KRCV 98.3 Jammed In Riverside

[transent]

I was scanning the FM band earlier today and noticed that there is a spanish language religious station jamming KRCV 98.3 in Riverside - and NO it's not the spanish language religious station translator on 98.1

I don't know much spanish but it mentioned San Bernardino and Christa Ministries. I thought 98.3 is protected even out to Riverside where no broadcast stations could broadcast on this station and I see no construction permit or license to broadcast on 98.3 in the area except for KRCV.

I would describe it as an interference similar to KCXX and KRCD (103.9) where you can move just a few feet and you hear one station and a few more feet and you get an entire other one.

 

[davideduardo]

I was scanning the FM band earlier today and noticed that there is a spanish language religious station jamming KRCV 98.3 in Riverside - and NO it's not the spanish language religious station translator on 98.1

I don't know much spanish but it mentioned San Bernardino and Christa Ministries. I thought 98.3 is protected even out to Riverside where no broadcast stations could broadcast on this station and I see no construction permit or license to broadcast on 98.3 in the area except for KRCV.

I would describe it as an interference similar to KCXX and KRCD (103.9) where you can move just a few feet and you hear one station and a few more feet and you get an entire other one.

It is a low power FM, outside the 54 dbu of KRCV

 

[transent]

It's a shame that a LPFM can DRASTICALLY reduce the coverage area of a Class A station that was purchased for millions of dollars. I'm not against LPFM unless it interferes with a full power FM. A full power FM should be protected beyond the 54 dbu contour.

The US FM band is starting to look more like the Italian FM band cluttered with too many adjacent stations further complicated by the implementation of HD Radio.

 

[LA_Guy]

Why?

The FCC rules are what they are. They say that stations are only protected to a certain contour. In fact, in some cases (grandfathered stations) they aren't even protected to those contours-only to the contours of what a non-grandfathered station would have. A good example is the stations on Mount Wison. The equalivent power of a full class B station (50 Kw at 150 meters antenna height) located atop Mt. Wilson is about 650 watts, yet class B stations there run as much as 100 KILOWATTS! If (for example) KBIG was protected to its actual 54 dbu contour, the 104.3 in Las Vegas would not exist! Please explain to me how an L.A. station can serve the local needs of Las Vegas AND Los Angeles.

FM stations are licensed to a particular city and its immediate suburbs. They are NOT granted a license to cover cities dozens of miles away. If they were, we'd have NO local FM stations anywhere but the big cities. This was NOT the intention of FM.

By the way, most FM stations are only protected to their 60 dbu contour. Only commercial class B and B1 FM stations are protected to a lesser contour (54 dbu for a B and 57 dbu for a B1)

 

[ajhenderson]

Re: Why?

The FCC rules are what they are. They say that stations are only protected to a certain contour. In fact, in some cases (grandfathered stations) they aren't even protected to those contours-only to the contours of what a non-grandfathered station would have. A good example is the stations on Mount Wison. The equalivent power of a full class B station (50 Kw at 150 meters antenna height) located atop Mt. Wilson is about 650 watts, yet class B stations there run as much as 100 KILOWATTS! If (for example) KBIG was protected to its actual 54 dbu contour, the 104.3 in Las Vegas would not exist! Please explain to me how an L.A. station can serve the local needs of Las Vegas AND Los Angeles.

FM stations are licensed to a particular city and its immediate suburbs. They are NOT granted a license to cover cities dozens of miles away. If they were, we'd have NO local FM stations anywhere but the big cities. This was NOT the intention of FM.

By the way, most FM stations are only protected to their 60 dbu contour. Only commercial class B and B1 FM stations are protected to a lesser contour (54 dbu for a B and 57 dbu for a B1)

Very interesting, although as I'm sure you know, stations are licensed to serve their COL only, not the "suburbs". As to FMs from big cities, that is much more the case than on AM, where there are plenty of local service, light-bulb powered, partial market covering, licensed-to-a-suburb station than there are on FM. And as far as service goes, I'm sure every Inglewood and Corona throughout the country appreciates knowing that it has schlock, 2-bit operations like KTYM and KWRM representing them as their "local service".

 

[transent]

Could KROQ become Jammed In Riverside?

From what I gather from the coverage map of radio-locator for a station like KROQ-FM, a LPFM or translator could sign on in San Bernardino or Moreno Valley on 106.7 and jam the signal of KROQ-FM in those communities which could even interfere with the signal in the eastern sections of Riverside as these communities are outside the 54 dbu protected contour from my interpretation of the map.

I know an LA station doesn't generate much ad revenue from the Inland Empire but I wonder how CBS Radio (KROQ-FM) would feel losing the potential to reach half a million Inland Empire residents. If I were a direct competitor like KCXX (X103.9), I would find a way to encourage someone to apply for a LPFM license or translator on 106.7.

Is my interpretation wrong? I'm just curious as I know little about RF engineering and FCC guidelines.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Could KROQ become Jammed In Riverside?

From what I gather from the coverage map of radio-locator for a station like KROQ-FM, a LPFM or translator could sign on in San Bernardino or Moreno Valley on 106.7 and jam the signal of KROQ-FM in those communities which could even interfere with the signal in the eastern sections of Riverside as these communities are outside the 54 dbu protected contour from my interpretation of the map.

The Radio Locator maps are not a good source for this sort of conclusion.

In any case, KROQ, with it's transmitter on Verdugo, barely has a protected contour to Ontario, so the IE area could potentially contain an LOFM on that frequency.

I know an LA station doesn't generate much ad revenue from the Inland Empire

It's basically less than "not much." It is close to nothing. Here at a cluster that often has two stations in the top 5 or 6 in the IE, I can say that there is nearly no revenue garnered by LA stations in the IE.

but I wonder how CBS Radio (KROQ-FM) would feel losing the potential to reach half a million Inland Empire residents.

They know the rules, and they know any listening there is not guaranteed.

 

[ajhenderson]

That, and because KCXX knows it would be several years at best before any new LPFM in CA signed on.

 

[Neel]

It's kind of like Ventura County. When I lived there years ago, there was no station on 102.9 FM and you can get KIIS-FM 102.7 loud and clear. Then a station signed on 102.9 and so many people lost KIIS FM completely. There's also a similar situation with 103.3 and KOST although 103.3 has always been there and KOST did/does have a translator on 103.9.