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KWDB 101.1 Coupeville - Oak Harbor.

In 50 years, I watched the FM dial in Puget Sound go from white noise gaps across the dial you could drive a Kenworth through to packed to practically unlistenable today.

96.9 will be even worse than 101.1 for KKXA. 105.7 is better and Everett is far out of KJETs protected contours. And CBC Radio 2 can be heard more clearly in Everett on 92.1.
 
In 50 years, I watched the FM dial in Puget Sound go from white noise gaps across the dial you could drive a Kenworth through to packed to practically unlistenable today.

96.9 will be even worse than 101.1 for KKXA. 105.7 is better and Everett is far out of KJETs protected contours. And CBC Radio 2 can be heard more clearly in Everett on 92.1.
 
Is 96.9 that much worse? Realistically, KYYO runs out of steam by the time you reach Seattle. It’s more of a south sound radio station anyway, but they do still have impressive coverage. Nevertheless, reception is pretty faint by the time you reach Everett anyway, and Jack FM starts to sound pretty clear. I would think this is still better situation than trying to stay on 101.1 where you have another station now trying to overlap with your direct coverage area.

There really is not a perfect solution, and no matter what frequency they use, there is likely to be co-channel interference.
 
105.7 as an Everett translator no longer really works. The F(50,50) translator protection contour for KJET reaches up to Marysville. I am sure KJET will want to protect their new territory.

96.9 is a better choice. KZGI is already hammered by a co-channel Canadian. A little Everett translator is not KZGI's big issue in Mount Vernon-Burlington.
 
RF101 said:
105.7 as an Everett translator no longer really works. The F(50,50) translator protection contour for KJET reaches up to Marysville. I am sure KJET will want to protect their new territory.

96.9 is a better choice. KZGI is already hammered by a co-channel Canadian. A little Everett translator is not KZGI's big issue in Mount Vernon-Burlington.
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The owners of KZGI were probably thinking that the mountains to the north of Mount Vernon would chip away and quite a bit of the field strength of the Canadian FM signals. While this is likely the case, those signals are still extremely strong in that region, and trying to share a co-channel with any class C station coming out of Vancouver probably doesn’t work that well.

Back to the translator for KKXA, I think 96.9 is one of the few realistic solutions they have. The northwest quadrant of their coverage area is even spottier than it was before. At least if they use 96.9, they’re spaced adequately get what they had before.
 
Another issue with 96.9 is that KYYO is very strong along the coast (Mukilteo, Edmonds, Woodway), plus CJAX is amplified by the Puget Sound itself. That would cause significant interference for listeners within a mile or so of the water, even in hilly areas where Seattle stations aren't multipathed.

"drive a Kenworth through" - Bongwater is so right. In the '80s, CKO-FM-4 (now CHKG) was all that existed on 96.1. KXXO wasn't even alive yet. 97.7 was just Vancouver until the '90s when KSWW moved to a bigger signal and relaunched as KFMY The Eagle. Prior to 1987, 100.3 was wide open (there may have been some translator here and there until Portland took over to the south). 102.9 Centralia was around, but at much lower power, so that frequency was mostly open...103.1 had some translators (KSEA or KLTX maybe?) before Victoria came on. 104.1 wide open. 104.5 wide open (I think??), 104.9 wide open, same with 107.3. I know KFFM Yakima used to make it into some parts of Western Washington. 92.1 Victoria signed on in the late '80s (I think?)
 
crainbebo said:
Another issue with 96.9 is that KYYO is very strong along the coast (Mukilteo, Edmonds, Woodway), plus CJAX is amplified by the Puget Sound itself. That would cause significant interference for listeners within a mile or so of the water, even in hilly areas where Seattle stations aren't multipathed.

"drive a Kenworth through" - Bongwater is so right. In the '80s, CKO-FM-4 (now CHKG) was all that existed on 96.1. KXXO wasn't even alive yet. 97.7 was just Vancouver until the '90s when KSWW moved to a bigger signal and relaunched as KFMY The Eagle. Prior to 1987, 100.3 was wide open (there may have been some translator here and there until Portland took over to the south). 102.9 Centralia was around, but at much lower power, so that frequency was mostly open...103.1 had some translators (KSEA or KLTX maybe?) before Victoria came on. 104.1 wide open. 104.5 wide open (I think??), 104.9 wide open, same with 107.3. I know KFFM Yakima used to make it into some parts of Western Washington. 92.1 Victoria signed on in the late '80s (I think?)
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While that’s true, listeners of the existing 101.1 signal were likely already hearing a scratchy CFMI if they were trying to listen near Mukilteo or Edmonds. The KKXA translator is definitely not a powerhouse, but it’s adequate to cover Everett and Marysville, which is where many of their advertisers are. The FM translator is a sales tactic. It makes a difference when a sales representative can go out and say “we’re heard on 1520, we’re also on 101.1.” Even if the coverage isn’t ideal, it’s still a benefit.

