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From east to west and the northern rimshots, Spokane signals

B

bobdavcav

Radio used for reception, BrailleNote, probably about the same quality as the CC Witness.
88.7, strong in Cheney, non-existant in Coeur D'alene.
89.5, same as 88.7.
91.1, strong in Cheney, weak in Coeur D'alene.
91.9, weak in both Coeur D'alene and Cheney.
92.5, ZZU translator in Coeur D'alene, nothing in Cheney.
92.9, weak in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney.
93.7, weak in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney.
94.5, best signal, strong in both locations. I expected it to be weaker in Cheney. Every Spokane stick should move to that site.
95.3, KPND strong in and out of stereo in Coeur D'alene, nothing in Cheney.
96.1, weak in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney.
96.9, disappointing signal, weak in both locations. As I've been listening more, it seems that 96.9 is a bit stronger in Cheney.
97.3, weak in Cheney, non-existant in Coeur D'alene.
98.1, weak in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney.
98.9, strong in Cheney, weak in Coeur D'alene.
99.9, in and out of stereo in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney.
101.1, strong in Cheney, just as I expected, as weak as the others in Coeur D'alene.
101.9, a little stronger in Cheney than in Coeur D'alene, but not by much.
102.3, weak but audible in Coeur D'alene, barely audible in Cheney.
103.1, practically non-existant in Coeur D'alene, strong in Cheney, has some bad spots though.
103.9, strong in Cheney, weak in Coeur D'alene.
104.5 nothing, was trying for KGZG in both places with nothing.
104.9, strong mono in Coeur D'alene with no stereo, in stereo and strong in Cheney.
105.7, strong in Cheney, weak in Coeur D'alene.
106.5, nothing in Coeur D'alene, weak in Cheney.
107.1 nothing, was trying for KAAZ.
107.9 KMBI, in stereo in Cheney, strong mono with no sign of stereo in Coeur D'alene.
Other observations,
Hits 96 has something going for it, the audio processing. Now 105.7 has some crackling in it. Some of the weak signals in Cheney I mentioned did pick up on the scan of my hd radio. KCDA was filled with static but was still listenable in the car. What was odd is when a signal goes bad, it's usually in and out until you just lose it, but not KCDA. We drove around Coeur D'alene for a bit and the signal held pretty steadily static-filled and mono, not getting any worse or better except for in one spot where it was unlistenable for a second. They appear to be one of the weaker signals in the market, I had problems with them today in Cheney, they were in mono on the hd radio until hd was picked up, then kept losing hd. HD2 kept dropping. Other hd was fine, seems as if CC is the only company running in hd in this market. I think that's it for now. JJ, you observed my radio, now I have just observed yours. Note, these were taken almost a month ago. Why are signals so bad to the east? Yes there are mountains, but I don't think Cuore d'alene is that much different in elevation than Spokane, is it? I would expect signals to go bad east of the city as you start climbing up into the mountains, but not in the city.
 
Cheney has STRONG signals because they're a straight shot from most of tower sites. Coeur d'Alene has some terrestrial blockage.....
 
bobdavcav said:
By what?
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure.....Coeur d'Alene's elevation is about 300 feet higher than Spokane's and by default, you'd THINK you'd get better reception there than anyplace else. But somehow, you really don't and that's my only explanation for it because that's what it sounds like listening to Spokane FMs out there. Something is in the way.

Weird......
 
Bongwater said:
bobdavcav said:
By what?
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure.....Coeur d'Alene's elevation is about 300 feet higher than Spokane's and by default, you'd THINK you'd get better reception there than anyplace else. But somehow, you really don't and that's my only explanation for it because that's what it sounds like listening to Spokane FMs out there. Something is in the way.

Weird......
Click to expand...

Nothing weird about it. Look at the terrain between most FM sites and Coeur d'Alene. There is a big freakin mountain between the two. Mica Peak climbs to 5243 ft above sea level in the Selkirk Mountain range. Many of the FMs in Spokane broadcast from Krell Hill which is 3670 ft above sea level. Most of Coeur d'Alene is at about 2175 ft above sea level. The signal of Krell hill climbs right up Mica Peak and skips right over Coeur d'Alene. Surprising the signal is as good as it is there.

