Question about 980 AM

[pez]

Hey guys, I work in Falls Church, but live in Ashburn. In the mornings, my reception is quite good, however, in the afternoons/evenings the closer I get to Ashburn on the drive home, the radio station starts to fall apart to the point where by the time I reach Sterling it is pretty much toast.

Anybody else have this happen to them? Anyone know why? Anyone know how to fix the issue?

I like listening to some of the shows on there, but it drives me nuts when it falls apart on the better shows in the evening (especially the Riggo Show on thursdays)

[The Mayor of Fed Ex Field]

At 6:00 they turn down the attenna strength. Very noticible at nights.

[pez]

At 6:00 they turn down the attenna strength. Very noticible at nights.

Thanks Mayor... Is there any particular reason they do this? Very irritating!

[rictus58]

At 6:00 they turn down the attenna strength. Very noticible at nights.

Thats typical of AM stations in the evening.

Although, oddly enough. I get crappy NY am stations at night. They probably boost their power to the max to force NY all the Eastern Seaboard.

[ntotoro]

At 6:00 they turn down the attenna strength. Very noticible at nights.

Especially when the weather gets bad, there's cloud cover, etcetera.

[Leonard Washington]

at night the signal is more likely to bounce off the atmosphere and be recieved a point much futher from the source. in the daytime the signal is less likely to bounce, so AM stations trasmit at higher power. in the evening they reduce power b/c the effect you notice at night (NY stations in MD and VA), would be much higher and all AM stations would turn to crap due to interferance.

EDIT: its bouncing off the D-layer of the atmosphere...this layer disappears at night.

[RonJeremy]

The Mayor speaks the truth.

I can get 980 on the Eastern Shore during the day but never at night. I asked someone I know in the radio business and they said that was the reason.