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Baton Rouge 94.9 WTQT-LP

M

MonsterFM-KBKH

Can some of you please post concerning signal strength/reception of this station? We have them temporarily operating at 250 watts (as opposed to the normal 100 watts) and are toying with the idea of using this as a precedent setting NPRM that would seek to allow some LPFM's to upgrade to this power level permanently.

My primary concern is that (as the station operates a single-bay antenna from a relatively low height above ground level), there may now be multipath issues. But, I'd like to gather reports on how the signal now (both locally and at a distance) compares to the signal from the same station before October 4th (the day of the power increase).

Can anyone please report on this as I am a nice 16 hour (minimum) drive away and am unsure as to whether or not to continue this experiment...<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> Can some of you please post concerning signal
> strength/reception of this station? We have them temporarily
> operating at 250 watts (as opposed to the normal 100 watts)
> and are toying with the idea of using this as a precedent
> setting NPRM that would seek to allow some LPFM's to upgrade
> to this power level permanently.

Terry,
250 TPO or 250 ERP???
Surely you are not running illegally...
 
> > Can some of you please post concerning signal
> > strength/reception of this station? We have them
> temporarily
> > operating at 250 watts (as opposed to the normal 100
> watts)
> > and are toying with the idea of using this as a precedent
> > setting NPRM that would seek to allow some LPFM's to
> upgrade
> > to this power level permanently.
>
> Terry,
> 250 TPO or 250 ERP???
> Surely you are not running illegally...
>
i can report the station reaches livingston..15 miles from baton rouge. and i dont see how it is legal. an lpfm is suppose to be a ..well..lpfm..this station is operating like a 1000 watt fm..i am sure my friends at northshore arent happy...and its the same format as 94.1..so whats the point?<P ID="signature">______________
note to tvland...bring back wkrp!!!</P>
 
> Terry,
> 250 TPO or 250 ERP???
> Surely you are not running illegally...

This one is not my station. It is running 250 ERP and is certainly not doing so illegally. (It *would* be kinda dumb to solicit comments on *that*, huh?) There is a valid STA for the higher powered operation.<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> i can report the station reaches livingston..15 miles from
> baton rouge. and i dont see how it is legal. an lpfm is
> suppose to be a ..well..lpfm..this station is operating like
> a 1000 watt fm..i am sure my friends at northshore arent
> happy...and its the same format as 94.1..so whats the point?



I can see already that no one here is familiar with proper FCC procedure (or these uninformed assumptions of "illegal operations" would not be coming up. In order to alleviate this, here is a reprint of an e-mailed authorization as issued from Washington:

------------------------------------------

In response to the request filed via electronic mail on September 22, 2005, and pursuant to Section 73.3542 of the Commission's rules (47 CFR Section 73.3542), authority is granted to Louisiana Comunity Development Corporation, Inc. ("LCDC"), to operate Station WTQT-LP, Baton Rouge, Louisiana with increased power and antenna height for the purpose of transmitting emergency information to residents and rescue workers during the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In particular, Station WTQT-LP may operate with the following facilities:

Geographic coordinates: 30° 26' 58 " N, 91° 09' 24" W (NAD 1927)
Channel: 235
Frequency 94.9 MHz
Effective Radiated Power Not to exceed 250 watts
Antenna Type: Omnidirectional
Antenna supporting structure Existing, licensed WTQT-LP tower
Antenna height:
Above ground: Not to exceed 50 meters
Above mean sea level Not to exceed 62 meters
Above average terrain Not to exceed 52 meters




Charles N. "Norm" Miller
Electronics Engineer
Media Bureau, Audio Division
Federal Communications Commission
[email protected]
Phone: (202) 418-2767
FAX: (202) 418-1411

------------------------------------------

Hopefully, this will put to a rest any rumoprs of "illegal operations". If this doesn't stop the assumptions, a call to Mr. Miller certainly should.

As stated above, we are simply looking at studying the resulting increase in signal that has occured because of the issuance of this STA. Nothing more.

