TAPR News

PSR #156 Online Now

The Summer 2023, #156 issue of TAPR's quarterly newsletter, PSR, is now available by clicking here. 

2022 DCC Papers Online Now

The paper presentations of the 2022 ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC at Charlotte, NC) are now online at https://tapr.org/41st-arrl-and-tapr-digital-communications-conference/

WWAC

Sundown Wednesday, I heard oldies on 1020 kHz, a place where I normally don’t hear oldies, so I hung back and waited for a station ID. The station identified between each song and it took a few songs before I figured out the ID: "wibbage."

It took some Googling on the Internet to figure out what was wibbage.

“WWAC began operations in the mid-1960s as WSLT on 1520 kHz, featuring such notable radio hosts as Larry Keene, Phil Sheridan and Bob Everland. The call sign was changed to WIBG in 1978 after the call went out of use in Philadelphia. The station broadcast with various formats over the years including MOR, Top 40, oldies and country. In the early 1980s WIBG moved their transmitter and tower from Somer's Point to Palermo, changing its frequency to 1020 kHz in the process. The call letters were changed to WWAC in 2021. Today WWAC airs "Wibbage Gold", a tribute to the original "Big AM 99 in Philadelphia with 50s/60s oldies music and local talk on the weekends.” (Source: WIBG.com)

So it turns out I logged a new one: WWAC transmitting 680 watts on 1020 kHz from Upper Township, New Jersey, about 190 miles south-southwest of here using the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 120-ft Loop Underground (LUG) antenna.

July 7 E-skip

Mid-afternoon Sporadic E / E-skip noted here today. Relogged two stations on 90.9 MHz:

1930 UTC, WJKV in Jacksonville, Florida, transmitting 41,000 watts, 920 miles to the south-southwest

1950 UTC, WOWB in Brewton, Alabama, transmitting 100,000 watts, 1057 miles to the southwest 

Both were received with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

May 31 E-skip

I have been checking 90.9 MHz every morning for any sign of life. As I mentioned before, 90.9 MHz is the only FM band channel that is unoccupied here, so anything heard on 90.9 is an indication that the band is open.

WBUR on 90.9 from Boston was loud and clear at 9 AM, but I did not get back to the radio until 11 AM when the band was hopping with E-skip.

I relogged two stations and logged one new one. I relogged KLRC in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, 1224 miles to the west-southwest and WOWB in Brewton, Alabama, 1058 miles to the southwest.

The new logging was WATP in Laurel, Mississippi, 1106 miles to the west-southwest.

All were heard with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna.

WJFP and WTJZ

Logged two new ones.

WJFP in Chester, Pennsylvania, 177 miles southwest transmitting 1,000 watts on 740 kHz.

WTJZ (photo above) in Norfolk, Virginia, 376 miles south-southwest transmitting 50,000 watts on 1110 kHz. WTJZ was buried in the slop from WPRX 2 miles down the road, but using the IC-R8600’s passband tuning, I managed to hear it in the clean and add a new one in the log.

Both stations were received with the ICOM IC-R8600 receiver; WJFP with the Hy-Gain 18AVT/WB-A vertical antenna and WTJZ with the 120-foot loop underground antenna.

Is WTIC 's IBOC Gone for Good?

WTIC's IBOC'd signal extended from 1065 to 1095 kHz!

Living 13 miles line-of-sight of WTIC’s 50,000-watt transmitter site on 1080 kHz makes DXing on 1070 and 1090 kHz very difficult especially since WTIC uses IBOC (In-band on-channel), a hybrid method of transmitting digital radio and analog radio broadcast signals simultaneously on the same frequency. 

With IBOC on, I can’t hear a thing but IBOC on 1070 and only 50,000-watt WBAL manages to break through on 1090.

Good news is that it seems that WTIC is no longer using IBOC. It has been off for weeks (maybe months) and I hope it is not coming back. 

Hurrah!

Missing Person

It has been over three months since I last posted here. I had a very messed up knee and had been doing very little radioing because sitting at the radio (or anywhere else) was painful after 10 minutes or so.

Shots to my bad knee provided temporary relief, but temporary was not satisfactory. 

I finally had total knee replacement surgery on Monday and my condition is improving rapidly. I am undergoing physical therapy and expect to be getting back to normal soon.