Everyone
I recently returned from
a ten day vacation in Alaska, covering Anchorage, Denali National Park, Fairbanks (briefly), and Seward. It was a fantastic trip with lots of wildlfie and
scenery. I even managed
some DXing on My Sony 2010 while we were there.
Here are a few
observations from the trip:
Anchorage: There are six locals,
plus a TIS at the local university. KHAR-590 is
standards, KUDO-1080 is Air America, and KTZN-550 is
Sportstalk. KENI-650, KBYR-700, and KFQD-750
are news and talk, ranging from mainstream to conservative. The Soldotna and Homer stations are also audible
(fair-weak) during the day. Our hotel had lots
of electrical noise so I didn’t try any DX listening.
Healy: This is a small
town a few miles north of Denali National Park. The
strongest daytime signal is KIAM-630, about 50 miles up the road in
Nenana. I could also hear the four Fairbanks area stations with fair
signals: KFAR-660 (talk), KCBF-820 (sports), KFBX-970 (talk), and
KJNP-1170 (religion). Sunset was about 11:45 pm and sunrise was around
4, but it never really got dark at night. I
tried DXing at around 2 or 3 am two nights.
The first time, I had weak carriers from the Anchorage stations, with bits of
audio on 650, but that was it! The second
attempt was better – readable audio from the Anchorage stations, plus some of
the other stations in south central Alaska (620 790 890 920 1140
1230 1450), and a few signals from the lower 48. KFBK
was the strongest non-Alaskan, followed by KGO and KEX.
Seward: Seward is on the
coast, at the north end of a bay about ten miles long and 2-3 miles
wide, with high mountains on all sides. We
stayed in a duplex, which had some electrical noise I could sort of
deal with. Seward has one local, KSWD-950, plus
a flea-powered TIS on 1500. The Anchorage stations, about 70 miles
away, are audible during the day with fair signals. I
could also hear the more distant Homer (620 890) and Soldatna (920
1140) stations fair-poor, plus KCHU-770 Valdez very weakly.
I DX'ed three of the
nights we were there. The results weren’t all
that spectacular, but it was interesting to hear my locals and other
pests as DX. The Vancouver stations were mostly
strong, as were some the other 50kw west coast stations.
I heard several regional channel stations, including surprises
like KITI-1420 and KYKN-1430. I sometimes had
audio on graveyard channels but it was never readable, except from the
Alaskans on 1230 and 1450. There was absolutely
nothing from the higher latitude stations (Nome, Fairbanks, Whitehorse, etc.) and nothing
outside North America.
I hadn’t done any
domestic DXing for a while, so it was frustrating to hear the same six
talk shows up and down the dial, with infrequent local station breaks
all at the same time. I miss the 1970s, when we
had all those Top 40 stations shouting out their calls after each song….
Station Notes
840 KCKC
Big Lake, confirmed silent, not heard while in the area and has been
deleted from FCC database
950 KSWD Seward, had been silent, but is now active. 24 hour non-stop country music, no ads or
announcements except for occasional IDs
980 KZXX Kenai
confirmed silent, not heard while in the area and has been deleted from
FCC database
1020 KAXX Eagle River is silent, though still
listed in FCC database
1110 KAGV, Big Lake-Houston, was silent. According to
www.daveandlauraonline.com,
KAGV started broadcsting in late 2004.
Less than a month later, the transmitter building was flooded, and
some of the equipment was damaged. The station had hoped to be back
on by March. No mention of a revised target date.
1170 KJNP
is apparently not 24hr. Noted off at 2 or 3
am LT while in Healy, but
stayed on past midnight 7/19. Their
web site says they’re on about 19 hours/day, so
sked might be 0500-0100 +/- local time.
1500 Seward, low powered
TIS noted here while in Seward w/parking info, etc. Very
low power.
1610 WPHC769 Anchorage,
TIS at University of Alaska Anchorage campus, parking and
other info about campus activities, "WPHC769, Wolf Radio for University of Alaska Anchorage". Good-fair
throughout Anchorage.
1610 KOE700
There is a TIS near the entrance to Denali National Park, with park info etc.
“KOE700 The Radio Voice of Denali National Park”
Bruce