The University of Houston has applied to change K218DA 91.5 into a fill-in translator for KUHA 91.7. The application calls for a frequency change to 91.3, a power increase from 10 to 99 watts ERP and a directional pattern. The antenna would be atop the Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology building at 2121 West Holcombe, just off South Main. Proposed coverage map: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://tr...DA&freq=91.3&contour=60&city=HOUSTON&state=TX
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Former KTRU translator to get a new life?
- Thread starter jd
- Start date
What purpose does this serve? It doesn't cover the university at all--but it does cover Rice University and the 3 affluent "island" cities behind it very well. When it was KTRU, I could get KPVU very well in my car radio at the MFAH parking lot except for that pesky translator one channel above interfering with it. I think I probably could get KUHA in that area very well in a wood frame single-family home or outdoors with my pocket radio. Why not just take K218DA off the air?
There is nearly zero chance of the FCC denying this application.
The only reason to deny it would be if it would cause prohibited interference to some other station. Their engineer wouldn't have filed the application if (s)he hadn't carefully evaluated it against the interference rules & ensured it was compliant. In the past year, I have seen a grand total of TWO applications (out of well over 1,000) dismissed for interference.
For better or worse, most car radios can receive stations that cannot officially be heard. I mean, the FCC figures a station must provide at least 60dBu of signal* in order to provide service. And in order to be protected from interference.
Most car radios can provide a perfectly listenable signal down to 40dBu or so. But that signal is not protected.
* in Texas. Lower figures may be used in the Northeast.
The only reason to deny it would be if it would cause prohibited interference to some other station. Their engineer wouldn't have filed the application if (s)he hadn't carefully evaluated it against the interference rules & ensured it was compliant. In the past year, I have seen a grand total of TWO applications (out of well over 1,000) dismissed for interference.
For better or worse, most car radios can receive stations that cannot officially be heard. I mean, the FCC figures a station must provide at least 60dBu of signal* in order to provide service. And in order to be protected from interference.
Most car radios can provide a perfectly listenable signal down to 40dBu or so. But that signal is not protected.
* in Texas. Lower figures may be used in the Northeast.
Rice installed the original translator on 91.5 because you couldn't get 91.7 inside the KTRU studio in the student center after 91.7 moved out to Kingwood.
The new site gets the antenna off the Rice campus (which was part of the terms of the sale), puts a signal into neighborhoods that don't get 91.7 well, and is shoehorned in as best as you can in a pretty tightly packed radio dial without stepping on anyone's licensed contours. They did their homework on this one.
The 91.5 translator was on the side of Rice's stadium. You can't move very far and still call it a minor change. That points to finding a nice tall building in the medical center, and the state happens to own a very nice one just on the other side of Main.
There's still a need in Clear Lake and points south for KUHA, but you're not going to be able to solve that with K218DA.
The new site gets the antenna off the Rice campus (which was part of the terms of the sale), puts a signal into neighborhoods that don't get 91.7 well, and is shoehorned in as best as you can in a pretty tightly packed radio dial without stepping on anyone's licensed contours. They did their homework on this one.
The 91.5 translator was on the side of Rice's stadium. You can't move very far and still call it a minor change. That points to finding a nice tall building in the medical center, and the state happens to own a very nice one just on the other side of Main.
There's still a need in Clear Lake and points south for KUHA, but you're not going to be able to solve that with K218DA.
DJboutit3 said:
This places the translator on the frequency of KPVU. Its location is right
on the edge of KPVU's grade "B" coverage area. This translator will interfere with KPVU. I hope KPVU launches a complaint. They should move it (the translator) more south, say around Seabrook where it is difficult to get 91.7.
Old Chicago
OldChicago said:
There's no such thing as "Grade B" coverage for an FM station. The term is only defined for analog TV. I suppose the FM equivalent would be the 60dBu protected service contour.
Here's a map showing the interfering contours of the K218DA proposal and the protected coverage area of KPVU:
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101457855&qnum=5120©num=1&exhcnum=1
I see about 2-1/2 miles of buffer between K218DA's proposed interfering contour and KPVU's protected area.
