Category Archives: AM

From NDBs to TIS: A DXer’s Journey Across 1610-1700 kHz

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post and asks, “Wonder who can add to this list?“:

A Look Back – DXing between 1610 and 1700 kHz

by Dan Greenall

1. The Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla West Indies 1610 kHz (1985 QSL)

2. NDB stations (non-directional beacons)

  • transmitted call letters on CW, mostly from airports, heard in the 1970’s
  • examples: MDE Medellin, Colombia 1690 kHz and RAB Rabinal, Guatemala 1613 kHz

3. U.S. Army Broadcasting Service KTRK 1670 Fort Meade, MD Feb 1996          articles and recordings

https://www.radioheritage.com/ktrk-k-truck-1670-khz/

4. FCC Part 15 Radio Stations

Example:    WDKW 1630 “the Klaw” Dundalk High School near Baltimore, MD

Audio Player

Link to my recording made at a DX camp in Coe Hill, Ontario, Canada on April 20, 1997: https://archive.org/details/wdkw-the-klaw-1630

An internet search revealed the following;

Part 15 of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules allows some low-powered radio devices to operate without a license on the AM and FM radio broadcast bands. These devices are subject to certain restrictions, including:

  • Range: On FM frequencies, the effective service range is limited to about 200 feet (61 meters).
  • Field strength: The field strength should not exceed 250 ?V/m (48db) at 3 meters.
  • Detachable antennas: Part 15 rules prohibit detachable antennas on all Part 15 transmitters.

Some examples of Part 15 radio stations include:

  • Microbroadcasting

Often used by hobbyists, drive-in theaters, or on college or high school campuses.

  • Talking roadsigns, talking houses, or talking billboards

These transmitters air a repeating loop of information, such as traffic or highway construction. They typically operate on empty channels on the AM broadcast band.

  • InfOspot

A custom product that can include special audio systems, USB / internet connectivity, cabinets, and antenna mounting styles.

  • Free-radiate AM radio stations

Educational institutions can use a transmitter without a license if the signal coverage is limited to their property.

5. TIS (Travellers Information Stations)

1610 kHz with low power, usually around 10 watts, such as the one I hear near the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan

6. Expanded AM broadcast band 

Over a quarter century ago, these frequencies began to be used in the U.S. by BCB stations.  I still have recordings of a half dozen of these from the early days.

WTDY 1670:

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WNML 1670:

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WMDM 1690:

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KCNZ 1650:

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KCJJ 1630:

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KBGG 1700:

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Also, here is a link to a column in Popular Communications magazine from February 1998.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Popular-Communications/90s/Popular-Communications-1998-02.pdf

Don Moore’s Photo Album: Chota, Peru

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Don Moore’s Photo Album: Chota, Peru

by Don Moore

More of Don’s traveling DX stories can be found in his book Tales of a Vagabond DXer. 

For DXers of Latin American stations, the period from about 1978-1998 was the golden age of DXing Peru. Those years saw an explosion of shortwave broadcasting from small towns, especially in northern Peru. Most of the stations were unlicensed and few lasted long. I tell the complete story of the period in Tales of a Vagabond DXer. However, the book doesn’t have many pictures as that would have made it much more expensive to produce and to buy. Fortunately, this blog is a perfect place to share photographs.

In those days one of the biggest radio hotspots in Peru was the department of Cajamarca. Over one hundred stations broadcast on shortwave, however briefly, just from that department. Cajamarca is a special place to me because I visited the region in 1985 during the height of the radio boom and visited over a dozen stations in the towns of Chota, Bambamarca, Cutervo and Celendín and the city of Cajamarca.

Chota is the largest town in the central part of Cajamarca department and played an important role in the development of broadcasting in small provincial towns.  It’s about 140 kilometers north of Cajamarca but in between is cold barren Andean altiplano rising to over 4,000 meters elevation. In 1985 the bus ride took twelve hours and we encountered ice storms coming and going.

