Frigid Outages

[ZantennaG1]

Here in South-east Wyoming, the temperature officially troughed at negative 12 degrees Fahrenheit (that's -24.4 C), and as I speak, we are still setting at -6F (which is -21.1C). So, which stations are down today? Surprisingly, not that many.

Well, 99.1 KUAD was completely off the air at 10am MDT this morning
95.1 KCGY is running fairly low power, akin to about 125 watts, making it sound fairly weak on my radios.
105.1 KXKL is running at lower power as well compared to the other Denver stations.
On the AM band, 1630 KVAM is stuck on night power. (It doesn't make a lot of difference here, only a drop of 7 db).

On the flip side, there is some weather related tropo from Fort Collins, so I'm getting their "Pirate 93.5" format really good.

 

[ZantennaG1]

K258DN Orchard Valley is now off the air as of 11am MST on 24 Feb 2022, and in it's place is the good 'ol KQMT Denver, but interestingly enough, I've heard little branding from them and no advertisements, so that's something.

Of course, KQMT used to be quite the regular here until this year when K258DN signed on the air. I have warmed up to the idea of having KGAB on an FM translator, but I still miss KQMT, so this is a nice surprise. I suspect it has partially to do with the cold weather.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

which is stronger, 98.7 KRQU or KCGY? Theyre on towers only a few hundred feet apart and KRQU runs less then you claim KCGY is running.

KCGY doesnt have a back up or anything that i know ,theyre either on or off.

KVAM 1630 has always had issues

To say 105.1 KXKL is running lower power from 120 some miles away is really .. inaccurate.. at that distance, anything can affect the signal.

If anything, all of this has to do with equipment failure or power outages/issues, which could be indirectly caused by weather

If KRQU and KUWR are on and normal.. then KCGY is likely having equipment issues. KCGY is just yards away from KUWR

 

[ZantennaG1]

which is stronger, 98.7 KRQU or KCGY? Theyre on towers only a few hundred feet apart and KRQU runs less then you claim KCGY is running.

I haven't checked today, but on Tuesday, KCGY was barely audible, and I checked my stereo meter, and it was pulling only slightly higher than KRQU. For reference, K244FN (250 watts), was doing better than KCGY at the time. Also, when I said "akin", I was saying that's what it the KCGY signal sounded like, as if they were running 125 watts, not that I was actually saying that.

KCGY doesnt have a back up or anything that i know ,theyre either on or off.

They are on, albeit at a lower power for some odd reason. I'll have to check today and let you know what my radios pick up.

KVAM 1630 has always had issues

Yikes. Update: They are back up on day power today.

To say 105.1 KXKL is running lower power from 120 some miles away is really .. inaccurate.. at that distance, anything can affect the signal.

True point. In this case, KXKL in particular was taking a hit, when KCFR, KLDV, KTCL, KPTT, KBCO, KWBL, etc. were all at the same signal strength as usual.

If anything, all of this has to do with equipment failure or power outages/issues, which could be indirectly caused by weather

Agreed.

If KRQU and KUWR are on and normal.. then KCGY is likely having equipment issues. KCGY is just yards away from KUWR

They are on normal. I checked KCGY against KLWV and KUWR as they are all 100kw from the same general site. Then, I checked against K244FN and KRQU.

 

[ZantennaG1]

Update: So as of today, KCGY is mostly back to it's original power, but not entirely. There seems to be some kinks that still need to be worked out. Average DBU as seen on my Radiwow R-108 | 60+ perfect, 40-60 great, 20-40 local, 5-20 listenable.

Date​	95.1 KCGY Laramie​	90.9 KLWV Laramie​	96.7 K244FN/98.7 KRQU​
Sunday the 20th (before the cold)​	35​	42​	16/08​
Tuesday the 22nd (negative temps)​	03​	35​	11/05​
Today the 24th (warming up)​	26​	41​	15/07​

Date​	105.1 KXKL Denver​	106.7 KWBL Denver​	90.1 KCFR Denver​
Sunday the 20th (before cold)​	17​	25​	19​
Tuesday the 22nd (during cold)​	11​	21​	17​
Today the 24th (warming up)​	18​	26​	18​