Re: [IRCA] San Diego blackout last few hours, my DX attempts

["Doug Martin" <martin-doug@xxxxxxx>]

Hi.  I also had a rare bit of fun during the San Diego power outage.  Local 
stations off the air helped, but so did not hearing noise from fluorescent 
lights, dimmer switches, etc.
I heard Las Vegas on both 1100 and 1140, the second is new from here.  KPNW 
was in and out on 1120.  May not sound like much, but it's rare here.
The only totally new catch for me was 890 kHz, Christian broadcasting for 
the Central Coast, from Oroyo Grande.  I never heard the call letters, but 
several references to 890online.com was easy to confirm when the power came 
back on.
This apartment complex in mid-city San Diego is the worst dx location I've 
ever suffered thru.
Doug Martin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Airy" <pianoplayer88key@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" 
<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 3:03 AM
Subject: [IRCA] San Diego blackout last few hours, my DX attempts


Earlier this afternoon there were a TON of AM stations in the San Diego / 
Tijuana area off the air. They included:
760 KFMB (they're back on now, were at 5kW for several hours but sometime 
between 10pm and 12am turned their 50kW rig back on)
910 KECR (back on now)
1000 KCEO (seems to still be off, but it's hard to tell as their night 
signal is weak here anyway)
1030 XESDD (still off)
1040 KURS (still off, hearing spanish)
1130 KSDO (was broadcasting an unmodulated carrier for a few hours, but has 
been off since)
1170 KCBQ (back on now)
1210 KPRZ (actually never noticed them off, just with an unmodulated carrier 
checking periodically over several hours)
1240 KNSN (back on now)
1270 XEAZ (seem to be back with an unmodulated carrier)
1310 XEC (still off)
1390 XEKT (still off, am hearing what sounds like IBOC hiss)
1420 XEXX (back on now)
1450 KFSD (night signal would be in the jumble so I can't check them)
1630 XEUT (can't verify if they're back on now as they're normally off 
anyway this time of the night)
1700 XEPE (back on with an unmodulated carrier)

Also, with the power lines being silent, it was an excellent opportunity to 
use the utility ground wires as an inductively coupled longwire antenna. 
Gave me a bit of a taste for what DXing is like for you guys on DXpeditions 
in rural areas, albeit I was trying in the mid afternoon. :)

Some stations I heard on the Tecsun PL-606 in the mid afternoon (~3:50 to 5 
pm) while many of the locals were off include:
840 KXNT North Las Vegas (with SAT, could have been beginnings of skip as it 
was about 4:25pm when I checked them)
900 KALI West Covina (with the Select-A-Tenna
910 XEAO Mexicali (with SAT)
920 KPSI Palm Springs (with SAT, although barely audible barefoot)
980 KFWB Los Angeles (much improved signal)
990 KTMS Santa Barbara (with SAT; also audible barefoot)
1020 KTNQ Los Angeles (much-improved signal)
1050 KCAA Loma Linda (with SAT)
1100 unID (either Las Vegas or Phoenix - was ~5:34pm)
1110 KDIS Pasadena (barefoot, much better signal than normal)
1140 KNWQ Palm Springs (with SAT)
1150 KTLK Los Angeles (with SAT, may have been able to hear them barefoot 
but I don't remember if I checked)
1180 KERN Wasco-Greenacres (with SAT)
1230 KXO El Centro, CA (with SAT)
1240 KEZY San Bernardino, CA (with SAT; barefoot had a faint trace)
1260 KMZT Beverly Hills (barefoot)
1300 KAZN Pasadena (barefoot faint, SAT definitely helped)
1310 possible KIQQ Barstow? (with SAT)
1390 KLTX Long Beach (barefoot)
1400 unID from W/NW approx (with SAT)
1430 KWST El Centro + KMRB San Gabriel mix (with SAT)
1440 KFNY Riverside (with SAT)
1450 KVEN Ventura (with SAT)
1570 KPRO Riverside (with SAT, could have been skip as it was 4:32pm)
1640 unID, sounded like a TIS but too weak to tell

Some of the above stations are audible anyway, but had much improved signals 
due to my PL-606 not desensing nearly as much from the local stations. At 
around 5:40 to 5:56 pm I checked reception combining the Select-A-Tenna with 
the utility groundwire. Several stations had much-improved signals there. 
For example, 640 KFI, 740 KBRT and 1070 KNX were all coming in as well as my 
local 50kW stations 7 and 9 miles away (KFMB and KCBQ) normally are heard 
barefoot. Also 1110 KDIS was as clear as some other locals, and normally 
it's barely audible due to desense from locals on 1130 and 1170. On 1580, 
KMIK was coming in quite strong (skip was well in force by 5:55pm), 
indicating 75/25 on the PL-606. For comparison I took the radio away from 
the antennas and got a 30/25 reading, implying an approximate 45 dB of gain 
(although sometimes I suspect it's actually quite a bit more).

Later in the evening (around 8pm) in the kitchen with the SAT I heard:
1030 KTWO
1040 Spanish "XEE??" 5kW "radiovisa.com.mx?" (heard parts of their TOH ID 
but couldn't make everything out)
1120 gospel music (suspect KANN Roy, UT)
1130 unID sounded like news but I'm not sure, heard a KQNA call after a 
George Noory promo when rechecking a few minutes later
1210 unID sounded like sports
1270 country music - suspect KJUG Tulare
1420 spanish from the southeast
1700 english music (maybe 70s? I'm not an expert) - was that KVNS?

Also I attempted around 8:20 to 8:40 pm to check longwave reception at the 
utility groundwire, but with a few stations (including 760 KFMB) back on the 
air and not having a tunable longwave antenna it was very difficult to hear 
anything, and impossible to verify anything. Suspected frequencies included:
180 - music?
171 - talk?
198 - faint audio?
225 - trace of audio?
252 - trace?
261 - trace?
There were bits of distorted/trace modulation audible on non-broadcast 
frequencies as well, which implies that there was some local signal strong 
enough to overload the front end of my radio.
Also, using a barbed wire fence across the street, I heard unmodulated 
carriers on 298, 305 and 415 kHz. Point Loma's 302 kHz DGPS was also audible 
as well.

Anyone else in the San Diego, CA area try their luck at DXing in the last 
several hours?
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