KFYR's monster signal

[tasters choice]

I'm ignorant of radio engineering so pardon my lack of technical expertise. I was born and raised in Grand Forks and as a radio fan I always marveled at KFYR's endless signal. What a reach. For a long time I remember hearing a sweeper for KFYR that said they reached 5 states and two Canadian provinces (as opposed to American ones I guess). ;D

I live in Rapid City now and KFYR comes in almost as well as some of the local AM stations. There's the wonderful North Dakota ground conductivity and the 550 low end frequency which helps a lot. But, in addition, I had always heard that KFYR buried a copper mine under their towers for the radials. Would anyone be able to share their thoughts on that?

 

[pbf1]

I'm ignorant of radio engineering so pardon my lack of technical expertise. I was born and raised in Grand Forks and as a radio fan I always marveled at KFYR's endless signal. What a reach. For a long time I remember hearing a sweeper for KFYR that said they reached 5 states and two Canadian provinces (as opposed to American ones I guess). ;D

I live in Rapid City now and KFYR comes in almost as well as some of the local AM stations. There's the wonderful North Dakota ground conductivity and the 550 low end frequency which helps a lot. But, in addition, I had always heard that KFYR buried a copper mine under their towers for the radials. Would anyone be able to share their thoughts on that?

As someone with over a decade there, I can tell you that's not true. It's in a farm field. (Yeah, there are the usual radials, but no "mine.")

 

[w9wi]

I'm ignorant of radio engineering so pardon my lack of technical expertise. I was born and raised in Grand Forks and as a radio fan I always marveled at KFYR's endless signal. What a reach. For a long time I remember hearing a sweeper for KFYR that said they reached 5 states and two Canadian provinces (as opposed to American ones I guess). ;D

KFYR benefits from two things:

- Bottom-end dial position. Groundwave coverage improves with decreasing frequency - the only frequency better than KFYR's 550 is 540, and Canada has first priority on 540. (I'll bet you can get the Saskatchewan station on 540 in Rapid City even during the day?)

- Ultra high ground conductivity. AM signals really like the high conductivity of Great Plains soil.

KXMR-710 isn't half-bad either. Some of those Canadian stations - 540, 680, 880, 990 - seem to "get out" forever too.

 

[pbf1]

KXMR-710 isn't half-bad either. Some of those Canadian stations - 540, 680, 880, 990 - seem to "get out" forever too.

Go to the northeastern part of Lake Winnipeg, and 550 and 710 are the best signals!

At night, 540 sometimes comes in just as well the the Bismarck studio as 550 (slight null toward Bismarck at night - whoeverthehell came up with THAT idea).

 

[MN Maniac]

KVOX 740 AM in Fargo has a pretty big daytime signal too. 50,000 watts reaching from the Rockies west of Billings to Duluth out east, and Lake Winnipeg up north and Valentine, Nebraska to the south. Of course it's directional to protect from WMIN 740 in Minneapolis, and reduces power during critical hours and at night to protect from CHWO in Toronto.

Funny, but the 5 o'clock drive home, 740 is half KVOX, half CHWO. Don't really want any Roberta Flack with Dan Barreiro!

Here in the Twin Cities, I hear KVOX mixing with CHWO and causing interference. This shouldn't be happening.

As for CBK-540 in Saskatchewan, I believe they have the largest daytime coverage in North America. I have carried them to just NW of St. Cloud, MN and to Watertown, SD. In both cases, CBK still has signal but is overtaken at these points by KWMT/Fort Dodge, IA. That's a HUGE signal footprint!

CJOB-680 in Winnipeg is no slouch either. I've heard them as far as Sioux Falls on the car radio.

 

[pbf1]

KVOX 740 AM in Fargo has a pretty big daytime signal too. 50,000 watts reaching from the Rockies west of Billings to Duluth out east, and Lake Winnipeg up north and Valentine, Nebraska to the south. Of course it's directional to protect from WMIN 740 in Minneapolis, and reduces power during critical hours and at night to protect from CHWO in Toronto.

Funny, but the 5 o'clock drive home, 740 is half KVOX, half CHWO. Don't really want any Roberta Flack with Dan Barreiro!

Here in the Twin Cities, I hear KVOX mixing with CHWO and causing interference. This shouldn't be happening.

