Carl “Skip” Dabelstein, KØSBV

Over the years, I have built BCB DX logs from Omaha and Lincoln in Nebraska, Overland Park, Kansas, Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona, and from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. These receptions have been of stations on regular day and night operating schedules, sunrise sign-ons, sunset sign offs, frequency checks, equipment tests, and special DX tests. Also included are receptions of stations operating under special FCC authorization during times of abnormal weather, natural disasters, and other events affecting public safety. For example, many daytime-only stations located in the area of such an occurrence can be on the air full time with full power for the duration of the emergency. Moreover, stations utilizing directional arrays at night are permitted to switch to their non-directional day patterns to provide wider coverage for the critical news bulletins and information announcements. This affords DXers a great opportunity to log stations they may not otherwise be able to hear.

To explore the possibility of such loggings, a DXer should begin by looking at local and national weather and news information sources (i.e. The Weather Channel, major network news, etc.) to see where these situations may exist, and then use the NRC AM Log to locate stations operating in the affected area. Once these stations are identified, a quick band scan to those frequencies can be performed.

Here are recordings of stations operating under such special FCC authority at times of local or national crises. These include hurricanes, blizzards, and forest fires. Go to the Audio Recordings