Station translators

[PAJake]

Who decides where a radio station's translator will be located? KBRW from Barrow, for example, is a public radio station which rebroadcasts in many North Slope villages, including Anaktuvuk Pass where I now live. We also have an FM translator from KYKD (I think), a religious station out of Bethel (I'm not into gospel radio so I never listen to that one). Does a station request a permit from a city/village to start operating, or do villages invite stations in, or is it a combo of both options? What's involved in getting a translator up and running? (I'm wondering why we have just two FM broadcasts, one religious and one public radio, in AKP.)

I can get a few Fairbanks AMs in AKP but FM is strictly via the two translators mentioned above. I know the Slope is flat enough to get XM/Sirius - I picked it up clear as day in Arctic Yukon Terr back in '06. Unfortunately, now I'm smack in the mountains of the Brooks Range, so sat radio is out.

 

[audioguy]

What about internet radio? Is your connection fast enough to support audio streaming?

That might be the best option for you. You could also "broadcast" it around your house and yard if you wanted to, using a Rangemaster or similar Part 15 transmitter.

 

[PAJake]

Oh sure I can listen to internet radio. Our connection is pretty good - not great by Anchorage standards but better than many other villages. I was just asking about the prevalence of actual terrestrial radio in remote villages. We have two translators, so from a technical point of view it can be done. I'm just wondering what's involved in setting up a translator. There has to be a lot behind it, because if it were an easy process we'd have as many stations as Anchorage.

By the way, I'm in Barrow for meetings this week and hope to visit KBRW tomorrow. I'll ask them about their system of translators located across the North Slope.

 

[AKtech]

Translators have to reboradcast a main station. The rules are different for public stations than for commercial stations. A commercial stations translators must reside within that main stations coverage contour. Translators for commercial stations are only allowed to rebroadcast an off air signal. Public stations don't have to follow these rules. Up until recently Translators couldn't cross bands (you could not rebroadcast an AM station on an FM translator). Public stations in Alaska (thanks mostly to Augie Hebert) had consistently gotten waivers do this.

Have you thought about LPFM?

 

[w9wi]

Oh sure I can listen to internet radio. Our connection is pretty good - not great by Anchorage standards but better than many other villages. I was just asking about the prevalence of actual terrestrial radio in remote villages. We have two translators, so from a technical point of view it can be done. I'm just wondering what's involved in setting up a translator. There has to be a lot behind it, because if it were an easy process we'd have as many stations as Anchorage.

I think the problem you're going to have is that translator applications can only be filed during "filing windows". The FCC doesn't hold these very often. You could be waiting a rather long time before they'd be prepared to accept your application, even though you should have absolutely no trouble finding a technically-suitable frequency.

 

[audioguy]

That's why I suggested putting something on the air under Part 15. A Rangemaster in a good spot might cover all or a good portion of a small village, especially with low noise levels and little QRM. You could do that right away; no waiting for filing windows or other red tape!

How big is your village?

I just got through reading a fascinating web site about Alert Bay on Ellesmere Island. Now that would be an interesting place to run a station! They had a 7 watt AM rig there with a 10' whip that went 400 km!

http://jproc.ca/rrp/alert_radio.html

 

[PAJake]

I live in Anaktuvuk Pass, in the Brooks Range. About 350 people live in AKP, which stretches about three blocks wide by maybe three miles long, situated in a mountain pass through which the largest caribou herd migrate each spring and fall. It's about 92% Nunamiut Eskimo, which are the only inland Inupiaq Eskimos (most Inupiaqs are coastal, surviving on whale and seal, while the Nunamiut live off caribou and other land animals).

Regarding low-power radio in the village. . . getting something up and running is one of my longer-term goals, but first I need to determine if it's even wanted by the residents. Perhaps there's a reason why they only have the two stations. I'd like to work with the village public school to see if there's any interest in having the students set something up for themselves.

I've only been in the village three weeks now, and winter has already started setting in, so the radio plans are pretty low on the priority list right now.

 

[PAJake]

Audioguy. . .great link to some neat pics of the Aleret Radio Station. I love hearing stories from the old timers who started radio in far off places. I once worked with a guy who helped set up a radio station on one of the islands in the Aleutian chain when he was in the Army. They had to rush to build it from scratch because their CO demanded that the station be up and running by Xmas. They met his deadline by cutting lots of corners, just to see the CO get transferred a week after the holiday. Soon after, the guys decided to tear down and rebuild the station the way it should have been built from the start, and it was completed and up and running on March 26, 1964, the day before the Good Friday quake struck AK and leveled nearly all communications along the chain, including their own. The Army decided not to rebuild his station, and he was transferred stateside shortly after.

 

[audioguy]

PAJake,

I think you could definitely cover a lot of AKP with a Rangemaster or similar transmitter. Another advantage of the Rangemaster is that it's ready to go. You just connect the antenna and ground and you're on the air. No winding coils or setting taps.

I have no idea how well it would perform in your extremely cold arctic winters though. You might just want to drop a line to Keith Hamilton and tell him of your possible interest.

While you're waiting to decide what local programs could be aired you could probably rebroadcast one of the public radio stations and use that for a test signal. Or NOAA weather radio.

Glad you enjoyed the web site on Alert! I hope you visited the main page as well, and followed some of the links. There's a lot of material to read and I found it fascinating.

Currently writing you from NYC.

 

[VelvetR]

Reality check:

Ramsey makes a number of kit transmitters that can be kept legal (or not, as you might choose) that would adequately cover the village. Experience has shown that their cheapest FM kit, using the standard antenna but put on the upper story of a building, can get it done.

Biggest problem is where you're going to get the programming. In the particular instance of which I'm aware the source was a GE "SuperRadio" with a longwire antenna that picked up a distant AM station, too weak to hear locally with anything less sensitive. The kit used in this case cost under $50 and was put together by an individual who had never done one before but did know how to solder.

While not meaning to encourage anything illegal, it's common knowledge that FCC budget limits are such that, absent a complaint about interference to aircraft, police or similar, nobody's going to rush to fly to the bush to pull surprise inspections.