[IRCA] DXING ON A RECENT TRIP

[Pete Taylor <ptdx@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Oct. 10, I resumed the trip which was cut short midstream when my  
mother-in-law passed away. Again, I brought the ICF 2010 in my  
briefcase and the Palomar amp and two loops in my suitcase. As far as  
I can tell, nothing in the suitcase  was investigated. I had included  
a picture of all the gear hooked up at home and a brief writeup of  
the hobby and a couple of DX publications, BUT, rather than ask for  
trouble, this info was down a couple of levels in the suitcase  
immediately above the equipment. However, in all cases (Seattle,  
Orlando, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Minneapolis) the briefcase with the  
2010 was put through the scanner twice and I was asked to remove it  
so TSA could look at it. I had no subsequent problems. Most AM DX was  
done from the car. I returned home Sunday night 10/21.

ORLANDO - just one item. I stayed out on SR436, prime property  
(motels, fast food, hotels) which leads to the airport. At night,  
WEUS-810 was non-existent; most of the others could be easily looped.  
990 Disney was the only IBOC as I recall.

CHATTANOOGA. Again, I stayed out by the airport (ESE of the city),  
and again, the hometown signals were pretty scroungy at night. No  
local IBOC.
1070 WFLI - I heard one ID; they just never bothered most of the time  
unless they were carrying SRN news.
1490 - I never heard the call letters. Also, unless they were having  
audio line problems, I got the feeling when there was no paid block  
programming, they just left the carrier on with no audio.

NASHVILLE. I dropped by the WSM tower and took pictures (exit 71 in  
Brentwood off of I-65). It is a thing of beauty with its ten  
industrial strength guy wires (cables) connected at the waist. For  
some reason they cut a 4’ swath immediately inside the fence all  
around the perimeter; the rest of the grass is overgrown. As you  
approach it on I-65, it’s sort of like having Godzilla standing  
there. Can you imagine the zoning issues if someone tried to build  
this today? IBOCs were WLAC-1510 and WPLN-1430.
529 LYQ (Manchester, TN, as I recall) really gets out. It was easily  
heard west of Chattanooga and for some time immediately north of the  
TN/KY border.
770 WVNN Athens, AL (presumed) - nice signal. Audible in all the  
places I stayed.
1610 - OC noted 9/15 10:30am CDT on I-65 in the Brentwood area so  
maybe the THP is considering using an additional channel.
1680 WPVD162 - the state has multiple synchronized HARs on this one  
frequency on I-65 (and other places as well). Rarely can you hear one  
of them without it sounding like shortwave. These are the calls I  
jotted down; FCC database has WQEY408-409-599. Two parallel rows of 3  
towers of identical height were noted coming in to the city from the  
north on I-65.

OWENSBORO. I haven’t been in this area before so was surprised to  
hear KTRS-550 and WILL-580 at fairly good levels as I headed toward  
Bowling Green. WMIX-940 and KZIM-960 were also noted. Not to date  
myself, but whatever happened to WLBJ-1410?
680 - I think the rumble on this frequency has already been  
discussed. However, it was audible daytime much of the time I was  
driving in KY so methinks that’s the state where it is coming from. I  
didn’t notice any local IBOC activity.
1060 WSIC? Unknown, noted near Lawrenceburg TN. Either a call change  
for WQMV Waverly or my hearing is worse than usual
1160 - WKCM Hawesville KY. Good level in Owensboro but despite its  
strength, it gets hammered by another relatively short spaced station.
1230 WCES Glasgow KY. ESPN. Must be new; in NRC log as WWKU (CP).  
Noted 10/16 1:57pm CDT from the car.
1490 WCNE? Nothing matches; will put it through the equalizer.
1500 TIS for Marion KY. Definitely traveler info. No TIS/HAR in FCC  
files; however, WMJL is listed there as a 175w daytimer. Broadcast  
quality.

MINNESOTA. I landed at MSP 10/19 and stayed in Pine River about 20  
miles north of Brainerd. Minneapolis IBOCs were 770 830 1130 1440.
680 CJOB Winnipeg still readable in Pine River but it didn’t seem to  
be as strong as it was a couple of years ago.
530 The MN Road Research Project TIS is still here (Albertville, exit  
202, US-94) educating us about paving techniques and related. Good  
quality.
740 “the new true oldies channel” (WMIN presumed)
1570 “The New Talk of the Twin Cities” (KYCR presumed)
1620 - My mystery station remains. This is the one carrying the  
Patriots-Dolphins game on 10/21 game at a steady level between about  
2:30-3pm CDT (30 min./30 miles) heading south on I-94/I-394 which ran  
local ads for firms in Rutland and Brandon, VT and had an ID for WEXP  
(FM) 101.5 around 3pm. It lasted too long and was too steady to be a  
Section 10. I remember noting that some X-banders were heard nearly  
all day long when I visited up here several years ago; I don’t know  
if it is due to ducting or what. I have always enjoyed DXing in this  
area because of the ground conductivity. You get to dip down in to IA  
and NE, across the Dakotas and into MB. However, in Pine River at  
night, most frequencies are mushy; one would have to spend a week or  
two in order to sort things out. Semilocals KLIZ-1380 and WWWI-1270,  
even with their northerly patterns, were not listenable at night..  
And finally in MN, driving north on I-94, I saw an interesting WCCO  
billboard: “You’ll never outrun our coverage.”

Because of all the syndicated programming and the time it takes to  
get IDs, I really did not spend much time DXing on AM, other than in  
the car. When there was something of interest, I would note it on the  
cassette player. At night, after my hosts’ dimmer switches and the  
motel TVs went off, I hit the beacon band.

Pete Taylor
Tacoma, WA
12225w 4719n
ICF2010 + Kiwa air core loop
DX398; Palomar loop





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