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ken gilbert
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It started a long time ago my friend!
Some of their radio stations overlap, from where I am in central maine I can receive MPBN radio on 90.1 Portland, 90.5 Camden, 90.9 Bangor, 91.3 Waterville and depending on the terrain/radio 89.7 Calais. Someone with more of an engineering mind could figure out which ones could be upgraded and which ones could be turned off. I don't know what the reception is like but 106.1 Presque Isle has a pretty big signal, so that might cover Ft. Kent. But Maine Public has never heard of translators apperently, they've never used one to fill in the gaps, if they have a gap they build a 10,000 watt full power station.
Mainedude2007 said:
That's smart strategy, actually, and it's exactly what I advise my clients to do whenever they're able. Translators aren't protected from interference and can be (and frequently are) displaced by new full-power licensees. If you're building for the long haul, as most public broadcasters are, you want to put up facilities that will be there for listeners without any disruption - and translators aren't necessarily the best way to accomplish that.
C
Channel Surf
Guest
Those look like decent facilities too, even if they are in an extremely rural area. I am sure that they could sell them. You know that the religious nut jobs would grab them up in a heartbeat....
Channel Surf said:
Let's not jump the gun here. MPBN is painting this as a temporary move while they work through a budget crunch. The press release they put out today talked about a six-month silent period. I have a gut feeling it will be even shorter than that, if the signals actually go off the air at all. (Something tells me there are political games being played here to squeeze a little more money out of the state to prevent service from being lost to remote areas that probably need it pretty badly.)
Or could this be a ploy to get some big donor(s) to step up.
My concern is that the digital television signal from channels 10 or 26 are tough to pick up in Portland. I work with clients who can't afford cable and rely on rabbit ears. It is very tough and almost impossible to pick either one of these signals. I wish MPBN could do a major realignment of all their transmission facilities. I understand the big undertaking this would be.
My concern is that the digital television signal from channels 10 or 26 are tough to pick up in Portland. I work with clients who can't afford cable and rely on rabbit ears. It is very tough and almost impossible to pick either one of these signals. I wish MPBN could do a major realignment of all their transmission facilities. I understand the big undertaking this would be.
PortlandMainer, you and Scott are kind of saying the same thing w/r/t money.
Having worked for UMaine (the primary benefactor of MPBN) after practically growing up there, I can tell you that they are really good at crying poverty to the state. I'm sure you know that as well. I'm not sure the state can really afford to fork over any more cash than they already have (that's a nice way of saying I'm almost certain they can't afford it and really shouldn't do it), but they've got some really good arm-twisters working for them who've made a career out of this sort of thing.
Think "auto manufacturers" if you want some idea of the UMaine economic model. I know, I used to print their checks.
As far as translators go, Scott is absolutely right. Translators aren't the big money-saver one would think. Costs of tower construction or rental are exactly the same, equipment costs can approach half that of a low-cost solid-state transmitter, you need a line-of-sight shot to the transmitter proper unless you want to pay big $$$ to Fairpoint for landline costs (some stations have seen the cost of their lines go up 250% or more since Fairpoint bought Verizon's landlines) which in turn means a really tall tower, which means higher rent or construction cost, and so on, and so on. Add to all this the fact that a translator is not given the protections that full-license transmitters are, and you pass the point of no return for translators pretty quickly.
Channel Surf: as far as the "religious nut jobs" go, I occaisionally do work for one of the bigger religious broadcasters in the area, and he prefers to go the translator route. His approach is to saturate the area with cheap overlapping translators so he doesn't get hit so hard when he gets displaced. Money is not limitless for these guys, either. When money's good for the bible-beaters, they all beat down Alan Weiner's door to buy time on WBCQ in Monticello (what, you don't own a shortwave radio?). Alan's not selling anywhere near the airtime he was just a couple of years ago, and some of his longest-running clients are pulling out.
I haven't talked to any of my friends at MPBN, but I agree with Scott that this will likely play out for about six months or so. With no Alfond-esque philanthropists around to bail them out (except perhaps Stephen King), the money will likely have to come out of the state's already-depleted coffers, but it's possible that a few private donors could prop them up enough to keep a few of the facilities going a bit longer.
My $0.02.
--Thom Rounds
Having worked for UMaine (the primary benefactor of MPBN) after practically growing up there, I can tell you that they are really good at crying poverty to the state. I'm sure you know that as well. I'm not sure the state can really afford to fork over any more cash than they already have (that's a nice way of saying I'm almost certain they can't afford it and really shouldn't do it), but they've got some really good arm-twisters working for them who've made a career out of this sort of thing.
Think "auto manufacturers" if you want some idea of the UMaine economic model. I know, I used to print their checks.
As far as translators go, Scott is absolutely right. Translators aren't the big money-saver one would think. Costs of tower construction or rental are exactly the same, equipment costs can approach half that of a low-cost solid-state transmitter, you need a line-of-sight shot to the transmitter proper unless you want to pay big $$$ to Fairpoint for landline costs (some stations have seen the cost of their lines go up 250% or more since Fairpoint bought Verizon's landlines) which in turn means a really tall tower, which means higher rent or construction cost, and so on, and so on. Add to all this the fact that a translator is not given the protections that full-license transmitters are, and you pass the point of no return for translators pretty quickly.
Channel Surf: as far as the "religious nut jobs" go, I occaisionally do work for one of the bigger religious broadcasters in the area, and he prefers to go the translator route. His approach is to saturate the area with cheap overlapping translators so he doesn't get hit so hard when he gets displaced. Money is not limitless for these guys, either. When money's good for the bible-beaters, they all beat down Alan Weiner's door to buy time on WBCQ in Monticello (what, you don't own a shortwave radio?). Alan's not selling anywhere near the airtime he was just a couple of years ago, and some of his longest-running clients are pulling out.
I haven't talked to any of my friends at MPBN, but I agree with Scott that this will likely play out for about six months or so. With no Alfond-esque philanthropists around to bail them out (except perhaps Stephen King), the money will likely have to come out of the state's already-depleted coffers, but it's possible that a few private donors could prop them up enough to keep a few of the facilities going a bit longer.
My $0.02.
--Thom Rounds
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