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Kqvi

M

mrtejano

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Saw that 89.9 has a construction permit, but the permit is to downgrade from 10,000 watts to 400 watts. Why?


And I typed in on radio locator KQBI by accident and it says 91.7 way down south close to Laredo Tx. And it says it's from Vida Vision also.
 
Good question, Tejano. Only guess I can come up with is cheaper costs to repair the lower wattage transmitter in the future.
 
The idea is to spend less money. Power is determined by what you have to input and how many bays you use to achieve the assigned power. Obviously a 10,000 watt ERP will take a very significant investment. Your transmitter will cost several times what a transmitter would cost to output 400 watts. More power means more costly coax and bays that cost much more than the ones that only have to handle the 400 watt ERP. It can be said there is no free lunch, but you can get going with less debt going at a higher HAAT and lower power. You'll pay more to be on a tower at that HAAT but that is a monthly fee much easier to handle than the costs and interest on the dollars needed to go 10,000 watts and the lower electrical bill will likely make that higher tower rent look pretty good. While it is an apples to oranges comparison, a 25,000 watt AM Nautel transmitter will run you about $60,000 but a 300 watt Nautel FM is around $5,000. Going higher at a lower ERP is always the best bet. In fact, height makes sure you get out there more than how many watts you're kicking out. Just look at the amazing coverage of the LPFMs way up in the air with their flea power here in the Houston area.
 
"Still doesn't answer my question, why even mess with it? If it's basically the same coverage why would they reconstruct?"

Far lower electrical and maintenance costs.
 
Amen to that. My owners' eyes get big at the mention of the electric bill (we went from 3,000 to 25,000 watts). The air conditioning of the transmitter building alone is huge. In fact keeping the heat from building up is a big deal, so you can't got without AC for long before parts start to stress and burn out in the transmitter and associated equipment. And don't forget that a larger transmitter might require three phase electricity to be brought in by the electric company. If they have to run it to you, guess who pays for it. If you decide to use generators to convert single to three phase, there's that cost and maintenance to add in.

With 400 watts ERP, you could survive a bit of record breaking heat for a few days, most likely and a box fan might keep enough air circulating.
 
In hot climates such as Houston, the air conditioning will use much more electricity than the transmitter.
 
You are absolutely right Frank. The AC runs throughout the year. The combination of 90+ degrees and high humidity make those AC units really work. We have 2 so if one goes out, the other can provide some relief.
 
In Tampa, our FM transmitter was operating at 23.5kW. We also had two 5 ton A/C units.
On cool days, one unit could do the job. During summer months, it took both units.
I had one A/C thermostat set a few degrees higher.
 
FWIW I think ALL Transmitters are 3-Phase, at least all the ones I deal with.

HUGE Ditto to A/C, at the big FM if the A/C goes out the building temp will quickly rise to well over 200 degrees.

The AM on the other hand at 250 Watts stays at 66 degrees year round. Without A/C on a hot day I think it might get to 90 in there.
 
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