DS Forums

 
 

Transatlantic MW reception


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 19-12-2016, 12:54
MSmith
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Worcestershire
Posts: 73

Over the Christmas break I hope to find some time to listen to some US or Canadian medium wave stations. Any suggestions on best frequencies to try?
MSmith is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 19-12-2016, 13:18
Mark C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 8,078
Over the Christmas break I hope to find some time to listen to some US or Canadian medium wave stations. Any suggestions on best frequencies to try?
WINS New York on 1010 kHz is something that's often heard over here, just before dusk UK time ?
Mark C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 13:26
Gerry1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436
1510 WMEX Boston with its 50kW directional antenna would be a good place to start. Whether the content is worthwhile is another matter...
Gerry1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 13:46
Powerplay
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK
Posts: 4,175
1510 WMEX Boston with its 50kW directional antenna would be a good place to start. Whether the content is worthwhile is another matter...
Yes if you like listening to Baseball games! I only heard this station once when I had insomnia. Best times to catch it are between 3 - 6am GMT.
Powerplay is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 13:53
Mark C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 8,078
WINS New York on 1010 kHz is something that's often heard over here, just before dusk UK time ?
Doh. I meant Dawn
Mark C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 14:03
Vectorsum
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Future EU Scottish Republic
Posts: 821
Over the Christmas break I hope to find some time to listen to some US or Canadian medium wave stations. Any suggestions on best frequencies to try?
Your best bet is to look for high power stations from the US/Canada where the European and North American frequency rasters diverge the greatest. Also, in Great Circle terms Canada is much closer to Europe than the US making stations such as CJYQ in Newfoundland & Labrador a (relatively) easy catch on 930 kHz - nearest European frequencies 927 kHz / 936 kHz.

A synchronous detector such as found in the Sony 2001D is pretty much essential, so as to be able to maximise the raster window and also to eliminate strong upper/lower sideband European interference. Disclaimer: I've not listened in to CJYQ since 80s holiday trips to my now-home in the Hebrides so don't know how 'listenable' its new country music format is.
Vectorsum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 14:08
Gerry1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,436
D'oh ! DS mangled the previous directional antenna link.
Gerry1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 14:11
Galaxy266
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,764
Why bother?

Just use Radio Garden to find suitable stations then listen to them online:

http://radio.garden/live/
Galaxy266 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 14:16
Mark C
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 8,078
Why bother?

Just use Radio Garden to find suitable stations then listen to them online:

http://radio.garden/live/
Don't bother climbing Mt Snowdon, just get the train up <rolls eyes>
Mark C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 15:27
Phil Dodd
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Stoke Prior, Leominster, Hfds
Posts: 1,399
For DXing in general, it might be useful to know how atmospheric pressure is playing out. The following pressure model is for a week ahead - if you've not seen this particular one before, have a play around to see how it can be advanced by "hours" or "days"...

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-b...=glob&VAR=pslv

Good luck with your quest !
Phil Dodd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 16:53
Chris_Hulse1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Stourbridge
Posts: 153
I understand listening on the west coast of ireland is easier due to the atlantic path.
Chris_Hulse1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 16:54
Vectorsum
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Future EU Scottish Republic
Posts: 821
Over the Christmas break I hope to find some time to listen to some US or Canadian medium wave stations.
For DXing in general, it might be useful to know how atmospheric pressure is playing out....
This is indeed what happens when Christmas gets too merry...
Vectorsum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-12-2016, 18:04
Fred Rickwood
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 175
VOCM (Voice of The Common Man) on 590 kHz is also a fairly easy catch if conditions are right.
Fred Rickwood is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 00:47
Robbie01
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Wearside
Posts: 5,245
WINS New York on 1010 kHz is something that's often heard over here, just before [dawn] UK time ?
I'm sure I managed to pick up this station a few years ago but have not been able to do so since. The signal wasn't that strong, perhaps it doesn't have enough power to normally successfully be picked up on the north east of England coast?

How many kW of power does the station broadcast at?
Robbie01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 01:43
Zaxx
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 107
How many kW of power does the station broadcast at?
WINS is 50 kW

BTW I've just had a quick scan with my radio and I'm picking up faint audio from the following New York stations

710 WOR
1010 WINS
1520 WWKB
Zaxx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 07:00
PhilipS
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 456
WINS is 50 kW

BTW I've just had a quick scan with my radio and I'm picking up faint audio from the following New York stations

710 WOR
1010 WINS
1520 WWKB
And it's directional. Most of the big New York AM stations have their transmitters in New Jersey and beam more-or-less east to the city, which is quite helpful for us in Europe (North-east would be better, but I don't think they'll move on our account!). The ground is marshy and wet, so presumably quite an efficient location. Quite what the effective radiated power might be, I don't know.
PhilipS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 09:48
albertd
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
Posts: 9,299
This thread brings back memories. I remember listening to WINS and WMEX maybe as much as 50 years ago. The UK's MW was a bit quieter back then so it was somewhat easier.
albertd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 10:39
albertd
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
Posts: 9,299
For DXing in general, it might be useful to know how atmospheric pressure is playing out.
I don't think the pressure or anything else about the atmospheric weather has any effect on MW Dx. The reflecting layers for that are too high up, >150km, way above the weather.
albertd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 11:09
lundavra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,460
I don't think the pressure or anything else about the atmospheric weather has any effect on MW Dx. The reflecting layers for that are too high up, >150km, way above the weather.
It's VHF and UHF that is affective by various types of weather conditions. Medium Wave and Long Wave are not affected much.

The US does not have very high power Medium Wave transmitters like the Europe does though I seem to remember Radio Marti is quite high power.
lundavra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 11:55
Eitshal
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 252
Yes if you like listening to Baseball games! I only heard this station once when I had insomnia. Best times to catch it are between 3 - 6am GMT.
WMEX doesn't run the sports format anymore - it's a bog-standard US talker with the usual syndicated right-wingers.

Another couple of interesting MW DX catches come from Asia. This year, I've managed to catch All India Radio on 1566 and China Radio International (in Russian) on 1521, both on the east coast of England. Both these stations run huge power and are fairly easy to hear during dusk.

Now is a good time for MW DX as many of the high-power European stations are gone - however, there seem to be a few UK MW community radio stations in the pipeline which could cause issues in the future.
Eitshal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2016, 15:23
MikeBr
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Herts
Posts: 6,184
I don't think the pressure or anything else about the atmospheric weather has any effect on MW Dx. The reflecting layers for that are too high up, >150km, way above the weather.
There's a section here on Medium Wave Propagation, for DX see in particular how the geomagnetic A index can be used to predict Transatlantic Medium Wave progation conditions.

The last section about mentions how wet weather improves groundwave MW propagation.

http://www.mwcircle.org/mw_intro.htm
MikeBr is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 19:03.