Anyone listen to "distant" AM stations at night?

[RedPenguin]

I was just wonder, since at night you seem to be able to pick up stations that are fairly far away from you, on the AM Broadcast Band, such as WCBS (880) and WABC (770) does anyone do this as a hobby just to see which stations they are actually hearing? Basically like an AM DXer?

I'm impressed with what the AM band can do. I'm used to picking up WABC and WCBS on even a cheap ($5.99) Coby CX-17 radio, and even on an old car I ride in, it has an old radio that seems to pick both stations up fairly ok.

But I was impressed yesterday, I heard WSB from Atlanta, GA, and I swear, it sounded as if it was a local station. Basically no real static or anything. I'm not kidding, it almost felt as if I was in Atlanta, GA at that current time, it was like 10-11PM my time EDT. I was hearing the "Bulldog Radio Network".

I live in Johnstown, Cambria County, PA, so I would think the NYC stations would come in clearer than an Atlanta, GA station because of distance, but appearntly that's not the case.

 

[zz0468]

Yeah, I do. It can actually be a lot of fun, especially the small town low power stations. I get a kick out of some of the cheesy programming.

Also, if you have a receiver capable of it, listening to the marine and aviation non-directional beacons (NDB's) from 200 KHz to just below the bottom of the AM broadcast band can be a lot of fun. The good stuff starts coming in around midnight.

 

[n2mdk]

Haven't done it in quite a while but back in the old days err make that the mid 60's you could write to the stations and get QSL cards, from AM stations as well as the SW stations. I had shoe boxes of them. This will give you an idea of what they were. http://cranchedfornow.blogspot.com/2007/08/am-radio-qsl-cards.html

 

[KR4BD]

I have listened and DXed AM radio since I was a kid in the mid-50's. My addiction to this ultimately led me into ham radio as well as commercial radio. AM band DXing used to be more fun years ago as there were fewer stations and many would go off-the-air every night around midnight. Now, we have many more stations on-the-air, 24/7, crowding the spectrum.

There is a very good club dedicated to AM Broadcast Band DXing called the National Radio Club (NRC). It has been around since the early 1930s.

Here is a link to their website which is loaded with lots of info and membership details:

http://www.nrcdxas.org

 

[n2mdk]

I have listened and DXed AM radio since I was a kid in the mid-50's. My addiction to this ultimately led me into ham radio as well as commercial radio. AM band DXing used to be more fun years ago as there were fewer stations and many would go off-the-air every night around midnight. Now, we have many more stations on-the-air, 24/7, crowding the spectrum.

There is a very good club dedicated to AM Broadcast Band DXing called the National Radio Club (NRC). It has been around since the early 1930s.

Here is a link to their website which is loaded with lots of info and membership details:

http://www.nrcdxas.org

Great site, nice collection of QSL cards on there.

 

[ka3jjz]

There are 2 clubs here in North America devoted to MW DXing, and one - the LongWave Club of America - devoted to frequencies below 500 khz. All 3 have enjoyed quite a stellar reputation over the years. In fact, the 2 MW clubs - the National Radio club and the International Radio Club of America - between the 2, have almost a century of experience. With the numerous problems with clubs losing members, having such longevity is quite the statement. In addition, our Loops wiki has extensive links dealing with these popular antennas, the basics of which have been around since the dawn of the broadcast era.

The NRC and IRCA have links in our SWL wiki, if anyone's interested. And I think the LWCA's website is http://www.lwca.org or something quite close to that.

73 Mike

[edit] Hmm, getting an unavailable on that LWCA website; hopefully that will change soon, as it seems at least some of the old LW links are redirecting here.

 

[Zaratsu]

Some of the cheapest AM/FM radios have the best DX capability. They are not sophisticated at all on rejection and isolation and bite on drift, but the sheer distance that they can hear is often staggering compared to expensive radios. The bigger the ferrite bar the better. I had a busted cheap-o store-brand cassette "walkman" (probably a Coby ) that I swear could hear a beatle fart in Zimbabwe. Seriously, I could hear southern Virginia and out to Columbus OH from central Connecticut. I tossed it thinking that "radios are for dorks, I've got an ipod:roll: " Yeah, guess what never gets used now?

March is the best time of the year to DX in North America. Atmospheric and solar conditions are great for propigation and skip right now. I hope to take advantage of it a little bit if my Sony 7600GR ever comes in (backordered the past 2 weeks!) :evil: :evil:

I'm tempted to pick up a Grundig Mini 300 in bronze or red ( slick little radio that really has ears) for $30 to tide me over, but I just know that my Sony SW/MW is going to be here any day now.

It is kind of hard to Dx around here at the moment because after 8p.m. a local spanish-language station goes AM-HD and everything on the AM analog band starts hissing. Hopefully it will go the way of the majority of other AM-HD broadcasters, and cease HD operations. I do anticipate getting tons of great DX action this spring from my coastal Old Lyme, CT hide-away.