Again, I'm sure you can hear KPVU just fine on a car radio in Four Corners and Alief. But it doesn't officially provide enough signal to provide coverage there. Unless the linked map was prepared incorrectly, the FCC will approve this.
OldChicago said:
1. The proposed coverage area is outside of KPVU's protected contour.
2. You can't move that translator that far south and call it a minor change. The licensed and proposed facilities have to overlap. You also need a site where nobody lives immediately around the transmitter for short spacing purposes with KTSU (this is why Rice put K218DA on the side of the stadium; nobody lives in the parking lot; same reason for UH to put the antenna across Main on the Bioscience building where there are offices and no residences.) You also need to keep the pattern for the translator within the pattern for KUHA. A fill-in translator can't extend your coverage area.
3. There is a translator on 91.3 licensed to Kemah. They filed a resumption of operations in March saying they are rebroadcasting KPFT.
If KPVU needs to complain about any of the translators, it needs to complain about the one in Katy that falls well within it's 60 dbu contour. But, again, I ask, why the vitriol over a stinkin' translator? It's clear that it's intended to be a fill-in signal for an underserved portion of 91.7's primary service area. What's so wrong with that?
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
jd said:
IF they could bump that coverage just a bit north, they would cover a very affluent area around the Galleria. Personally, I'd see if I could transition it to a LPFM so I could originate programming for that area. With the right format, and with ads tailored to the upscale businesses in the area, I think it could be quite a money maker.
Driving inbound on 290, the KPVU signal is quite solid until you hit the West Loop. Inside the loop the signal deteriorates, but is still listenable, including the proposed coverage area of the 91.3 translator.
This is going to be a case of a low-power transmitter simply stepping on and overriding the outer coverage area of a more powerful station. A similar example is the clash on 107.9 in the western part of the market between KQQK and LPFM KBCP. Driving west on the Katy Freeway KQQK is solid until around Katy Mills Mall, when KBCP starts interfering. Around mile marker 733 KBCP dominates, becoming strongest around mile marker 725. Further west the signal starts to fade, and by mile marker 715 KQQK is receivable again, although at weaker level.
Tropo enhancement in the summer will spell grief for the KUHA translator on 91.3.
The two other area translators on 91.3 are listed as being owned by "Best Media Inc." Supposedly the one in Kemah rebroadcasts KPFT and the one in Barker relays KAFR. Both stations once (allegedly) carried satellite fed South Asian programming. Anyone actually hear either of them on the air these days?
There are LPFM applications in for many second adjacents in the Houston area, but I don't see any for 91.3 in the FCC database.
This is going to be a case of a low-power transmitter simply stepping on and overriding the outer coverage area of a more powerful station. A similar example is the clash on 107.9 in the western part of the market between KQQK and LPFM KBCP. Driving west on the Katy Freeway KQQK is solid until around Katy Mills Mall, when KBCP starts interfering. Around mile marker 733 KBCP dominates, becoming strongest around mile marker 725. Further west the signal starts to fade, and by mile marker 715 KQQK is receivable again, although at weaker level.
Tropo enhancement in the summer will spell grief for the KUHA translator on 91.3.
The two other area translators on 91.3 are listed as being owned by "Best Media Inc." Supposedly the one in Kemah rebroadcasts KPFT and the one in Barker relays KAFR. Both stations once (allegedly) carried satellite fed South Asian programming. Anyone actually hear either of them on the air these days?
rbrucecarter5 said:
There are LPFM applications in for many second adjacents in the Houston area, but I don't see any for 91.3 in the FCC database.
rbrucecarter5 said:
Unfortunately, LPFMs must be non-coms. Of course, you can run underwriting announcements--and in streaming some LPFMs that are doing oldies or adult standards formats, if the FCC ever finds out about the language in their underwriting announcements (particuarly calls to action), they would be hit with fines so fast they wouldn't know what hit them.
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