Originally Posted by
fatmike69
Recently I rode a flight from SFO - KOA on a United Airlines 757, at the same time the San Francisco Giants were playing game 6 of the NLCS. About an hour into the flight, after multiple requests from other pax about the score of the game, the pilots came on and told everyone that the Giants game was available on channel 9 (usually the live ATC channel). I tuned in and sure enough we were getting the local San Francisco radio broadcast for the game. Coverage was a little fuzzy, but very listenable and continued pretty much until the game was over, at which point we were at least 1000 miles from land.
My question is how did they do this? I know nothing about oceanic or HF, it sounded to me like an NDB signal (local AM radio station) but was very suprised that the signal carried as far as it did. Thanks!
Not just any AM station, particularly this one:
KNBR - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The main station,
KNBR (680 kHz), licensed to San Francisco, broadcasts on a
clear channel from transmitting facilities in
Belmont, California. KNBR's non-directional 50 kilowatt (or 50,000 watt) signal can be heard throughout much of the
western United States and as far west as the
Hawaiian Islands at night. Because of its extensive range, it is sometimes called by the nicknames "The 50,000 Watt Flamethrower", "The Blowtorch", and "The Mighty 680". Prior to adopting a sports format, KNBR enjoyed a long history as the flagship of
NBC's West Coast radio operations.