WBCQ Superstation 9330 AM 18 Jun 2019

[ChrisSmolinski]

When I checked 9330 at 0942z it was about an S9+10 here on my KiwiSDR with the 43/48m dipole attached, presumably one of the other transmitters.

Now at 1053z it is S9+40 on peaks. So far it's not overloading the Kiwi, and at nights the band will probably be long enough that it won't be too much of a problem for me, but I do feel for others. There was a thread on the WOR mailing list from some listeners already suffering from overloading problems.

[Davep]

0438 Blind Faith/ had to cry today
0444 Bob Segar/ rock and roll never forgets
0448 John Mayall Bluesbreakers/hideaway
0451 B52s/ deadbeat club
Talk about new TX running up to 400kw by AW and Pirate Joe,earlier a segment on Pirate radio mentioning Mix Radio and others

S9+40 sinpo 55555

[MDK2]

This was on Sunday night (early Monday) UTC. I checked a kiwi SDR in New Zealand where it was a very nice SIO 454, and uTwente where it was 343. Various other places around the world weren't getting it. It was reportedly running on the full 500 kW and beamed toward Mexico. This was on again Monday night, where I observed a spur at 15730 - although when I tuned away from that for a moment then tuned back, it was gone. At this point I'll have to assume some kind of internal error with my SDR, even though I had LNA gain way down and attenuation way up.

The nice thing for me was that it was relaying its 5130 kHz programming. That's a frequency that simply doesn't exist for me, although 7490 has also been a tough copy lately, even at night. No idea how much power it's on. Ever since the former primary transmitter burned, I assume that they've been using a lower power backup. At the time Wiener said it was running 30 kW.

I was up for a bit around 0930-1030 UTC (3:30-4:30 MDT) and it was still on. But when I got up for good and checked at 1245, there was only a much weaker carrier with no discernible audio. It looked pretty centered, though, unlike the old 9330 signal which was at least +100 W. Different beam/reduced power, or something else entirely? Trans World Radio via Armenia is listed 1315-1535z, but also shows an end date of APR 1 on the eibi schedule, so who knows.

[Treehouse SWL]

Just like MDK2, I can never here 5130 kHz here on the West Coast.

However, 7490 kHz was sounding stronger than it has in a long time here around 0300 UTC this morning/yesterday evening local. I was wondering if WBCQ had changed anything with the power on that frequency, or if it was just a propagation fluke.

[WWBR]

2037 UTC - 9330 is PINNING the S-meter on my Grundig Sat800ME on the whip in Flint, MI. Sounds like a local station.

[Brian]

2049, Seven Wonders.
About an s7 across the pond.

Also receiving it on my very cheap 12 band radio with only it's 2 foot max whip.

[ChrisSmolinski]

2129 UTC: S9+40 again on the KiwiSDR.

2130 UTC: I tried my Sony 7600G and it is an SIO 555 signal with the whip antenna fully retracted and folded into the case.

I wonder if a resonant loop antenna tuned to 9330 kHz could extract useful power to run some light bulbs 

[flexoman61]

2150 Alan Weiner with a Talk program going on, S9+30 in CT.

[Ct Yankee]

Excellent reception....in yet another heavy downpour, glad I planted rice this year 

2250 Unid electric guitar, hard rock tune.
2252 "Long Distance Runaround" Yes
2257 "Linus & Lucy" Vince Guaraldi Trio

[R4002]

2129 UTC: S9+40 again on the KiwiSDR.

2130 UTC: I tried my Sony 7600G and it is an SIO 555 signal with the whip antenna fully retracted and folded into the case.

I wonder if a resonant loop antenna tuned to 9330 kHz could extract useful power to run some light bulbs 

At points 9330 kHz WBCQ was pushing 40db over S9, maybe even closer to 45db over S9.  One of the strongest signals I've ever seen.   The strongest one I've seen on a S-meter is a local VHF paging transmitter on 152.690 MHz, apparently doing well over 1kw ERP and that was with the receiver less than 1000 meters from the transmitter site (S-meter showed S9+60db, the highest the meter read). 

I bet you could hook up some very low wattage LEDs to a receiver tuned to 9330 with a high gain antenna and get some light.  All those photons...

[Ray Lalleu]

Welcome in European powers !
In Issoudun (right in the middle of France), there are 17 of those 500 kWers with giant rotatable antennas just like the new one in Monticello.
(Well, lots of high power SW transmitting sites have been discarded during the last 15 years)

[Josh]

2129 UTC: S9+40 again on the KiwiSDR.

2130 UTC: I tried my Sony 7600G and it is an SIO 555 signal with the whip antenna fully retracted and folded into the case.

I wonder if a resonant loop antenna tuned to 9330 kHz could extract useful power to run some light bulbs 

That was my experience on hfbc with the 7600 too, underrated rig if there ever was one.

[WWBR]

Bands are relatively dead in Flint tonight, but WBCQ 9330 is still pinning my S-meter!

[R4002]

I was listening to them last on Chris' KiwiSDR last night (all my local radios were disconnected due to storms) around 2045 - 2100 UTC and noticed that when Brother Scare was on 9330, the signal was only in the S9 to S9+10db range....then he went off and they went back to music, and the signal jumped up to S9+40db on the peaks.  Just a massive red blob on the Kiwi waterfall, easily the strongest station on the band, stronger than local AM BC stations.  Not overloading the receiver, but seemed like it was about to be.  I noticed distortion on music peaks, but that may have been on WBCQ's end vs. the receiver's end. 

[WWBR]

At 1545UTC, I have a weak carrier on 9330, with what sounds like a tone of maybe 5kHz (or could simply be some RF whine getting pulled up by the audio processors). Wonder if it's just the transmitter's exciter output with the plates shut off? One AM station I worked at with a 10kW Gates transmitter still leaked around 20 Watts at the common point on filaments only with the plates switched off. This is strikingly reminiscent of that.

Thankfully, I missed Brother "Stare" broadcasting. "Bro" is just not my cup 'o tea! I had enough of him when I had to board op his program for a while in the 90's. But it's funny you mentioned the signal was weaker when he was on. That is probably because his audio is so narrow. I'd swear he uses a piezo tweeter for a microphone!