QSL Armed Forces network Lajes Field in the Azores, in the middle of the North Atlantic

Another QSL from an American dot on the map. A gem from the US AFB, Lajes in the Azores, which sent this curious little QSL in the late 90s. The 100 watt (think of lightbulb power) transmitter on AM 1503 reached into Kent in the UK fairly regularly, with the Armed Forces Network radio. I've AFN QSLs from all over - Germany, Japan, etc but this was a little sparkler because of the low power but also the comment about, 'Where did I  get their address and zip code?' So they were a bit wary of my report but at the same time, so polite as to verify it, express surprise and thanks. Lajes base is on one of the 9 islands, Terceira. Azores is about 1000 miles west of Lisbon and 1200 east of Newfoundland, so a key position in the Atlantic. Even so, military activity at the base has reduced drastically in recent years. Portugal has even had talks with China about having a presence there. I also have a QSL from Santa Maria airport in the Azores, for another time..😄

Guam today, Guam tomorrow - QSL 1968

QSL from 50 years ago.... this is was a utility station on Guam, making regular transmissions on SSB across the Pacific to San Francisco, using 15 kW. This particular signal kept right on going, reaching Cape Town, some 15000 miles away or nearly 26000 km! That's more than halfway around the world, which is pretty distant even for shortwave. It's a form letter with all the relevant info but the Engineer added a paragraph about this particular transmission. Guam was in the news recently when North Korea announced it might send a missile to land in the waters just a few miles offshore. Not a nice thought, and perhaps a reason for Trump to engage directly with Kim. A long-term view on the Korea's is that they should merge, as did Vietnam, now one of the most dynamic economies in the world. It's possible. Recently, South Korea's president Moon visited Mt Paektu on the North Korean-Chinese border, a place sacred to both Korea's. The hope is that enough Koreans will continue to see themselves as that, given their long history. It would allow the US to take some military chips off the table, or move them. For China it would mean a complicating shuffle in the region.

QSL WBBM Chicago IL AM 780

The Director of News and Programming at WBBM Chicago sent a short email QSL saying thanks and '... that's pretty remarkable...' This is a 50kW transmitter but with a fairly non-directional night-time pattern. The distance is about 8500 miles or 13600 km, so good going even for the station with one of the highest powers on the frequency. In the clip you can hear the CBS News cue, a jingle along with the station ID for both 780 AM and 105.9 FM and some weather including '... 15 degrees at O'Hare...' I had a few business trips to Chicago over the years and it can sure get cold there!

    

QSL WCBM Baltimore MD AM 680

The programme director at WCBM in Baltimore verified my reception from Cape Point. They were using 20 kW night-time power, reaching here from just under 8000 miles (12700 km). WCBM has to power down at night and change pattern so as not to interfere with WPTF Raleigh NC, which has often been heard here over the years. On the clip you can hear the announcer with 'Talkradio WCBM' and a couple more IDs after that.

QSL WMEN Royal Palm Beach FL AM 660

The Programme Director of WMEN verified a report on a signal heard in Cape Point....'very cool that you are hearing us way over there.' Way over there being about 7700 miles (12400 km). Night-time power is slated to be at only 460 watts, so one of my best catches. The  signal came in on two different dxpeditions to Cape Pt, so something is going right! Directionally it seems that the path is more or less this way. The clip has a clear ID as '6-40 The Hurricane' along with an auto dealer ad. I found myself wondering if they use this cue when one of those destructive Florida hurricanes is ripping through!?

QSL WDCX Rochester NY AM 990

From the shores of Lake Ontario in upstate New York comes a QSL from WDCX, Rochester on AM 990. Night-time output is only 2.5 kW but it made here to Cape Pt, 8000 miles or just about 13000 km away. Brian Cunningham at the station enthused: 'This is most assuredly the FARTHERMOST reception report I have ever received! I can verify that the audio you included with your report is indeed WDCX! WOW!' Brian says: 'we reduce power to 2.5 kW, utilizing 6 towers at night. Our night-time signal propagates due East at night, to protect another station on 990 in Detroit.' So not exactly south-east towards the southern tip of Africa but in the general direction! There's quite a bit of co-channel interference in the clip but the ID is clear enough.

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QSL WSJS Winston-Salem NC AM 600

This station QSLd an email report from our January expedition to Cape Pt. The 5 kW signal was picked up on a 400 metre BoG antenna. Seems like the night pattern is aimed our way. Kyle Shassburger, who hosts a show on the station, welcomed his South Africa audience in the show! Distance is about 8000 miles or nearly 13000 kms. In the recording you can hear an ad followed by the station cue. Quite a bit of co-channel interference but  no doubt who it is.

