More on the KXXO transmitter move: The station gets half of KWLZ/Portland

[Kelly A]

Right, and as such, they have to run at half power until I don't remember what condition is met, it's been a while since I've seen that document.

Nope, has nothing to do with it. Here is the verbiage straight off their Construction Permit. If they are running programming under the CP, they are operating at their authorized power under Program Test Authority:

Special operating conditions or restrictions:

4. BEFORE PROGRAM TESTS ARE AUTHORIZED, permittee/licensee shall submit
an affidavit that the installation of the directional antenna system
was overseen by a qualified engineer. This affidavit shall include
a certification by the engineer that the antenna was installed
pursuant to the manufacturer's instructions and list the qualifica-
tions of the certifying engineer.

5. The relative field strength of neither the measured horizontally nor
vertically polarized radiation component shall exceed at any azimuth
the value indicated on the composite radiation pattern authorized by
this construction permit.
A relative field strength of 1.0 on the composite radiation pattern
herein authorized corresponds to the following effective radiated
power:
37.0 kilowatts.
Principal minima and their associated field strength limits:
340 degrees True: 27.5 kilowatts
355 degrees True: 14.0 kilowatts
010 degrees True: 27.5 kilowatts

 

[bobdavcav]

Hmm, that's interesting. In that case I'll have to continue monitoring them. Last week they were weak but able to overtake Vancouver, but when I checked on Monday Vancouver was dominating again.

 

[Kelly A]

The difference listening in fringe coverage especially this time of year, could be related to atmospheric conditions at the time. Atmospheric ducting happens, having nothing to do with the station operation.

I've fought that fight with many a new DTV OTA viewer, who were convinced the TV station is raising and lowering their ERP.

 

[bobdavcav]

That's why I said I'd ontinue to check.

 

[cbaravelli]

Apologies

I'm sorry, but I call BS on this poster. There's nothing supporting these assertions other than jibberish and the same is true on earlier posts.

Apologies. My English no so good. CDBS, not CDRB. Real property are assets, not real estate.
We find Mr. Dew and Dr. Doppler do not play well with circular polarisation. Best antenna is a 33 gallon aluminum trash can lid. Depending on atmospheric conditions, north coverage fringes out near Lynnwood then 96.1 mHz starts speaking Mandarin. Mixx96 reception does well at elevation. Full Power from Capital Peak Monday through Thursday afternoon then reduced power or back to Crawford Peak.
Said what I said about the Federal Communications Commission and I'm sticking to it. For legacy OTA broadcasters, it's not your Father's FCC.

 

[cbaravelli]

Thank you for the information. KXXO is no directional antenna bay.

 

[Radio-X]

Apologies. My English no so good. CDBS, not CDRB. Real property are assets, not real estate.
We find Mr. Dew and Dr. Doppler do not play well with circular polarisation. Best antenna is a 33 gallon aluminum trash can lid. Depending on atmospheric conditions, north coverage fringes out near Lynnwood then 96.1 mHz starts speaking Mandarin. Mixx96 reception does well at elevation. Full Power from Capital Peak Monday through Thursday afternoon then reduced power or back to Crawford Peak.
Said what I said about the Federal Communications Commission and I'm sticking to it. For legacy OTA broadcasters, it's not your Father's FCC.

Never heard of using a trash can lid as an antenna before. That's brilliant! And to think I'm using a series of wine bottles to keep my external FM antenna pointing out of my apartment window in the proper direction!!!

I did notice 96.1 had a better signal as of recent. Even up at about 60 feet above ground at the highest point in North Seattle, KXXO was a poor catch at best. Now I'd compare it with the South Mountain signal of 97.7...certainly not as good of a signal as 102.9 has out here (I can lock HD most of the time)

Even though both 96.1 and 102.9 have very similar facilities, the clear winner based on reception (and the only one of the two that can ever really be a marketable Seattle rimshot) is 102.9. If their "new" signal does not improve, 96.1 will likely be the only Seattle rimshot that doesn't even bother trying to sell itself outside of Thurston/Mason Counties!

And the FCC has changed quite a bit even since I got out of radio 10 years ago...Hell, one of our sales guys remembered a 'surprise' log and site inspection that put the whole station on edge (and caused us to call for our on-call engineer) for the two hours before the Feds showed up...that was in 2001! I'm sure there are PDs/GMs sitting in stations all around this country that would have no clue what to do if the FCC showed up, and I'm sure there are several field engineers who can count the number of public log/tx/tower inspections they've done on one hand!