Neither I nor my clients EVER engage in "illegal operations".
<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> > i can report the station reaches livingston..15 miles from
>
> > baton rouge. and i dont see how it is legal. an lpfm is
> > suppose to be a ..well..lpfm..this station is operating
> like
> > a 1000 watt fm..i am sure my friends at northshore arent
> > happy...and its the same format as 94.1..so whats the
> point?
>
>
>
> I can see already that no one here is familiar with proper
> FCC procedure (or these uninformed assumptions of "illegal
> operations" would not be coming up. In order to alleviate
> this, here is a reprint of an e-mailed authorization as
> issued from Washington:
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> In response to the request filed via electronic mail on
> September 22, 2005, and pursuant to Section 73.3542 of the
> Commission's rules (47 CFR Section 73.3542), authority is
> granted to Louisiana Comunity Development Corporation, Inc.
> ("LCDC"), to operate Station WTQT-LP, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
> with increased power and antenna height for the purpose of
> transmitting emergency information to residents and rescue
> workers during the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and
> Rita. In particular, Station WTQT-LP may operate with the
> following facilities:
>
> Geographic coordinates: 30° 26' 58 " N, 91°
> 09' 24" W (NAD 1927)
> Channel: 235
> Frequency 94.9 MHz
> Effective Radiated Power Not to exceed 250
> watts
> Antenna Type: Omnidirectional
> Antenna supporting structure Existing, licensed
> WTQT-LP tower
> Antenna height:
> Above ground: Not to exceed 50
> meters
> Above mean sea level Not to exceed 62
> meters
> Above average terrain Not to exceed 52
> meters
>
>
>
>
> Charles N. "Norm" Miller
> Electronics Engineer
> Media Bureau, Audio Division
> Federal Communications Commission
> [email protected]
> Phone: (202) 418-2767
> FAX: (202) 418-1411
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> Hopefully, this will put to a rest any rumoprs of "illegal
> operations". If this doesn't stop the assumptions, a call to
> Mr. Miller certainly should.
>
> As stated above, we are simply looking at studying the
> resulting increase in signal that has occured because of the
> issuance of this STA. Nothing more.
>
> Neither I nor my clients EVER engage in "illegal
> operations".
>
but you are not playing any emergency info..nor did you that i heard..just some lame rap music with some less than talented announcers..94.1 is much better..as most any rap fan will tell you..so as to the fcc ruling i still dont see this as legal..sice there is no over the air info on the katrina or rita recovery.<P ID="signature">______________
note to tvland...bring back wkrp!!!</P>
 
> but you are not playing any emergency info..nor did you that
> i heard..just some lame rap music with some less than
> talented announcers..94.1 is much better..as most any rap
> fan will tell you..so as to the fcc ruling i still dont see
> this as legal..sice there is no over the air info on the
> katrina or rita recovery.


I can either agree with this. I am playing absolutely NOTHING on 94.9 in Baton Rouge. I have absolutely NOTHING to do with the programmong. I am an engineer who owns and operates my own 50,000 watt commercial FM station in the Texas panhandle. I am only interested in this as an experiment in increasing the power of urban (locations, not format) LPFM's to the equivalent of translators. I don't care what they play on the station as it's not mine. I program my own stations and let others program theirs. This one is not mine but, I was able to get them a power increase based upon what I was asked to do by the FEMA director and the controlling interest in the entity to which the station is licensed.

Again, as I am more than an 18 hour drive away, I have no idea what they program. I am only interested in the technical aspects of the signal. I apologize if I've given any other impressions.<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> > but you are not playing any emergency info..nor did you
> that
> > i heard..just some lame rap music with some less than
> > talented announcers..94.1 is much better..as most any rap
> > fan will tell you..so as to the fcc ruling i still dont
> see
> > this as legal..sice there is no over the air info on the
> > katrina or rita recovery.
>
>
> I can either agree with this. I am playing absolutely
> NOTHING on 94.9 in Baton Rouge. I have absolutely NOTHING to
> do with the programmong. I am an engineer who owns and
> operates my own 50,000 watt commercial FM station in the
> Texas panhandle. I am only interested in this as an
> experiment in increasing the power of urban (locations, not
> format) LPFM's to the equivalent of translators. I don't
> care what they play on the station as it's not mine. I
> program my own stations and let others program theirs. This
> one is not mine but, I was able to get them a power increase
> based upon what I was asked to do by the FEMA director and
> the controlling interest in the entity to which the station
> is licensed.
>
> Again, as I am more than an 18 hour drive away, I have no
> idea what they program. I am only interested in the
> technical aspects of the signal. I apologize if I've given
> any other impressions.
>
i apologize to you..their station is the problem. as for your experiment. i can pick the station up for up to 20 miles outside of baton rouge to the southeast.
and it interferes with a 50000 watt fm station in new orleans owned by northshore broadcasting..<P ID="signature">______________
note to tvland...bring back wkrp!!!</P>
 
> i apologize to you..their station is the problem. as for
> your experiment. i can pick the station up for up to 20
> miles outside of baton rouge to the southeast.
> and it interferes with a 50000 watt fm station in new
> orleans owned by northshore broadcasting..


