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Q96/KPBS signal comparison

B

Big 121

Lots of speculation about the weak Campo signal. So, lets try a relative comparison of these two stations using a receiver, equal distance, and line
of sight. CCrane-SW with the antenna switched OFF. Drops the signal maybe 15-20db at the RX input. @10 miles, the 2.7kw, 89.5 signal just barely
"lights" the highest LCD signal bar, and chances are the AGC circuit is at full gain. Now out to a point that's 10 miles from Q96, and 1000' higher/line of sight. It's the Golden Acorn Casino parking lot. Holding the radio the same as before, the LCD segments "lit" are exactly MIDWAY btw min and max. It seems Q96 is definitely less than 2.7kw. Tuning around only gave me one station that matched this midpoint in signal.It was 104.9, (8kw?) some 30 miles away, 20 miles further than Q96.
Interesting.

Big 121
 
The Campo signal is licensed horizontal only. Trying to compare a CP signal with horizontal only is like comparing apples and oranges. Without a calibrated receive antenna, you may as well go into the casino and gamble.
 
And, you can listen to Q96 while you gamble!
A CP single bay radiates approx. 46% of the power in the horizontal plane.
The jumper in the radio to the antenna switch is so short in comparison to a dipole, that it effectively acts as an isotropic (omnidirectional)
antenna.
Actually, the Casino/Indian property would have been a much better location for Q96...but probably higher lease rates.

Big 121
 
If they could switch the frequency and license with XHMORE 98.9 with KSIQ 96.1. Then 98.9 can easily move to Mt. Soledad and 96.1 can easily transmit from Mt. San Antonio in Tijuana. Mexican spacing are much lenient than the FCC spacing requirement. Just look at 99.3 and 99.7 from Tijuana.
 
98.9 can't go to Soledad. Not only is it short by 14 km to KGGI on 99.1, but there's also the issue of "IF spacing." Stations 10.6 or 10.8 MHz apart must be separated by a certain distance - 17 km between a B1 and a B, 14 km between a pair of B1s. And since 98.9-10.6=88.3, any station operating on 98.9 has to separate itself from KSDS. Soledad is too close (8.3 km), as are the FM sites east of town (KGB/KHTS-FM and the KOGO towers).

Mother Miguel is far enough out for the spacing to work, just clearing the spacing to KGGI and clearing the IF spacing to KSDS. I don't know whether a full B from Mother Miguel would provide the required 70 dBu coverage of Campo, and I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of the US-Mexican border FM rules to know whether 96.1 from Tijuana would clear second-adjacent spacing against KUSS and KYXY. David?
 
Scott Fybush said:
Mother Miguel is far enough out for the spacing to work, just clearing the spacing to KGGI and clearing the IF spacing to KSDS. I don't know whether a full B from Mother Miguel would provide the required 70 dBu coverage of Campo, and I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of the US-Mexican border FM rules to know whether 96.1 from Tijuana would clear second-adjacent spacing against KUSS and KYXY. David?
Click to expand...

The whole spacing thing is a gray area on the border. Look at the 102.9-102.5-102.1 agreement where the US channels increased coverage while 102.5 was allowed higher power, and all three accepted the overlap.

The FCC's http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/ site has the international agreements viewable, but of course when I went to check right now the site was dead.

If there was a reason to negotiate va the Comision Mixta, it might be done. I don't think Mexico would take kindly to trading a good channel for a bad one, though (remember the story of 540 AM?).
 
KFMB, now XESURF, and a boat load of money.
 
Scott Fybush said:
540? I don't believe I know that story. Do tell!
Click to expand...

Mexico felt it had been shortchanged in NARBA, and was due more clear channels. The end result was the conversion of 540 to a joint Mexico - Canada clear. XEWA was granted by the SCOP and given to the Azcárraga interests (XEW) and given 150 kw.

KFMB, which was on 540, had to move. Of course, in the 50's there were no possibilities left in Southern CA, but the FCC allowed overlap with KBIG to give 760 to KFMB in a somewhat equivalent frequency exchange.

Somewhat ironic: since 540 "belongs" to Mexico they were free to grant a new 540 in the SD area, although a very inferior daytime facility.

Page 21 of the Sept 11, 1950 issue of Broadcasting details the negotiations with Mexico and the demands for 540.
 
Just before KFMB moved, I had DX'd a station from Seoul, South Korea on 760. In my car, in Kensington. Of course WSB was off, and it
helped that the Korean stn. was using 1 megawatt on an antenna strikingly similar to the Old Navy Towers setup. This was around maybe 1975?
and before Korea went to the 9khz spacing.
But 540 was used again in the '90s; (now KRAK, 910) from Hesperia, it beamed news 540 to L.A.(protecting Mexico). And then went away.

Big 121
 
Big 121 said:
Just before KFMB moved, I had DX'd a station from Seoul, South Korea on 760. In my car, in Kensington. Of course WSB was off, and it
helped that the Korean stn. was using 1 megawatt on an antenna strikingly similar to the Old Navy Towers setup. This was around maybe 1975?
and before Korea went to the 9khz spacing.
But 540 was used again in the '90s; (now KRAK, 910) from Hesperia, it beamed news 540 to L.A.(protecting Mexico). And then went away.
Click to expand...

Hesperia did not move to 910, nor did it "go away."

First, it was licensed by Sol Levine to Costa Mesa, not Hesperia. The site was in Hesperia, shooting a narrow lobe at Costa Mesa.

And then, by having cleverly gotten a station on the air in a large community that had no other radio service, he got 1650 in the Extended band as the applicacion provide first night service. And then he sold the 1650 station for $35 million to a Korean language broadcaster.

Like many stations with the same owner, it had a number of formats, including oldies, standards and such.
 
Big 121 said:
***Correction on the Korean station's power; should be 500,000 watts.***

Big 121
Click to expand...

When stationed on Okinawa in the 1990s, there was a VOA AM station at 1143 that had over a million watts from the Republic of the Phillipines.

Also, when sailing the ocean blue in the Atlantic, 1440 Radio Luxembourg was very high power; but I cannot recall the claim of watts. This was circa 1980 to 1984.
 
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