KXEL Waterloo Reception?

[foreverchanges1975]

In Memphis you can only really get KXEL around sunset in the winter. Then the pattern changes and it's gone.

[jd]

So what made the difference, that Toronto's 1540 could go 24 hours now, when they could not back in the 60s?  (And where was the outcry from KXEL & WDCD?)

The difference is that CHIN's transmitter site was moved from Mississauga (southwest of Toronto) to Centre (Toronto) Island in the mid-80's. So far as the outcry over CHIN being allowed to operate at night, I recall opposition at the time from WPTR, although I don't remember hearing anything similar from KXEL.  The agreement between Canada and the U.S. was eventually approved after CHIN's plan to run 50kW at night was scaled back to 30kW. 

WDCD I believe is either daytime only now or on severely reduced night time power. 

Actually they're off the air.  Here's a letter requesting authority to remain silent: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=32941

[Bongwater]

No dice on the West Coast for KXEL as far as I know. But I once picked up KISA (now KREA) Honolulu in Mount Vernon, WA several years ago. Got a TOH ID.

[Schroedingers Cat]

So what made the difference, that Toronto's 1540 could go 24 hours now, when they could not back in the 60s?  (And where was the outcry from KXEL & WDCD?)

The difference is that CHIN's transmitter site was moved from Mississauga (southwest of Toronto) to Centre (Toronto) Island in the mid-80's. So far as the outcry over CHIN being allowed to operate at night, I recall opposition at the time from WPTR, although I don't remember hearing anything similar from KXEL.  The agreement between Canada and the U.S. was eventually approved after CHIN's plan to run 50kW at night was scaled back to 30kW. 

I'm surprised they allowed them on Toronto Island.  I think I read that there are all kinds of restricitions on private ownership on those islands and the land use agreements eventually expire. How long has the 1430 array been there?  Seems that the six 1430 towers are old as I think they are self supporting. CHIN's are guyed. Four in a row and a fifth for the day pattern.

They would have had to protect WPTR/WDCD in the night pattern from the old site I believe, and the nulls would have been over Toronto.  Kind of like the WQEW night null toward KNZR and Manhattan but a lot worse.

1430 and 1540 are overwhelming in central Toronto.  They overpower all noise in most locations, and are heard well on the cheapest receivers.

[schmave]

KXEL comes in well here in central Ohio most nights. We must be a little north of the southeast-bound null.

[Scott Fybush]

What's funny is that at one time, not only was Toronto's 1540 only a daytimer, but used 680 for nighttime use, if I recall reading correctly.

From 1963 to 1966, yes...but this wasn't CHIN. This was a different 1540, the old CHFI, and it was a transitional step along the way to CHFI's move to full-time operation on 680, where it eventually became today's CFTR.

As other posters have noted, CHFI's transmitter was out in Mississauga, west of Toronto, where nighttime operation on 1540 with nulls protecting KXEL, WPTR and most especially ZNS (remember, 1540 is actually the Bahamas' clear channel) would have sent the signal due north into what was then sparsely-populated suburbia without providing useful service to the core of the market's population.

I believe the rules have changed since then, as well, allowing greater use of another country's clear channels at night so long as signals are protected at the border. In the case of CHIN on Toronto Island, that's easy - it's all aimed north with a very deep null over the lake toward the US. When the CHIN array is operating properly, it's almost impossible to hear CHIN in Rochester, 80 miles or so to the southeast. In recent years, I've heard CHIN much better than it used to come in, which suggests to me that the array may not be tuned up, not at all unusual for a Canadian DA.

[cd637299]

^ Back around maybe 1992 from South Florida, I may have actually caught CHIN, even with the null....but I will never be able to say for sure.  I thought I heard the words "Broadcast News," which is/was a Canadian radio network.

All this talk of 1540, and otherwise all I get is ZNS.  In the FL Keys, there is a Cuban as well, throwing a monkey wrench into everything.

During the copper thievery of ZNS, I caught one or two US stations on 1540 at night, stations which shall be nameless....they are supposed to run daytime only.....I think one of them is on tape, and I seriously doubt it was a DX test.

And don't PM me about it.... 

cd

[Dave]

KXEL comes in real clear after local sunset, once WLOI LaPorte, IN signs off.  That's the only time I get KXEL in Gary, IN, since WLOI is heard very well for a 250 watt station during daytime hours. 

[Schroedingers Cat]

After analyzing the nighttime applications of hundreds stations, I have come to realize that protecting a fairly low NIF Class B station that is within 500 miles or so is almost as difficult, if not more difficult, than protecting a Class A station 1500 or more miles away. Stations applying for high power are often submitting clipping studies for the protected night groundwave contour points of Class B stations, as well as the points along the nighttime skywave contours of Class A stations.  For example, WCXI 1160 is much more limited by Class B WYLL than Class A KSL.  Changes in the way skywave is computed for domestic stations do not apply to treaty considerations in the the Atlantic Ocean, and Central and South America.  I don't think ZNS is protected to its whole skywave contour over the ocean though.  There is a zone surrounding and including the islands that is protected as I recall.

[cd637299]

1540 is Bahamas clear....as I understand it, they can go non-directional, but I believe they choose to direct their signal to cover whatever islands they can.

cd