You don't owe me any apologies. If anything, I should've been more clear in the way in which I asked the question.

Wanna hear something amazing? As an LPFM, what WTQT-LP is doing is a definite "no-no". But, a 250 watt translator (with an even taller antenna) would have NO TROUBLES AT ALL in getting a permanent assigment with the same facilities with the exception to the fact that this is ever so slightly east of the river...
<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> You don't owe me any apologies. If anything, I should've
> been more clear in the way in which I asked the question.

Terry,
to clarify my earlier post, I was merely asking if you meant in your message 250watts TPO or 250watts ERP...250TPO with a single bay would be about 100watts ERP and thus legal...I was making a sarcastic joke on the post....sorry..
I KNOW you would not operate a system illegally...and didnt mean to imply anything such in that manner. Thanks for posting the STA..I have heard some talk about increasing LPFMs to 250watts is taking place...but NAB may kill that idea if it gets serious.

> Wanna hear something amazing? As an LPFM, what WTQT-LP is
> doing is a definite "no-no". But, a 250 watt translator
> (with an even taller antenna) would have NO TROUBLES AT ALL
> in getting a permanent assigment with the same facilities
> with the exception to the fact that this is ever so slightly
> east of the river...

Yeah, gotta love the rules huh?? Allow 250watt translator to be there but not allow a LOCALLY programmed LPFM there....I love hypocritical rules (NOT! ;)
I wish we could get rid of the translator mess and allow REAL local stations..
but then the religious and other groups would just refile and take over the LPFMs...

Of course the rules dont require a station to have an AUX that covers the COL..thus a rimshot with a 2000ft tower in DFW say, could have an aux on a 500ft tower still covering the DFW area (or at least part) but NOT covering the COL...how stupid is that??

Our government at work....Sounds like a bunch of idiots to me..
 
> Terry,
> to clarify my earlier post, I was merely asking if you meant
> in your message 250watts TPO or 250watts ERP...250TPO with a
> single bay would be about 100watts ERP and thus legal...I
> was making a sarcastic joke on the post....sorry..
> I KNOW you would not operate a system illegally...and didnt
> mean to imply anything such in that manner. Thanks for
> posting the STA..I have heard some talk about increasing
> LPFMs to 250watts is taking place...but NAB may kill that
> idea if it gets serious.


Well, they'll surely TRY (which is the reason for the rest of my post, below)!


> Yeah, gotta love the rules huh?? Allow 250watt translator to
> be there but not allow a LOCALLY programmed LPFM there....I
> love hypocritical rules (NOT! ;)
> I wish we could get rid of the translator mess and allow
> REAL local stations...


Perzactly! That is why I wanted to file this STA (at the same parameters as a translator) and do a study on just exactly how much MORE interference a closely spaced LOCALLY PROGRAMMED signal does than an equally closely spaced signal that originaltes from TWIN FALL, IDAHO, or from NORTH MISSISSIPPI or from PENSACOLA, FLORIDA!!!

(Just between you and me, I bet there's not any more interference from the local signal than from the distant signal...)<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> > I can either agree with this. I am playing absolutely
> > NOTHING on 94.9 in Baton Rouge. I have absolutely NOTHING
> to
> > do with the programmong. I am an engineer who owns and
> > operates my own 50,000 watt commercial FM station in the
> > Texas panhandle. I am only interested in this as an
> > experiment in increasing the power of urban (locations,
> not
> > format) LPFM's to the equivalent of translators. I don't
> > care what they play on the station as it's not mine. I
> > program my own stations and let others program theirs.
> This
> > one is not mine but, I was able to get them a power
> increase
> > based upon what I was asked to do by the FEMA director and
>
> > the controlling interest in the entity to which the
> station
> > is licensed.
> >
> > Again, as I am more than an 18 hour drive away, I have no
> > idea what they program. I am only interested in the
> > technical aspects of the signal. I apologize if I've given
>
> > any other impressions.
> >
> i apologize to you..their station is the problem. as for
> your experiment. i can pick the station up for up to 20
> miles outside of baton rouge to the southeast.
> and it interferes with a 50000 watt fm station in new
> orleans owned by northshore broadcasting..
>


