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Towers for Tijuana FM Stations

G

Gregg

In order to cover the San Diego market, Tijuana TV and FM stations that have an interest in selling ads in San Diego County have to have good signals across the border.

When XETV 6 used to sign off at night, the announcer would say the transmitter is located on Mount Diablo, which I suppose is a high peak near the U.S. border. That way XETV could cover San Diego County as effectively as the U.S. stations. (My cousin who lives in Fallbrook says they get XETV 6 on their cable system, but oddly not XEWT 12, Tijuana's other VHF station.)

I always thought the four best FM signals among Tijuana FM stations were 104.5 XHLTN, 92.5 XHRM, 91.1 XETRA and 90.3 XHITZ. They are audible even in places like Oceanside and Carlsbad. And somewhere in the last few years, 105.7 XHPRS must have gotten an upgrade. Most of the other Tijuana FMs are so weak they have trouble beyond La Jolla.

Are they all on Mount Diablo? I suppose it's hard to get accurate info on Mexican FM stations' height and power. An old Broadcasting Yearbook I have shows XETRA-FM with 100 kw at 800 feet above average terrain. That's pretty good but I thought they'd even be stronger than that since 91X is audible in Orange County if you're near the coast. And a more recent listing shows them now at just 460 feet above average terrain.

XHLTN is even worse. I thought they had been running 100 kw on a 1200 foot tower. But a new listing shows them only at 57 kw at 350 feet. That can't be. I also see XHRM and XHITZ at 100 kw with 600 feet. But XHPRS must have found a very tall mountain because they're listed as 8 kw at 2500 feet. Why wouldn't all the big Tijuana FMs go to a 2500 high peak if they want to compete in the San Diego market?


Gregg
[email protected]
 
It's Mt. San Antonio just south of downtown TJ. I'm not sure where, or even if, there's a Mt. Diablo involved ith any of the stations you mention.
 
Gregg said:
Are they all on Mount Diablo? I suppose it's hard to get accurate info on Mexican FM stations' height and power. An old Broadcasting Yearbook I have shows XETRA-FM with 100 kw at 800 feet above average terrain. That's pretty good but I thought they'd even be stronger than that since 91X is audible in Orange County if you're near the coast. And a more recent listing shows them now at just 460 feet above average terrain.
Click to expand...

Don't put too much faith into listings of Mexican (or Canadian) stations in U.S. publications.

They're usually based on the FCC database, which in turn is dependent on the foreign countries' notifications to the FCC. They tend to be badly out of date.
 
Walrus is about 4500' AMSL, and suffers from atmospheric/inversion layers that sometimes play havoc with reception. Similar effects on Mt Miguel,
but less intense. And its not licensed/ located in T.J. so as to protect 105.3 in S.D.
 
The Walrus 105.7, XLNC1 and 95.3 are all on that 4500-foot mountain you mention. Walrus has the most power, followed by XLNC, and 95.3 is the weakest.

That mountain is way to the southeast of Tijuana. Even though it's a lot higher than Mt. San Antonio, the signal coverage is inferior. The three stations mentioned above have huge shadow areas in East County and inland North County that the Mt. San Antonio stations do not. However, the mountain's high elevation does carry their signals well up the coast.

And even though the Walrus, XLNC, ect. have signal shadows in parts of La Mesa and El Cajon, their signals reappear on the I-8 east from Alpine. In fact, you can hear the Walrus much better in Campo, Boulevard and Jacumba than all the S.D. Mt. Soledad signals. I even picked up the Walrus at the bottom of the I-8 grade in Imperial County, long after all other San Diego FM's had faded to static.
 
All three Cerro Bolla stations are directional to some extent. 95.3 aims almost due west protecting an allocation in Imperial Valley. 104.9 protects a Mexicali FM. And Walrus protects the Hemet outlet with only 16kw aimed that way.With 96kw elsewhere, you can pick it up east to near Yuma and
north to Magic Mountain.
 
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