Idaho KFFI-LP 103.1 Boise New Transmitter Site

[boiseengineer]

Many of the Boise FMs are on a large faced tower so they have some deep nulls in the signal.
Deer Point stations on the panel antenna, very omni (LLC tower), are 90.3 KBSU, 91.5 KBSX, 92.3 KIZN (running 2.4 kw ERP while a new transmitter's installed) 93.1 KBOI-FM, 96.9 KKGL, & 97.9 KQFC.
Deer Point stations on a small faced tower that are good at being non-directional are 96.1 KSRV, 98.3 KARO (11 kw), 101.9 KQBL, & 102.7 KZMG.
106.3 KDBI Homedale (not Boise) is over in Oregon on a hill just west of Homedale.
*96.1 KSRV has a slight null to the east to protect 96.1 KWFI (always be KID-FM to me) Idaho Falls.

 

[boiseengineer]

92.3 KIZN is back to 48 kw ERP.

 

[dxsphere]

So here's the synopsis in Cascade, where I am moving to. It really depends on where in town you are, but the strongest Boise FMs are 90.3, 93.1, 94.9, 96.1, 96.9, 97.9, 101.9, 103.5, 104.3, 106.3 (Homedale) and 107.9. In fact, I still get HD hash on a few of them because they do so well making it over the canyon and mountains.
Here in McCall, they are weaker and multipathed.
I'm amazed at how weak KTHI is to the north (107.1 Hank FM). They barely make it to Cascade. I heard them 300+ miles away on a 6,000 ft. mountain in WA recently!! 105.1 also terrible in the Donnelly/Cascade valley.
Even with that, there are tons and tons of channels that are wide open. Baker City makes it in on 88.9 (KOBK), 91.9 (KESY), 104.7 (KCMB) and 102.3 (KWRL). KARO, Air 1, Nyssa OR, blocks KUBQ-98.7. A decent E-skip opening to the top of the band would wipe out several Boise frequencies here and a strong opening would wipe out 3-4 more, so it's a DX paradise (paging DXSphere). I expect plenty of meteor scatter if I invest in an autologger and/or overnight recordings of SDR spectrum during the Perseids, Geminids, and Quadrantids events.

It's like how Boise was, before all those LPs and AM translators clogged the band.

I would highly encourage you to invest in an SDR and a good antenna (even better if it's outdoors). The autologger is free and easy to set up, and works with any SDR. I've caught plenty of Es that I would've missed otherwise. I don't know how meteor scatter will turn out for you in Cascade, but I'd say it's very probable in your new location.

In Moses Lake, I have a four-element antenna outside connected to an RSP1A inside. In Tri-Cities, I have an RSPduo connected to an omni-directional inside (can't have my antenna outside). I also have a Surface Pro with an Airspy HF+ and a RadioShack dipole antenna that I use for portable DX, which has worked wonders!

 

[crainbebo]

Meteor scatter would be quite possible from *Seattle* and *Vancouver BC* at that location, I'm sure, at 370 mi for Seattle and 470 for Vancouver.
KGSY-88.3 is probably the 2nd best McCall signal, and KUJJ 95.5 is the number one strongest signal...it gets out well into Oregon. KUJJ seems to be satellite-fed adult contemporary. KDZY 'Superstar Country' on 98.3 is a local jukebox with local advertising and SRN news at the top of the hour, I've never heard a live DJ. If all goes well, my place of residence will be 3 minutes away from the school AND close to the lakeside 😲

 

[dxsphere]

Indeed, Vancouver and Seattle are both within meteor scatter range, possibly even Portland as well under the right conditions. I would assume that you'd be more likely to get meteor scatter from your south, but any direction is certainly possible.

 

[boiseengineer]

Before the FM band was filled up in Boise, Seattle, Portland, and even Vancouver BC FMs made it to Boise on Tropo. Albeit weak most of the time. Central Oregon and Washington were regulars. Good old KWIQ Moses Lake was a regular with a good signal.

 

[crainbebo]

My guess is that was before 1992 when KQXR went to 100.3. KWIQ has been on 100.5 for the past 10 years or more, but I did not hear them today until I got well past La Grande. They were solid and huge at the viewpoint on the Blue Mtns.

 

[boiseengineer]

KWIQ was originally 17 kw. By 2005 100 kw ERP. Some allocation shenanigans put them on 100.5 and 50 kw ERP around 2014?

 

[dxsphere]

I remember when KWIQ was on 100.3 and the jingle it had (https://tophour.com/audio/Moses Lake WA/fm1003_2011-11_kwiq-fm_wharms.mp3). They transitioned in August 2013, just before I began my sophomore year in high school.

 

[crainbebo]

Boiseengineer:
Did you get a lot of VHF TV tropo from those regions? I assume KTVR 13 La Grande was a regular. Did Spokane 2/4/6 pop up when the Boise stations signed off at night?
I wonder if Missoula/Butte would be possible from my location on tropo scatter. I had KPDA-100.7 Mountain Home ID multiple times during my time in the Bitterroot Valley last weekend, and even at the trailhead for St. Mary Peak, where it briefly overtook The Big 100 from Polson.

 

[secondchoice]

KWIQ was originally 17 kw. By 2005 100 kw ERP. Some allocation shenanigans put them on 100.5 and 50 kw ERP around 2014?

Did the antenna height go up or did they relocate tower site closer to a population center? Assuming they are at the same site same height, for them to change frequency and go to a lower FM class most likely someone paid them some serious money to do a "volunteer" down grade.

 

[boiseengineer]

Did the antenna height go up or did they relocate tower site closer to a population center? Assuming they are at the same site same height, for them to change frequency and go to a lower FM class most likely someone paid them some serious money to do a "volunteer" down grade.

"December 2012 KWIQ-FM Channel 263C2 Moses Lake, Washington Allocation Study Background The instant application is part of a contingent application group which includes the following three elements: a) b) c) A Form 301 application proposing modification of KANY on Channel 229C0 at Montesano, Washington, to remove a §73.215 protection requirement to KXAA on Channel 229A at Cle Elum, and thus eliminate a null in the KANY directional antenna pattern; In order to accommodate the KANY modification, a request that the FCC modify the license for KXAA to specify operation on Channel 262A at Cle Elum, and; In order to accommodate the KXAA modification, a Form 301 application proposing “one step” modification of KWIQ-FM to operate on Channel 263C2 at Moses Lake"

 

[Ryan Williams]

I gave up looking in the LMS it's so messed up.
There were a couple "Allotment" entries in 2013.

It’s such a disaster and it isn’t just the LMS. I was trying to hunt down some previous technical applications and all the attachments just fail to download. It’s been like that for quite some time. I’m losing hope it will ever be fixed.

If it wasn’t for FCCData I am not sure I could find anything.