Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada AM radio silent; are U.S. stations next?

[Hemingray]

Does this mean the entire AM band in NS is fair game now? Not much that I can get here where I am, but at night it's real good.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Hemingray

Does this mean the entire AM band in NS is fair game now? Not much that I can get here where I am, but at night it's real good.

What do you hear on AM radio, as a rule, in your town? Just curious.

I thought your area gets most Jonesboro, Arkansas AM stations full time. I just looked at the profile for your town on CityData.com, and found that you are but a short distance from Jonesboro. Evening Shade is not that far from Memphis either (if you consider 100+ miles "not far"). I'd think you could hear both cities' major 50kW AM stations in daytime and until/unless they change their signal patterns after sundown. Fifty-kW full-time stations had literally coast-to-coast range at night (when daytimers on the former clear channels had to sign off at local sunset, leaving the clears quiet at night, and all night except for, at most, two 50kW stations, one on either coast) before the FCC did away with the clear channels and granted daytimers the option of running at limited nighttime power (from five to a maximum of 500 watts), often with directional antennas, about 25 years ago; however, since you are just over 100 miles from Memphis, I'd think you would hear their 50kW stations in spite of the FCC ruling that now limits former clear-channel stations' coverage to 750 miles in all directions.

[Hemingray]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

What do you hear on AM radio, as a rule, in your town? Just curious.

I thought your area gets most Jonesboro, Arkansas AM stations full time. I just looked at the profile for your town on CityData.com, and found that you are but a short distance from Jonesboro. Evening Shade is not that far from Memphis either (if you consider 100+ miles "not far"). I'd think you could hear both cities' major 50kW AM stations in daytime and until/unless they change their signal patterns after sundown. Fifty-kW full-time stations had literally coast-to-coast range at night (when daytimers on the former clear channels had to sign off at local sunset, leaving the clears quiet at night, and all night except for, at most, two 50kW stations, one on either coast) before the FCC did away with the clear channels and granted daytimers the option of running at limited nighttime power (from five to a maximum of 500 watts), often with directional antennas, about 25 years ago; however, since you are just over 100 miles from Memphis, I'd think you would hear their 50kW stations in spite of the FCC ruling that now limits former clear-channel stations' coverage to 750 miles in all directions.

Within my home, even with an outdoor antenna, I can only seem to pull in KRMG 740 from Tulsa, OK at night. I suspect it's one of the three running computers in this room, probably this one. I can take my little wooden Transitone outside and get a dial full

[marty59]

Jeffhs, I'd hate to see AM go away!

When I travel, I prefer listening to AM and if it's nightime I'll dx depending on where I am, and I like to hear the weather and road conditions also.

There's also Trucker related shows on at night too..more people may listen to AM then you realize, and like I mentioned I live in a major market area.

It's bad enough that we have to feed our vintage TV's artificial signals but with the mobility of AM (and our vintage radios) we can still have AM!

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by marty59

Jeffhs, I'd hate to see AM go away!

When I travel, I prefer listening to AM and if it's nightime I'll dx depending on where I am, and I like to hear the weather and road conditions also.

There's also Trucker related shows on at night too..more people may listen to AM then you realize, and like I mentioned I live in a major market area.

It's bad enough that we have to feed our vintage TV's artificial signals but with the mobility of AM (and our vintage radios) we can still have AM!

Me too. I love to listen to music over AM, I even prefer that over FM music. I guess I just think back to when I was a kid. I do believe AM will be with us for a long time to come, AM does have one advantage, it can cover longer distances in the day and much more at night. I like to tune around when I'm out of town and still be able to hear Pittsburgh in places like North Carolina, Florida and so on. My uncle in Florida up until he passed away always listened to KDKA at night and my cousins forever remember him trying to tune it in over the static and so on.

I don't know about how many radio stations there are in Canada but if we went all or even 90% FM in this country, the band would be so overcrowded. I remember even in 1987 when I drove through the San Jauquin Valley on I-5 in California, there were several FM stations battling it out over the same frequency on my car radio. I think it is a mistake to go over to FM all the way, if you're out in the country, at least you still know what is going on by pulling in stations at night.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Hemingray

Within my home, even with an outdoor antenna, I can only seem to pull in KRMG 740 from Tulsa, OK at night. I suspect it's one of the three running computers in this room, probably this one. I can take my little wooden Transitone outside and get a dial full

Wow! What a great location for Dxing!
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin...&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

[Hemingray]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Wow! What a great location for Dxing!
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin...&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

Well, haul 'er on over one night!

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Hemingray

Well, haul 'er on over one night!

Nah, you need an R-392, the "portable" version of the R-390...Makes a dandy heated campstool, & you can stick one under a corner of yr Jeep to hold it up, if you've lost a jack...Supposedly, they'll work underwater, but even I'M not stupid enuff to test that myth...(grin)

[jr_tech]

Hemingray said:
"Well, haul 'er on over one night!"

Sandy_G said:
"Nah, you need an R-392, the "portable" version of the R-390...Makes a dandy heated campstool, & you can stick one under a corner of yr Jeep to hold it up, if you've lost a jack...Supposedly, they'll work underwater, but even I'M not stupid enuff to test that myth...(grin)"


Ahhh, Yes! the R-392 otherwise the "R-390 lite"... perhaps only 50 Lb. instead of 90-95, but still a bit much to drag over 2000 miles or so for an evenings Dxing... sounds like fun, though.

jr

[truetone36]

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Wow! What a great location for Dxing!
I just looked up the location on "Radio Locator" and found that you should be in range of something like 37 stations... but with mostly weak reception. More FMs than AMs within range. Great place for a R-390!
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin...&x=20&y=4&sid=
jr

I'm not far from Evening Shade, and Dxing conditions are great. I pick up all kinds of stuff out of several states on my radios, I've even picked up a station out of Window Rock, AZ a few times on my DX-160.