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2 big Hartford pirates both off the air

reelyreal

reelyreal

Im sitting in traffic right now at the 84-91 interchange to get on the Charter Oak Bridge, and I'm noticing for at least the third day in a row, both busy 103.3 and energy 101.7 are off the air... Anybody hear anything?

Go Huskies! Even if the home opener at the rent is ruining my commute...
 
Thinking of Hartford, we just got a call, today, of a listener having great difficulty hearing WIHS (104.9) along Rte 84 from East Hartford through to West Hartford. It sounds like it MIGHT be digital hash from a malfunctioning HD transmitter. It started sometime in June, and persists every day, along this same route. At home, they can hear our signal OK, but also like to listen in the car, but with this interference, that is nearly impossible.

I wish the person was more technical, and could have given me a better description... this is ALL I have to go on.

Anyone??
 
Could it be WUCS-FM 97.9 of Windsor Locks/Hartford? My Panasonic "Walkman" has a lot of trouble now in downtown Hartford because of them (even WDRC-FM 102.9 gets wiped out now!). I know their transmitter is atop City Place, across from the XL Center.
 
I was in the Farmington/Plainville area over the weekend and there was a strong signal on 97.1 playing Spanish music. Is that a pirate? Seems like they are too close to WZBG 97.3 to be a commercial station.
 
No, that would be La Bomba, a legal translator station coming from Bolton. They're a subchannel of WMRQ-FM 104.1. I want to say it's their HD-2 channel. I barely get any signal from that in New Britain's south end.

Back in the day, that translator was on 97.5 FM and would relay WILI-FM 98.3 ("I 98.3") from Willimantic, improving their coverage westward somewhat. I think it was (is?) W248AB of Bolton.
 
For 97.9 to interfere with 104.9, would mean they were throwing out some pretty strong spurs.

Whatever it is, has been bothering this listener since about June.
 
Just a note, those pirates both came back on the next day.

Depending on the radio, WUCS off CityPlace can cause interference along 84 from the East Hartford line to the West Hartford line. I had no problems with WIHS when driving that stretch of 84 today. Give it a shot, and see if you get the same effect. It's most likely a lesser quality radio being overloaded.

W248AB is now W246CC Bolton.
 
I had suggested to this listener, that she swap cars with Hubby, and see if the problem is still there on his radio.
 
I can verify both 101.7 & 103.3 as being on the air today.

I was on my way back from the computer show in Windsor today and tried them at about 3pm, but they were NOT playing the typical Caribbean music they usually do, it was OLDIES on BOTH! This didn't last long though as by about 3:20 they had returned to doing the same thing they usually do, 90% commercials for the West Indian Social Club and cutting up/restarting songs midway and mentioning the West Indian Social Club over and over.
 
Busy 103.3 was actually simulcasting Power 106 FM out of Kingston, Jamaica on Thursday afternoon around 5pm, that was interesting. Saturdays and Sundays I hear a lot of public affairs programming on both. I also hear a crap-ton of commercials for the legengary West Indian Social Club. Gotta love the north end...
 
KML-224 said:
No, that would be La Bomba, a legal translator station coming from Bolton. They're a subchannel of WMRQ-FM 104.1. I want to say it's their HD-2 channel. I barely get any signal from that in New Britain's south end.

Back in the day, that translator was on 97.5 FM and would relay WILI-FM 98.3 ("I 98.3") from Willimantic, improving their coverage westward somewhat. I think it was (is?) W248AB of Bolton.
Click to expand...

That would be Bomba 97.1, not La Bomba 97.1 This is the same translator that is up in Bolton Notch, formerly on 97.5 but dropped to 97.1 and increased power when sold off to WMRQ-FM.
 
I very recently moved to the Hartford area, and I had been expecting a bigger pirate radio scene. 101.7 and 103.3 are frequently off the air and both have really bad audio quality. They both sound pretty amateurish. I've heard many pirates that sound very professional, especially in Boston, but I guess there are none of them in this market.
 
Thinking of pirates... the one on 104.5 in New Haven appears to be a dead carrier, 24/7! Very strong signal, solid all the way from I95 in West Haven up I-91 to Exit 10.

It's been there EVERY TIME I have checked, so I assume it's 24/7. (I check it from home, and from the car.)
 
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