After I get the Sony, I will probably be getting my father a GE Superradio II (if I can find one, and one that has a somewhat accurate dial and I'll have to pay three times what they sold for new) or a new Grundig S350DL or the redsun 2100 (best deal for $100) which I believe is PLL digital synth so he doesnt have to deal with drifting stations. Not as fun as twiddling analog and splitting between freqs but plenty of sensitivity.

There are all types of DX nuts out there. Some do FM (Yeah BA Receptor! ) some do TV, SW and even SSTV.

 

[mciupa]

Not only the US , but Europe can be monitored. However , their Broadcast spacing is 9 kHz.
If your receiver is capable , try tuning 1048 kHz or something slightly off the American standard 10 kHz spacing.

 

[LEH]

I haven't really listened to AM radio is a good many years. As a teen ager, I used an old tube radio to pick up distant AM stations while living in middle Georgia.

I used to get WLS (890) from Chicago, WABC (770) and WCBS (forget) from New York, KDKA (15#0) from Pittsburg, WOWO (1090) from Fort Wayne, IN and several others that I just don't recall after $0 years.

 

[n2mdk]

$0 years.

I guess that makes me %# :wink:

 

[57Bill]

I, too, began my radio communications hobby DX'ing the broadcast band in the 50's. I enjoyed writing for, and receiving QSL cards. I remember pulling Wolfman Jack out of the hash when he was on XERF in Mexico, just over the borde near Del Rio Texas.
Old tube-type car radios on 12 volt power supplies with a long wire antenna strung outside were popular choices for "pullin' them in". Have fun. There is a lot out there.

 

[EJB]

Good subject

I got my start in this hobby by monitoring various radio stations at night back in the 70's.
Listening for baseball games in places far way like St. Louis KMOX and 770 WABC from my Montreal home.
Aching to make thru the static, summering in Ogunquit Maine Montreal stations CFCF 600 or CKAC 730 (770?) for an important Expos game (we had our moments!)

 

[G0DPC]

Back in the 70's I spent many a late winter's night here in the UK waiting for the strong Europeans to go off air. Used WINS 1010Khz as a 'beacon' If it came in strongly then I was in for a treat knowing others would roll in. My favourites were WABC WOR and from Canada CINS CHUM CFBC and CJYQ. Receiver was a Grundig Satellite 2000 and a 4 foot square loop antenna.

Definitely recommend the loop it's very directional and sensitive!

 

[Taloniilm]

Long time radio enthusiast

My dad got me interested in listening to SW and AM back in the early 60's. I still listen to WOAI, (San Antonio, Tx) almost every night. Of all the scanners, SW and other assorted radios in my collection, ( I think I'm up to 12 or 13 ) I still crank up my old National Panasonic DR28, tune it to a distant AM station and drift off into dream land. Dad's gone now, (he passed away 3 weeks ago) but I'm carrying on his legacy. Man I wish I had his old 1950's Zenith Trans-Oceanic "tube type' that he had back in the day...

73's Dad,
Ray

 

[Don_Burke]

I still listen to WBZ and WABC on a regular basis.

 

[hoser147]

Good thread I havent done that in 40 years and yep I remember the cards might even have some, somewhere. Its amazing that at times you can here AM 1200 miles from the orginal broadcast.................Hoser

 

[W8RW]

I like to listen at night using a Sony ICF-2010 and a Yaesu FT-920 with the AM filter. Typical reception at my Ohio location is from the east coast to the rockies.

If you're looking for a good receiver, you can also look for an old Philco or Delco car radio. These radios are already designed to work with a whip antenna (as are all car radios) and they have very selective front ends. If you run the radio from a 12 V battery you don't have to worry about power supply noise.

 

[freqs]

My dad got me interested in listening to SW and AM back in the early 60's. I still listen to WOAI, (San Antonio, Tx) almost every night. Of all the scanners, SW and other assorted radios in my collection, ( I think I'm up to 12 or 13 ) I still crank up my old National Panasonic DR28, tune it to a distant AM station and drift off into dream land. Dad's gone now, (he passed away 3 weeks ago) but I'm carrying on his legacy. Man I wish I had his old 1950's Zenith Trans-Oceanic "tube type' that he had back in the day...

73's Dad,
Ray

every sat nite i pick up wsm nashville grand ole opry i have a 1954 trans oceanic i found in the land fill it needs tubes any in fo on how to find some would help

 

[Taloniilm]

I'd do a google search or check ebay

 

[SCPD]

RedPenguin i just listen to 740am out toronto canada just about every night they play oldies jazz even old radio shows heard the original amos and andy radio shows i live in md but have also picked them up when at the outer banks..nc bob