• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

AM Station with "Super Translator"

R

RadioGuy1864

This station for sale listing was published today.
"AM with excellent FM "Super Translator".
Location is listed as Western NY.
My question is, What's a "Super Translator", a translator on steroids?
 
Last edited:
WXVA in Winchester VA has a sort-of “super translator” simply because the HAAT is incredibly high—381 meters/1,250 feet—and it’s still at max 250 watt output.

I presume that’s the case with this one?
 
I worked for an AM with a super translator. WKBI 1400.

250 Watts near the top of a 400 foot tower, and the Height above average terrain was nearly 800 feet. But thats a bit misleading and the signal is even better then the maps would say.. that nearly 400 foot tower is on a hill south of Ridgway, PA and the elevation at the tower location is about 2200 feet.. much much taller by hundreds, if not a thousand feet or more then anything else for over 100 miles.
 
The translators for AMs in the N.C. mountains are the equivalent of regular class A FMs. It really helped this one station that could hardly be heard outside its city of license.

Actually, on a radio where I can no longer get this to work I heard a translator 100 miles away. That's by car, but it gives you a general idea.
 
Last edited:
vchimpanzee said:
The translators for AMs in the N.C. mountains are the equivalent of regular class A FMs. It really helped this one station that could hardly be heard outside its city of license.

Actually, on a radio where I can no longer get this to work I heard a translator 100 miles away. That's by car, but it gives you a general idea.
Click to expand...

Im on one of those translators, doing an overnight show:

Radio-Locator.com

Radio Station Search Engine
radio-locator.com radio-locator.com
 
gr8oldies said:
If you've got 250 watts on Sharps Ridge in Knoxville TN, you're golden
Click to expand...
But here's the thing.. You may have a low ERP at a great height, but the thing lacking is building penetration from pure field strength. Line of site is great, but even a translator high up on a hill, misses 50% of the equation as compared with a full power station.
 
Legally, there is no such thing as a "Super Translator."
Repeating what Kelly A wrote, even with a tall, tall tower, the translators do not have sufficient power for good building penetration.
 
frankberry said:
Legally, there is no such thing as a "Super Translator."
Repeating what Kelly A wrote, even with a tall, tall tower, the translators do not have sufficient power for good building penetration.
Click to expand...


LOL No duh Frank.. don't kill the fun and the joke/hyperbole. We all know no such thing exists but we hobbyists and broadcasters call it that to kind of accentuate what it is without mentioning the technical/license details. I've even seen brokers call them super translators in listings.. so you gonna tell brokers theyre wrong to do that too?
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
LOL No duh Frank.. don't kill the fun and the joke/hyperbole. We all know no such thing exists but we hobbyists and broadcasters call it that to kind of accentuate what it is without mentioning the technical/license details. I've even seen brokers call them super translators in listings.. so you gonna tell brokers theyre wrong to do that too?
Click to expand...
Ah, so that's why translators are class Ds by the FCC, the D is for Duh.

tKDQTpx.gif
 
Super translator? That belongs to 96.5 K243CK Pendleton OR, a translator for 1290 KUMA News/Talk. That location on top of the Blue Mountains gets out, way out. I can hear them in the higher-up Yakima neighborhoods at 120 miles away! As well as on I-82 heading south from Manastash Ridge!
 
crainbebo said:
Super translator? That belongs to 96.5 K243CK Pendleton OR, a translator for 1290 KUMA News/Talk. That location on top of the Blue Mountains gets out, way out. I can hear them in the higher-up Yakima neighborhoods at 120 miles away! As well as on I-82 heading south from Manastash Ridge!
Click to expand...
But you're a DX'er. The coverage that matters are for those who listen to the station within the market, and hear the ads run on the station.
 
Sure, sure. But just know that the stations based on the Blues go out just as far if not more as those near Tri-Cities or based in Yakima. It's just like The Quake in Wenatchee, massive HAAT and massive signal coverage.
 
crainbebo said:
Sure, sure. But just know that the stations based on the Blues go out just as far if not more as those near Tri-Cities or based in Yakima. It's just like The Quake in Wenatchee, massive HAAT and massive signal coverage.
Click to expand...
But again, in the real world none of that matters. Especially when it's a translator.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom