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Radio
Broadcast Technical Consulting and Sales |
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Customer |
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WVAL
AM
800 KHZ/2.5 KW |
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WVAL Radio has been in Sauk Rapids/St Cloud since the 1960's. Their original 800 KHz/250 watt day signal was turned off in favor of their new 660 KHz 10 KW day/500 watt night 4 tower facility in 1986. http://www.tricountybroadcasting.com Then, in 1998, 800 KHz was turned on again on the same towers as the 660 KHz AM was and is using. WMIN 1010 KHz was added in 2008 and WXYG 540 KHz was added in 2010. That makes four AM radio stations sharing seven towers on one site! Long distance reception reports below: |
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First something about myself - I'm 46 years old, married and I have two sons, aged 17 and 15 years. Enclosed you can see a picture of us, taken a few years ago. I work as foreign news reporter for the Finnish TV. Previously I have also reported for the CNN, and done a lot of radio as well. You may wonder, how on earth I could hear your stations this far. Well, it really wasn't an everyday event, but rather a combination of luck, experience and effort. For the past 30 years DXing, trying to catch far-away radio stations, has been my number one hobby. I have heard and received confirmations of reception from stations in over 200 countries and territories all over the world. My equipment consists of a "Perseus" type communications receiver and an array of 3000 ft. long wire antennas, one of which is pointing at your direction. Most of all I enjoy trying to catch American stations. Circumstances are ideal up in Finland's northern region Lapland, far above the Arctic Circle, because there is ample space for long antennas, and hardly any man-made electrical noise or interference. The weather outside can be as fierce as in Alaska, but I was happy to stay inside a tiny cabin, listening to AM radio signals from around the world. First I heard WBHR on November 2, 2010, at 3:00 a.m. Central daylight savings time on the frequency of 660 kHz AM. The reception quality was not good at all, as I have a local station on 657 AM causing severe interference. Only when they kept quiet for a few seconds at the top of the hour, I was able to catch the end of your local station ID by a male voice: "... Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud - The Bear!", after which ESPN Radio Sports Center resumed. Then I heard WMIN about a year later, on October 31, 2011, at 5:56 p.m. Central daylight savings time on the frequency of 1010 kHz AM. I was able to catch your station identification by a male voice: "... Uptown ... station, Ring-A-Ding Radio, Uptown 1010", followed by more music. A bit later at 6:01 p.m. I got a second station ID: "1010 WMIN, Sauk Rapids, St Cloud." Hearing your stations was such an astonishing experience for me. More information at: http://www.dxing.info and http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/aihkiniemi_dx_cabin_for_rent.dx Mika Makelainen |
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Dear WVAL, I am a radio enthusiast who enjoys listening for long distance radio signals. On November 13, 2009, at 6:00 AM CST I had the pleasure of hearing WVAL broadcasting on 800 Kilohertz. At 06:00 AM the end of a country song and “AM 800 WVAL, Sauk Rapids, Saint Cloud, Minnesota’s Country Legends” and CBS News. Even though the reception was possible for a short time only, it was fantastic to hear your programme so far away. Many thanks for this short moment, I really enjoyed it! I spent a week in November 2009 in a small village in Lapland called Lemmenjoki (Love River!) with a friend listening to North American AM-stations. My setup consists of a Perseus SDR-receiver and the antenna system, consisting of long wires hanging on the branches of trees, was designed for DX reception on the AM broadcast band. Because of the long antennas and favourable atmospheric conditions we were able to pick up your signal. Lemmenjoki, situated some 200 miles North of the Arctic Circle in North Finland, used to be known for gold findings; today the most important industry is tourism. A few words about myself. My working career was in business-to-business marketing but I am now retired. My wife is Kaarina and we have one son, Patrik. We also have a cute Birman Temple cat named Ziina. We live in a suburb of Helsinki called Marjaniemi by the Gulf of Finland. Here in the Eastern parts of Helsinki we have a local radio listeners club. We are a handful of oldtime DX-ers meeting regularly to discuss DX-ing, sometimes bowling etc. With other DX-clubs in Finland we publish the 'Radio World' -magazine. If you will visit Finland and Helsinki one day, please visit our club, too. You are most welcome!