QSL from WPAB Ponce, Puerto Rico AM 550

The president of WPAB Ponce in Puerto Rico sent a very polite confirmation letter per email for a reception report in January, along with an invitation to visit them (must put that on my list!). The station came in with a good signal close to dawn one morning at Cape Point. Puerto Rico is quite rare here with only a handful of AM stations logged over the years and none so low in the band as WPAB on 550 kHz, with only 5 kW and an omni-directional antenna, over 6000 miles and 10000 km away. The recording has a clear ID with call letters and frequency, no need to strain the ears on this one!

QSL from KGOW, Houston TX on AM 1560

KGOW in Houston QSL'd a report for their 'SBNation Radio' transmission on AM 1560. The attached audio file shows how well this signal was coming in. Since the QSL, Gow Media has leased the transmitter/antenna to a Vietnamese station. This we have also heard here with good signals. The distance is about 8600 miles (13800 km) but that doesn't stop it from punching in here strongly at times. In the words of the Controller at Gow Media: 'We leased 1560 AM to a Vietnamese station and changed the dial to 94.1 FM using a translator (new technology that doesn’t require a tower).'

QSL from WAOK, Atlanta GA AM 1380

WAOK Atlanta, GA verified my report from our January trip. Station engineer, Robert LaFore, called my report 'amazing', partly because he can't hear it where he lives, 25 miles to the north of the station. Actually, I've had quite a few comments like this from stations: because of the directional nature of their signals, locals often can't hear their own station if they are on the back of the beam. Atlanta is just over 8100 miles from here (13000 km) so the 4.2 kW transmitter is doing a great job! Before the station cue you can hear a call from Miss Virginia as well as the station studio number. The station sent me two WAOK t-shirts in a neat little drawstring bag, along with a notebook and clip.

QSL from WSM, Nashville AM 650

WSM, Nashville is one of the iconic US AM stations, first on the air in 1925. It runs the world's longest-running radio programme, Grand Ole Opry, the weekly country music stage show. Many of the most famous C&W stars were regulars and WSM still broadcasts the show live on Saturday nights. This is a 50 kW transmitter but its antenna footprint is non-direction so quite a good catch from over 8000 miles away. I contacted the station on Facebook and it confirmed my report, noting that I was listening to Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs. In the clip you can hear weather and the station cue and jingle pretty clearly.

QSL from WXNT Indianapolis 1430 AM

This one came in from Indianapolis, about 8300 miles away. Alex Keddie, engineering manager, says: 'You have set our best distance record to date.' There's a lot of history on this station. Set up originally in 1926 in the Ford Motor Co showroom in Indianapolis, it was one of the two stations first to broadcast a full commentary on the famous Indy 500. It went through several name changes before becoming WXNT. Audio of the station cue attached, warning: you need sharp ears!

QSL Radio Lider, Cajamarca Peru AM 970

This one popped up on a dxpedition to Cape Pt last year with a readable signal, for just a few minutes. Luckily there was a clear ID, enough to send a report to the station, which replied per Facebook, one of the few Facebook QSLs I've got. Not one of those detailed verifications, just an acknowledgement of my report and reception. I've listened to the station 'en vivo' on the web since because I'm learning to speak Spanish, slowly, and a bit of Peruvian audio gives me quite a kick! The station is listed with just 1 kW so doing a fantastic job from the Andes to Cape Town, over 6000 miles. I love the station motto: 'Siempre líder, líder como tú.' You can hear this in the station cue, recording attached, through the mush.

QSL from 6SE Esperance, Western Australia on AM 747

This is from 6SE Esperance, Western Australia, 600 miles away. Esperance is a small town on the coast, about 400 miles east of Perth. As can be seen, we are on the same latitude. We've heard many WA stations here over the years and most have verified our reports.  Rod Ashworth at the station kindly QSLd and sent this pic of the station antenna. They put out 5 kW from there and broadcast on the Radio West network. Although the stations are in sync, they do have individual station IDs, with the frequency, as you can hear in the attached clip, followed by a snippet of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good." 

WDJO Cincinnati OH 1480 AM - 300 Watts, 8300 miles: ID audios attached

This is another amazing catch. WDJO Cincinnati on AM 1480 playing Oldies, heard at Cape Pt, 8300 miles away. It was night-time at the station so it was using just 300 Watts! The antenna orientation was primarily to the south-west. Absolutely no idea how such a low-powered signal could come this far, other than to say that the strangest things happen in this hobby. Attached are two clips with station IDs. I've been in contact with the station but, try as I might, sadly cannot get a response to my reception report, despite the ID clips and other details, like four of the oldies they played. Incidentally, it is quite remarkable how Shazam can recognise pop songs through heavy radio static! Footnote: a year later Gary Stephens at WDJO verified per email..... one of my best!

