What can I receive on LW and MW?

[firefighter30054]

Hello,

I would just like to know what all I can receive on LW and MW? these 2 band are new to me.

Thanks for the Help

John
N8ZHF

 

[Blackswan73]

In the US you will mostly receive navigation beacons on LW(Long Wave). You might, depending upon your location, propagation, etc. receive some European broadcast stations. On MW(Medium Wave), you find the US AM broadcast stations. With a little luck you might pull some foreign stations in the more quiet areas of the band.

B.S.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I would just like to know what all I can receive on LW and MW? these 2 band are new to me.

You've heard of an AM radio like in a car, correct? This is MW

Radio Station Finder: Search Results

Advanced Radio Search

radio-locator.com

 

[majoco]

..... and actually car radios are very good receivers of the MW and LW bands as they are designed to work off a rather small antenna - but they lack things like a signal strength indicator - but they do usually have good tone controls. In the wee small hours of night shift we could often listen to the Australian east coast BC band stations on an old tube radio in the hangar which are some 2000 miles away - and another thing you can receive over long distances are the aircraft beacons on LW - but they only send the station identifier in slow morse code repeated every few seconds - most countries are removing those stations now that aircraft have GPS for navigation.

 

[MUTNAV]

On MW, from Florida, I was able to pick up 880 from New York City on the car radio.

When close, the station is pretty boring (driving around NYC and northern NJ) , but when in Florida I wanted to get maps showing where the GWB (George Washington Bridge) LIE (Long Island Express way) etc... were... to make sense of the traffic that was being described.

It just seemed more interesting from further away and when it was a little harder to receive.

On 880, there is also a lower powered Canadian station that would require a much better than car antenna to pick up.

A lot depends on where you're at. West Virginia doesn't seem like a hot spot for distant reception. But there are people that travel all around (mostly washington state or Maine for the US, to pick up distant stations

This has some information as to what might be possible.

MW DX – The SWLing Post

swling.com

Thanks
Joel

 

[trentbob]

Nice article, I grew up in Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania and moved to New York in 1971 and lived there to go to college, 4 years at one school and 3 years and another and live there till 1985 when I returned to Pennsylvania.

I lived in New York City, Manhattan and Brooklyn, Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island and also briefly about a year in the Niagara Falls area near Buffalo and the Canadian border.

News radio 88 was always the go-to station, we had 77 with the oldies but everybody listen to 88 unless you were a WINS 1010, all the news all the time listener.

As I'm sure you know, many AM stations go off the air at Sunset and even more as the night goes on and anything that's left overnight were superstations. When there was nothing else on the air you could pick them from all over the country, conditions allowing, overnight, WOR 91 in New York was the same.

There are still stations like this in every major city in the country.

 

[oldradioguy2010]

I use to listen to those 50,000 watt powerhouses across the country.
KFI, KNX here in southern California, Ventura Co.
A fair AM (mw) radio will work great and no real long antenna, the on board internal loop is all you need.

DW
So. Cal

 

[trentbob]

I use to listen to those 50,000 watt powerhouses across the country.
KFI, KNX here in southern California, Ventura Co.
A fair AM (mw) radio will work great and no real long antenna, the on board internal loop is all you need.

DW
So. Cal

Yeppers, I used to buy and cannibalize every tabletop radio I could find even if it wasn't working, just to cannibalize.. the rerrite rod or loop antenna.

This is what I used for many years, back in the day, nice slide rule dial Tandy, Radio Shack desktop radio with their tunable Loop, basically the same as if you were to turn the radio in different directions.

The best reception setup I ever had was an Icom R75 with 200 ft of well grounded copper wire intertwined in a large backyard fence. 😉

 

[w2xq]

For giggles and grins, you might find it fun to read my old articles on BCB DXing. Principles haven't changed. Both articles are available on my Bibliography page as PDFs:

W2XQ.com : Bibliography

bibliography

w2xq.com

December 1966 S9 : "BCB DX Handbook"
April 1975 Popular Electronics : "How to Listen to Out-of-State Broadcasts"

HTH a bit.

 

[oldradioguy2010]

Trenton, guilty.
I used them for crystal radios.
Currently monitoring with a realistic dx390.
Just turn the radio and some signals pop in.

DW
So. Cal

 

[oldradioguy2010]

That should read
Trentbob
Damn spell check.

DW
So. Cal

 

[trentbob]

That should read
Trentbob
Damn spell check.

DW
So. Cal

Yes the trent is for Trenton, New Jersey just north of me where I worked for decades. I had a dx390 also.. Bob.

For giggles and grins, you might find it fun to read my old articles on BCB DXing. Principles haven't changed. Both articles are available on my Bibliography page as PDFs:

W2XQ.com : Bibliography

bibliography

w2xq.com

December 1966 S9 : "BCB DX Handbook"
April 1975 Popular Electronics : "How to Listen to Out-of-State Broadcasts"

HTH a bit.

Speaking of working in Trenton.. long time since we've talked Tom or had a qso on the air. Hope you are well...

I recommend everyone read your biography and any articles you wrote, back in the day!