Sincerely, |
 My name is Arnstein Bue, I'm 47 years of age and I work as an Account Manager in a leading IT company in Norway. I’ve been married to Heidi since 1989, and we have two sons (Mikael and Benjamin – 22 and 18 years old). Trondheim is the third biggest city in Norway, has a population of 173,000 and is situated in the middle of the country. Norway has a population of 4.9 million. Trondheim is an old city, celebrating its 1000-year-jubilee in 1997! We have a big and quite famous cathedral here I town. It’s named Nidarosdomen, and you can find some information at www.nidarosdomen.no. Since 1978 my favourite hobby has been to listen to remote radio stations on mediumwave and shortwave (DX-ing), a hobby which gives me a lot because I learn about other people and other countries. I collect the verification letters, cards or emails I receive from radio stations. Every year since 1997 in October I have visited a small place named Kongsfjord (“Kings Bay”) in Arctic Norway. Kongsfjord is actually at a latitude just south of Barrow, Alaska, and it’s east of Istanbul, Turkey. I use to be there with three friends of mine, mainly to listen to AM radio stations from North America and the Pacific. More information can be found at our home page www.kongsfjord.no I succeeded to hear WBHR 660 AM on November 2, 2010. I heard a male announcer: “From … Minnesota’s Sport Station – WBHR Sauk Rapids-Saint Cloud. The Bear”.Minnesota is one of my favourite states! That’s also because Minnesota is one of the most “Norwegian” states. Receiving a confirmation of my reception really would make my day! Sincerely, |
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Greetings from Finland! My name is Tuomo Ahonen, I am 52 and living in the North of Finland in a city of Oulu. I am very pleased to report reception of WBHR on 660 kHz all the way here in Finland. It is truly amazing how far your AM signal carried during these very good atmospheric conditions. This happened November 2, 2010 between 2:59 a.m. and 3:01 a.m. Central Time (being 11:00 a.m. here in Finland). Although I have succeeded in hearing many others US and Canadian stations on AM dial here in Finland during the last 34 years this was the first time that I was able to pick up Your signal. This was really fascinating! What I heard from WBHR was ESPN programming in progress at 2:59 a.m. At 3:00 a.m. a male announcer announced: “For… AM 6.60 WBHR Sauk Rapids-St. Cloud - The Bear.” This was followed by an ESPN programming “ESPN Radio Sports Center”. I could follow the ESPN programming for a few moments more but after a while the signal faded out. I use a U.S. made SDR communications receiver, RF Space SDR. My antennas are the special beverage antennas. They are up to 3300 feet long pointed at the different parts of North America. My listening post is located far away in the Finnish Lapland above the Arctic Circle. This quiet base in the wilderness is an ideal location for chasing long distant AM radio stations. As for the weather we have lot of snow this winter. Average we have about 20 inches (50 cms) snow everywhere. The temperature today is – 20degrees Celsius that is about -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Thank You for your programming and thank You in advance for your consideration in answering me and helping me with my hobby. In the meanwhile I wish to extend to you and all the staff at WBHR my very best regards. It was a great pleasure to pick up your station. Sincerely, |
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I had the real pleasure of catching your radio station WBHR on 660 AM when listening to radio stations in the Finnish Lapland. My receiver was a software defined communications receiver Perseus and as an antenna I used a 3000 ft. beverage (longwire) to west. To inform you of the reception quality, please listen to the attached mp3 recording. Listening information: 31 October, 2010, 0100 AM local time. I am 45 years old and married with Kristiina. I work as Professor of English at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu where I teach English and Cultural Studies. My main field of research is American and British literature, and I have published a number of books in this area. Joensuu is a lively town in eastern Finland quite close to the common border with the former Soviet Union it is only 60 kilometers to the border line from my hometown. There live about 59,000 people here, and the most important trades are commerce and services. Besides the University, founded in the late 1960s to provide experts for the needs of eastern Finland, many other schools are located here, too. Joensuu is best known for its annual Llosaarirock Festival with 35 000 participants is going strong and attracts lots of young people to the town every July for rock music. With best wishes, looking forward
to hearing from you, |
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Greetings from Norway. I heard on 660 kHz AM on 2 November 2010 @ 1:00 am CST. I hear a male voice with "… from the … Minnesota’s Sports Station – WBHR, Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud - The Beeaaar!” followed by an ESPN announcement. I was using an Perseus SDR receiver (a software defined radio) connected to my PC. See www.microtelecom.it/perseus for more information. With this receiver I can receive up to 1600 kHz bandwidth at the same time and store it to disk. Then I listen through the saved data afterwards. The antenna used up north is a 350 meters long (about 1000 feet) wire directed to the US mid-west from here. OJ Sagdahl |
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I had the pleasure of shortly capturing the signals of WBHR AM 660 here in Finland on the 31st of October 2010 with my Perseus software receiver and about a 1000-yard-long antenna wire pointing towards central North America. I don't have such a monster antenna at home, but I was on a radio excursion in northern Finland, in a place where we had enough space for such an antenna, and not much man-made noise around (some 45 miles from where Tuomo was at the same time.) At 00.59 a.m. a sports talk program ended and then just before 1:00 a.m. there was the legal identification "log on to ..(flexible?)..AM 660 The Bear (in) Sauk Rapids - St. Cloud" followed by the ESPN Sports Center. I am a 55-year-old teacher of English and Spanish in Joensuu, Finland. My wife Riitta is a teacher of German, and we have a 21-year-old son called Matti who studies information technology and a cat called Viiru (Stripes). My hobbies include painting, playing tennis and this radio hobby of trying to catch distant radio signals. My home town Joensuu with its 72,000 inhabitants was founded in 1848 at the beautiful mouth of the river Pielisjoki (Joensuu means "mouth of a river"). The whole region is dotted with hundreds and hundreds of lakes. Weatherwise we have had a very strange year. Last winter was very cold, 90 consecutive days below the freezing point, and then in July and early August we lived like in the tropics. But now this winter we have been back under a cold spell again, with lots and lots of snow. I wish you all the best in all of your daily activities. I would really appreciate receiving your short reception acknowledgement as a tangible memento of these pleasant contacts via the airwaves. Yours, |
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The telephone number for WVAL/WHMH/WBHR Radio is 320-252-6200. |
page last edited 02/05/2012
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