In 1985 Chota was a sleepy Andean town in a fertile river valley.

Radio Chota was already seven years old when I visited in March 1985. The station only had a medium wave license but also broadcast unlicensed on the out-of-band shortwave frequency of 6296 kHz where it was widely heard by DXers. Later they received a shortwave license and were assigned 4890 kHz but several years passed before they actually switched frequencies. Radio Chota was a success story and is still on the air today.  Most of the stations I visited in 1985 were not so lucky.

QSL collection of Don Moore … www.DonMooreDXer.com …

Radio Chota as heard on 6296 kHz in 1982 via On the Shortwaves:

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Radio Chota as I heard it in Quito, Ecuador on 4890 kHz in 1997:

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Radio Acunta was a more typical broadcaster of the period. The station broadcast irregularly in 1984 and 1985 with a homemade 100-watt transmitter. The station didn’t survive but the transmitter with its crystal-controlled frequency of 5800 kHz was a good starter set. Over the next several years DXers followed its movements around northern Peru as it was sold from one would-be station to another.

This picture with the homemade posterboard signs really captures the transient nature of broadcasting in rural Peru in the 1980s. Radio San Juan de Chota was on 5274 kHz for a few months in late 1984 and early 1985. I doubt they ever had permanent signs made. They did, however, have professionally printed envelopes.

Recording of Radio San Juan de Chota via On the Shortwaves:

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Bambamarca is a smaller farming town 20 kilometers south of Chota. It was also home to several shortwave stations over the years. Radio Bambamarca had a short appearance on 5657 kHz in the mid-1980s.

Return to Chota

I always expected to return to the Cajamarca area someday. Finally, in November and December 2017, I revisited all the places I had seen in 1985 and more while researching my historical travelogue Following Ghosts in Northern Peru. A few months later, in May 2018, I returned to the city of Cajamarca and Chota with my DX travel buddies, John Fisher and Karl Forth. Continue reading →

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of La Union (December 27, 2024)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares an illustrated radio listening report of a recent La Union (Paraguay) broadcast.

Carlos notes:

Part of Radio La Union talk show (in Spanish). News about three men attacked by bees in Encarnacion, Paraguay, leaving one dead. Listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Click here to view on YouTube.

A File Worth Having: Bob’s guide to building an Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception

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Screenshot

This post is short and sweet.

If you click here–Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception (PDF)–you can download a copy of Bob Colegrove’s excellent paper on the Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception.

He has actually built this antenna; it works; and he uses it often. Perhaps you might want to build one for yourself. As an added bonus, Bob is an excellent writer (in my not-so-humble opinion). What’s not to like?

— Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Radio Buenos Aires (December 12, 2024)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio Buenos Aires broadcast.

Carlos notes:

Part of Radio Buenos Aires (Argentina) news show (in Spanish): “…Burlón*, former Secretary of Tourism of Bariloche, current president of the Argentine Chamber of Student Tourism, was shot in Rio de Janeiro while he was heading to Christ the Redeemer, along with his family… “

“…Burlón was driving with his family in his car, took the wrong route while using a GPS, and mistakenly entered the Morro dos Prazeres favela, an area controlled by the criminal group Comando Vermelho, a Brazilian drug trafficking organization…”

*Gastón Fernando Burlón

Click here to view on YouTube.

Radio Waves: WNYC to Test Digital AM, RW Letters, and 2025 RTI Audio Calendar

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Radio Waves:  Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura and David Iurescia for the following tips:

WNYC(AM) 820 Set to Test All-Digital AM in December (Radio World)

New York Public Radio and NAB will observe co-channel interference and MA3 performance in an urban setting

820 WNYC(AM) plans to conduct an all-digital MA3 test of AM HD Radio next month.

The test is pending FCC approval, but its owner, New York Public Radio, expects to receive the go-ahead.

