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KMCQ 103.3 Oak Harbor on the air

Fairly decent signal in the car last night in the Aldergrove/Abbotsford area. Splatter from CHQM 103.5 was
minimal.
 
How's the signal to the south? When does KHTP's translator start causing havoc? I'd imagine the signal is useless much past King/Snohomish county line...

I'm temporarily in Baltimore for business...only thing I could see that was weird was that last week the KMCQ radio-locator page didn't say "Off the air"

Radio-X
 
I went out to my car in Snohomish, decent signal here. Will try in the Snoqualmie Valley, over the weekend.
 
It's really noisy up in Bellingham and CHQM bleeds in, but it covers Skagit County/North Snohomish County fairly well (or at least better than KAPS' FM translator on 102.1, which covers the Mount Vernon Walmart and Lowe's parking lots beautifully and pretty much disintegrates into fuzzy mush beyond that.)
 
It's not Q Country, it's Country Q 103.3. Signal covers quite well on I-5 from south of Bellingham through Everett. Some translator interference in parts of Lynnwood. Good signal on Highway 3 once you get north of Bremerton (co-channel from same translator). Nice signal on Whidbey and Fidalgo. Great music mix; I can dance to it...
 
This is news to me. Seems like 1400 watts off the hill east of Mount Vernon (Little Mountain? If so, that's where KSVR is as well.) Goodness the dial up there is getting packed. If it's doing well against CHQM 103.5, how about against CHTT 103.1? They boom in around Whidbey and Mt. Vernon as well. Hopefully they will have some good on-air personalities soon - Oak Harbor's in that odd area where the only local country station is a translator and an AM (KAPS 660, and they are "local" in mornings only, rest by satellite), the others that can be heard on the dial are from Vancouver (CJJR) and Seattle (KKWF, KMPS).
What do this mean for K277AE?
 
crainbebo said:
This is news to me. Seems like 1400 watts off the hill east of Mount Vernon (Little Mountain? If so, that's where KSVR is as well.) Goodness the dial up there is getting packed. If it's doing well against CHQM 103.5, how about against CHTT 103.1? They boom in around Whidbey and Mt. Vernon as well. Hopefully they will have some good on-air personalities soon - Oak Harbor's in that odd area where the only local country station is a translator and an AM (KAPS 660, and they are "local" in mornings only, rest by satellite), the others that can be heard on the dial are from Vancouver (CJJR) and Seattle (KKWF, KMPS).
What do this mean for K277AE?
Click to expand...

It means they have competition. And should KMCQ become a locally originating station with a local air staff, KAPS is in serious trouble.

CHQM and CHTT are all but memories in downtown Mount Vernon. But they can still be heard up on the hill near the college. Overall, Little Mountain is a great spot if you're running a Skagit County FM station with bonus coverage down to Marysville. But it simply cannot penetrate that topographic wall south of Bellingham. Not even Bellingham AMs can do that.
 
I'm able to receive 103.3 KMCQ at home here in southern Snohomish county. In the car, it's a complete mess, due to the the two co-channel translators. For a 1.4kW station, the coverage is still pretty impressive.
 
Two translators? That's also news to me. K277AE is the only one I can think of in Seattle. When I used to live in Bothell, 103.3 was just K277AE (with KKCW in tropo). But in Monroe, K277AE was barely audible, and KWLN was more common via tropo scatter (Wilson Creek WA, near Ephrata). I still had KKCW during tropo, sometimes strong. I suppose all of that is now just a memory in Snohomish County.
Bongwater/Larry - As for Bellingham AMs, 790 KGMI is weak south of Everett. 930 is hardly audible. 1170 is just as bad as 930. But at night, here in Yakima I get KPUG really strong on 1170 - whenever the KSL IBOC isn't screwing with it (AM IBOC should be banned). Really odd, because most of the pattern seems to go NW into Canada. I've gotten KGMI a few times, and KBAI's very directional 500w have even made it when KYAK is nulled and when KSEI isn't on top.
 
KXA said:
There's a translator on 277 in Shelton for KMAS...I can sometimes receive it.
Click to expand...


I was amazed I could pick that translator up on 103.3 from up in North Lynnwood. Before KMCQ was on, depending on the direction I pointed the antenna, I'd pick up a weak KMAS translator or K277AE from Met Tower (equally as weak). My guess is KMCQ should be solid in a car radio to King-Snohomish line then the real interference starts from the Seattle xlator.

Oddly enough, I was doing some channel flipping in downtown before I left on this work trip...was trying to get VoV on 101.9...instead, I get a respectable signal from "101-9 Olympia's Classic Rock".

I guess NW Indy Media sold the last of their translators off...considering the 95.3 xlator has been KGY for awhile. Regardless, I think Olympia holds the record for long-range translators: 101.1, 101.9, 103.3, 95.3.

My other question is what about KNBQ when the build-out is complete? Does Q 103.3 get a simulcast partner down south eventually? Or are we guessing it's staying solo? And my guess is that leaves KNBQ as being eventually sold to the highest bidder? Lots of religious radio, ethnic broadcasters, and maybe an ex-Microsoft employee or two wanting to 'play radio' would salivate over both these stations if they could buy em...

Radio-X
 
For a long time during the '80s and '90s, 95.7 had a translator in Edmonds on 103.3. Whatever happened to it?
 
I've never had 101.1 Olympia up here in Edmonds, but I've had KXL a couple of times when tropo was incredibly strong, and KKCW twice, usually in times of the year that you wouldn't think of as good tropo times. I've also had KWJJ a couple times. I have gotten KMAS on 103.3, once last summer.
 
I remember when KMAS had 104.1 in Shelton. Did they go off because of interference from the KHTP translator in Olympia? Or from KAFE?
 
IndigoCoyote said:
Actually 104.3 Centralia was too much for 104.1 Shelton.
Click to expand...

Umm... Actually, Shelton took a bigger hit from KAFE. 104.3 had nothing to do with it.

The move to 103.3 gave Shelton a more-usable pattern toward Olympia and addressed the issue of operating so close to the KHTP translator.

Interestingly though, the consultants did attempt to shoehorn Shelton on 104.3 for a while, as the contours seemed to permit it. The day it was fired up, Olympia disappeared into mush. Centralia sent their manager to check the paperwork, and a complaint was filed the next morning. Shelton found 104.1 and, in an example of the fastest movement I've ever seen from the FCC, a CP to move there was granted 2 days later.
 
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Speaking of 98.5 KNBQ, is it STILL putting out "Jingle Bells," "The Christmas Song" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"? Or is it off the air now? Would be interesting to have a Q103.3/98.5 simulcast with country. Maybe a lighter AC to compete against KXXO and KSWW, and geared towards coast residents. I could even see an AAA station there. Too many ideas for the South Sound.
 
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