If you've ever wondered what those strange, far away stations were that you've heard on the AM band, you are NOT alone! I've been listening to them for years and have decided to document my "finds". There are many secrets to the art of listening to long distance stations and below is the result of my decision to lay it all out for the entire world to "see"!

Hello AM Radio Fan (and those about to be)!

I have been a life long listener of AM, FM, Shortwave and VHF/UHF communications. I am also an FCC licensed Extra Class Amateur Radio operator and hold a General Class (formally First Class) Radiotelephone License. I've talked with stations around the world and have heard many, many more. With all of the changes in technology and communications that have taken place in the past 10 years (digital radio, satellite radio, MP3 players, the "retiring" of Morse code, the Internet, WiFi, etc, etc), some would consider the art of listening to the AM band a very much "lost" art and not worth the time. Of course they would be right, except for the one thing that technology will NEVER be able to take away and that's the ability of a radio signal to travel wherever it wants to go. Just like a gas fills its container and water always seeks its level, a radio wave will travel EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE it wants and YOU TOO can listen to these seasoned travelers of the sky!

Simply put, you can use your inexpensive AM radio, the one you got many years ago for a few dollars, to pick up signals from many hundreds and thousands of miles away and hear stations you never thought existed! There is a wealth of information out there. Yes, there is the Internet and the ability to get the answers to just about anything at the click of a mouse or the push of a button. BUT.... keep in mind that the SPOKEN word, to this day and dare I say for many, many days ahead, still carries tremendous weight and power to convey information in a way that the Internet cannot and may not be able to for many years to come. Witness the explosive growth of the iPod and the podcast. Who even heard of the word "podcast" a few years ago? The iPod is a great entertainment device for music and video, but it also holds the key to information and education that wasn't available a few years ago via the podcast and the spoken word.

Yes, I know. Amazing! But it's true and the best part is VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THIS!

Here is a virtually unlimited resource that can provide you with information, commentary, opinion, emotion, music, health and safety advice, news, current events and the list goes on and on. What we have here is the ORIGINAL Information Superhighway rolled into one little inexpensive piece of electronics that most likely can run on one 9 volt or AA battery! INCREDIBLE! Keep reading for more on that.

But before I go on, there's just so much bad information out there that I think it's time to put some of these myths to rest first:

Myth #1 - Nobody really listens to AM radio anymore, right? Wrong! Some people don't listen to AM radio (or any radio for that matter), but it's been that way since the beginning of broadcasting. The fact is that more and more people turn to AM radio for those pieces of information that are either very difficult or impossible to get anywhere else. Looking for a Wi-Fi hot spot so you could get on the Internet and check the weather and local traffic and can't find one? Turn on the radio, tune to the local news station on AM and there it is!

Myth #2 - AM, FM. Same thing! Uh... NO! Not only are the letters different (D'uh!), but the frequencies they use are MUCH different. "AM" stands for Amplitude Modulation and "FM" for Frequency Modulation. The type of modulation (impressing sounds on a signal so that its information can be transmitted to a radio listener) is not important except to note that FM usually requires a lot more "bandwidth" (similar to the "bandwidth" used on the Internet) and the FM band has a lot more room in it than the AM band. What IS important is that Mother Nature handles the AM band frequencies (520 kHz to 1710 kHz) very differently than the FM band frequencies (87.9 MHz to 107.9 MHz). While there are plenty of opportunities to do FM DXing if you know where and when to "look" for them, AM DXing takes full advantage of Mother Nature's ability to bounce radio signals broadcasting in the AM band to far off places!

Myth #3 - Nothing good is on the radio anymore. It's the same old garbage! No way! "New and different" happens on radio every single day if you'd just take a listen and especially if you listen for those stations "out there", beyond your local area. That's where the real education in what's going on in America happens!

Myth #4 - The Internet has EVERYTHING I could ever want and need. Ahem. I don't think so! I love to listen to a particular Canadian station that I can get in my area after the local station on that frequency signs off for the evening (they are only a "daytime" broadcaster - just another example of what you can find out there) and it would drive my wife crazy that I do this all the time while we're in the car together. Not so anymore. One night, we heard an advertisement for an odor elimination product that she had never heard about before. Curious, we both did a little research and discovered that it is EXACTLY what she's been looking for to eliminate a certain odor in our home. She found out where to purchase it in our area and now... PROBLEM SOLVED!

Myth #5 - I can't do this! ANYONE can do this! If you are ANYONE, then you can. There is NO EXCUSE! All you need to do is turn on the power to your AM radio, adjust the volume and tune away. You can do this even if you're in a car, so NO EXCUSES!

