ZNS-1 (Nassau, The Bahamas) 1540 AM 2359 UTC 2 MAR 2023

[Ct Yankee]

Good reception with fades - English service. On St. Augustine Beach, FL using Tecsun PL 600.  About 450 miles away from my qth - 54,000 watts.

2359 Unid Jazz
0000 West Indies accented male with ID and Nassau location then "This is the Bahamas Radio Network"

[pinto vortando]

This is a tough one here in MI with KXEL dominating the freq.
Can occasionally hear some what sounds like Gospel music breaking through, but not enough for a positive ID.

[NQC]

Hey All,

ZNS-1 was one that I have been wondering about over the last year or so re whether they were still on the air. Didn't ever log them though.   I was going to do a dedicated DXpedition to the South coast of MA to try and grab them, but "life " got in the way .

WAY (WAY!) back in the day from MA ( some on my  crystal set ) I was able to log  "some " Caribbeans - from  really  fuzzy memory : Caymans,Jamaica, Turks/Caicos,  St Kitts , LOTS of  Cubans and maybe one or two others.

Apparently ZIZ 555 Kc St. Kitts put in a good  split frequency signal to NYC. Folks back in the stone age (using analog car radios) used to be able to cruise around the Big Apple and blast ZIZ . I am not sure if they have now QSY'ed to a 10 Kc allocation.

Due to local sometimes severe QRM/QRN  from  recently  apt. building electronic systems (and also  other factors), my days of LONG AM Dx from my local QTH  may be pretty   much done. I can still copy "some" (SOME)  of the  Eastern  US big guns ( big whoop ). Working on  reducing or "solving "  some of these  technical issues ,as time allows.

Thankfully my favorite music station  (WMEX  1510 , 100 watts night , omni, around 6-8 mi ) is pretty good ,but I am working on some outboard audio tweeking to bring it up  a bit better.

My # 2 music station ,   MA regional WCRN 830, is also "OK" , but not fantastic either .
 
I USED to do awesome  here , but not so much  now. I suppose  I can now  look at it as a "challenge" . 


K

[pinto vortando]

Per several sources, looks like St. Kitts is FM nowadays.

[NQC]

Hey Pinto,

Interesting note re ZIZ, It wouldn't surprise me at all if St. Kitts is  off AM now.

I am kind of amazed that ANY Caribbeans are still active on AM (!). If I recall correctly, more than one AM antenna system has been trashed by hurricanes.

 I am also curious as to what  coverage range  these island stations are really looking for. "Generally", I believe that any serious  Dx coverage  may be  viewed by management  ( and maybe even the engineers) as kind of a "waste".

As much as I LOVED Dxing the Caribbean AM'ers, I never really understood why they couldn't just use a 200 Ft multi bay FM tower , which would mostly be  operating over a generally   flat     environment.

A beefy 200 ft tower would seem to be  "harder " take down  compared to a similarly heavily guyed  300 to 400 ft one .

I am not sure re making a comparison of a tall AM vs a shorter FM  and their expected field strengths with respect to any mountainous area coverage.

Perhaps ( way back when) , some of the leadership of the island wanted a local station that also had  an element of an "external" service or presence, so that the island would be able to "make itself known " outside the local area   ("prestige "? ). 

 Since SO few folks now listen to AM, such a concept today wouldn't seem to be worth  the trouble on AM  re big electricity  bills,tall tower "vulnerability" and low listenership.

 Frankly I can't even see how most of the tin can AM'ers here in the US manage to stay on the air (re making a  profit), even without as much of  severe weather threat  to the towers.10 or 15% of the AMer's here make 90% of the money.

I may be full of beans, but just spitballing.

NQC