A 50 w radio transmiter signal should travel about how far?

Question

I just bought a cc radio because it is suposed to get more am stations than any other I am not satisfied , how can I increase the distance , I am in New York trying to hear the carolinas .

Answer 1

I'm going to try my best to decipher your question.  There are many factors involved in radio.  Since we're talking about AM broadcast, I'm going to assume that you mean 50kW and not 50 watts.  

AM broadcast band signals, as you probably already know, travel best at night time.  This is because a lower layer of the ionosphere charged by the sunlight absorbs radio frequency energy in this frequency band.  At night, this layer loses its charge and a higher layer reflects the signals rather than absorbing them.  Signals can travel for thousands of miles at these frequencies.  I regularly hear TalkSport 1053 on my car stereo in the evening, and that's 2,300 miles away from me.  There are several things that limit the distance on the AM broadcast band in practice.  Probably the biggest factor in North America is interference.  The AM band is CROWDED!  Back in the day when AM radio was in its infancy and there wasn't so many stations, it wasn't uncommon to hear stations  thousands of miles away.  WLW in Cincinnati used to run so much power on their very clear channel that much of Europe could tune in!  Today, some stations have "clear channels" and run full legal 50kW at night but that doesn't stop the frequency from being reused by other stations outside of the protection zone or stations inside running lower power at night.  If you have a station closer to you operating on the same frequency then  you could have some problems!

The most important aspect of radio communication is the antenna.  You could have a $10,000 super high tech radio receiver on your bench and if you stick a coat hanger into it for an antenna, it's going to work like c**p.  If you are just using the internal antenna with the CC Radio, then it's not working as best it can.  One of the selling points of buying more expensive AM radios is that they actually have external antenna jacks on them.  Build a good AM antenna like a directional loop perhaps with an amplifier or a beverage antenna and you won't believe the results! The CC Radio Plus is a decent enough radio, you just need to get a good antenna on it to make it sing.  Read more at this link:

http://www.dxing.com/amband.htm