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Post by kenglish on Mar 10, 2022 22:35:29 GMT -6
Just heard KDYL on the air, with music and a TOH ID.
Do they QSL?
I wonder what they did? Can they make full daytime power yet? I hear that the transmitter wasn't the big problem. The power converter couldn't make enough 3-phase power for it at full load.
I'm getting +1 dBm in Midvale at 9:30 PM.
Audio is excellent.
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Post by David on Mar 10, 2022 23:40:49 GMT -6
I'm hearing KDYL in Ogden at 10:30 PM mixing with another station on 1060, which I'm assuming is CKMX, or possibly KDUS in Tempe, AZ. I'm also getting a HUGE amount of "bleed over" from first adjacent KNX tonight, but there's no trace of the off frequency heterodyne that plagued KDYL's signal for several months before the station went dark in April 2020. Glad to hear it's finally back on the air and sounding good again. Those old tube transmitters are workhorses when properly maintained, but I'm sure they require a proper three phase power setup to function correctly.
EDIT: Just heard a TOH ID for KKVV Las Vegas underneath KDYL. KKVV is listed as just 43 (!) watts nighttime power, so maybe our cold temps are having an effect on propagation tonight. 460 miles is a pretty good distance for a 43 watt AM signal, especially at night.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 11, 2022 5:29:20 GMT -6
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I didn't think MW frequencies were affected by weather the way VHF & UHF frequencies are.
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Post by David on Mar 11, 2022 9:26:21 GMT -6
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I didn't think MW frequencies were affected by weather the way VHF & UHF frequencies are. I guess it depends on who you ask. A climatologist or propagation expert would probably say no, but I have several friends who chase AM broadcast DX that get some of their best DX catches on bitter cold winter nights. I do know that propagation on the AM broadcast band and lower HF frequencies is better during years of low solar activity. |
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Post by kenglish on Mar 11, 2022 11:30:02 GMT -6
Cold temperatures and low amounts of static-producing phenomena can lower the noise levels a bit.
I do wonder, though, if a station that far away, running night power at such a late hour, would be clearly audible for a long period of time.
How long were you able to hear them?
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Post by David on Mar 11, 2022 13:16:16 GMT -6
Cold temperatures and low amounts of static-producing phenomena can lower the noise levels a bit. I do wonder, though, if a station that far away, running night power at such a late hour, would be clearly audible for a long period of time. How long were you able to hear them? KKVV was barely audible beneath KDYL and (I think) KDUS from 10:30-10:55 PM last night, but as luck would have it KKVV rose above the noise floor just long enough for me to catch the legal ID at 11:00 PM. Then the propagation shifted again, and KKVV got buried under KDYL and CKMX. |
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Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Mar 11, 2022 13:59:43 GMT -6
I could be wrong, of course, but I’ve concluded that AM travels better when the ground is wet, especially near the transmitting antenna.
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Post by David on Mar 11, 2022 18:22:27 GMT -6
I could be wrong, of course, but I’ve concluded that AM travels better when the ground is wet, especially near the transmitting antenna. That's one of the reasons why some AM towers are located close to bodies of water like a marsh or a lake. The closer the antenna is to a body of water, the better the ground conductivity. Better ground conductivity improves the strength of the AM signal. The Antelope Island TIS on 530 kHz is a good example of this principal. The antenna is located near Farmington Bay, and I can hear the Antelope Island TIS 24/7 in Ogden. In fact, it can be heard as far north as Tremonton on the Northern Utah SDR. It really "gets out" well for a 10 watt Travelers Information Station! |
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Post by radiowyoming on Mar 11, 2022 20:27:37 GMT -6
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I didn't think MW frequencies were affected by weather the way VHF & UHF frequencies are. I guess it depends on who you ask. A climatologist or propagation expert would probably say no, but I have several friends who chase AM broadcast DX that get some of their best DX catches on bitter cold winter nights. I do know that propagation on the AM broadcast band and lower HF frequencies is better during years of low solar activity.
you want bitter cold witter nights while chasing am dx? hold my beer, watch this 
Do i think the bitter cold helps? Im not sure.. it doesnt hurt... not like cold kills fm skip.
and i think DXing AM is made better in the winter by the shorter days andsuch, so in a roundabout way, the cold helps.
Signed,
The alaska Radio Nerd (seriously, google search that phrase)
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Post by David on Mar 15, 2022 15:12:55 GMT -6
KDYL is off the air again as of 3:15 this afternoon. I wonder what happened?
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Post by David on Mar 15, 2022 16:36:14 GMT -6
KDYL is off the air again as of 3:15 this afternoon. I wonder what happened? Back on the air at 4:30 PM. Maybe the engineers were just making some adjustments which required the tower to be de-energized. |
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Post by kenglish on Mar 15, 2022 19:43:45 GMT -6
No audio right now (7:30 PM).
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Post by David on Mar 16, 2022 9:08:32 GMT -6
No audio right now (7:30 PM). KDYL is still off the air at 9 AM Wednesday. I'm hearing something on 1060 that sounds like a faint open carrier, but it's not even strong enough to register on my radio's signal meter. |
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Post by kenglish on Mar 16, 2022 10:44:30 GMT -6
I wonder which transmitter is on the air?
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Post by David on Mar 16, 2022 17:12:16 GMT -6
I wonder which transmitter is on the air? Whichever transmitter is on the air is producing a very loud AC hum with no audio. The AC hum I'm hearing on 1060 is very similar to the sound of an old tube radio with bad filter capacitors. |
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