• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

K-Love... Mystery Relay on 94.1 in or near Martinsville

M

Mid West Clubber

Guest
Where is this K-love I am hearing on 94.1 in Martinsville. I cant find any info on it, Radio Locator doesnt list it. It has been there for probably 5 months by now. I cant seem to figure out where its coming from, and how much power it has. I am 100% sure its K-love 24/7, and it is a strong clean signal with good processing, so its not just a pirate I dont think. The signal is city grade in martinsville, but fades quickly going north as Warm 93.9 squashes it out. I just cant seem to find out where it is coming from, the top of hour IDs make not mention of it. Could this be an unautherized relay perhaps, Ive heard of K-love being cited for things like this in the past.
 
K-Love also broadcasts on 90.5 FM in Greencastle, and Educational Media Foundation, the owner of 90.5 FM, has just applied for zoning for a tower near the Morgan/Hendricks County line for a Christian satellite station that allegedly will have a 50 mile broadcast radius. Needless to say, I'm concerned about how this might effect the non-commercials such as us in the area. Any details would be appreciated. For the record, I'm not against Christian radio at all.

Jon Easter
WBDG General Manager
 
Well, we did have some religious station locally on 90.9 just south of Martinsville with bad audio, and the signal was even weak in Martinsville, the only thing that station did was jam out the South WBDG Listeners DXers. WBDG can now be heard on a car radio in Martinsville now that the Religious 90.9 has been silenced. BTW, Martinsville is probably a good 35 mile from the tower, not bad for a school station. Sometimes SKIP conditions will bring in WJEL 89.3 as well.
 
WCJL 90.9 (south of Martinsville) is only off air temporarily. I looked into it, and they recently received an STA to remain silent pending receiving and installing a new antenna. They sustained storm damage to their antenna and feedline.

Also - is this K-Love move related to their application to move 90.5 closer into Indy?
http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/fmq.php?facid=93526&jaws=0
 
I looked it up this morning, and it looks like they are applying to move WIKL a few miles south and east. It also looks as if they are dropping power from 15K all vertical to 8K Watts all vertical. It does look as if they are raising the height of the antenna to nearly 500 feet from their current 450 feet.

In FM, it's the height that's a big deal. WRFT gets a good signal out of 130 Watts at 161 Feet. WEDM is 180 Watts at, I believe, 180 feet. We are 400 Watts on a 50 foot tower+28 feet on top of the school makes us 78 feet HAAT.
 
I always thought WBDG had a better signal than WRFT and WEDM... WEDM used to have a better signal than they have now days, im not sure if the Lebanon station, MOM fm on 91.1 had anything to do with that or not. Ive never had very good luck with 91.3 in Carmel either.
 
Jon Easter said:
I looked it up this morning, and it looks like they are applying to move WIKL a few miles south and east. It also looks as if they are dropping power from 15K all vertical to 8K Watts all vertical. It does look as if they are raising the height of the antenna to nearly 500 feet from their current 450 feet.
Click to expand...

Height vs power are a trade off. Losing nearly half of the wattage and only gaining 50ft isn't a good thing (unless that 500ft tower is on top of a hill 400ft higher than the old location). The best comparison is to look at the before and after maps (BEFORE / AFTER). In this case, they are giving up coverage to the west to get further into Indianapolis.

(Of course, the signal doesn't end at the blue line ... but it is a decent estimate.)

In FM, it's the height that's a big deal. WRFT gets a good signal out of 130 Watts at 161 Feet. WEDM is 180 Watts at, I believe, 180 feet. We are 400 Watts on a 50 foot tower+28 feet on top of the school makes us 78 feet HAAT.
Click to expand...

Only if you are on entirely flat terrain with no hills or valleys for 16km. See here for a calculator and a detailed description.

A 50ft tower on a 28ft building gives you a height above ground level (AGL) of 78ft. You have to plot the radials to figure out "average terrain".
 
All why I should never ever try to comment on engineering.
 
Well, I hate all these religious stations that Jam other signal's I want to hear. I dont think the 90.9 South of Martinsville should be allowed to operate so close to WBDG. WBDG is quite listenable from just north of Martinsville, but when they run that Religious station on 90.9 it ruins reception of WBDG about 5 miles south of 465. It cuts off a good 20 miles of WBDGs usable signal on a car radio. I know WBDGs only designed to serve West Indianapolis, but their signal has been good well beyond there for years and I dont think its right for another station to be able to set up and Jam a station thats been around for 30 or 40 years. Ive always been able to get WBDG all over Indy except for right near a few miles from WEDMs tower.
 
Mid West Clubber said:
Well, I hate all these religious stations that Jam other signal's I want to hear. I dont think the 90.9 South of Martinsville should be allowed to operate so close to WBDG. WBDG is quite listenable from just north of Martinsville, but when they run that Religious station on 90.9 it ruins reception of WBDG about 5 miles south of 465. It cuts off a good 20 miles of WBDGs usable signal on a car radio. I know WBDGs only designed to serve West Indianapolis,...
Click to expand...

Exactly. So please stop whining. No one listens to high school stations except the people who work there and their Moms.
 
I heard WBDG playing in a downtown Indy car repair shop maybe 15 years ago...and in 1987, I loved what WBDG was doing. It was a rock/chr hybrid that played some really cool stuff that didn't quite hit the top 40. I still have a 45 of Dirty Water by Rock & Hyde. WBDG is the only place I ever heard that song. There were others. And while I don't listen to them any longer (I'm waaaay out of the demo), I'd bet there are folks 20 years my junior who equally enjoy their current day incarnation. That said, EMF puts out a good product with K-LOVE and God can have as many spots on my radio as He sees fit to use. I'd rather hear another Christian broadcast than another rap outlet any day.
 
I listen to 'BDG on occasion..they do a decent job for a high school station. Not on my pre-sets yet as I tend to dial hop a lot.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom