tiny signal from Falcón on 780 kHz (Radio Coro) or from Caracas, Distrito Federal on 550 or 750 kHz !

I've also heard several Colombian (at least 6) MW broadcasters over the year on the same Sanyo MCD-S830 / internal ferrite bar antenna COMBO (is that a word combo for such a relatively unsophisticated gear ?), but, generally speaking, Colombia is MUCH DIFFICULT to log from Montreal, than Venezuela. Aside from RCN Barranquilla on 760 kHz (departamiento del Atlanticó), no Colombian MW outlets are received on a regular basis here; there can be months when RCN-760 (HJAJ) is poor to excellent (depending on the conditions), yet nothing else from that country can be heard. In the past, the Antena Dos outlet on 650 was hears several times this season but with WFAN-660 using IBOC anytime except during games, it has ruined my DX opportunities for DX on that channel. Also, when I begun DXing, a semi-regular Colombian (slightly more difficult than the Barranquilla 760 kHz blowtroche, but still very easy during above-average conditions to the south) was Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia on 610 kHz. I remember their splendid Pan-American Latin folk music and their beautiful canned ID "Usted escucha la Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia... Usted escucha uno de sús 33 emisoras de AM, FM y onda corta (semi-classical interlude) Radiodifusora Nacional de Colombia, La Voz de la Cultura".

Anyway, there is a similar pattern in the midwest. DXers in Missouri, Manitoba, Wisconsin et al have trouble hearing Venezuelans, while Colombians are almost "pests" to them, on the AM broadcast band ! There are some Montreal radio stations that opperate adjacent or on the same channels as many powerful Colombian transmitters. I complained a few lines above the Montreal CINF Infos Six Quatre-vingt Dix is destroying my opportunity to log Lara on 690 kHz, in the form of YVMR Radio Barquisimeto... Well, Mark Connelly et al ONLY hear Radio Barquisimeto during above-average conditions. The three dominant southern foreign signals on 690 kHz are Radio Progreso (in Jovellanos, Cuba), The Caribbean Beacon (in Anguila) and...HJCZ Radio Recuerdos in Santafé de Bogotá, Districto Capital, COLOMBIA ! Yes, Radio Recuerdos along with Radio Barquisimeto (especially the first of them) are the two strongest South Americans on 690 kHz in North America, yet I can't hear them... While Montreal locals are certainly a problem, I don't think that to my relative inability to log much from Colombia on MW. I've listened one night, back in February 2006, during an auroral opening that lasted mainly one night with additionnal slight effects the night after and I've counted no less than 8 signals from Venezuela on MW (either IDed or strongly presumed), yet 760 Barranquilla along with a possible 1170 Cartagena were the only Colombians ! You can read the full repport he http://www.mail-archive.com/hard-cor.../msg11738.html (submitted in Spanish to the Conección Digital Argie maliling list) and conditions were then, way ABOVE average, ALMOST EXCELLENT ! Comparing my own observations with those of other well-known DXers, there is a pathline, the further one goes east, the easiest Venezuela becomes and the harder Colombia does and the furthest one goes west and the easiest Colombia becomes and the hardest Venezuela does... Montreal is about as far east as you can get in the NORTHEAST, without being in a coastal or semi-coastal QTH ! What are your thoughts concerning this issue ?

Well, what can I add more, I'm only DXing domestic (North American) mediumwave stations randomly, though I'm very happy to add that I caught CHRB 1140 in Alberta for my furthest west catche on the AM broadcast band ! On shortwave, it's a different story, with Radio Australia on 9580 kHz my furthest catche "westerly" !

Well, I have to leave now !
73,
May the good DX be with you !
Bogdan Chiochiu