by jon » Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:38 pm
WDAY-970 was one of the Dakota stations I used to get fairly regularly in Burnaby in the late 1960s. amlogbook.com lists it as Silent, but their web site claims they are still on the air. I used to point a loop in their direction, which also nulls out Portland, and wait for both Spokane and Billings, Montana to fade out, and usually there they were. A quick look at a current station list on the frequency makes me think it should still be possible despite the CKNW co-channel interference AKA slop.
KFYR-550 in Bismarck was generally the easiest to hear in the days when KARI in Blaine went off the air on a weekly basis. Nulling out KARI in Vancouver is probably not very practical, though phasing methods might work. A religious program on KARI with a lot of quiet passages might make nulling more practical.
Similar story for KFGO-790 in Fargo, given KGMI in Bellingham. And a lot more stations to contend with even if you get rid of KGMI: CFCW, KJRB, KGHL and maybe even KABC.
South Dakota looks much more difficult than it used to be. KSOO-1140 looks like the best bet with a good loop, but KGEM in Boise would have to fade out and nothing else happen to come in, if KSOO were to be revealed amidst the co-channel interference from CKWX. If I read CHRB's night pattern correctly, Vancouver should be far enough South that not too many of their 46,000 night-time watts should reach you.
Like so much other domestic DX, patience and a lot of luck is the most important. Monitoring the frequency regularly with a loop antenna in the right direction on a regular basis. And never forgetting that if one station from a particular area is coming in unusually well, then others from the same region usually will, too.