I forgot the FCC ever made an Expanded Band assignment on 1610 kHz. It's strange, considering that they previously had made 530 and 1610 kHz exclusive TIS frequencies. But then they let the TISes loose anywhere on the band, including on EB frequencies and even 1710 kHz.Because someone was so short sighted, that the one and only facility on 1610 down here, licensed to Atlanta, was surrendered. It was 10kW, and standing alone on the channel certainly helped its cause. Originally the X band assignment given to 900 KPYN, operating at 10kW/1kW.
TIS stations are basically non existent in ETX, @kevtronics. There isn't one anywhere near my QTH for nearly 100 miles, and none in between here and Bivins, near where 1600 KALT once was. It's been 20 years now, and KPYN (as it was OTA, 900 was KALT) only lasted around 5 or 6 years, but I could receive it nighly at my QTH and that was at only 1kW after sunset, in between Tyler and Lindale, Texas. This was the late 1990s. Most modern receivers of the time could dial up to 1700, as I recall. I had a Fisher unit that went to 1720, purchased from Sears in 1994. 1610's daytime signal seemed pretty potent for being so high up on the dial. Not sure why they chose it to turn it in at all, other than it being cost prohibitive to keep both licenses active. Others have held on to both the original facility and its x band twin for years. 970 and 1630 Fort Worth and 1150/1620 College Station instantly come to the forefront of examples.I forgot the FCC ever made an Expanded Band assignment on 1610 kHz. It's strange, considering that they previously had made 530 and 1610 kHz exclusive TIS frequencies. But then they let the TISes loose anywhere on the band, including on EB frequencies and even 1710 kHz.
In KALT/KPYN's case I don't know if the advantage of being receivable on almost all existing receivers (although I do have one digital tuner which only goes up to 1600!) was enough to overcome the interference from all the TISes, plus the reduction in groundwave coverage versus their old signal. Maybe someone can do the math to see if 10 kW at 1610 kHz would be enough to provide the same daytime coverage (or better) as 1 kW on 900 kHz.
Days or nights, 1610 yields absolutely nothing here in Tyler, Texas.
Why? Because someone was so short sighted, that the one and only facility on 1610 down here, licensed to Atlanta, was surrendered. It was 10kW, and standing alone on the channel certainly helped its cause. Originally the X band assignment given to 900 KPYN, operating at 10kW/1kW. I would not be surprised at all to read that @wildthangjim and @jim-satx both have a confirmation of KALT in their respective logs.
I have a test date logged on January 23, 2001. L2C was granted on the 31st. Last airdate was July 24, 2003, according to the FCC record. 1610 was actually KPYN on the air. The KALT call sign was moved from 900 to 1610 prior to the license being allowed to expire due to inactivity.Unfortunately I did not return to DXing until 2014 (after a three-decade break), so I never heard KALT. Which years was it on the air?