WNAM Neenah-Menasha WI 1280 Leaves the MW Band - With a DX-Test

 WNAM signed on 1280 kHz in May 1947. After keeping their frequency and call letters for more than 78 years, they will sign off at local midnight on December 31st. And they finish their job with a proper DX Test, in cooperation with the Courtesy Program Committee (CPC) of the NRC and IRCA. The DX test ran on the nights to December 30th and 31st, CST.

The first Norwegian to hear WNAM was Geir Stokkeland, in November 1985. At the time Geir was at work on Bjørnøya (Bear Island), one of Norway's Arctic islands. I believe he had a Yaesu FRG-8800 at the time. Below is the friendly response from the station's Chief Engineer (published with permission):

I don't remember when I heard WNAM for the first time, nor when I received their QSL. Probably after June 1992 when they were allowed 5 kW nights.  During the late 1990s and onwards we had put some serious DX equipment at the KONG-HQ, and WNAM turned out to become a very frequent guest on 1280, together with Denver and Hamilton (CHAM). Many other stations were also heard. In later years, WWTC Minneapolis became the most dominant station due to transmitter and antenna upgrades. However, WNAM have been heard regularly up here for decades, including many times this season. Their 5-kW transmitter  antenna array points to the northeast, so most of their power come "our way" - because their main market is located in that direction.

DX tests are set up in a variety of ways, depending of course on station management's preferences. The WNAM test was a novelty for me, as it actually intercepted regular programming. It was set up to run from minute 3 to  minute 5 after the top of the hour, from local midnight until 5.05 am - corresponding to 06:03 to 11:05 UTC. For two nights!

Neenah-Menasha to Kongsfjord, 6300 km.

My beverage antennas and Perseus+Jaguar combo are doing continuous IQ recordings, so I didn't have to do much more than pay attention, and check back recordings if necessary. Propagation is always a factor here - the band could be dead, especially in periods with high solar activity like now. It's always nice to take part in the few DX tests we have, and I have in fact logged a few stations I would never have heard if it wasn't for the sweep tones and morse code IDs that penetrated the noise.

So, what did I get out of the DX test? I had positive IDs from WNAM both on the 28th and 29th, and with ionospheric conditions not too bad, I was hoping for the best.

December 30th was dismal. Lots of weather induced noise due to heavy snow showers coming in from the Arctic Ocean - at speed! And a very dominant WWTC. I did hear snippets of sweeps and morse for a few seconds on the 06 and 07 UTC slots. But really not conclusive.

However on December 31st, WWTC was much weaker, and the noise-free periods between showers were longer. So, on the 06 slot I got very good reception with voice-ID, sweeps, morse IDs, more sweeps, an announcement and finally a WNAM jingle. Reception on the following four hours didn't match the quality of the first one, but were still conclusive. The test at 11 UTC was unproductive.

Thanks very much to the CPC for arranging this DX test. Everything seemed to go according to plan. Job well done!

WNAM will air a special 3-hour broadcast on December 31st from 9:00 pm to midnight CST, corresponding to 03:00 to 06:00 UTC on January 1st. I will keep an eye (or an ear) on that one as well.