Re: [IRCA] More fun on 1400 (Graveyard DX)

[Stephen Airy <pianoplayer88key@xxxxxxxxx>]

I haven't concentrated much on graveyard DX, but there are a couple that stood out for me.

First one was several years ago (probably at least 6 or 8 now, I don't remember).  I have a local on 1240 about 11.2 miles west of me, KSON (now KNSN), whose signal is strong enough to pretty much have the frequency all to itself (unless I null them).  I tuned to their frequency using a Panasonic RQ-SW20 (or SW10, can't remember and both models have the same radio circuitry inside) and Select-A-Tenna, as I noticed KSON was on the air but with an unmodulated carrier.  Well lo and behold, I heard Radio Disney underneath.  Checking their affiliates list revealed a station in Albuquerque, NM, KALY, about 616 miles east of me.  (That station is no longer airing RD.  Incidentally my local 1240 had been a Disney affiliate prior to this catch.)

The other one was more recent, within the last year or so.  I had gone to sleep with my SRF-59 listening to - what, I forget exactly, but was most likely 1070 KNX, 1090 XEPRS, 1110 KDIS, 1580 KMIK or 1700 XEPE.  I woke up around TOH at either 5am or 6am (this was in winter so it was still dark outside), put the headphones on and turned the radio on.  Not 10 seconds after I turned it on, I heard a faint voice "Equis, E E Equis" in the static.  I was unable to get much more as the signal was so poor, but that was enough.  Upon checking the FCC's website, I found that apparently my radio's tuning had been bumped during the night, as I had 1230 XEEX Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.  There was no splatter from my local 1240 (probably because the radio wasn't tuned exactly on frequency, but a little bit low like maybe a few kHz), but even more interesting was there was virtually no audible co-channel chatter like you'd normally expect on a graveyard.  XEEX
 virtually had the frequency all to itself, even though it was very faint, although I could hear a little bit of the infrasonic heterodynes underneath like other stations were trying to break through, but couldn't come up with any audio.

Am I the only one who has had catches like that?  (Digging out GY DX out from under a local that blankets the frequency, or turning on a radio after the tuning had inadvertently gotten bumped, and getting a TOH ID within 10 seconds on a GY channel (or any) that had the frequency all to itself?)

Another thing I thought of the other day...  I wonder how the "graveyard" nickname for these channels got their name?  I'm guessing it had something to do with the frequencies having so many different stations receivable in a given location that nothing would be intelligible without a lot of patience, even though individually they'd be strong enough to be almost like locals in many cases.  Well I was thinking what about a nickname, like "ghost channels", for those that maybe only have one or two stations audible (and no splatter or IBOC from local/strong adjacents), but whose signals are so weak that you'd be lucky to hear any audio, and would more likely only hear the beating of two clashing carrier frequencies?



________________________________
 From: Patrick Martin <mwdxer@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 11:05 PM
Subject: Re: [IRCA] More fun on 1400
 
Glad you caught them too. Graveyard channels are a lot of fun to DX.

Patrick Martin
Seaside OR
KGED QSL Manager


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