94.1 W231BA Translator - Signal

[KyleSmith1988]

94.1 W231BA (which relays 98.1 WHZT) is licensed to Spartanburg, and their antenna is on the WOLT tower near Greer.

I mostly attempt to listen in at Hillcrest (east Spartanburg) and signal comes in ok at best sometimes but it's just not that good when driving.
The other night I was getting 94.1 WWLV (from Triad, NC) in east Spartanburg better than the translator that is licensed to that same city. :

Their protected -60 dBu reaches out about 10 miles, but that would only include the western fringes west of the city (west of I-26).
How can this station be licensed to Spartanburg when it hardly reaches downtown with a good signal?
The city grade coverage covers less than 15% of Spartanburg.

I can listen from time to time here in my Cowpens area home,
it's not 100% reliable in parts of & east of Spartanburg, similar coverage as the 98.1 signal at times.

I guess they can't move any closer to Spartanburg, since 94.1 is already on the 60dBu in Greer.
Maybe the translator could get a translator or booster (near Westgate Mall) for better coverage in & east of the city.

Surprisingly, last week, I was getting signal from this translator atop Grandfather Mountain in Northwest NC, 75 miles away!!! 8)

 

[carolinaradio]

That's interesting - I got 94.1 on Woodruff Rd. in Greenville yesterday and was surprised at how strong it was. I think they could probably use a third translator in Spartanburg, going by your report - how bad is the 98.1 signal? I would imagine it has problems past Greer?

 

[KyleSmith1988]

The 98.1 signal does well along I-85 until you hit I-26 at exit 70. From there afterwards it degrades rapidly due to WPEG 97.9.
I say it sounds like trying to hear Kiss 95.1 or better yet 103.5 WZSN while in Downtown Greenville, it's just not gonna work that easily.

I've picked up 94.1 pretty welll near the Haywood Mall, I could listen to 94.1 on I-85 from Exit 87 to 51 with only slight problems at either end.
When you head away from I-85, 94.1 doesn't do so well it seems...

94.1 doesn't have the co-channel interference in Spartanburg, so it's a better choice, but only a slight improvement over 98.1 in the eastern parts.
94.1 here is very often affected by tropo, mostly by WWLV & WGFJ.
Again today I was having trouble getting the 94.1 translator while in Hillcrest Wal-Mart's parking lot. K-Love was coming in for a few minutes.

If you ever want to get 98.1 in Cowpens or even getting closer to Gaffney, you gotta place your radio in just the right spot
(I'm in between Cowpens & Gaffney). 94.1 works at times especially on I-85 in most places in Spartanburg county.
If you're on a west-facing hill it seems to do better, but going down a hill while heading east 94.1 & 98.1 will vanish almost completely east of downtown Spartanburg.

 

[ngriffin]

Translators do not have a requirement to cover their cities of license with a specific signal level. Same for TV translators and LPTV stations. Originally, that was because a translator might only cover a portion of a community (behind a hill or mountain) or might cover a remote area that was unincorporated (COL might be a nearby town).

This translator, since it has WJMZ as a primary, must keep its 60 dbu signal within the 60 dbu of WJMZ. This is the innermost ring in a radio-locator.com map. I assume WHZT is being carried as a HD-2 or HD-3 on WJMZ for the purpose of feeding this translator. WJMZ has a CP to move to the same tower as WROQ. If it is built out, they could move this translator farther east.