cobalt pet shortwave / mediumwave weblog

22 September 2012

mediumwave logs, mammoth lakes, september 2012

To celebrate the 2012 northern hemisphere autumn equinox, here are some mediumwave dx logs. I only had a few hours to spend on this project, so many of the logs are low-hanging fruit. But it certainly whet my appetite for winter dx.

In mid-September, I stayed in a condominium for three nights in Mammoth Lakes, California. Relatives traveled with me and stayed at a hotel nearby. They are from the east coast and wake up early, so I had time to myself in the evenings. The condo I stayed in had an iHome iH6 radio, and while it isn't an ideal mediumwave dx receiver, I put it to work.

This location is on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas, just east of Yosemite National Park. There was no daytime reception anywhere in 520-1710 kHz.


The iHome radio had a digital frequency display, and was tuned in 10 kHz steps with a scroll wheel. Selectivity seemed poor, or some stations were simply polluting adjacent frequencies. Occasionally the radio made loud buzzing sounds, which I was unable to identify. A battery-powered radio would've certainly been preferable. Also, the AM antenna was external, with poor nulling capability.

Confirmed stations are listed with location and distance. CKWX was only confirmed by branding ("news 1130") and slogan ("traffic and weather together every 10 minutes on the ones"), not by callsign.

I'm also including my raw logs, which I typed into a smart phone. I came up with a simple keyword system to describe what I heard on each frequency. Some of the keywords are multiple words written together. In the notes, callsigns followed by question marks are guesses, and were not confirmed. Phrases in quotes are quoted from the broadcast. 920 and 1130 were my favorite frequencies to work. It would've been fun to sort through the other pileups in the band if I had more time.

States/Provinces logged

• Arizona
• British Columbia
• California
• Colorado
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Oregon
• Utah
• Washington
• Wyoming



26 stations identified

580: KMJ (Fresno, CA; 50 kW; 78 miles)
640: KFI (Los Angeles, CA; 50 kW; 252 miles)
660: KTNN (Window Rock, AZ; 50 kW; 563 miles)
680: KNBR (San Francisco, CA; 50 kW; 191 miles)
720: KDWN (Las Vegas, NV; 50 kW; 231 miles)
740: KCBS (San Francisco, CA; 50 kW; 191 miles)
750: KOAL (Price, UT; 6.8 kW nighttime; 451 miles)
760: KFMB (San Diego, CA; 50 kW nighttime; 354 miles)
770: KKOB (Albuquerque, NM; 50 kW; 706 miles)
780: KKOH (Reno, NV; 50 kW; 139 miles)
790: KABC (Los Angeles, CA; 5 kW; 252 miles)
830: KLAA (Orange, CA; 20 kW nighttime; 274 miles)
840: KXNT (North Las Vegas, NV; 25 kW nighttime; 231 miles)
850: KOA (Denver, CO; 50 kW; 763 miles)
920: KBAD (Las Vegas, NV; 500 w nighttime; 231 miles)
1000: KOMO (Seattle, WA; 50 kW; 709 miles)
1030: KTWO (friendly Casper, WY; 50 kW; 751 miles)
1050: KNBR/KTCT (San Francisco, CA; 10 kW nighttime; 191 miles)
1070: KNX (Los Angeles, CA; 50 kW; 252 miles)
1100: KFAX (San Francisco, CA; 50 kW; 191 miles)
1120: KPNW (Eugene, OR; 50 kW; 494 miles)
1130: KRDU (Dinuba, CA; 6.2 kW nighttime; 82 miles)
1130: CKWX (Vancouver, BC, Canada; 50 kW; 828 miles)
1190: KEX (Portland, OR; 50 kW; 574 miles)
1530: KFBK (Sacramento, CA; 50 kW; 153 miles)
1560: KNZR (Bakersfield, CA; 10 kW nighttime; 158 miles)


Raw logs


540: weak

560: weak

580: fair cbsnews "Fresno" KMJ

590: fair pileup

600: poor noisy

610: music

620: sports poor

630: poor noisy

640: c2c strong KFI

650: noisy

660: rock music poor/fading nativeamerican chanting/drumming KTNN

670: noisy adjacentinterference660

680: sports KNBR

690: Spanish fair

700: Spanish fair

710: adjacentinterference720

720: strong KDWN

730: poor

740: KCBS

750: poor pileup billshomefurnishing mainstreetgrill castrovalley? KOAL

760: good, trucking job ad, "redeyeradioshow.com" KFMB

770: good, same/delayed content as 760 differentads KKOB

780: good, same content as 770 KOH

790: good, call-in show, "some bad news about kickstarter" "1-888-825-5254" moneytalk KABC

800: mex music

820: poor

830: poor pileup KLAA

840: good news radio c2c KXNT

850: fair music c2c KOA

860: Spanish good

870: fair pileup Spanish music "las vegas"

880: religious good

890: sports fair noisy

900: poor pileup

910: poor pileup

920: poor pileup moneytalk sports "sierra vista" KPSI? KXLY? "KBAD las Vegas"
920: "Montana meat company" KWYS? "chucks tavern on Durango" "fox sports 920 las vegas" [edit: There's a Shuck's Tavern on Durango Drive in Las Vegas. Montana Meat Company is also in Las Vegas.]
930: Spanish poor

940: fair noisy
950: music poor noisy

960: poor

980: fair pileup

990: poor pileup

1000: poor noisy "olympia" KOMO

1010: poor

1020: Spanish poor

1030: c2c good and spanish music poor "Wyoming" foxnews "ktworadio.com" KTWO

1040: noise

1050: golfmart south San Francisco ad KNBR/KTCT

1060: noisy

1070: "southern California" KNX

1080: poor

1090: sports strong XEPRS?

1100: "aclj.org" "1-800-684-3110" middleeast talk show "Salem communications" KFAX

1110: pileup

1120: poor c2c foxnews sfgiants KPNW

1130: good, religious, focusonthefamily KRDU

1130: traffic for Richmond/surrey BC? "news 1130" "traffic and weather together every 10 minutes on the ones" CKWX?

1140: poor

1150: pileup poor

1160: sports

1170: pileup poor

1180: fair

1190: good astronomy c2c KEX

1210: good

1230: pileup

1240: pileup

1250: poor

1260: pileup poor

1270: pileup

1280: pileup

1290: poor "Los Angeles"

1300: poor noisy

1310: pileup

1320: pileup

1330: Spanish good

1340: pileup

1350: poor noisy

1360: Spanish music poor

1370: poor

1390: Spanish music poor

1400: pileup

1420: poor

1430: poor

1440: poor

1450: pileup poor

1470: music poor

1480: Spanish music poor

1490: pileup

1500: poor

1510: pileup poor

1520: poor

1530: good c2c KFBK

1540: Asian fair Japanese?

1550: dance music? poor

1560: good c2c legendsofsuccess KNZR

1580: Spanish poor

1590: pileup

1600: weak

1620: religious fair

1630: music poor

1640: poor

1650: fair

1670: poor

1690: Spanish fair

1700: fair "[inaudible] seventeen hundred" "Baja California"

Station cities and broadcasting power obtained from radio-locator. Distances obtained from the City Distance Tool. Blank North America map from realclearwx.com.

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