KULF 1090 Bellville upgrade application on hold

[jd]

Technical issues in the application are to blame. They have less than a month to correct them or the application to increase power to 10kW directional daytime will be dismissed.

Quoting from the FCC's letter to JHT Ventures dated January 15th, "...we find that the proposal would cause prohibited contours overlap to first-adjacent stations KRLD(AM), Dallas, Texas and KDRY(AM), Alamo Heights, Texas and to second-adjacent stations KNTH(AM), Houston, Texas, and KTEK(AM), Alvin, Texas, in violation of Section 73.37 of the Commission's rules."

Adding to their problems is an informal objection to the application filed earlier this month by Businessradio Houston Licensee LLC.

 

[gabigley1]

This is the FCC letter on this topic:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=15756

Can they correct all this within 30 days?

 

[ChuckTiller]

Salem will fight it!

 

[jd]

Can they correct all this within 30 days?

They will probably be able to put something together on it, but without the test station it'll be quite difficult. I suspect that they will try to gather (or should I say interpolate) the required data by using field measurement information from applications filed by other stations. That may sound a little disjointed or far-fetched but I've seen similar things happen.

To answer your question specifically, they may not be able to "correct" it but they can try to buy some time. With objections from Salem, CBS and others looming they'll need that time to get their act together by coming up with a revised application that addresses the interference issues. And, of course, they'd be wise to scale the proposal down by a considerable margin or at least have one ready to file.

 

[jd]

Well, that didn't take long. In a somewhat surprising move KULF now proposes increasing their power from 250 to 1,000 watts, not 10,000. https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101354697&formid=301&fac_num=48653 This change in plans doesn't mean it's over, however, whether you're talking about future applications from JHT Ventures or protests from other stations. It could still turn ugly down the road.

 

[purpledevil]

:-X

Best comedy show I've seen in years.

 

[mrbeasley]

Looked at their map and I can't figure out out how they plan to develop a null like the one they show in their enginering exhibit. Whoever this technical consultant is; he doesn't know much about directional antennas.

 

[purpledevil]

Looked at their map and I can't figure out out how they plan to develop a null like the one they show in their enginering exhibit. Whoever this technical consultant is; he doesn't know much about directional antennas.

Grab a seat, mrbeasley. jd and I have been watching this schtick for awhile. It tends to get funnier the longer you go. I can't wait to see the application that moves the whole damn thing clear out of state, once they get frustrated with all of the objections. It's been rejected to move to Katy, its now had its 9750 watt upgrade thrown out, and an increase to 1kW isn't going to fly far either with KNTH, KTEK or KDRY technicians.

The more I think about it, the more I figure this is all a stall to keep the thing off of the air.

 

[jd]

Whoever this technical consultant is; he doesn't know much about directional antennas.

I disagree. Bob Morrow understands directional patterns quite well. He did a lot of work for KGOW that resulted in both the 50kW watt day pattern and their more recent 15kW night pattern. He did work on an upgrade for KLVL a few years ago, recently was able to get KTMR 1130 moved from Edna/Victoria to suburban San Antonio along with a sizable power increase, and has a number of other success stories.

As for KULF, both the previous application for 10kW and the current 1kW reflect a rather simple two-tower pattern. That can be seen in these close-up versions from the FCC site, first the one that was denied:

www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1352378-110183.pdf

Now the revised version: www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/1354697-110381.pdf

The two severe nulls in the previous application toward the northeast and southwest are gone because of the reduced power level that they now propose. Also, on the application itself the notch that you see toward the southeast is an indication of reduced ground conductivity that was measured in that general direction. It's not exactly what I'd like to see happen, and certainly other stations can and probably will continue to fight it. But like it or not (and for what it's worth), this revised application actually has a very good chance of getting FCC approval.