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46

Longwave Loggings / NDB loggings from Washington state

« on: February 16, 2021, 2316 UTC »

I ventured back down to the sub-500 kHz part of the band last night for the first time in months and logged the following on Feb. 16 UTC:

223 kHz: YKA in Kamloops, British Columbia, at 0818 UTC. Weak but clear signal, not too much fading.

290 kHz: YYF in Penticton, British Columbia, at 0809 UTC. Fair signal at the peaks with fading.

312 kHz: UNT near Penticton, British Columbia, at 0804 UTC. Weak, sometimes barely audible.

344 kHz: XX near Abbotsford, British Columbia, at 0759 UTC. Weak to fair signal, faded up a little in cycles.

350 kHz: NY near Enderby Airport in British Columbia, at 0757 UTC. Weak to fair signal, faded up and down in cycles. Listed as being decommissioned on Feb. 25?

355 kHz: PND near Portland, Oregon, at 0752 UTC. This one's tentative because it was so weak, but definitely a U.S.-based beacon based on the Morse pattern.

368 kHz: SX near Cranbrook, British Columbia, at 0748 UTC. Very good signal.

382 kHz: AW in nearby Arlington, Washington, at 0737 UTC. Very good with YE in Fort Nelson, B.C., in the background. This beacon was off when I last checked in the fall months.

382 kHz: YE in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, at 0739 UTC. Heard fair but clear behind AW on this frequency. This one's 748 miles from my QTH. 

388 kHz: JW in Pigeon, Alberta, at 0708 UTC. Weak to fair, with some interference from YWB on 389 kHz at times. This one's about to be decommissioned, too?

47

MW Loggings / CKDM 730 AM 0505 UTC 15 Feb. 2021

« on: February 16, 2021, 0126 UTC »

With CHMJ in Vancouver, B.C., nulled as best I could, I heard country music with a male singer, then at 0506 UTC was “Yeah Boy” by Kelsea Ballerini, which matched what 730 kHz was playing via an SDR in Winnipeg, followed by a promo ID, and then “You’re Out of Touch” by Hall & Oates as the signal faded. The signal rose again around 0515 UTC as “Walls Come Down” by Meghan Patrick played.

CKDM in Dauphin, Manitoba, runs 5 kW at night; distance from me is 1,005 miles.

48

MW Loggings / KCUP 1230 AM 0711 UTC 31 Jan. 2021

« on: February 01, 2021, 0403 UTC »

This Toledo, Oregon, station ran a DX test that I tuned in between 0720-0858 UTC.

With very local KWYZ (their transmitter's located within 5 miles of me) nulled as well as possible, I heard Morse code, sweep tones, and also solid tones behind KWYZ and amid a mix of other unID stations.

KCUP runs 1,000 watts; distance from me is 251 miles.

49

MW Loggings / CYFM 1210 AM 0311 UTC 31 Jan. 2021

« on: February 01, 2021, 0359 UTC »

Heard music from this Kindersley, Saskatchewan, station, including “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon at 0313 UTC, then an ID at 0318 UTC. That was followed by “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding, as the signal dominated the frequency over other unID stations. The music matched the station’s online stream when I checked. I heard this on my Honda CR-V’s radio in a shopping center parking lot near my house in Lake Stevens, Washington.

This station runs just 250 watts at night; distance from me is 625 miles.

50

MW Loggings / WCKY (tent.) 1530 AM 0330 UTC 18 January 2021

« on: January 18, 2021, 0722 UTC »

I'll call this tentative because I didn't hear the ID, but I can't find another station in the listings for 1530 kHz that carries ESPN. I heard talking under slightly nulled KFBK in Sacramento. By 0347 UTC, I could hear the NFC playoff game post-game press conference with Tom Brady, matching what I heard on WCKY via the Northern Kentucky SDR. At 0355 UTC, I could clearly hear the ESPN show hosts talking behind KFBK, still matching the SDR audio. The talking was still audible as of 0430 UTC, occasionally fading up a little. This station's distance from me is 1,954 miles.

51

MW Loggings / KRKK 1360 AM 0312 UTC 6 Dec 2020

« on: December 06, 2020, 2213 UTC »

I've scanned past 1360 in the past here, because I just assume I'm mostly going to hear KKMO, a Spanish-language station out of Tacoma, about 60 miles south of me. But I heard oldies as I paused on the frequency last night and then I heard an ID: “Unforgettable memories, KRKK,” followed by another oldies song. I listened through 0400 UTC and heard many more IDs, including the full legal one, as well as ads mentioning Wyoming. KOHU out of Hermiston, Oregon, also was mixing in with KKMO in the background.

This one’s listed as 1,000 watts at night; distance from me is 770 miles.

52

Shortwave Broadcast / TWR Africa 4760 AM 0332 UTC 3 Dec 2020

« on: December 03, 2020, 2335 UTC »

TWR Africa via Swaziland (aka Eswatini) is regularly heard here near Seattle in the 9 and 11 MHz bands, but this is the first time I've logged it down on this frequency, where it's listed as using 50 kW. I heard a man talking in (presumed) Shona; he used what I would describe as a "preaching style."

Weak but clear signal with remarkably little noise, but deep fades during which the audio was inaudible. The audio faded out completely before the broadcast was scheduled to end at 0400 UTC.