Whereas I like the technical aspect of this interesting post (thanks Terry for the info as I don't see it on the FCC site currently and I'd be as interested as you on it for the technical aspect) I do not agree on what some groups are doing to increase their power solely under the guise of Hurricane info.

Smashed, you are wrong on the power of WPRF 94.9 Reserve which is only a c3 at 14kw and a directional antenna toward New Orleans (but their signal would possibly mix with WTQT-LP at 250w ERP in Ascension Parish...The nearest 100kw is in Mobile on the frequency)

If either station was higher power, I don't think it possibly would be allowed due to the interference that would possibly happen but I do agree with Terry that the FCC has put restrictions on LPs that are more restrictive than say a translator (even though I can't find the seperation table for the LP right now)

RFLA
 
> Can some of you please post concerning signal
> strength/reception of this station? We have them temporarily
> operating at 250 watts (as opposed to the normal 100 watts)
> and are toying with the idea of using this as a precedent
> setting NPRM that would seek to allow some LPFM's to upgrade
> to this power level permanently.
>
> My primary concern is that (as the station operates a
> single-bay antenna from a relatively low height above ground
> level), there may now be multipath issues. But, I'd like to
> gather reports on how the signal now (both locally and at a
> distance) compares to the signal from the same station
> before October 4th (the day of the power increase).
>
> Can anyone please report on this as I am a nice 16 hour
> (minimum) drive away and am unsure as to whether or not to
> continue this experiment...
>

So far they haven't been able to even move the antenna yet, their transmitter is a 225 watt Crown that's already cranked to max so there is still more equipment they need.

I'm not an engineer so I can't really speak to whether 225 output on the transmitter is correct for a 71 watt ERP but that's what they have it set for. I was told the engineer they hired that originally set the antenna and transmitter up checked it to ensure 71 watts ERP.
 
> So far they haven't been able to even move the antenna yet,
> their transmitter is a 225 watt Crown that's already cranked
> to max so there is still more equipment they need.
>
> I'm not an engineer so I can't really speak to whether 225
> output on the transmitter is correct for a 71 watt ERP but
> that's what they have it set for. I was told the engineer
> they hired that originally set the antenna and transmitter
> up checked it to ensure 71 watts ERP.


That was some time back. I just (personally) installed a 500 watt transmitter during the first week of October.

The Crown was a 250 watt version, by the way. I keep a 100 watt Crown at my stations as backup. They're some of the nicest (and most expensive) Low-Power transmitters in existence! VERY conservatively rated and extremely simple to operate (for the inexperienced).
<P ID="signature">______________
Terry Keith Hammond

Message Boards: http://www.monsterfm.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi</P>
 
> > So far they haven't been able to even move the antenna
> yet,
> > their transmitter is a 225 watt Crown that's already
> cranked
> > to max so there is still more equipment they need.
> >
> > I'm not an engineer so I can't really speak to whether 225
>
> > output on the transmitter is correct for a 71 watt ERP but
>
> > that's what they have it set for. I was told the engineer
>
> > they hired that originally set the antenna and transmitter
>
> > up checked it to ensure 71 watts ERP.
>
>
> That was some time back. I just (personally) installed a 500
> watt transmitter during the first week of October.
>
> The Crown was a 250 watt version, by the way. I keep a 100
> watt Crown at my stations as backup. They're some of the
> nicest (and most expensive) Low-Power transmitters in
> existence! VERY conservatively rated and extremely simple to
> operate (for the inexperienced).
>


Oh ok, so they must have installed the new transmitter at the same time they were attempting to move the antenna, as I remember it the boom lift wasn't tall enough. So far I don't see a very large increase in signal as compared to before.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by gunterm on 10/18/05 05:33 AM.</FONT></P>
 
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