NAB is supporting NYPR’s effort, and its Vice President of Advanced Engineering David Layer says all-digital AM is becoming a more viable piece of technology for broadcasters. He cited the increased presence of HD Radio in the marketplace. Fifty-eight percent of new cars in North America ship with the technology, according to Xperi. [Continue reading…]

Letters: Radio Quality, ITU, SDR (Radio World)

Our readers weigh in on recent articles

Here is a sampling from the Radio World reader mailbag.

Is Anyone There?

Ken Deutsch wondered “Why Is Radio So Hard to Listen To?”

He asked, “Is there no one in the building actually listening to the station?” That answer would be no.

Not long ago I went back to help a cluster in Louisville that was missing its chief engineer. It was my first visit in more than 20 years.

When I’d been there last, more than 100 folks worked at six stations in the building. On my return, there were approximately five full-time — the general manager, the operations manager, three sales people. [Continue reading…]

The Sounds of Taiwan (Radio Taiwan International)

Rti has carefully selected the sounds from everyday life in Taiwan, including folk festivals, travel, and the island’s rich cultural and natural heritage over the years. To celebrate Rti’s 97th anniversary, we proudly present our first-ever audio calendar. Let the warmth of Taiwan’s people and the unique local sounds accompany you as you explore the freedom and beauty of this land, welcoming each wonderful day of 2025 together. [Check out the audio calendar at RTI…]

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Responding to “The Colegrove Inspiration”

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

It was Bob Colegrove’s post — this one — that inspired me and set me on this path.

Medium wave broadcast band DXing (MWBCB) has a certain fascination for me, but I am poor at it. Oh sure, I have read the advice: map the band at noon, then again at midnight, and you’ll have a better idea of what’s unusual as you are tuning around. But I have never gotten around to doing the mapping, so my DXing skills are lousy at best.

When Bob asked, “What’s your favorite corner of the dial?”, he also mentioned the challenge hunting below 600 kHz. The implication: whatever is in that section of the band, there are probably not a lot of stations, and they are hard to hear. So, I reasoned in my tiny little brain: “If I hear anything down there, it’s likely to be DX.”

So I tried it, firing up the Grundig Satellit 800 hooked to an MFJ 1886 loop during the daylight hours. With exception of WROW, 590, in nearby Albany, NY, blasting oldies with 5,000 watts, I found nothing . . .  and I do mean nothing: nada, diddly, bupkas, cipher, rien . . . dead band . . . deader than old Jacob Marley. I try it again in the early evening with three different radios with exactly the same results. Nuts.

But then I try again with the Satellit 800/1886 combo at a little after 0900Z and take Bob’s advice about using single sideband. Aha! Carriers 540, 550, and 560. Then at 570, a weird mixture: religious programming in American English over male and female voices in Spanish with time ticks and tones in the background. Is there a time station on this frequency or is it some sort of bleed-over?

On Tuesday evenings I run the Radio Monitoring Net on the 146.94 repeater. During the net, I mentioned the unusual signal I had heard on 570, and W2SRA, an expert DXer, responded with the opinion that this was likely a religious station on Long Island, NY, intermixed with a station known as The Clock from Cuba.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: Radio Reloj (Spanish for Radio Clock) is a government-owned Spanish-language radio station in Cuba . . . The station is noted for the sound of a ticking clock in the background, with its hosts announcing the time, every minute of broadcast.

I checked the distance from Troy, NY, to Santa Clara, Cuba where the 570 AM station is located; it’s 1449 miles. Wow! According to Wikipedia, the AM transmit power is 50,000 watts

Then I remember that William, KR8L, mentioned that he likes searching above 1620 (another less populated region of the band), so I give that a try. At 1690, I hear oldies, followed by ads for Southern Maryland. The station finally ID’s as WPTX, 1,000 watts nighttime power, in California, MD, a distance of 339 miles. Yes!!

Thanks, Bob and William, for turning me on to some more radio fun!