Radio-X

 

[crainbebo]

When KXXO was on Rooster Rock, I could get them clearly at my old QTH, a mile south of Bellevue. KGY/KYYO was almost unusable, KOMO was noise-filled, KYNW was OK. But KXXO was the top one out of the rimshots.
They were also like a local in Auburn, almost competing with the Seattle stations for signal.
However, when they moved to Tenino temporarily, KXXO went away past Kent (unless you were on the Puget Sound itself) and CHKG made brief appearances in Downtown Bellevue. They were 4000 watts.
I could turn the antenna in an area like Marysville and hear KXXO on one end, CHKG on the other.

They are nulling north, towards Vancouver. Places like Kitsap County may lose KXXO entirely.

-crainbebo

 

[Kelly A]

So what? They don't sell advertising in those areas.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

So what? They don't sell advertising in those areas.

DXers don't care about things like money making and paying the bills - they only care about their latest log entries. Sorry if that's harsh - but it's reality.

 

[bobdavcav]

Speaking of KYYO, has anyone noticed they're quite strong around here? I remember when I got my iPod back in 2010, they were barely audible from my location. Over the last 5 years or so they've become much stronger to the point where they're now in stereo on the G8 consistently.

 

[fordranger797]

Speaking of KYYO, has anyone noticed they're quite strong around here? I remember when I got my iPod back in 2010, they were barely audible from my location. Over the last 5 years or so they've become much stronger to the point where they're now in stereo on the G8 consistently.

A number of years ago (during the flip to "Hot Hits & Cool Classics") they raised the ERP to 11kw from somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2~3kw. Is that what you are talking about?

 

[fordranger797]

Kitsap County may lose KXXO entirely.

-crainbebo

Their primary concern has always been/may always be Thurston, Pierce, Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbour counties (in that order). They have a few national spots, but for the most part, most of what you hear are local sponsors locally produced.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

Their primary concern has always been/may always be Thurston, Pierce, Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbour counties (in that order). They have a few national spots, but for the most part, most of what you hear are local sponsors locally produced.

I think that makes it the 4th time this point has been made in this thread - again, a point that doesn't matter to the DX community.

 

[Kelly A]

I think that makes it the 4th time this point has been made in this thread - again, a point that doesn't matter to the DX community.

Calm down..breathe Rob...that's it.. Just as the DX'ers want to rant about how far they used to or would like to hear some station, some of us want to educate them in the real world of the radio business reality. Just because they may not want to hear it, doesn't mean we can't say it. Maybe if we say it enough, they may actually learn someday.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

Calm down..breathe Rob...that's it.. Just as the DX'ers want to rant about how far they used to or would like to hear some station, some of us want to educate them in the real world of the radio business reality. Just because they may not want to hear it, doesn't mean we can't say it. Maybe if we say it enough, they may actually learn someday.

I'm calm as can be, Kelly - and you missed my point, which was that the same thing was said 4 different times by 4 different people.

 

[bossbill]

Say it again, Sam...

 

[bobdavcav]

A number of years ago (during the flip to "Hot Hits & Cool Classics") they raised the ERP to 11kw from somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2~3kw. Is that what you are talking about?

I don't know, I had always
thought that when I could hear them here that they were 11 kw. That was around the same tie as I got the iPod,, but the signal seems to have become stronger since then.

 

[Kelly A]

It's amazing all the wild speculation about the status of stations and their licensed power, location, status of Construction Permits,etc., when all one has to do is go to the FCC "FM Query" database, enter the call sign and there you have it. But no, all the waste of keystrokes with assumptions about whether a station has moved (not so easy as you imagine), or what their licensed power is. Okay, one more time.. Here is a link to the FCC database for KYYO, 11kW ERP since 10/13/2010. No other CP's are on file, no apparent changes: https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

It's amazing all the wild speculation about the status of stations and their licensed power, location, status of Construction Permits,etc., when all one has to do is go to the FCC "FM Query" database, enter the call sign and there you have it. But no, all the waste of keystrokes with assumptions about whether a station has moved (not so easy as you imagine), or what their licensed power is. Okay, one more time.. Here is a link to the FCC database for KYYO, 11kW ERP since 10/13/2010. No other CP's are on file, no apparent changes: https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/...&slat2=&NS=N&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&EW=W&size=9

Darn it all, Kelly! You're taking the fun out of reading this board! I LOVE to see the wild speculation - it's my daily laugh (as it is for other radio pros in the market).