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99.3 The Buzz off air
- Thread starter radiodx10
- Start date
99.3 The Buzz is back on-air since late day yesterday. But the sound is not normal, Sounds like only one speaker is broadcasting in the car. Volume is very low as well compared to normal. Also, No radio text at all listed.
Hopefully they fix soon. Station gets pretty good ratings for how small of coverage it has.
Hopefully they fix soon. Station gets pretty good ratings for how small of coverage it has.
It is back off the air again tonight. Just static. Picking up a country station in the background hear and there.
99.3 FM is still running on a lower signal and sound is still off. It has been a few weeks. Any reason for the delay the station up and running and normal watts?
I just took a look at the FCC database and I don't see any STA's filed which is odd especially if they are indeed on the air operating out of licensed parameters. I would think a group with 9 stations, 7 FM, that they surely would have a spare transmitter on hand for such an instance. Interesting...
You have 10 days before you need to notify the fcc youre silent... and 30 days before you need to ask for an sta to be silent.. so theyre later then 10 but fewer then 30 days.
Correct... but they are not silent and running at parameters that differ from the authorized licensed power so an STA isn't just for "silence" its also "Special Temporary Authority" to run anything that differs from the license... all in all I would say I hope someone is paying attention at Equity just to be safe.
Smaller groups are not as likely to have a transmitter available that is "frequency" agile, meaning that it can be tuned electronically (and not mechanically) to any place on the FM dial. Older transmitters have to go through a tedious process to be re tuned to a different frequency.
Few companies other than ones with dozens and dozens of stations have a "spare" transmitter sitting around becoming obsolete. Stations will usually have a main and an auxiliary transmitter, hard wired into the transmitter site. They are not exactly portable. And taking the aux transmitter from another station makes it vulnerable to being off the air, too.
Wile low power transmitters fit in just a few rack spaces in an equipment room, higher power units are the size of a refrigerator and require some heavy lifting. You can't put one in a UPS package and send it off to another market.
I'm guessing that they could have had an auxiliary transmitter in the same rack but if they got lightning damage, it might have harmed everything in the equipment rack or, perhaps, taken out modules in both transmitters. Or perhaps the lightning damage was such that the antenna was compromised and will not take full power or they are using a temporary antenna with less gain.
Solid state transmitters generally have multiple RF modules which can continue to operate even if one or more others fail. The newer ones can quickly be put on any frequency, but there are plenty of legacy rigs still in use, particularly in smaller markets.
1KW solid-state frequency-agile FM transmitters are fairly inexpensive ($5,000 and up) and can be moved by two men with a dolly and a van. If I'm owner of a small chain of radio stations, there is a 100% chance I either have a proper aux transmitter to meet my licensed parameters, or one of these modest power, frequency-agile units on standby.
Certainly if you're a 3kW class A station like WZBZ it is much better to be at nearly-full power with 1kW TPO and presumably a bit of antenna gain, than to be essentially off the air for two weeks. Yes, that $5000 transmitter is a depreciating asset, but if it is ever required it will be worth its weight in gold.
Certainly if you're a 3kW class A station like WZBZ it is much better to be at nearly-full power with 1kW TPO and presumably a bit of antenna gain, than to be essentially off the air for two weeks. Yes, that $5000 transmitter is a depreciating asset, but if it is ever required it will be worth its weight in gold.
Couldn't have said it better myself... when your actual product requires being "on the air" then a $5000 investment seems like a small price to pay. Also as you said, today's engineering and science have made these units super-small, efficient, portable and frequency agile meaning it could be used at *any site* whenever needed, minimizing down time.
The issue we have not really focused on is the fact that they are operating at a power level that deviates from their licensed parameters. Whether or not they have a blown out transmitter, line or anything else in the chain is one thing, but if I am supposed to be operating with a TPO of 3500 watts and operating with less than 10% of that, wouldn't an STA apply or because they are still serving the COL it would not be necessary?
99.3 still does not sound like it is broadcasting at normal watts. It have been picking up more static in areas I would normally get 99.3 clear. Has a loud sound in background as well. Also, no radio text since station went off last month.
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