As for CBK-540 in Saskatchewan, I believe they have the largest daytime coverage in North America. I have carried them to just NW of St. Cloud, MN and to Watertown, SD. In both cases, CBK still has signal but is overtaken at these points by KWMT/Fort Dodge, IA. That's a HUGE signal footprint!

CJOB-680 in Winnipeg is no slouch either. I've heard them as far as Sioux Falls on the car radio.

You won't hear CBK in St. Cloud for long, since there's a 540 going on there!!

 

[tasters choice]

It's in a farm field.

Oh I realize the towers are in a farm field but what I meant is that I had heard that the tower array incorporated a lot of metal under the towers for the radials to enhance the signal.

I'll bet you can get the Saskatchewan station on 540 in Rapid City even during the day?

540 comes in during the day and same for KSJB 600 in Jamestown. Not that you want to listen for a long time but it's readable. I used to get CKY when I crossed the SD/ND state line south of Dickinson.

KFYR is very clear and comes comparable to our local 1340 graveyard station.

Because I was raised in Grand Forks I used to take it for granted that 1,000 watts would reach 75 miles or more. KVOX was a preset on my car radio when it was Top40. That 30 millimhos ground conductivity at work.

 

[MN Maniac]

KVOX 740 AM in Fargo has a pretty big daytime signal too. 50,000 watts reaching from the Rockies west of Billings to Duluth out east, and Lake Winnipeg up north and Valentine, Nebraska to the south. Of course it's directional to protect from WMIN 740 in Minneapolis, and reduces power during critical hours and at night to protect from CHWO in Toronto.

Funny, but the 5 o'clock drive home, 740 is half KVOX, half CHWO. Don't really want any Roberta Flack with Dan Barreiro!

Here in the Twin Cities, I hear KVOX mixing with CHWO and causing interference. This shouldn't be happening.

As for CBK-540 in Saskatchewan, I believe they have the largest daytime coverage in North America. I have carried them to just NW of St. Cloud, MN and to Watertown, SD. In both cases, CBK still has signal but is overtaken at these points by KWMT/Fort Dodge, IA. That's a HUGE signal footprint!

CJOB-680 in Winnipeg is no slouch either. I've heard them as far as Sioux Falls on the car radio.

You won't hear CBK in St. Cloud for long, since there's a 540 going on there!!

I am AMAZED that Herb received approval for this. Even at 250 watts, 540 goes a long way.

This new station will cause interferemce to CBK, KWMT, and KFYR.

 

[dustintv]

What about WDAY in Fargo? Does their signal go a long distances well or is their frequency a bit too high?

 

[tasters choice]

According to Radio-Locator's web site (www.radio-locator.com)

WDAY local signal reach - 80 miles
KFGO - 110 miles
KFYR - 130 miles
KVOX - 130 miles

 

[redneckriviera]

One thing y'all aren't taking into account is the super-high conductivity of the soil up in the Dakotas--really all the way down through the plains through Nebraska & Kansas. By comparison, 550/WDAK(AM) in Columbus, Georgia runs 4-kw day and covers less than half the turf KFYR covers. Coincidentally, Clear Channel owns (or did own) both KFYR & WDAK. And FWIW, WDAK ran 5-kw daytime for years; not sure, but they might have voluntarily dropped to 4,000 watts to get rid of a directional rig.

CC definitely still owns the "Best Combination in the Nation" WFLF in Orlando (ex-WGTO) with 50,000 watts at 540 kHz. The "GTO" in the old call-letters stood for "Gulf To Ocean" and that's the rub--a lot of its signal covers fish...

No, I don't think Clear Channel consciously set out to own all of them. They just started scooping up stations by the bucketload and those were among them.

 

[bturner]

Several years back, I left Langdon, North Dakota with KFYR tuned in on the radio. I was heading back to Texas. Once I reached I-80 in Nebraska, the sun was beginning to set and KFYR was fading. I had been driving, probably 11 hours driving south at highway speed with KFYR tuned in the whole way.

 

[fryman]

Since the statue of limitations has long passed on this one: I worked nights KFYR in 1968. My buddy, the all night man (still in broadcasting to this day), put the night pattern on "day" during the middle of the night one time & a friend of his picked the station up loud & clear in the Twin Cities! 5000 red hot watts sounding like a million!