You could put the FMs on Mica Peak but then you'd be shadowed in Morin Prairie, Cheney, and other parts of Spokane by Krell Hill. There is no way to hit all of the area with the terrain the way it is. It is just the way FM works. That's why they have boosters and translators.
 
bobdavcav said:
Well, why doesn't everyone just move out to the KHTQ site? They put a strong signal in both locations.
Click to expand...

It is probably not legal for them to do so. Now days most stations are locked into locations that don't allow them to go very far. Of course cost is a big factor. You could spend a half million dollars to move. Getting an STL shot the requires additional hops. Finding a site may not be easy if someone owns all the real estate. Put all that together and is it worth it to pick up a small number of people? Could a station charge enough in increased ad rates to cover a huge investment? Probably not.
 
Another place that gets a lot of static-filled stuff is any town on the Puget Sound. The Seattle waterfront gets KXXO better than any other Seattle station, due to the multipath from the hills. Edmonds is another place full of multipathed Seattle locals. I listen to KAFE 104.1 out there for AC, since it sounds like a local.

-crainbebo
 
On Mt Spokane KXLY-FM's 37. kW @ 914. m
New site they're 90. kW @ 643. m

Looking @ the KXLY-TV's applications they have a newer application to remain on Mt Spokane but bump the power up from 23 kw to 46 kw.
 
I hope it's granted.

Growing up on the North Side of Spokane, KXLY-TV was the one station that always came in "fuzzy" back in the analog days, while 2, 6, 7 and 28 usually had fairly decent signals--especially 6. What was KXLY's wattage in the '80s and '90s?
 
I'm back in the Spokane metro area, Cheney to be exact. Economy has killed me, so I'm going to graduate school at EWU. Maybe I can make something good happen with education (while piling on more student debt).

Funny, KPND is pretty solid on the car stereo. Indoors, a bit more tricky. I'm in a basement unit and I do hear KPND on a SONY ICF-9740W.

KGZG is toast along SR904.

Hell, last night while coming into town from Spokane SR904, I was listening to KXRX out of Walla Walla.

Side note, if the gang at Clear Channel in Spokane reads this board, KQNT 590 sounds awful. Worst sounding AM I've heard in a long while. Being in the midwest for most of the summer, hearing WLW, WGN, even KFLD in Pasco they all sound fabulous compared to KQNT. Take the audio processor out back and shoot it stat!
 
AKA,

I worked for KHQ for 10 years. KXLY's analog TV signals problem wasn't power, it was location. Having their stick in an oddball location 25 miles out of town (everyone else is about 5-7 miles) with parts of the metropolitan era not even in line of site caused unique multipath and the need for the "Spokane special" TV antennas due to KXLY's lesser signal strength in the city limits.

I haven't driven by XL lately, but in the analog days, they had to have an antenna farm a block or so from the main studios so they could get line of sight to the tower.

Rumor had it that they didn't want want to rent from the Cowles family to put their transmitting facility on Tower Mountain. Whether it's true or not, who knows.

I will say this, KHQ sure enjoyed from the big office on down to poke fun at XL. When XL beat KHQ to high definition, that was funny, because KHQ management was trumpeting it for six months to be the first in Spokane to HD and lookee, KXLY beats them to it. You go bragging, you set yourself up.



AKA said:
I hope it's granted.

Growing up on the North Side of Spokane, KXLY-TV was the one station that always came in "fuzzy" back in the analog days, while 2, 6, 7 and 28 usually had fairly decent signals--especially 6. What was KXLY's wattage in the '80s and '90s?
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, must be a better radio than what I have. I have an hd tuner that plugs into my phone and the BN. It was kind of funny because the next morning as I was waking up, I decided not to listen to 92.9's morning show so scanned the dial and picked up KKSR or whatever that station is now, how many formats have they been through since 2006? I did manage to get KPND on the hd one afternoon, but it was pretty static-filled.
 
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