53

North American Shortwave Pirate / Unid 6935 LSB 0345 utc 01 Dec 2020

« on: December 01, 2020, 0351 UTC »

Are we sure this isn't just a stateside relay of a European? Because I've got a weak signal with music out here near Seattle as of 0345 UTC.

edit by Ray : this post was originally a reply to a post with a typo in the frequency
(posted as 6935 in SW pirates instead of 3935 in European pirates).
But there was a real UNID signal on 6935, needing a new thread.
The subject line was : Re: Zenith Classic Rock 6935 LSB  0157z Dec 1 2020
I change it to : Unid 6935 LSB 0345 utc 01 Dec 2020

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MW Loggings / CHAH 580 AM 0935 UTC 26 Nov 2020

« on: November 28, 2020, 0137 UTC »

I post this more as a public service than a great DX catch: If you hear South Asian music on 580 kHz, it's from Edmonton/Beaumont, Alberta. It just signed on full-time about two months ago, so it's hard to find in many of the online AM listings.

Behind the mix of KIDO’s “Coast to Coast AM” and sports talk on Southern Oregon's KTMT the other night, I could distinctly hear South Asian music. After some online hunting, I found CHAH’s “MyRadio” site, and the online stream matched. I also matched what I was hearing with an SDR near Edmonton.

CHAH is listed as 10 kW; distance from me is 530 miles.

55

MW Loggings / KFIR 720 AM 0825 UTC 27 Nov 2020

« on: November 27, 2020, 2322 UTC »

Not long after hearing WGN from Chicago on this frequency last night, I heard a station fading in and out while playing an episode of the old police drama "Casey, Crime Photographer." At 0830 UTC, during an ad break, there was a KFIR “news update” with a woman talking about the history of Thanksgiving, some PSAs, then back to “Classic Radio Theater.” It never dominated the frequency for long, but could be heard more consistently than the other stations on 720.

This one out of Albany/Sweet Home, Oregon, is listed as running just 146 watts at night; distance from me is 252 miles.

56

MW Loggings / WGN 720 AM 0751 UTC 27 Nov 2020

« on: November 27, 2020, 2318 UTC »

As I was checking for KDWN on this frequency, I instead heard a talk show reminiscing about classic TV rising out of the muddled mix (there's also a little splash from local KIRO-AM 710 on this frequency). This didn’t sound like the Las Vegas station, so I checked an SDR in Peoria, Illinois, and found what I was hearing matched WGN’s audio. I also caught the legal ID at the top of the hour on my radio as WGN’s newscast started.

Distance from me to the transmitter site in Schaumburg, Illinois, is 1,695 miles. My fourth catch from Illinois since the spring. KDWN never really faded in.

57

North American Shortwave Pirate / Madfish Radio 6950 USB 0001 UTC 21 Nov. 2020

« on: November 21, 2020, 0004 UTC »

Weak up here near Seattle, but very good via the Northern Utah SDR. Playing children's songs at the moment.

0004 UTC: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
0005 UTC: OM on the mic, didn't quite catch what he said. Then "The Lincolnshire Poacher" by Mat Williams.
0008 UTC: OM on the mic again, not easy to hear him ... something about politics and the pirate band. And then off.

58

MW Loggings / Radio Progreso 640 AM 0530 UTC 19 Nov 2020

« on: November 19, 2020, 1943 UTC »

KFI had a weaker signal than usual last night, so I got it nulled at just the right spot with my indoor loop and heard Latin music behind it. After trying to figure out which Mexican station, or possibly Spanish-language station in the U.S., this was, I finally tried an SDR in Florida on a hunch. And the music on 640 there matched. I then matched that to the audio on the Radio Progreso website.

I listened past 0800 UTC to make sure I wasn't imagining the match between what I heard under KFI, which really faded a bit after 0800, and the Radio Progreso audio heard on the Florida SDR. When Progreso played a radio soap opera in the 0700 UTC hour, it was nearly inaudible on my radio. But the Cuban music traveled well to my speaker before and after the soap opera.

I'm assuming this is the 50 kW Radio Progreso station on 640 (there are two), so the distance from me to that transmitter is just over 2,770 miles -- my longest MW catch to date.

UPDATE: I heard lively Cuban music again behind KFI at 0809 UTC on Nov. 21, and it again matched what the Key West SDR was receiving on 640 kHz.

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MW Loggings / WLS 890 AM 0840 UTC 15 Nov 2020

« on: November 16, 2020, 0456 UTC »

The station was playing “Red Eye Radio,” then ABC news at 0900 UTC, ads and then the next hour of “Red Eye Radio.” This was battling both CJDC and KYWN (a tiny Spanish station out of Idaho that booms on this frequency regularly), plus some occasional interference from KDXU. But the audio matched what I heard via several Illinois and Iowa SDRs. And the WLS signal started becoming more regularly audible, allowing me to hear a definite ID during a station promo at 0932 UTC.

This runs 50 kW all the time; distance from me is 1,723 miles.

60

MW Loggings / KXEL 1540 AM 0906 UTC 8 Nov 2020

« on: November 16, 2020, 0454 UTC »

I could hear talk radio under semi-local KXPA, which was running Spanish and Latin-flavored music. I heard a new hour start for “Red Eye Radio,” and at 0923 UTC, there was a summary of notable topics on the past week’s local morning talk show with an ID as well. This also matched the signal I could hear on an SDR I checked in Nebraska, and it’s the only “Red Eye Radio” affiliate on this frequency nationwide that I could find. The signal was equal to or occasionally above KXPA more often as the hour progressed.

This clear-channel station runs 50 kW; distance from me is 1,496 miles.