Tom Wells said:
OK, so the power lines are full of the byproducts of switched-current devices. We all know that. Many, many industrial, commercial,
and home products are in no way in compliance with FCC standards for unintentional radiator emissions.
No fault at all of the radio station.
The noise leaves in large metros is such that the 10 mV/m contour is seen as producing around 90% or better of a stations' AQH listening.
Avondale is outside that contour for KIHP, which has a transmitter way to the ESE of the market and is on a high dial position.
KIHP should know they are wasting money, today, promoting an unlistenable signal outside its useful coverage area.
Billboards are radio's "Point of Purchase" and inviting listening where the signal sucks is just bad business sense.
What is the position of the NAB on this nationwide problem?
I was addressing one local station, with a suburban license and very distant transmitter site, which was spending money promoting itself where its signal was not ideally listenable.
I also saw a board for KXOL 96.3 in Redlands, CA, near the intersection of the 10 and 215 freeways. That location is at least 20 miles beyond any useful coverage area of LA's KXOL that it is even more absurd than the Phoenix example.
I did not know that the FCC regulated broadcaster stupidity.
Rather than ridicule the radio station, why not suggest how to bring this RF spectrum pollution into compliance?
Or why not suggest how to enter a parallel dimension where 5 kw on 1310 puts a usable signal beyond what the laws of physics say is possible?
The radio station made a bad billboard buy; either they did not target the areas where they have a usable signal or they did not look at the board contract any too closely.
Add in the fact that they drop to 500 watts at night, and placing boards in December where a part of morning and afternoon drive have no hope of being heard is certainly an indication that the station does not recognize both its potential and its limitations.
I'll bet they put a fine signal into the area, but "we" collectively value our cheap lamp dimmers too much.
No, they don't put a fine signal there. Particularly with the night signal. That facility has not been competitive since the 60's, when Phoenix was a town of under a million.
Noise comes from vehicles, power lines (desert lines are notoriously noisy from dust build up due to winds, and essentially unmitigatable) CFL's (mandated by law in some places) computers, dimmers, smart phones, and anything with a microprocessor... even my washer and drier make AM noise squeals now!
The first thing I did when I moved into my house in 1993 was to remove all the cable TV wiring, and call the cable company to come get their cable off my property before I yanked it out of the junction box on the pole. Too much leakage and intermod in my AM reception.
That sounds a bit too much on the Luddite side for me... but just recently I met someone who wanted to go back to hollow state transmitters, too.
Consider being part of the solution.....you MUST know some people who could get this ball rolling.
In PHX, there is only one AM with any amount of under-55 listening, and only two with what could be called full market signals... and one has doubtful status in this regard at night. AM in PHX is just not effective any more. The city outgrew the signals, and the remaining somewhat good signals can't draw enough people to the band to keep it sustainable.