If I were the owner of KKXA, my primary concern would be to try and maintain the coverage that I had before the new Whidbey Island FM signed on, since that’s a more pressing issue. The owners knew what they were getting into when they applied for the translators. I recall hearing a pretty clear signal on both CFMI and CKZZ in Everett back before the FM dial got too crowded. They knew that there was going to be interference but decided to try go for it anyway. I’d actually argue that it’s paid off pretty well, since they successfully launched KRKO and KKXA on the FM band. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s workable. It would work a heck of a lot better if there were no co-channels, but they knew this would be an issue before signing on.

If you asked me back 2013 or so what I thought about this situation, I probably would have said that it’s disappointing (since I was interested in hearing distant stations at that time and had no real exposure to the business of radio). Fast forward to today and I would say the exact opposite. I think it’s great to see local owners making this work. Nobody is listening to the Vancouver FM’s in Everett or Marysville anyway, so keeping some local content on the air absolutely is a win (even if they are shoehorned in). In that regard, the owners of KKXA and KRKO should try to use every advantage they can get to help support their operation.
 
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Are there any translator frequencies available for the Everett area that might work for KKXA? 93.7 , 102.9 , 104.9, 106.5. Nothing clean.
 
RF101 said:
Are there any translator frequencies available for the Everett area that might work for KKXA? 93.7 , 102.9 , 104.9, 106.5. Nothing clean.
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93.7 and 106.5 are absolutely out of the question due to spacing issues. And even if those spacing issues didn’t exist, 106.5 is a flamethrower from Mount Constitution, so it would be a spectacularly bad idea to try and put anything on it. I think 104.9 is occupied by a radio station in Sequim.

So Vancouver FMs are the only real option.
 
fordranger797 said:
"I think 104.9 is occupied by a radio station in Sequim."
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104.9 could conceivably work but any Everett translator would not get full 20 dB (D/U) protection against KZEG Sequim. There also might be a conflict with co-channel KAPY-LP Duvall as well.

A Class A allocation for Oak Harbor on 94.5 also rules out that frequency in the long run. As long as the translator tower is tall enough and the antenna horizontal pattern remains sufficiently narrow, many second adjacent frequencies actually can work for translators.
 
crainbebo said:
Another issue with 96.9 is that KYYO is very strong along the coast (Mukilteo, Edmonds, Woodway), plus CJAX is amplified by the Puget Sound itself. That would cause significant interference for listeners within a mile or so of the water, even in hilly areas where Seattle stations aren't multipathed.

"drive a Kenworth through" - Bongwater is so right. In the '80s, CKO-FM-4 (now CHKG) was all that existed on 96.1. KXXO wasn't even alive yet. 97.7 was just Vancouver until the '90s when KSWW moved to a bigger signal and relaunched as KFMY The Eagle. Prior to 1987, 100.3 was wide open (there may have been some translator here and there until Portland took over to the south). 102.9 Centralia was around, but at much lower power, so that frequency was mostly open...103.1 had some translators (KSEA or KLTX maybe?) before Victoria came on. 104.1 wide open. 104.5 wide open (I think??), 104.9 wide open, same with 107.3. I know KFFM Yakima used to make it into some parts of Western Washington. 92.1 Victoria signed on in the late '80s (I think?)
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Before CKKQ, I could get KWIQ Moses Lake as well as KPQ-FM, KATS, KFFM and even KMCQ in The Dalles through the mountains around 1986
 
RF101 said:
And 94.5 Vancouver is even worse than Rock 101.1 Vancouver when it comes to interference southward.
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I assume that’s due to them being quite a bit higher with almost 100kw ERP.

96.9 is also located near the top of Mount Seymour at the crest of the hill. However, the ERP is dialed back a bit so I would think 96.9 would be a decent option for KKXA.
 
RF101 said:
Well, time has come for the KKXA translator move to 96.9.

The station's management wrote a comprehensive Q&A for the move:

www.everettpost.com

Dial Switch FAQ - Everett Post

www.everettpost.com www.everettpost.com

They even produced a scatter plot from RabbitEars.
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The article may be slightly inaccurate. They mentioned that if you tune to 96.9 now, you won't hear music. Oh you WILL hear music, there's just a very good chance that it's going to be Kim Mitchell or Barenaked Ladies (before May 14).
 
fordranger797 said:
The article may be slightly inaccurate. They mentioned that if you tune to 96.9 now, you won't hear music. Oh you WILL hear music, there's just a very good chance that it's going to be Kim Mitchell or Barenaked Ladies (before May 14).
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Likewise when 101.1 "goes away" a small station on Whidbey Island might be received down that way...
 
96.9 will get walloped just 5-10 miles away by KYYO or CJAX (and maybe even KZGI Sedro-Woolley). Picket-fencing to the death. I don't miss the FM dial in western Washington.
 
crainbebo said:
96.9 will get walloped just 5-10 miles away by KYYO or CJAX (and maybe even KZGI Sedro-Woolley). Picket-fencing to the death. I don't miss the FM dial in western Washington.
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Both of those stations are running by on fumes by the time they reach snohomish county. CJAX used to be pretty listenable in the area 15 years ago, but the KKXA overpower them just fine. 96.9 is no worse of a frequency than 101.1 was (with CFMI throwing 100kw directly south).
 


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