• 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

Worst LPFM sound quality you've heard?

S

SnottyNose799

Banned
What's the worst LPFM sound quality you've heard on the air? You don't have to name stations, but I'm just curious.

For instance one LPFM in my area has a mono signal but one stereo channel is missing, making music sound incomplete. The music has no bass and sounds literally like a cell phone, and overmodulates the audio often probably because they don't have an audio processor.

There are also LPFMs that broadcast straight silence for long periods of time as if the owners forget about them too. And of course, I've heard Barix Radio on more than one LPFM when their equipment reset... One station in a large US city did this for several days last year and the audio processing Barix Radio uses was better than the LPFM's. :)
 
We have a LPFM near here which is on air 24/7 but modulates so low you can't hear the programing over the noise. Add to that it uses an antenna mounted on a satellite KU band dish mount at 45 degrees so both horizontal and vertical are exactly out of phase with most antennas. It started out strong but each day gets weaker so I'm thinking the antenna isn't matched and it's slowly eating away at the output of the transmitter. I approached them about the problems but they just put me off
 
kevronics, you must be talking about an FM translator. LPFM is an entirely different class of radio station, 100 watts at a maximum of 100 feet, non-commercial, licensed one to a customer and they're prohibited from simulcasting a full power station or having any 'say' in any other licensed broadcast service.

Speaking of NOAA Weather Radio being rebroadcast, I knew of one in Southern Indiana near Owensboro a guy ran out of his house. When he got tired of paying all he bills to play oldies, he opted for this. He has since turned in his license. Are there any others out there?
 
SnottyNose799 said:
What's the worst LPFM sound quality you've heard on the air? You don't have to name stations, but I'm just curious.

For instance one LPFM in my area has a mono signal but one stereo channel is missing, making music sound incomplete. The music has no bass and sounds literally like a cell phone, and overmodulates the audio often probably because they don't have an audio processor.

There are also LPFMs that broadcast straight silence for long periods of time as if the owners forget about them too. And of course, I've heard Barix Radio on more than one LPFM when their equipment reset... One station in a large US city did this for several days last year and the audio processing Barix Radio uses was better than the LPFM's. :)
Click to expand...

i know a full power non comm that runs the barix radio test feed overnight and has for years, as they think its a "programming service" despite what theyve been told
 
b-turner said:
Speaking of NOAA Weather Radio being rebroadcast, I knew of one in Southern Indiana near Owensboro a guy ran out of his house. When he got tired of paying all he bills to play oldies, he opted for this. He has since turned in his license. Are there any others out there?
Click to expand...
Living near Owensboro, I think I know the one you were talking about. It ran with NOAA weather radio for a couple of years, and they interrupted every 20 minutes or so for a jingle, a PSA and the weather forecast. Almost like they literally swapped the oldies out for the NOAA feed.

I suppose the idea of running that way was to solicit a new operator, but it never happened.
 
An LPFM in western Montana has a terrible echo in its audio, and it's overmodulated. The town has a popular travel center with an aquarium. Think some know what little town I'm talking about.

By the way, the school that runs this station only pays their first-year teachers $34,000 a year. Abysmal pay for a certified teaching job. MT teacher pay is SOOO low in most districts (outside of Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, Polson, Billings). The legislature is trying to get a several-thousand-dollar raise passed. The sooner, the better.
 
Last edited:
Just dropping the opposite. WXMB 101.5 in Myrtle Beach pumps out bright clear religious programming on its 12 watts. Strong modulation and sounds better than most of the Commercial locals.
 
Here in NJ there are two 10-watt class-D FM stations run by high schools, coincidentally on the same frequency. One has low modulation but otherwise sounds fine (they use an Optimod 8100). The other is also transmitting around 50% modulation but also somehow manages to be distorted, like they're overmodulating their STL, and has a bad echo.
 
The dead air station's programming finally came back, and guess what it still has no bass and overmodulated again. Someone might have just remembered about it.
 
There are LPFM's here in Eastern NC that sound quite good. Even better than certain local 100KW stations that always sound overmodulated and will make your ears bleed.
 
Retspin said:
There are LPFM's here in Eastern NC that sound quite good. Even better than certain local 100KW stations that always sound overmodulated and will make your ears bleed.
Click to expand...

You have to try hard, not care and not check things to have your station sound like moose dung.

I'm guilty of having things go sideways momentarily but we dont sound BAD.
 
SnottyNose799 said:
The dead air station apparently uses this antenna. Nice.
Click to expand...
I personally have dealt with FM User - they used to be good - customer service used to be top notch same with the quality of their antennas. They recently switched their quality and it's most certainly not worth it anymore

When it comes to transmitters I love working with PCS Electronics - I've always had great success with them. Similar to Nautel but much more affordable.

The best antenna that you can use is from KB9VBR Antennas - I have purchased many different antennas from KB9VBR Antennas - they are spot on and very high quality.

I've been testing various antennas on a dummy load for years.
 
The worse sound of a LPFM can be heard in Los Angeles on the timeshare KZUT/KFEP/KLDB-LP. It is on the air from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM. The transmitter is on a house near Laurel Canyon Blvd and Mullholland Drive. The coverage are is maybe about 2 miles only to the north. Their audio is always distorted.
 


Back
Top Bottom