Leonard, ND VHF bandscan on a CRAPPY FM radio-2012 April 25

[Darth_vader]

First off, I'm not actually *in* Leonard proper, but about five miles E-SE of the city, in unincorporated Cass County (but this house still has a Leonard address regardless.) I also stupidly didn't bring the F1HD with me, only the Yacht Boy 400PE, and it's really deaf as a stone on most all but the stronger local FMs, so don't get your hopes up for a *real* bandscan from here!

Instead I'll link to the Radio-Locator "local FM only" scan, since (1) with little exception it pretty much parallels what I hear here, and (2) I'm on vacation, so I'm too lazy to do my own: http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/lo...b=Y&format=&dx=0&radius=&freq=&sort=freq&sid=

I shall now re-post what's there at this moment (since sites can change over time and become irrelevant) with my few other observations:

Call Freq DX* Str*   City        
.........Format
KCCD 90.3 31.1  3   Moorhead, MN
    MPR/NPR
KCCM 91.1 31.1  3   Moorhead, MN
    MPR/Classical
KDSU 91.9 25.1  4   Fargo
    PPB/NPR
KFNL 92.7 25.1  3   Kindred
    Heavy Metal
WDAY 93.7 24.9  4   Fargo
    Pop jukebox**
KBVB 95.1 25.5  4   Barnesville, Minn.
    Country jukebox
KFNW 97.9 24.9  4   Fargo
    God station
KQWB 98.7 31.1  4   Moorhead, MN
    Heavy metal
KVOX 99.9 25.5  4   Moorhead, MN
    Country
KRWK 101.9 24.9  4   Fargo
    Right-wing talker
KMJO 104.7 28.9  4   Hope
    Another pop jukebox
KLTA 105.1 30.2  4   Breckenridge, MN
    Still another pop jukebox
KQLX 106.1 10.7  5   Lisbon
    Country
KEGK 106.9 30.2  3   Wahpeton
    Oldies (about the only thing out here worth listening to!)
KPFX 107.9 30.2  4   Fargo
    "Classic" rock & roll

Call Freq DX* Str   City
.........Format
K234BX 94.7 25.7 very weak Wahpeton
    Relay of KDSU
KDLO 96.9 117.5 weak   Watertown, SD
    Country
KMFY 96.9 184.4 very weak Grand Rapids, MN
    Pop/local (confirmed as KMFY)

So that's pretty much it. The rest of the band is either static or stations that are too distant to make out. Had I remembered to bring the F1HD, there's no telling what else I could have found.

[size=8pt]___________________________________________________
* Strength and distance measured at observation site of Radio-Locator's choice, not my own
** On the way through the state I also listened to a couple CDs I recorded from a bunch of old reel-to-reel tapes one of my neighbours recorded off WDAY in 1970 and 71, in the station's pre-Cheap Channel easy-listening days (about 10 hours' worth or so.) It was quite a shock tuning 93.7 and hearing them playing modern pop after listening to the discs continuously from Billings to Leonard! I think 'DAY was way better in the "olden days".

 

[crainbebo]

WDAY 93.7 24.9 4 Fargo
Pop jukebox**
KBVB 95.1 25.5 4 Barnesville, Minn.
Country jukebox

Have heard both of these via E Skip propagation here near Seattle. Darth, you need to drive to the nearest town with a Radio Shack, and pick up a Grundig G8. With that, your bandscan could pick up 4x more stations than that!

-crainbebo

 

[Darth_vader]

Heh, if only I could afford something like that right now!

Does the G8 do single-sideband, by chance?

 

[crainbebo]

No. But it's only $50. Get that radio while you're in ND, and that radio could probably get KMFY 96.9 at a much better strength, same with KDLO. There's a Radio Shack in Fargo, but it's the closest to Leonard.

-crainbebo

 

[Darth_vader]

Yeah, but that $50 has to get me gasoline just to get back to Vancouver. At $4.22/g for regular unleaded, petrol in Montana is f-ing ridiculous. I wish the Grand Wagoneer ran on propane like the Bronco does (transmission failled when I hit Pendleton last Friday, so I had to be towed back to Vancouver to get Mum's Jeep.)

Maybe I'll ponder it once I get home.

Repeat: does the G8 do single-sideband, by chance?

[size=8pt][rant]
I saw the specs for that Tecsun portable whose model number escapes me, but has gotten rave reviews on these boards in recent history. While I don't doubt its awesome performance on short- and mediumwave (haven't actually used one myself) I can't believe, in this era of DSP-based radios, that people are still making them with AM-only SW sections. Since the real magic is pretty much all done in software running on the DSP chip, it's not like they have to include a whole bunch of extra analogue circuitry just to work SSB. Heck, even I can implement it with nothing more than a copy of Linrad and any ordinary sound source connected to the line-in of my Sound Blaster! I'd like to hear what their excuse for that is.....
[/rant]

 

[crainbebo]

No it does not. The pricer Grundig G3 does LSB/USB, but I don't know about the performance-and much more expensive [over $100 I think].

The Grundig G8 in my opinion is "my" FM radio, and the Grundig G5 is "my" AM/SW. The G8 uses the DSP chip, AM is not great due to the soft mute. But the performance on FM is spectacular. Picked up Rock 101 out of Vancouver in Olympia, WA, 162 mi S to be exact. And listenable too!

-crainbebo