When I was young, the FCC field offices would make annual inspection trips to
AM stations, checking everything, from modulation levels, to exact frequency
(you were allowed plus or minus 30 Hz from your assigned channel, and all the
stations used General Radio frequency meters which had a standard crystal in a
temperature controlled oven, and readjusted the station's frequency every few
days if needed).

The transmitter crystal was also in an oven to control drift. Stations drifting
off channel would cause heterodynes in receivers, and two stations, one off 25
Hz high, the other 25 Hz low would cause an audible 50 Hz hum in receivers
picking up both stations. The growling sound you hear on some AM channels at
night is caused by this.

A station cited by the FCC usually replaced its Chiel Engineer if they failed
the inspection. So it was high stress time.

One thing you should know about US broadcasting: With a very few exceptions
stations East of the Mississippi have call signs that start with "W" and those
west of the Miss, start with "K". So logically KTWG should be West of the
Mississippi.

The FCC inspector arrives at KTWG and measures the power and it falls within
the limits for its 10 kW license (in FM it's plus 5% to -10% of rated power),
and the peak modulation is below 100%. He also checks the Type Approval labels
on the transmitter, and it's OK too. He measures the hum, and it meets specs.
He then pulls out an early frequency counter, with nixie tubes, and measures
the carrier frequency during a moment of no modulation.

801.002 kHz it reads. Silence as the new station manager's face goes white,but
the chief engineer smiles. The station manager moved from Baltimore only a few
weeks earlier, and now he stands a chance of being fired along with engineer.

Why is the engineer smiling?

Note: when this happened everything was "cycles" kilocycles, megacycles, etc.
That does not explain what is going on.

KTWG is on the island of Guam and 801kHz is indeed their assigned frequency

--
Keyboard to you


"Radioman390" wrote in message
...
When I was young, the FCC field offices would make annual inspection trips
to
AM stations, checking everything, from modulation levels, to exact
frequency
(you were allowed plus or minus 30 Hz from your assigned channel, and all
the
stations used General Radio frequency meters which had a standard crystal
in a
temperature controlled oven, and readjusted the station's frequency every
few
days if needed).

The transmitter crystal was also in an oven to control drift. Stations
drifting
off channel would cause heterodynes in receivers, and two stations, one
off 25
Hz high, the other 25 Hz low would cause an audible 50 Hz hum in receivers
picking up both stations. The growling sound you hear on some AM channels
at
night is caused by this.

A station cited by the FCC usually replaced its Chiel Engineer if they
failed
the inspection. So it was high stress time.

One thing you should know about US broadcasting: With a very few
exceptions
stations East of the Mississippi have call signs that start with "W" and
those
west of the Miss, start with "K". So logically KTWG should be West of the
Mississippi.

The FCC inspector arrives at KTWG and measures the power and it falls
within
the limits for its 10 kW license (in FM it's plus 5% to -10% of rated
power),
and the peak modulation is below 100%. He also checks the Type Approval
labels
on the transmitter, and it's OK too. He measures the hum, and it meets
specs.
He then pulls out an early frequency counter, with nixie tubes, and
measures
the carrier frequency during a moment of no modulation.

801.002 kHz it reads. Silence as the new station manager's face goes
white,but
the chief engineer smiles. The station manager moved from Baltimore only a
few
weeks earlier, and now he stands a chance of being fired along with
engineer.

Why is the engineer smiling?

Note: when this happened everything was "cycles" kilocycles, megacycles,
etc.
That does not explain what is going on.

Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

KTWG is on the island of Guam and 801kHz is indeed their assigned frequency

Pretty easy as he gave the answer in the question.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

But wait!
Aren't all FCC licensed AM stations spaced 10 kHz?
610, 620, 630, etc.

But why did the FCC license KTWG for 801?

Radioman390 wrote:

But wait!
Aren't all FCC licensed AM stations spaced 10 kHz?
610, 620, 630, etc.

But why did the FCC license KTWG for 801?

Asian bandplan.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

9 kHz channel spacing is used in some areas --- Europe/Africa/Asia as I
recall
My neighbor had a radio they brought from Guam as I recall -- and they
couldn't get it to work right when they brought it to the states -- on the
back was a 9 kHz -- 10 kHz switch -- set it to 10kHz and all was well.

--
Keyboard to you


"Radioman390" wrote in message
...
But wait!
Aren't all FCC licensed AM stations spaced 10 kHz?
610, 620, 630, etc.

But why did the FCC license KTWG for 801?

uh huh

--
Keyboard to you


"dxAce" wrote in message
...


Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

KTWG is on the island of Guam and 801kHz is indeed their assigned
frequency

Pretty easy as he gave the answer in the question.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Sony portable typically have this switch (either hardware or software). You
can select 9kHz or 10 kHz steps for MW.

Australia, NZ and the Pacific mostly have 9 kHz. Australia used to be 10
kHz, but everything got changed to 9 kHz. I remember all the AM MW stations
all having to change their frequencies (well, maybe not all, if they were
lucky enough to already be on a multiple of 9 kHz!). I think this was back
in the late 1970's.

Mark.

"Keyboard In The Wilderness" wrote in message
news:ioX7d.42055$aW5.23276@fed1read07...
9 kHz channel spacing is used in some areas --- Europe/Africa/Asia as I
recall
My neighbor had a radio they brought from Guam as I recall -- and they
couldn't get it to work right when they brought it to the states -- on
the
back was a 9 kHz -- 10 kHz switch -- set it to 10kHz and all was well.

--
Keyboard to you


"Radioman390" wrote in message
...
But wait!
Aren't all FCC licensed AM stations spaced 10 kHz?
610, 620, 630, etc.

But why did the FCC license KTWG for 801?