QSL from KRMG Tulsa OK 740 AM

This one blew my socks away. KRMG in Tulsa verified by email,  with Levi May, Programme Director, saying...."LOVE THIS! I can confirm 100% this is KRMG. 8800 miles!  That is just incredible. Graham, thank you for sending this over.  You have made my week." Picking out KRMG from our recordings made my week, too! It looks like there is a secondary night-time lobe aimed east, but not really in our direction, with the primary lobe heading out west. How did that 25kW signal get to Cape Point, I wonder? Oklahoma stations are rare in this neck of the woods and I'm pretty sure this is a first here, although we don't have good records of this. In the clip you can hear a bit of weather and then the station cue including their FM frequency. There's co-channel interference from the big Brazilian, Sociedade da Bahia, which can sometimes be heard here on a car radio. Close by on 729 AM is Cape Pulpit Radio, a local station, which can produce a lot of splash but was relatively quite on this occasion.

QSL Radio Absoluta Campos dos Goytacazes RJ AM 1470

This is from Radio Absoluta in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, about 3700 miles away. The station is rated with just 1 kW and came in a couple of times during our January dxpedition. They sent a kind of QSL, more like an acknowledgement of a report and audio clip put up on Facebook. Certainly not one of those formal, full data QSLs that were so popular in earlier times for dxing but better than a stony silence! Station played some pleasant Brazilian romantic pop and the recording has a nice clear ID and frequency.

QSL WMTR Morristown NJ AM 1250

Glenn Hauser of World of Radio fame (see his DX Listening Digest out every week), spurred me to start posting some audio files on my blog. It turns out this is quite easy to do using Soundcloud. As a starter, the attached audio clip is from WMTR, Morristown, NJ on AM 1250, using 7 kW night-time power, heard at Cape Pt, near here, 7800 miles from the  station. The station has a Classic Oldies format, very unusual these days, targeting the New York metro area. On the clip you can hear the end of "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees (1968) followed by the station cue. Mark Mitchell at the station commented wryly per email "...since we have to null our signal to the west at night, you actually cannot hear our groundwave about 15 miles west of here, within the same county!" An interesting piece of radio trivia is that Samuel Morse did his inventing of the famous code right there in Morristown, in 1836, so a long radio history for the town.

QSL KVCE Highland Park TX 1160 AM

KVCE verified my report of 4 July, 2017 per email. I had quite a long exchange with Ronda Kay at the station, explaining about verifications and QSLs and she kindly responded with a QSL. The station was using a religious format at the time and a night-time power of just 1 kW. This is one of my furthest 1 kW verifications and is not one of the  x-banders higher up the AM scale, where more very low-powered transmitters tend to be heard. The distance is close to 8800 miles. Since then the call letters have changed to KBDT. The night-time pattern is pointed more or less in my direction. The station ID was 'The Word 100.7 FM', which is the sister station, KWRD. K-letter stations are special here because they tend to be so far away. The  station cue is clear on the attached clip.

QSL WTAR Norfolk VA 850 AM

This one is from WTAR Norfolk VA, 7800 miles (12500 km) from Cape Point. The QSL was from very friendly Dave Morgan, who is the engineer for this station and also WNIS. Dave actually alerted me to listening out for WTAR on AM 850. In the past I'd been so used to hearing the more powerful 50 kW WEEI Boston with its sports format that I didn't think to distinguish WTAR with its sports format on the same channel. In fact, WEEI is affiliated to ESPN while WTAR is with FOX Sports. WTAR puts out 25 kW at night more or less in our direction. Subsequently, WTAR has come in here quite often.

QSL CJBC Toronto ON 860 AM

OK reactivating this blog. For the time being I'll be posting QSLs that I've received since the start of 2017. That was when I stared using my Excalibur Pro and long Beverage-on-the-ground antennae to listen to AM station, mainly in the Americas and Australia. The place we go to is near Cape Point, south of Cape Town, South Africa, where the level of electronic interference is low.

The  first one to post is CJBC on AM 860. This is a 50 kW non-directional signal produced by Radio Canada for French listeners in the Toronto area. It was the first time I've heard this here but since then it has come in on numerous occasions. Nice to hear a bit of French from the Americas!

This was my 33rd Canadian AM QSL and the first since 2006!

Distance = 8100 miles or 13100 km.