Any Part-15 AM Stations in the Phoenix area?

[scottkramer]

Curious as to whether there were any other Part-15 AM Station is the Phoenix area other than ours in Gold Canyon, AZ at 1630 AM. Our format is Adult Contemporary 6 a.m. to 12 Noon and Classic Hits 12 p.m. to 6 a.m. Local sponsors contribute to our revenue stream. Station Slogan: "K-HITS 1630 100% Classic Hits". Our anttena height is just over 60 feet (raising this height soon to 64 feet) and daytime signal reaches up to 12 miles (daytime) and only 1.5 miles after sundown. Our grounding includes a mixture of blackdirt and bentonite causing our exceptional coverage coupled with our antenna height. Bentonite helps our signal. Our power is a legal 100mw. Scott

 

[DrAkbar]

Our anttena height is just over 60 feet (raising this height soon to 64 feet) and daytime signal reaches up to 12 miles (daytime) and only 1.5 miles after sundown. Our grounding includes a mixture of blackdirt and bentonite causing our exceptional coverage coupled with our antenna height. Bentonite helps our signal. Our power is a legal 100mw. Scott

hmmmm....black dirt, bentonite and a 64ft stick. We're passing this along to KFNX, whose signal at night is slightly better than yours!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Station Slogan: "K-HITS 1630 100% Classic Hits".

Do you do a legal ID at/near the TOH?

 

[KeithE4]

There used to be one in Fountain Hills about 5 years ago on either 1120 or 1620 (I forget which one), but I don't know if it's still around.

The Blaze is back on the air now from the ASU campus, on 1330 with a whopping 7 (yeah, right!) watts.

 

[EricStein]

There used to be one in Fountain Hills about 5 years ago on either 1120 or 1620 (I forget which one), but I don't know if it's still around.

You're thinking of 1620 "KFHX" in Fountain Hills. It was run by a local couple as an outreach for their church work, and didn't have a set format (one hour it could be a talk show, the next automated music). Their biggest "catch" was having a weekly show with Sheriff Joe Arpaio (who is - or used to be - an FH resident). Very basic setup, from what I remember, and they had a "storefront" studio.

Someone was trying to revive "KFHX" late last year/early this year (in fact, the website is still up). They do have a live stream (along with links to two "community" stations in Ohio), but I'm not sure if they are broadcasting in the FH area.

 

[buster2]

I go to Fountain Hills a lot. The KFHX "studios" used to be in a shopping center next to the lake in a business that sold wheelchairs, etc. The site is long gone as is the signage for KFHX. I always wanted to listen to the station just to see what they do, but I never did catch them actually broadcasting. I would asume they are long gone.

 

[rickityone]

If we can expand the territory a bit to the rest of AZ - we are still here, The Gulch AM1670 KCRJ in Jerome and www.gulchradio.com doing our thing for the neighbors and the world playing our "special mix of eclectic classic rock, soul and oldies - transgenerational rock" - still having fun, still dreaming of getting a license and having some real "pow, pow, power."

We had two transmitters up for awhile, but a charming mountain thunderstorm took care of the audio out on one of them, still puts out a carrier but no sound. Need to get to work on it, the 2nd trans added depth to the signal, not much distance but a richer sound. Lightning storms during the monsoons cause us vexation because basically there is nothing we can do but pray, a near by blast seems cause the transmitters to go into overload and need readjustments and that's a pain.

People listen, we get letters.

Glad to hear you are still going Scott. Who climbs the 60 foot tower to turn the screws in the Rangemaster? A rather cool feature of being in Jerome - we get a free 1,800 feet above average terrain.

Flagstaff ESPN 1650 is still there and carries lots of local advertising.

rickity
www.gulchradio.com

 

[scottkramer]

Rickety:

It is quite a job to lower and raise our tower but we do it completely with ease with the means of a pulley. Ever so carefully we raise the tower and lower is slowly and it is part of the magic of our station engineer. We are starting to update our web site and will be including tower photos. Our format is very adult with music ranging from Frank Sinatra to Chicago but not very contemporary until after the sun goes down when our signal goes from 10 miles (daytime) all the way down to 1.7 to 2.0 miles depending on the mexican stations on our frequency at 1630 khz. Our audio is our best asset. We use a 222 Innovonics processor. in addition we also do ocassional talk shows with politicians and safety personnel in Gold Canyon and Apache Junction, AZ. Scott Kramer

 

[Legend City]

obligatory question: What about your lamptimer?

 

[KFNNradioFan]

Unless there is something I don't know about low power AM 9' towers, the height has nothing to do with the field strength at a given distance; the FCC limits the length to about 9.' If this restriction was limited, then the signal would go further.

Isn't the grounding system most important with the low power system? (along with the ground conductivity such as on bentonite clay)

 

[KFNNradioFan]

Has Jerry Del Collianno considered installing a low power AM station in Scottsdale w/ 24/7 local content, employing some out of work radio folks? ;D

 

[scottkramer]

Actually, the higher our tower the further the station's signal carries. To give you an idea, when ourv tower was only 20 feet off the ground our signal went out only 1.5 miles during the day and 1/2 mile at night. We are hoping to get on the tower by the fire station so we can get out nearly 15 miles still with the same amount of power. That may be a ways off if it ever happens. we serve Gold Canyon and Eastern Apache Junction with a prime signal. that's all that matters to us anyways. Scott