KXEL Waterloo Reception?

[crainbebo]

I've received KXEL a few times at my old house in Bothell, WA [usually with Overcomer Ministry]. But because I live 1.5 mi from a 5kw on 1540 [KXPA] now, it's impossible to DX on that frequency.

-crainbebo

[Bongwater]

I've received KXEL a few times at my old house in Bothell, WA [usually with Overcomer Ministry]. But because I live 1.5 mi from a 5kw on 1540 [KXPA] now, it's impossible to DX on that frequency.

-crainbebo

Wow.....Bothell too. I never heard KXEL (but somehow got KISA) I once got KMPC in Cannon Beach - and they're directional the opposite way!

[vibe]

When playing w/ the Bose Wave Radio in Central Mass-I've ID KXEL a number of times, mainly winter.  But that's the exception, not the norm.

[audioguy]

The problem is, except for DX'ers, why would anyone listen to this station on skywave even for 5 minutes? Sure, it comes in with a strong signal at times, but the signal level is all over the place. It is bothered by adjacent channel hash from 1530 in Cincinnati, and as others have mentioned, a significant amount of co-channel interference. How enjoyable is it to listen to two or three 50 kW carriers grinding against one another?

"Back in the day" it was quite possible to listen to KXEL, especially in the car, for hundreds and hundreds of miles at night. It came in clearly. Now? Not so much. With all the co-channel interference and IBOC hash on AM, there are almost no clear signals at night unless you happen to live very close to a station. At my listening locations in the midwest (Chicago area and SW Michigan) there are only two skywave signals that I could stand to listen to for any length of time: 650 and 740. That is all.

[cyberdad]

Hey guys....didn't we have a thread a while back about stations audible on both the east and west coasts?  If so, I guess we should add KXEL to the list if we didn't have it there already.

"Back in the day", having WPTR on the channel probably made that problematic, but now I'm pretty sure they're gone.  So despite the overall deterioration of listening conditions on the AM band, KXEL has a somewhat clear path from New England to the Pacific Northwest.  Couple that with 50kw, a high dial position, and a pattern favoring both east and west and you've got a reasonable shot at coast-to-coast reception. 

At least in terms of being "audible".  "Listenable" is another story.

BTW, regarding CHIN...  Someone posted earlier that they may be lax in maintaining their pattern.  Come to think of it, during my travels, I seem to recall hearing them in places where I either didn't expect or hadn't heard them before.  So there may be something to that theory.

[jd]

/snip/

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.  [emphasis added]

That issue was addressed in a current application for a new station in Southchase FL (near Orlando) on 1540, directional with 7,000 watts day and 300 night.  It's the sole survivor of three mutually exclusive applications---another in Florida and one in Georgia.  The narrative regarding protection to ZNS (and critical hour consideration of KXEL) begins on page 9 here: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101247713&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1  It's a very good discussion of a complicated subject; bottom line is that ZNS's night signal doesn't cover any land areas within the "protected national boundary" above a certain level.  That's due mainly to their directional pattern, as noted in an earlier post.

Maps detailing the proposed coverage with respect to ZNS (along with KXEL) can be found here, on pages 10-11 for daytime and 38-39 for nighttime: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101247713&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=2

It would appear to work, although the resulting local coverage of the new station wouldn't be anything spectacular.  Seems that ZNS wasn't their only problem in trying to shoehorn the thing in. 

[cd637299]

....well maybe I am reading the above post (sans the link) the wrong way, but....

Just like off-the-air Canadian AM's have to be treated as if they are still on (you know, protection status, directional co-channel antennas & such); isn't ZNS supposed to be treated as non-directional (after all it is a Bahamas Clear frequency), and not as if they have some directional pattern which they have chosen to use (as far as I know)?

Is it possible that the new Orlando station consulted with the Gubmint of the Bahamas (they own ZNS IIRC, even though they can run commercials) and got special permission?

A 1540 in FL....never thought it would ever happen---and NOT in the panhandle, yet....(Well it's not as if a new AM station is going to make a splash, anyway.)

cd

[spunker88]

WDCD 1540 has filed an silent STA that went active April 1st. Late at night usually past midnight I can get KXEL, but CHIN is always there and usually dominates the channel. When WDCD was also on at night 1540 began sounding more like a graveyard channel.

[Schroedingers Cat]

55 uV/m 10% skywave would imply that all land areas in the Bahamas receive at least 1.1 mV/m 50% skywave to simplify the analysis.  There are a very large number of islands, and it would be difficult to show a separate analysis for each one, although that might allow more power and pattern flexibility.

In any event, CHIN would probably have more of a problem protecting the legacy WPTR from Mississauga than from Toronto Island.  As I recall, they were running 300 watts nighttime from the old site, probably with the old day pattern.

[Schroedingers Cat]

CHIN has a substantial minor lobe at 202 degrees. The nulls protect ZNS and KXEL best. The major lobe is better oriented from Toronto Island. 

http://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/314249-22981.pdf