Anybody aware of KXJZ/90.9 intermittently running a reduced power signal lately? I'm on the SF Peninsula (at a high elevation), and often I get a clear enough signal that Morning Edition is receivable in stereo. (It was that way this morning in the 8-9 AM hour.) But it also – sometimes – seems to be on reduced (or directional) power, huffing and puffing and just barely making it to my hilltop hideaway. Any chance someone has some intel about this? Have they been doing any xmtr or tower maintenance of late, or is it a side effect of that Chinese "weather" balloon?
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KXJZ (Capital Public Radio) signal
- Thread starter Weiserguy
- Start date
you're joking right? A station just cant go directional whenever it wanted and.. the chinese weather ballon that was shot down off South carolina days ago? No
This sounds like trpopsheric ducting, weather anomalies that affect signals
Yes, that bit at the end was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. I am aware the balloon would have no effect. (I do still remember a bit of the info I crammed into my noggin in the process of acquiring that blue piece of paper from the FCC back in the stone age.)
I also know that stations can't just drop in and out of a directional signal at whim, but they could be testing a directional antenna in the overnight hours, which is what I was alluding to. Or they could be switching to an auxiliary transmitter and/or antenna due to some maintenance demands. That's why I'm asking the question. Yes, it sounds like tropo, but you don't typically get tropo at 2 AM in winter.
you also dont typically get eskip in winter either, but i did.. one day in PA in december, i had a 100kw FM on 99.5, KMCJ from Miles city, MT in and out like a local for 20 minutes....... nothing else on the dial, just this.
Huh? I know KXJZ is 50kw but the furthest that the OTA signals goes up to is parts of Contra Costa County, CA.
KXPR reaches parts of San Francisco as a fringe signal.
KXJZ - Wikipedia
KXPR - Wikipedia
Attachments
Many Sacramento FMs are receivable in various locations on the SF Peninsula. The FCC maps are not really an accurate depiction.Huh? I know KXJZ is 50kw but the furthest that the OTA signals goes up to is parts of Contra Costa County, CA.
KXPR reaches parts of San Francisco as a fringe signal.
KXJZ - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
KXPR - Wikipedia
It might not be a weak KXJZ signal, but a stronger-than-usual KCSM signal at your location. Last time I checked, KCSM was running HD. That means they have a digital carrier at 90.9. HD sounds pretty much like white noise, and it seems plausible that local propagation could be changing with fog, moisture in the air, etc.
Dave B.
Funny thing is when I lived near the Oakland Airport back in the 70s, when planes went over some stations from Sacramento came in clear as a bell and then the signal would fade again. I was told by a college professional in Chabot College's broadcasting program that the planes were reflecting the signal.
If you're in the right location, KXJZ does come in like a local here on the Peninsula, the first adjacents notwithstanding. But things are not always "notwithstanding". Depending on programming, KALX/90.7 can be stomping all over 90.9 with their louder music, as can KCSM/91.1, as Dave B. mentions below.
My house is at a 600 foot elevation, and KXJZ often puts a strong signal in here. (That's even more true from other locations in the Santa Cruz Mountains a few miles west of here.) But it's not 100% consistent. And the Peninsula hills also shadow some of the San Francisco stations on Sutro and Mt. San Bruno. So when it is receivable, KXJZ's signal can be cleaner than either KQED or KALW. (But with the right radio and antenna orientation, little KALW is a cleaner catch than the mighty 'QED. Local reception is weird that way.)
I was listening to Morning Edition at 2 AM this morning. The signal was clean, and strong enough to trip my radio's stereo pilot. In fact that was true all day yesterday. And just now, I checked and it was receivable, in various stages of clarity, from a GE Superradio in my kitchen and a 50 year old Sony tuner in my office. The antenna requires tweaking, but KXJZ is there. So those FCC maps aren't reflecting real world conditions.
But circling back to the original post, there had been some problems of late, and I was curious if anyone had actual information regarding a cause that might be more engineering than atmospheric.
I live SIX miles away from KCSM's transmitter on the College of San Mateo campus. The hill up the street shadows them. My wife listens to some of their programming, but their OTA reception is abysmal here, HD sideband or not. Even in mono, the distortion is so bad that she now will only stream it. A quarter mile away, they deliver a city-grade signal into your amalgam fillings.
Ironic you mention that, @Weiserguy .. one summer during a ncie Eskip opening, I happened to catch KCSM from about 900 miles away in wyoming.... and what you hear in this clip is just seconds after I hit record, it faded up at exactly the right time
You grabbed that from Wyoming? That's incredible.
I once was able to grab KNBR/680 on a little Walkman-style pocket radio from my parents' home in the West Palm Beach area of Florida. (Close enough to Mar-a-Lago that I could have landed an artillary round in Trump's pool from my folks' patio.) It was pre-dawn on a Monday morning, and KNBR is/was a 50KW clear, but it still was a 2500 mile catch. KCSM, OTOH, pumps out only 11KW ERP, which makes your catch even more of a rarity.
Yup, sure did, from wyoming.. the area from just south of Redding to just north of LA was a hot spot for me for FM skip in the summer. Once logged an LPFM near Sacramento from wyoming
Possible, which is why I asked the question in the Sacto forum, hoping someone here might know the inside skinny.
We get internal communications from the engineering team when there's a transmitter issue or when we're operating on reduced power. We're at full power.
Thanks, Mike.
Gotta love that terrain blockage.
I still wouldn't rule out the possibility of HD interference though. The abysmal reception you're experiencing on KCSM can still exist with a strong signal if that signal is full of multipath.
Dave B.
I hesitated to follow up @DaveBayArea's last post until I could confirm it for myself. My car isn't equipped with an HD radio, though my wife's Prius has it. Turns out KCSM is back to airing with HD. (For quite awhile their HD exciter was out of commission, and it took them near forever to get it repaired/replaced.) In places where the analog signal is clear, HD also kicks in. My wife was at one of those locations last evening and confirmed their HD was on and solid. But from my garage, her radio can't detect any HD signal on 91.1, though it does pull in a fuzzy analog signal. And yet KXJZ comes in (sometimes) in stereo from 100 miles away.Gotta love that terrain blockage.
I still wouldn't rule out the possibility of HD interference though. The abysmal reception you're experiencing on KCSM can still exist with a strong signal if that signal is full of multipath.
Dave B.
And again, I'm only six miles away, though with a hill or two (or ten) in between. Gotta love Bay Area radio reception.
Thanks for the reminder---we're on the Peninsula this weekend and I'll check to see how KXJZ comes in as we wander.
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