Spark Gap - AM in the Dark by K1WCC

DX’ing In the Dark or Why Power Failures Aren’t Always a Bad Thing

Listening to AM radio as a young boy was my initiation to the radio hobby. I had an RCA tabletop tube radio, vintage 1947 with a loop antenna in the back that performed nicely on the AM band and as a bonus, had a couple of shortwave bands as well with an outside antenna connection. It was a performer and one night, after the evening news was over, I started prowling the AM broadcast band. Back then, there were few devices in the home or nearby that would cause QRN on the bands, perhaps a florescent light that could be switched off or a noisy powerline insulator. Essentially, the bands were clear and thunderstorm static and normal propagation issues were the only deterrent to carefree monitoring. I got hooked when I heard my first DX station, WBT in Charlotte, NC. I was amazed that I could hear a station that far away, and they sent me a nice QSL card which I still have!

I’ve never lost my taste for AM listening, and use an Eton Elite Field radio with a Tecsun loop to pursue that aspect of the hobby. Trouble is, since 1960 we humans have devised many ways to interfere with AM listening which is probably the main reason AM is losing its popularity. Inside my house, LED bulbs and wall-warts and the good ole cable TV devices seem to be the main noisemakers. DX’ing AM stations or even listening to AM on a decent radio is a challenge today.

The recent blizzard gave me an idea-we lost power on Monday morning at the height of the storm and on Tuesday night, looking out and seeing only darkness, I began to wonder what the AM band would sound like without any noisemakers close by. The Elite Field uses 4 D cells as a backup power source and is a stingy power consumer. So I decided to do an inventory of the AM band starting at 530 kc. and working my way up the band, at about 9 PM. When I turned on the rig, I was stunned. The was no noise, and I mean NO NOISE. 

I checked every frequency from 530 to 1600 and maybe heard one faint indication of some type of noise. Initially, the was some noise from my LED camping lantern, but turning that off solved that problem. I was quite surprised at how many stations I was able to log. It was like the old days, with frequencies crowded with strong and weak signals. This included what used to be called the “graveyard” channels, 1200 kc. To 1400 kc. The Eton radio will also tune the European AM channel plan with a minor adjustment, but unlike in my early days of DX’ing, I did not copy any Europeans. 

There are a lot of people who say AM is dead-it is, if you have a lot of QRN sources at your listening post. We were using a woodstove for heat and at 2 AM I got up to reload it, so I sat down at the radio and heard a lot more-after midnight and close to dawn is the best time to DX the AM band on the East Coast. There’s just something about AM, the various local stations, the talk shows like Coast to Coast and Red Eye Radio, live sporting events, the TIS signals that makes it a homey place to be. Digging out the tough ones and waiting for a callsign ID can be challenging as well. Winter AM listening at it’s best!

Using a computer frequency guide such as https://mesamike.org/radio/amdb/amdb.mvc can guide you through the maze of large and small signals you’ll here on the US, Canadian and Mexican AM bands. This program keeps up with the FCC database and has lots of station information.

Finally, occasionally in the summer I’ll go down to my local beach parking area (Menahaunt) with my minivan and just tune through the AM band-there’s no noise there at any time because power lines don’t pass by the beach and the car receiver is a good one. Reception there is very good, and the parking area is open year ‘round. 

But now that the power is back on, I’ll not soon forget how quiet my own AM listening post here at home can be, and won’t likely be, for a long time to come.

Henry K1WCC