 

As an experienced radio enthusiast for over 35 years, I've got a good "feel" for DXing and can hear things among the noise and static that most people can't. What you will find, with a little practice, is that you can also find those stations that are far away or, as we call it in radio slang, "deep in the mud". At first, you'll hear just the noise and static that you would have normally heard without the knowledge that you are gaining by reading this letter. However, after a few tries, you will begin to hear music, voices and actual people talking!

Now that we've got you on the golden path to discovery, allow me to unveil AM DXing's "8 Step Program" that will get you on track and keep you there as you explore this brave, new world of long distance listening.

STEP #1 - The better the AM radio, the better your chances of finding a good "DX" catch! In order of importance, the best situation would be a portable radio outside, next is a portable radio inside near a window, next is a portable radio anywhere, followed by a fixed radio near a window and finally a fixed radio anywhere you can find it. The ultimate would be a great radio in a vehicle where you can move it to the best location!

STEP #2 - Make note of the more powerful and local stations in your area. Also note where there seems to be the biggest "gaps" between these strong stations. This is where you can find radio "GOLD" on the AM dial! One piece of paper and a pencil to "lay out" your local radio dial will rival the most powerful and sophisticated computers on the Internet for this type of analysis!

STEP #3 - Tune your radio into those "gaps" and start listening. For example, if you have a strong station on 770 and another one on 820, you should start listening for stations at 790 and 800. Why those two only? Because in most radio designs (except the most expensive radio sets), you need to leave a cushion of 10 kHz on either side of a strong station because the chances of hearing anything there is very, very remote. So, for 770, 760 and 780 would be off the list to give it that 10 kHz "cushion" on both sides. However, depending on how strong that station is on 770, you may still be able to pick up stations next to it, so don't discount those frequencies right away. Check first!

STEP #4 - Don't forget the most important frequencies for night time listening - the GRAVEYARD frequencies. Sounds downright GHOULISH, doesn't it? Let me explain. There are 6 frequencies on the upper part of the AM band dedicated to low power stations. Many stations go to a lower power setting after sunset to prevent their stronger radio signals from interfering with other stations on the same frequency. The "graveyard" frequencies are LOCAL channel frequencies used by these stations. On the AM dial, they are 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490 kHz. These are the "officially" listed frequencies, but my research shows that there are many more in that range and above. One way to detect this: If you have NO local stations on a given frequency and can hear what sounds like a zillion people talking at once and maybe sounding like a low rumble, you are most likely on a "graveyard" frequency.

STEP #5 - Record what you find! This is probably the MOST IMPORTANT STEP! Don't think your memory will last that long that you'll remember all of the stations you found. Use a pad and pencil, laptop, digital recorder, tape recorder (why not?) or any other recording device you find useful. If you can, actually record what you are hearing as well. I try to do that whenever I can using a portable digital recorder. It doesn't give you high fidelity by any means, but you will have a recording that you can replay and possibly extract more of what you missed the first time you heard it. This is especially important when the station is identifying itself. Hard to remember where you heard it if you don't know what station it was!

STEP #6 - DO NOT subject family and friends to this new "hobby" of yours UNTIL you get good at it. Most people, until they are trained, will only hear noise and static and, trust me, YOU WILL GET GRIEF FOR IT! You must wean them into this S L O W L Y.......

STEP #7 - DO tell all your family and friends to go to AMDXING.COM! All you need to do is fill in their email address after you click on THIS LINK. Then click SEND and away it goes!

STEP #8 - Email me by clicking the link below. Questions, comments and feedback are most welcome!

 

The ORIGINAL Information Superhighway?

As I mentioned earlier in this letter, that little, portable transistor radio that so many of us carried around listening to music and talk, was actually the very FIRST Wi-Fi device ever invented! Today, we take very much for granted the fact that computers now can be wireLESS. But, over one hundred years ago, wireless was very common, not only in this country, but all over the world. This is a textbook, classic example of the phrase, "What's old is new again"! Radio, from the very beginning, paved the Information Superhighway and set the foundation for the concept of "wireless", both then and now. Remember, that fancy wireless router you bought to hook up your laptops and other wireless devices to the Internet, is nothing more than a RADIO TRANSMITTER and RECEIVER! By any standard, you're looking at 19th Century technology being used to access a late 20th Century creation! AMAZING!

This is why, as I said at the beginning, that this is a virtually unlimited resource without precedent. Nowhere else can you get access to SO MUCH with something as easily available as a portable radio that, in many cases, runs on ONE battery and a long time on that battery to boot (no computer pun intended)!

This is truly "The ORIGINAL Information Superhighway", the one that was created over a century ago for the masses and is still in use today. Fads may come and go, technology and new gadgets spring into being and then fade away, but RADIO will be here for the next 100 years and beyond.

And on that note, I wish you GOOD LISTENING and GOOD DX!