Vintage Edmonton
Lance (Ranger Bob) Taylor@VintageEdmonton Ready for 880 CHED? Corus moves news-talk station up from 630 on the AM
https://edmontonjournal.com/business/local-business/edmonton-630-ched-moves-880-radio
Likely Jan LukasIs there some technical reason this move makes any sense? They've got decades of brand/station identity at 630.
(The article didn't seem to provide any explanation whatsoever.)
Amelia Bellamy-Royds 
@likelyjanlukas @lancetay Just speculating, but one possible reason to change frequency is to increase broadcast strength / geographic coverage, if the old frequency would interfere with another station somewhere not too far away.
There was an FM station I listened to in Vancouver that did a frequency swap with a station in Washington state for that reason.
(Edit: They'll be simulcasting on both frequencies for a while, but say the 880 has better coverage: https://globalnews.ca/news/10719869/edmontons-legendary-630-ched-finds-a-new-home-on-the-am-dial/ )
David Mitchell 
@AmeliasBrain @lancetay @likelyjanlukas
Also of note: Corus was already (since 2008) broadcasting from 880 in their iNews Global brand… this move is actually them closing iNews and moving CHED to the better of the two frequencies they own.
@DavidM_yeg Yes, that makes the change technically easy for them. But it still doesn't answer the question of why, from a technical perspective, is the 880AM frequency better than 630. Is it licence restrictions on broadcast power because of interference (my guess), or is there inherently less interference from buildings & electrical machinery & whatnot at the higher frequency?
@likelyjanlukas @AmeliasBrain @lancetay
(afaik) Higher frequency waves don’t travel as far / are more susceptible to being blocked, BUT lower frequency waves end up more jumbled / scattered in urban constructed environments. Since range here has more to do with the placement / height and power of the transmitter tower, my understanding is that the higher frequency will give a clearer signal.
Interesting. I thought all AM frequencies were astoudingly long-range to the point of having to have their broadcast power turned down (?) overnight so as not to blot out everything else. 🤔
But this definitely isn't an area I understand much about!
@likelyjanlukas @DavidM_yeg @AmeliasBrain I am sure there are some #HamRadio guys here who can illuminate. But all I remember is listening to 630 CHED on a Crystal Radio set I built myself as a youngster to listen to #Coilers games.
@lancetay @AmeliasBrain @likelyjanlukas
Yes AM uses slow frequencies that do easily travel long distances because of the long wavelength. AM and FM are slightly misleading as they technically refer to the method by which information encoded into the signal. Having said that, AM coding is used in a lower frequency band than FM, and the various effects are continuous across the frequency spectrum.
1/
@lancetay @AmeliasBrain @likelyjanlukas
AM radio frequencies are in kHz while FM frequencies are MHz (1,000x faster vibrations). Longer/slower waves reflect, bend, and pass through objects and barriers more easily, an advantage in some contexts but in a complex environment it means you’re more likely to have places where the signal interferes with itself.
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@AmeliasBrain @lancetay @likelyjanlukas
In case you’re interested: 630 kHz signals have a wavelength of 476 m while 880 kHz is only 341 m, while an FM signal at 98 MHz has a wavelength of only 3m.
3/f
@likelyjanlukas @DavidM_yeg @AmeliasBrain I was listening to the Colorado Atomic Clock on my Shortwave radio the other day. Was coming in strong on 10 MHz.
https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwv
I've only managed to catch it once, but I've only played around with dx-ing a handful of times.
Usually I get the station that's intended (?) for propaganda against Cuba?