KPFT off air

[KTN Corp]

The issue has been finally mentioned on their website this afternoon/evening! In case you didn't notice, KPFT has been off the air since yesterday morning. I thought their tower got struck by lightning (again) by yesterday morning's storms, but then they have been broadcasting a weaker signal for the past couple of weeks.

 

[OldChicago]

The issue has been finally mentioned on their website this afternoon/evening!  In case you didn't notice, KPFT has been off the air since yesterday morning.  I thought their tower got struck by lightning (again) by yesterday morning's storms, but then they have been broadcasting a weaker signal for the past couple of weeks.

Sounds like it is very serious for them to have been off the air for so long. Must have been a direct hit and ruined their xmtr.  Perhaps they could raise money for a back-up xmtr set up at its studio location on Lovett.  I wonder what it would cost to buy a 20-KW rig and antenna (perhaps just 1 bay) to use as a back up. Their website claims you can still hear them on the translators in the outlying areas. I wonder how is this possible since the main/feeder station is off.

Old Chicago

 

[xmusicmatt]

Sounds like it is very serious for them to have been off the air for so long. Must have been a direct hit and ruined their xmtr. Perhaps they could raise money for a back-up xmtr set up at its studio location on Lovett. I wonder what it would cost to buy a 20-KW rig and antenna (perhaps just 1 bay) to use as a back up. Their website claims you can still hear them on the translators in the outlying areas. I wonder how is this possible since the main/feeder station is off.

Old Chicago

From the sounds of their website I am guessing Antenna issues or feed line issues.. Since they mention tower crews needed to resolve the issue.

My guess is they are feeding the remote translators via "other means" besides Over Air.

 

[KTN Corp]

Perhaps they could raise money for a back-up xmtr set up at its studio location on Lovett. I wonder what it would cost to buy a 20-KW rig and antenna (perhaps just 1 bay) to use as a back up.

I was hoping that they would be able to move (back?) to the Missouri City antenna farm and use the current site as a backup. First there was last years' copper theft, the lightning strike back in March, and now this. I don't think they fully recovered from the strike back in March and this was the death knell for the transmitter. It was pretty weak for the last few weeks, my Bose w/ Terk FM+ antenna attached could receive a strong signal in mono only but my car radios could get it in stereo; it was also more susceptible to multipath.

My guess is they are feeding the remote translators via "other means" besides Over Air.

They took advantage of the non-off air rule for translators in the non-comm band. A couple years ago, when Galveston was the only translator, I could tell that 89.5 was being fed off an internet stream due to the digital artifacts present. It's not as good as the main signal due to both the digital artifacts and the mono signal.

(I was thinking that they could get rid of the translator once they are full-power from Missouri City and KACC could be heard clearly again on the island!)

 

[jd]

I was hoping that they would be able to move (back?) to the Missouri City antenna farm and use the current site as a backup.

KPFT has never been at Missouri City. They signed on in 1970 using a site off South Main (which was bombed, twice, but that's another story). They later moved to a tower on the north site off Clark Road due east of Gallery Furniture, then to a tower near Fallbrook and Beltway 8, before moving to their current location in the late 90's. It's east of Jersey Village, off Fairbanks-North Houston Road north of Little York.

Any move to the south of where they are now is restricted by a couple of adjacent channel stations, the previously mentioned KACC 89.7 and KJIC 90.5 Santa Fe. So Senior Road isn't a possibility.