Rest assured I'm sure a certain amount of the speculation will continue Rob. Especially when the benchmark of a stations coverage or performance is scientifically referenced to someone's car or clock radio. I can receive a station better than usual today, ergo, they must have moved their transmitter site or increased power. Sometimes it's like trying to reason with a parrot.
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More on the KXXO transmitter move: The station gets half of KWLZ/Portland
- Thread starter Rob Piotrowski
- Start date
Is that the same as, or more difficult than herding cats?
No matter what the FCC database may say, 96.9 has had a consistently better signal in northeast Seattle over maybe 18 months to two years. This definitely didn't begin in 2010, and it's not that variable.
I won't speculate as to why, and the engineering folks can (and probably will) dismiss this observation, possibly with reasons that seem valid.
But it's consistent over a long period.
It seems like an even greater contrast because KXXO hasn't had the barnburner signal they had in prior years.
Even so, 96.9 is consistently more listenable, even on less sensitive radios.
No, they're not pleasure listening, but fully audible, which they weren't.
I haven't consistently listened to KXXO lately, but when I have, they've been weaker than 96.9. From their former transmitter site (at least in most of summer and early fall), they were full quieting. I'm not sure whether I've heard them from their new site.
I won't speculate as to why, and the engineering folks can (and probably will) dismiss this observation, possibly with reasons that seem valid.
But it's consistent over a long period.
It seems like an even greater contrast because KXXO hasn't had the barnburner signal they had in prior years.
Even so, 96.9 is consistently more listenable, even on less sensitive radios.
No, they're not pleasure listening, but fully audible, which they weren't.
I haven't consistently listened to KXXO lately, but when I have, they've been weaker than 96.9. From their former transmitter site (at least in most of summer and early fall), they were full quieting. I'm not sure whether I've heard them from their new site.
Depends on the phase of the moon.
If you were an engineer, you would know that there could be a pretty wide range of reasons for this apparent change.
1. Adjacent channels changed facilities.
2. Local sources of interference changed.
3. Power lines or other "metal in the air" changed in your area.
4. Venus is in the house of Mars
5. Something changed in your car or reference receiver.
6. Trees, power lines or construction in the area of the transmitter changed.
7. The station changed processing, making "apparent loudness" change.
8. Propagation changes in the year of the Horse.
I vote #7. Processing can do wonders!
By definition, as I understand the challenge, cat herding is difficult because of the lack of cooperation of said cats and randomness of their behavior. Reasoning with a parrot is difficult because they usually keep repeating the same thing until they eventually learn a new word or phrase.
No way. It's clearly #4.
Maybe they already know that, have already learned that, but still wish they could hear a station like KXXO. I used to know the guy who engineered KXXO, in the 1990's. At the time, he said they had listeners in Seattle. At that time it sounded like at least some people at the station appreciated those listeners, even though those listeners didn't count for ratings or advertising dollars. They were aware of them.
I myself never listened to KXXO, nor do I care if it can be heard in the Seattle area. I just understand why some radio aficionados and DXers are curious about such things.
As someone who had nothing to do with the radio biz when I joined this board, I can attest to the fact that signal strength and coverage can be interesting topics to discuss (because that is your only medium for assessing changes when they occur). With that being said, I see why some people become frustrated when these topics are brought up, especially in regards to a radio station that serves the south sound and southwest washington in coverage and programming.
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I respect and acknowledge that DX'ers exist on this site. What seems silly however, is when some would rather bother spending time accusing, or claim they have uncovered some imaginary conspiracy, that a licensed station operating several years in that mode, is somehow now operating outside their licensed parameters when all the actual technical information for all radio and TV stations is readily available via the same keyboard and mouse they use to type about the conspiracies and observations. Having been a CE of several Seattle stations over the years, I've heard it all in the form of sometimes crazy phone calls and nasty letters/E-mails, so it's nothing new.
I just wish that sometimes people would bother learning and listening from people who are ACTUALLY in the business and sincerely want to educate them. I remember when Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut who's cred is irrefutable, finally got sick of the nutbags and punched a man in the face who insisted the moon landing was a fake. There are times I can relate to Mr. Aldrin, recognizing of course that radio is no where near landing on the moon in scope.
I couldn't have said it better myself, Kelly. If posts had questions rather than assumptions, there would be a line of people willing to answer and be helpful. It's those assumptions that range from laughable to outrageous - and bring out the sarcasm machines.
I completely agree, and since KYYO had been brought up here several times recently, I figured I'd bring them up in this thread and yes, I did check the FCC database before I posted my question here. As for KXXO, Radio Locator at least isn't showing the new CP as an active license yet. Kelly, is it possible that they turned on the new transmitter at reduced power for a week to make sure everything's working, then are waiting for something else before regular broadcasts begin? That's what I would suspect is going on since they were quite a bit stronger here a couple weeks ago barely overtaking Vancouver but now Vancouver is on top again.
KXXO must file for their license and to begin program tests. Expect that to occur sometime within the next four days. I'm a little unclear about the concept of "barely overtaking". Isn't capture ratio more precise than that?
A station that is caught operating before they have fulfilled the various requirements of the Construction Permit risk losing their CP. This includes filing all the required paperwork at the correct time in the process. As with some that have insisted that KYYO did something too, in spite of their last construction and application for license in 2010, I suspect what you've been hearing is nothing more than atmospheric conditions causing signal "ducting" from the South Sound areas. As you know, it's been a warmer than usual season there in the PNW, and FM signals within a certain frequency range, depending on terrain etc., have the tendencies to travel further if the conditions are just right. I once had someone report hearing KNHC 89.5 10kW ERP from the Wedgwood School site, loud and clear from the beach on Maui, HI during a drought year in Seattle.
I know the owners of KXXO and their Chief Engineer. Neither would risk losing the valuable CP by playing around with operating the station outside the requirements from the FCC.
I recommend being patient. They will have their new site on line and the 302 forms filled out before fall hits I imagine.
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The current construction permit expires on August 31st.
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