I have to apologize for not having a full column ready this time, as Isabel decided to wreak havoc with our schedules this week. Nothing major, other than some trees down, no power for five hours, and a statewide two-day state of emergency…but all of that was time that could have been put to more productive use. However, I did receive a letter from Gordon Anderson of Huber Heights, Ohio with his memories of DX following up on our summer columns. Next time I’ll try to have a regular column for you, as we’ve got lots of great topics that were covered on the listserv this summer.

Gordon Anderson, Huber Heights, OH: Here are some of my memories starting into AM BCB DXing.

I guess I could be counted among the generation that grew up on TV, but radio still played an important roll from the late 1950s through the 1970s. Some of my earliest memories go back to when I was in the first grade in the early 1960s living near Charleston, WV and listening to WCHS-580. I remember late one winter afternoon in early 1962, I was playing with a 3 tube portable radio and tuned in a station from New York City. About this same time me Dad had got a job in Dayton, OH, and was staying with my Mom’s parents during the week, going back to West Virginia on the weekends. Sometimes my Mom and I would come back with him to Dayton, and I remember several mornings I would wake up to my grandparents clock radio on WING-1410, playing a song like Gene Pitney’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Friday evenings we would go back to West Virginia in the 1957 Olds 88 listening to the Grand Ole Opry in WSM-650 from Nashville.

We moved to Dayton in September 1962, where I listened to some of the space program broadcasts on a transistor portable. During my later years in grade school I had walkie talkies and was surprised about the occasional skip I would receive. I was in junior high when I got my first shortwave radio, but it was not until I started high school and had my second multiband radio that I learned about logging stations. I also worked in the school library, so I was exposed to electronics magazines and learned about DXing the AM band. When my grandfather in West Virginia passed away in February, 1971, my cousin and I stayed in one room at my aunt and uncle’s. I had the radio along and that night we tuned in several distant stations for new loggings. These were WOWO-1190 Ft. Wayne, IN; WHAM-1180 Rochester, NY; WRVA-1140 Richmond, VA; KMOX-1120 St. Louis, MO; KFAB-1110 Omaha, NE; WKYC-1100 Cleveland, OH; WIBC-1070 Indianapolis, IN; CHOK-1070 Sarnia, ON; and KYW-1060 Philadelphia, PA.

During my senior year of high school I was taking a course called Science Seminar. One of the projects I undertook was to see if there were any effects of weather on AM BCB reception. Looking back, my equipment was really not up to par to determine the effects. But I made other discoveries with my almost nightly listening sessions. I was able to break what seemed to be a 700 mile night time reception barrier, and receive more distant stations I had often read about. Starting in late September 1972, it was WBAP-820 Ft. Worth, TX. Then later it was WOAI-1200 San Antonio, TX; and KSL-1160 Salt Lake City, UT. Then, on Friday morning, November 3, while getting ready for school, I received KFI-640 Los Angeles, CA.

During the mid 1970s I continued DXing, making received improvements from articles in magazines, like a Q multiplier. I built a couple of passive loop antennas and joined the National Radio Club. Some of my favorite stations I would listen to was WOWO-1190 Ft. Wayne; CKLW-800 Windsor, ON and WLS-890 Chicago. One station that attracted my attention just after midnight on June 20, 1976, was not identified will the next morning on the playback of the tape. The lady announcer was reading poetry with the background orchestration of the Moody Blues’ Nights in White Satin, and then playing love songs. This station was located on the dial between WCCO-830 Minneapolis and WHAS-840 Louisville. It later signed off with what I later determined to be God Save the Queen. After carefully listening to the tape, I caught the identification that I had missed during the late night session. It was Radio Belize-834 from British Honduras, later Belize.

I could go on with these memories, but I would be writing for some time. I’ll save more for later, I hope you have enjoyed some of my radio memories.

Thanks for the letter, Gordon! I hope to be back next issue with discussions on topics that will encourage YOU to send in your thoughts, ideas, and memories. – db