Bandscan Highlights. Brookings, South Dakota

[cyberdad]

Before Dawn 7/20. Sony SRF37 Walkman. Brookings is about an hour north of Sioux Falls on I-29, just west of the Minnesota Border. Long story that I won't go into, but I had to take a "detour" on what has become my annual trip to Winnipeg. These are just highlights, so if there is something you expect that I would have encountered, let me know and I'll answer specific questions if I'm able.

540: CBK Surprisingly weak. Convergence?
560: Not sure if the weak signal I was hearing here was WIND, KWTO, or something else. Canned talk show.
570: WNAX Good. Semi-local
590: Omaha Fair
610: Kansas City Fair
650: WSM Weak
670: WSCR Fair.....WGN, WBBM, and WLS were also in. WBBM had the best signal.
680: KFEQ Good. No KNBR or CJOB (CJOB was audible in daylight)
710: KCMO Good
760: WJR Fair-Weak
810: WHB Very Good
830: WCCO Fair-Weak convergence
850: KOA Good
860: CJBC Fair-Weak. (No CFZM, but 740 was much more crowded)
880: All CKLQ
920: CFRY Very good...steady and blasting
940: WFAW The mouse that roared and a big surprise. 550 watts, one lobe aimed here, the other lobe aimed at my home location. A regular for me via groundwave.
960: CFAC Good

To be continued....

 

[cyberdad]

Part Two.....

1010: "Highbrow" talk show on a weak signal. Couldn't get an ID. CBR?
1040: WHO fair with moderate slop from a semi-local adjacent on 1050
1070: KNX mixing with an unid country station. The country station was getting the better of it, but I got a couple of positive IDs of KNX
1080: KRLD fair-weak
1090: Was expecting a strong signal from KAAY. Couldn't ID anything from the mix of weak signals that I found here.
1100: WTAM fair
1110: KFAB very good
1120: KMOX weak
1160: KSL gair-weak
1170: KFAQ good
1180: WHAM weak, but alone. Apparently, this is how far it goes without the Cubans intruding.
1190: Is it just me, or is there always country anywhere you go on 1190? This was CFSL from Weyburn, SK with a fair signal
1200: WOAI fair
1210: Not much here, but the next early morning in Winnipeg, I had a strong signal from KGYN when they powered up
1220-1490 Nothing really jumped out on any channel. There was a local on 1430 that messed up 2-3 adjacents on either side of it
1500: KSTP weak. (I used to work with a guy who spent most of the '60s at KSTP. He once told me they had "a hell of a pattern problem" Obviously, he wasn't kidding. Two mornings later, I was in Hudson, WI...only about 20 miles east of downtown St. Paul. KSTP's night signal there was atrocious.)
1510: WLAC weak
1520: KOKC fair....I expected it to be stronger
1530: WCKY very weak
1540: KXEL fair....I also expected this one to be stronger.

Nothing to speak of farther up the dial. The best x-bander was the 1700 from Des Moines, which was fair at best.

 

[radioman148]

Thanks for the report Cyberdad. Always interested in your road reports. Good job on KNX.

 

[mimo]

We've had auroral conditions lately, so that may have had a massive affect on your reception, if you're still there, maybe it's better tonight.

 

[cyberdad]

Thanks for the report Cyberdad. Always interested in your road reports. Good job on KNX.

Thanks.... Actually WFAW (940) was a bigger surprise for me. At home the night pattern favors me (the day pattern does not). I've never heard them anywhere on skywave at night until I snagged them in South Dakota this past week. But my home and where I spent Tuesday night do happen to be at almost exact opposite ends of a rather tight nighttime figure 8.

 

[cyberdad]

We've had auroral conditions lately, so that may have had a massive affect on your reception, if you're still there, maybe it's better tonight.

It didn't seem like auroral conditions were going on....but then again, there's not much north of Winnipeg. It was a three night/four day trip....Brookings, Winnipeg, and Suburban Minneapolis. I'm now home.

 

[radioman148]

BTW: WNAX has one of the best daytime groundwave signals I've heard. Not as good as CBK, but very good from my driving experience through that area.

 

[Ai4i]

WNAX has one of the best daytime groundwave signals I've heard....from my driving experience through that area.

It has been suggested that theirs is second only to the groundwave of K-FYR.

 

[cyberdad]

It has been suggested that theirs is second only to the groundwave of K-FYR.

If we're talking about American signals, I'd agree for the most part. WNAX does have a couple of relatively minor issues, however. First of all, the signal to the west does get degraded when it encounters the sand hills of Nebraska. KFYR has this same problem, but to a slightly lesser extent when it hits the Badlands of South Dakota. Both stations also have some ground conductivity issues when they reach northern and central Minnesota.

CBK has to be the "champion" for North America. I've heard them from the western edge of Ontario to the eastern edge of British Columbia. CKRM and CJOB should probably also be in the conversation, even though both are directional.