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88.1 in Beaumont

B

Blart

Does anyone know why the FCC allowed an 88.1 to go on the air in the Beaumont area?

The reason KSBJ switched from 88.1 to 89.3, close to 25 years ago, was because KSBJ at 88.1 was causing some interference with Channel 6 (KFDM) in Beaumont. Surely an 88.1 in Beaumont would do the same.

What gives? CW...what do you think? Have the rules, or the technology, changed that much???

Speaking of KSBJ...I heard Buddy Holliday's voice on this new station in Beaumont.
 
Blart said:
The reason KSBJ switched from 88.1 to 89.3, close to 25 years ago, was because KSBJ at 88.1 was causing some interference with Channel 6 (KFDM) in Beaumont. Surely an 88.1 in Beaumont would do the same.
Click to expand...

I'd agree that allowing a new station that close to Channel 6 is kind of pushing it, but no, the rules haven't changed. It's not just mileage separation but also the number of persons affected. Years ago I had a similar experience with a station in Oklahoma and we had to show that any potential interference with KOTV 6 in Tulsa was a non-issue.

In this case a much higher powered KSBJ ostensibly caused much greater interference than the new station (KLBT) will cause, since they're running just 7,000 watts. This issue was addressed in the application: "THE FM TO TV OVERLAP RESULTS IN ONLY 2,845 PERSONS OF INTERFERENCE TO KFDM TV 6 (SEE FIG 4 & 6). NONE OF THE INTERFERENCE IS INSIDE A CITY WITH A POPULATION OF 50,000 PERSONS AND AS SUCH THIS APPLICATION QUALIFIES TO MULTIPLE ITS EVALUATION ERP OF 0.175 KW BY 40 TIMES FOR AN ERP OF 7.0 KW...THE ENTIRE CITY OF BEAUMONT IS WITHIN THE 60 DBU CONTOUR."

Link to contour map showing potential interference area, mainly along I-10 between Beaumont and Winnie: svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=337321
 
According to the FCC database, KFDM will keep its digital signal on Channel 21 after analog is shut down in February, 2009. So any interference issues to Channel 6 will be short lived, if the new FM makes it on before then.

Besides, only a small number of viewers still get their signals OTA, unlike 25 years ago when KSBJ signed on. The frequency change happened in 1987, IIRC.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
According to the FCC database, KFDM will keep its digital signal on Channel 21 after analog is shut down in February, 2009. So any interference issues to Channel 6 will be short lived, if the new FM makes it on before then.
Click to expand...

Good point. It's probably pretty unlikely that most folks residing near the erstwhile "World's Largest Crawfish Farm" are going to notice any hash on channel 6 in the meantime.

This situation reminds me of a parallel issue that exists in the Beaumont area with 98.5 and KFDM-TV where the IF is concerned. Subtract your radio's 10.7 mHz IF from 98.5 and you get 87.8, dangerously close to channel 6's audio channel at 87.75 mHz. That's definitely a concern when you're dealing with a 100,000 watt FM station and can cause some real reception headaches.
 
My sources indicate that the coverage area for 88.1 will get better soon - by more power.

From their web site -

KLBT 88.1FM IS ON THE AIR!!!!!!!

NEW STATION CURRENTLY AT HALF POWER AWAITING FINAL FCC APPROVAL!!

KLBT 88.1FM officially signed on the air at 8p Thursday August 17, 2006. The new non-commercial Christian station will remain at half power for a few weeks giving the engineers time to tweak the overall sound of the station as they await final approval from the FCC.

Music, along with inspirational ministry minutes will air at 88.1FM, as the audio "tweaking" continues.



Remember, we may use your comments (especially if they are nice!!) on the air!

Please bear with us as engineers continue to work on our "echo" and keep in mind that we are still broadcasting at half power!!

Apparently, some people are having problems, as evidenced by this web page.

http://www.thekingsmusician.org/interference.asp
 
Wow, a whole $1.50 to get the station on Satelitte? Geez, they're cheap down there...
 
When Harold Bartlett was Chief Engineer of KFDM (until 1983), he had KFDM a member of a group of TV6 stations that watched for FM in the low end of the band....when Harold retired, KFDM dropped the membership and KSBJ snuck their application through...and the troubles began..
As for 88.1, they supposively talked with KFDM but the laws of physics dont change.....and I have friends in the H-F area that cannot watch 6 now....and they are planning to file with the FCC (I dont live there and I didnt tell them to....they already planned to do it before I talked with them)..

98.5 and TV6 was always a problem and 98.5 was a Class A for a long time in Port Arthur on the 1250 AM tower.....when CC moved it to Devers, it was able to finally get a Class C allocation..and be far enough away from 6 to not cause any issues....

As for local TV on sat, Dish Network just added the BPT area to their choices...the uplink equipment is in downtown Beaumont on the old "Petroleum Building"....where TV 22 and 9's xmtrs are....Dish usually wants you to pay $4.99 for all the channels but under ala carte, you can get only one for $1.50 or so (I used to have Dallas' FOX 4 on my dish until they went with spotbeams)...
 
CW said:
As for 88.1, they supposively talked with KFDM but the laws of physics dont change.....and I have friends in the H-F area that cannot watch 6 now....and they are planning to file with the FCC (I dont live there and I didnt tell them to....they already planned to do it before I talked with them)..
Click to expand...

File what? How many people still listen to the audio on 87.7 for channel 6, or are these viewers all using rabbit ears instead of cable or satellite?

I'm not sure what they could do about this, as the FCC has licensed this station, isn't that correct?
 
Complaints against KLBT regarding KFDM interference issues will probably go nowhere. We're only 28 months from the demise of the Channel 6 signal, anyway.
 
Friend of mine who lives in Fannett and had video problems (not audio) with 88.1 said people from 88.1 came by his house, put a filter inline and the problem went away (probably a notch filter for 88.1).....Evidently they can take care of the problems for now...and this was after the Nov 7 power increase..
 
CW said:
Friend of mine who lives in Fannett and had video problems (not audio) with 88.1 said people from 88.1 came by his house, put a filter inline and the problem went away (probably a notch filter for 88.1).....Evidently they can take care of the problems for now...and this was after the Nov 7 power increase..
Click to expand...

FM station to Channel 6 TV video (AM) interference I've seen, but I've never heard any audio problems. But in this case I wonder if there would have been audio problems (FM to FM) if the 88.1 station were running HD. The specs for the audio portion of a TV receiver basically the same as an FM radio, when it comes to bandpass and image rejection, aren't they?

Mediafrog+ said:
We're only 28 months from the demise of the Channel 6 signal, anyway.
Click to expand...

The question here is, does anybody think this whole conversion to HDTV is going to happen on schedule?
 
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