Why can you pick up farther away radio stations at nighttime?

As it turns out, the ionosphere reflects certain frequencies of radio waves. So the waves bounce between the ground and the ionosphere and make their way around the planet. You can pick up some radio stations better at night because the reflection characteristics of the ionosphere are better at night.

What causes poor AM radio reception?

The main problem affecting AM signals is electrical interference. Also, the bouncing pattern causes AM signals to fade under bridges or in tunnels. The high-frequency FM signal is limited to a smaller reception radius, around 50 miles.

What causes static on AM radio?

Many other sources produce radio waves, including the sun, lightning, and power lines. If the frequency of these other waves overlap with the intended channel, the AM receiver can pick them up as changes in amplitude, resulting in noise or static.

Why do AM radio stations go off the air at night?

As a result, at night, AM stations in the United States typically reduce their power, go off the air completely until sunrise the next day, and/or possibly are required to use directional antennas, so their specific signal doesn’t interfere with other stations on the same frequency.

How far do AM radio signals carry at night?

AM broadcast signals by nature can carry for hundreds, if not thousands of miles at night. Radio hobbyist have been DX’ing since radio was first invented over 100 years ago. Many DX’ers keep journals of all the stations they have heard. This is probably the most rewarding low dollar radio related hobby there is.

Why does my AM radio pick up DX?

Cold fronts in particular can cause a big increase in DX not only on the AM band, but also in the FM band. Your AM radio will be directional. This means that it will pick up stations better when it’s pointed a certain way towards the signal. You will figure this out by trial and error. Tune something in that’s somewhat weak.

Why do AM radio waves travel better at night?

Because of the way in which the relatively long wavelengths (see Footnote 1) of AM radio signals interact with the ionized layers of the ionosphere miles above the earth’s surface, the propagation of AM radio waves changes drastically from daytime to nighttime.