[HCDX]: 940 without CBM

[WA1ION@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

940 kHz without CBM - initial impressions
Mark Connelly, WA1ION

I took advantage of a day trip to my mother's house in
West Yarmouth, MA to stop on the way home at an excellent
seaside DXing location on King Caesar Road at the west
end of the Powder Point Bridge in Duxbury, MA (GC= 70.651 W / 
42.047 N).  I used the Drake R8A with the usual phased
loop / whip antennas on the roof of the car.  Though I
did some other DXing, the main thing I wanted to observe
was activity on 940 kHz now that CBM is no longer active
there.  Prior to sunset, there was a fairly weak mix of
daytimers WGFP-MA (groundwave) and WINE-CT (skip).
Initially I had to null splatter from WROL-950 (to
the north of me).  From sunset onward (listening times
from 0000 to 0130 UTC on 16 MAY 1999), a blend of Latin
Americans took over 940.  The channel was quite jumbled
at first.  Portuguese talk with a "Mundial" mention and
some reverberated shouting was one of the first "players
on the field".  This was likely R. Brasil AM (ZYJ453)
from Rio de Janeiro, affiliated with "Sistema LBV Mundial".
This faded under Spanish-language stations, one with
Venezuela mentions (maybe often-logged R. Punto Fijo)
and the other with Colombian news, perhaps HJGB from Cali.
After 0110 UTC, the Puerto Rican rapidly came up in
strength and dominated strongly with its Spanish-language
advertising for businesses in San Juan and Mayaguez.  It
was even good on the car radio.  The "RR" on-the-minute
Morse code beeps from the Cuban R. Reloj station were
beginning to show up under Puerto Rico as I drove away
from the DX site at 0130 UTC.  On the way home, the
general level of the 940 kHz signal melange dropped from
a roar to a whisper by the time I had driven a few miles
inland to the Route 14 / Route 3 junction.  At 0145, as
I travelled Route 3 north and crossed the big marsh along
the North River, signals picked up again, briefly.  The
domestic from Virginia, with its high-intensity Bible
preaching, was now mixing in with the Latin Americans.
Once I drove north of Hanover, the whole channel quieted
down to a weak background rumble pestered by slop-over
from strong stations on 930 and 950.

Any others' 940 kHz observations will be welcomed.

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