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87.9 MHz ???

W

wbz1030

Guest
I was hearing a faint but steady signal on 87.9 MHz near my home location (around Buford Hwy & Lenox Rd) for the last couple of days with loop informational programming from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and announcing itself as "CDC Radio". Can anybody in town in the Druid Hills/Emory area confirm this?

Normally I just hear in-car XM receiver re-transmitters occasionally on that frequency. With those FM re-broadcast signals, they usually fade in and out as cars drive around and you can tell they are listening to XM programming. However, with this "CDC Radio" signal on 87.9 MHz, it is a pretty consistent signal (as if it were stationary) with good modulation.

What is the status with the FCC of the 87.9 MHz frequency now that TV has transitioned to digital (except for LPTV)? Will they now allow special low-power public information stations on 87.9 MHz?
 
I'm not an expert on this, but I read something about it in the Radio Journal. I believe there's a move to add to the FM band from something like 85.1 to 87.9 mhz. But it's complicated because some TV stations had to move back to channel 6, which is immediately below 88.1.

The FCC auctioned off the UHF channels 52 and above. So any station operating its DTV on one of those frequencies had to move back to its analog frequency. On channel 6, WPVI in Philadelphia had to move back and now has big signal problems. WPVI has applied to the FCC to (I think) quadruple its wattage. So what happens with the frequencies just below 88.1 remains a question.

By the way, if you're interested in this type of information, you might want to subscribe to the Radio Journal; it's free. Just go to www.theradiojournal.com and sign up. They'll email it to you every week.
 
I was able to drive by the CDC/Emory area on Friday. The 87.9 MHz "CDC Radio" signal is definitely coming from this area. Most likely from the CDC complex, so it seems to be a legitimate station. The audio loop does not mention a call sign, just "CDC Radio" every few minutes. The audio loop broadcast is CDC information mainly on the H1N1 flu virus in English and small segment of the loop in Spanish.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
I'm not an expert on this, but I read something about it in the Radio Journal. I believe there's a move to add to the FM band from something like 85.1 to 87.9 mhz. But it's complicated because some TV stations had to move back to channel 6, which is immediately below 88.1.

The FCC auctioned off the UHF channels 52 and above. So any station operating its DTV on one of those frequencies had to move back to its analog frequency. On channel 6, WPVI in Philadelphia had to move back and now has big signal problems. WPVI has applied to the FCC to (I think) quadruple its wattage. So what happens with the frequencies just below 88.1 remains a question.
Click to expand...

The FCC is considering means to diversify radio ownership; one method being considered is expanding the FM band down to 76MHz. I give that proposal about a 1 in 4 chance of succeeding.

TV stations operating their DTVs above channel 51 generally indeed had to return to their old analog channels, but they could also attempt to find a new channel -- neither their analog nor their interim digital -- to use.

Federal agencies -- like the CDC -- are not subject to FCC jurisdiction. It would conceivably be legal for the CDC to operate a station without a FCC license, provided it went through the appropriate channels elsewhere in government. I would certainly think the FCC would end up involved at some point anyway - but the station may not show up in the FCC DB. A few stations at the various military academies fall into this category.
 
Might be what they used to call "leaky cable" system that uses the wiring in their cable TV system to transmit a very low power FM signal on their campus. The hill behind WAGA might be so high that the signal gets out a little.
 
I recorded the full 4 min. 20 sec. loop that is being broadcast at 87.9 MHz (presumably) from the CDC complex off of Clifton Rd. The recording is available through this link...

http://bit.ly/c2Lys

This was monitored from the adjacent baseball field at Emory off of Peavine Creek Drive. As mentioned earlier, the signal does get out more in the immediate area.
 
w9wi said:
RoddyFreeman said:
I'm not an expert on this, but I read something about it in the Radio Journal. I believe there's a move to add to the FM band from something like 85.1 to 87.9 mhz. But it's complicated because some TV stations had to move back to channel 6, which is immediately below 88.1.

The FCC auctioned off the UHF channels 52 and above. So any station operating its DTV on one of those frequencies had to move back to its analog frequency. On channel 6, WPVI in Philadelphia had to move back and now has big signal problems. WPVI has applied to the FCC to (I think) quadruple its wattage. So what happens with the frequencies just below 88.1 remains a question.
Click to expand...


The FCC is considering means to diversify radio ownership; one method being considered is expanding the FM band down to 76MHz. I give that proposal about a 1 in 4 chance of succeeding.

TV stations operating their DTVs above channel 51 generally indeed had to return to their old analog channels, but they could also attempt to find a new channel -- neither their analog nor their interim digital -- to use.

Federal agencies -- like the CDC -- are not subject to FCC jurisdiction. It would conceivably be legal for the CDC to operate a station without a FCC license, provided it went through the appropriate channels elsewhere in government. I would certainly think the FCC would end up involved at some point anyway - but the station may not show up in the FCC DB. A few stations at the various military academies fall into this category.
Click to expand...

I have heard the proposal to expand the FM band by taking over TV channel 6, and possibly even channels 5 and 4 too. Supposedly, the channels under 7 are proving to not be that good for DTV due to multipath issues. Remember, the VHF band is in three contiguous frequency chunks--channels 2 and 3, then 4-6, and then 7-13--the FM band sits just above channel 6 but way under channel 7.

It would be really cool if the FM band could be expanded to include some or all of channels 4-6. Maybe some AM stations could be persuaded to move to an FM x-band to clean up some of the more clogged frequencies on the AM dial, particularly after dark.
 
I had this one while punching through downtown ATL on my way to mountain hiking a week ago. Audible northbound from Exit 243+ briefly, but there was also a gangsta rapper pirate on the channel.
 
Does anyone have any idea how much power they are using?

There is an AM TIS station in the town of Skokie, Il. (just north of the Chicago border) that is running this type of
programming in between their city info. This is the first time I've heard of this on FM.

Thanks for the aircheck,
TR
 
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