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95.9/96.3 conflict?

They have reportedly been over power before. It is difficult even with this to create a problem 2 channels over. The station in Austin at 96.3 often fades in and out in Greenwood.
 
I've had my hands in 96.3/Austin and 95.9/Franklin's transmitters recently. 96.3's has the power formula posted on the transmitter using the factory test data (which is also posted on the transmitter). I changed the 2 year old final tube last month...it looked like a new one...no signs of over-heating as would be expected if it were being pushed to the max. If this one were pushed to the limit, it 'might' have another 30-40% available--nowhere near enough to make a real difference. 95.9 has a 5KW solid state Harris transmitter running full power into a 2 bay half wave antenna...do the math. This one couldn't run 10% over-power if it wanted to. There's been a lot of talk about stations that 'must be doing something illegal' over the years. I have yet to witness any of these accusations actually happening & I've had my paws on a lot of Indiana transmitters over the decades. The cold hard economic facts are that transmitters are expensive and owners rarely purchase a bigger one than they require. Same logic explains why you see very few cars on the road that can operate at 150mph but must abide by the same speed limits we all do.
 
Running licensed power doesn't mean that a transmitter couldn't be having emissions off-frequency. As many posters here know, the -50 dB requirement for 2nd adjacents is more difficult with some transmitters than others.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Running licensed power doesn't mean that a transmitter couldn't be having emissions off-frequency. As many posters here know, the -50 dB requirement for 2nd adjacents is more difficult with some transmitters than others.
Click to expand...
Excellent point...I saw a mention of rumored over-power operation and saw this as an opportunity to clear the air of that. I'm 13 miles from WFDM and with my FM yagi aimed at WFDM 95.9, there's no trace of WFDM on 96.3. What is strange at the moment (10:40AM) is that there's no trace of WHHH there either. WJAA Austin is there off the backside of the antenna. WQLK Richmond is there on 96.1. Usually WHHH and WJAA are about equal in strength here (it's a cat fight on the car radio on my road), but for some reason, WHHH is MIA right now.
 
WFDM bought their 5 kw transmitter pre 1/2 wave spaced antenna when they had a full wave spaced antenna. The half wave spaced antenna was installed after it was reworked at ERI (if the same antenna). Some of the printed sales materials touted an upgrade in power oops. Clients were told there was a power increase. Potential buyers of the station often ask: Is it true the station can go 6 kw at Thompson Road? No. It is at it's maximum power now. The note was to address interference issues of the past that somehow keep being raised and the potential for more power.

The point, even if the station WAS over powered...it would be difficult to cause a problem 2 channels away. The station is also shortspaced (grandfathered) to WFMS. Inversely is WFMS causing ingress into WFDM? 50 kw v 3 kw. No.

WHHH has always had signal problems. In 1994 they had so much multipath as their signal overshot parts of downtown. The move to Riley Towers made the in town signal better. During any issues with signal fluctuation the signal in Johnson County is awful.

This creates a nice IBOC scenario.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
WFDM bought their 5 kw transmitter pre 1/2 wave spaced antenna when they had a full wave spaced antenna. The half wave spaced antenna was installed after it was reworked at ERI (if the same antenna).
Click to expand...
The new transmitter is inside the studio building. The old transmitter is still where it was in the shack. There's still a feedline running into the shack. That's led me to the assumption that a new feedline was installed with the new antenna. If that assumption is true, the old antenna & new transmitter never met each other. I believe Charlie Sears orchestrated that..if so, one can safely bet the farm that everything was done by the book. The question is this : Did the new antenna/xmtr make any difference in signal reach? It's definitely worse to the south...is it better to the north?

As far as there being a power increase, there actually was. Check the license...the fact that they are below 328' HAAT did allow them to increase to 3400 watts ERP from 3000. Not enough to amount to anything but in a salesperson's eyes, it's one more feather in the cap.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
ChiefEngineer said:
WFDM bought their 5 kw transmitter pre 1/2 wave spaced antenna when they had a full wave spaced antenna. The half wave spaced antenna was installed after it was reworked at ERI (if the same antenna).
Click to expand...
As far as there being a power increase, there actually was. Check the license...the fact that they are below 328' HAAT did allow them to increase to 3400 watts ERP from 3000. Not enough to amount to anything but in a salesperson's eyes, it's one more feather in the cap.
Click to expand...

In THAT particular station's staff's eyes & mouth, it's one more lie.
 
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