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Translators + LPFMs = Reduced DXing

E

eacalhoun

Hang on tight...

To try and prevent too many hard feelings, this may take some space. To set this up, I am a Christian--saved by Jesus--and I indeed have strong convictions FOR spreading the gospel. First, I don't want this thread to become a "religious beliefs debate". I realize those reading this have different beliefs, or maybe none at all. But I don't want any fellow Christians, or even Christian broadcasters(using translators) to think I'm being hypocritical. Therefore I hope it's possible for everyone here to understand where I'm coming from.

Everyone here loves broadcasting, or else you wouldn't be here! Furthermore the love runs in our veins, and with that most of us love DXing. Yet with the advent of the FCC allowing more facilities on an already-crowded spectrum, DXing has become next to impossible in our part of the world. Prior to 15 years ago, I could reliably receive an intelligble signal from several FMs over 150 miles away from Morganton. In fact, on 92.9 I could previously receive 3 stations with the turn of the antenna: Lexington, KY; Atlanta, and Dillon, SC. Thanks to WNCW's 92.9 in Boone and an LPFM in Caldwell County, it's no longer possible.

Fast forward to this past weekend: As I'm punching up 94.1(Hitz 94) in the car I notice a degraded signal. First thought--weird weather all winter--it's probably skip with an approaching cold front. But as I begin hearing the conflicting station drift in and out, I realize I'm hearing what sounds like "His Radio" originating from WLFJ, Greenville, SC. I flip over to WLFJ, and yep it's a new translator. An online search reveals the translator is licensed to Weaverville, but the tower site looks to be Mt Mitchell(Clingman's Peak?). The same search reveals a translator pending for Valdese at 96.5--so there will go my WOXL reception. Okay, I'm not blasting WLFJ as they are preset on my car's radio, though I'm a little put-out with the frequency choices for their translators. Ultimately, the FCC is to blame for overfilling the spectrum. I just wonder when it will stop? Just when I think there's NO room left, then somehow another facility is squeezed in. And I'm not blasting Christian broadcasters like WLFJ--they just pushed me over the edge:) I can also receive three useless LPFMs, and WNCW's useless translators on Beech Mtn and in Boone--as stated earlier. (Have I said "useless" already?)

Do translator locations have HAAT limits? If not, translators should have such height limits to help restrict the signal to the community intended to be served. I defnitely don't think a translator should be perched above the clouds like atop Beech Mtn or Mt Mitchell.

Eric
 
I am all for Christian radio statins getting their message out to various communities as well (just like any radion station), but when I hear the same station on 4-5 different ferequencies, that is indeed overkill. Surely there can be some common sense when placing translators, etc.
 
I think in many cases these broadcasters, like Triad Family Network or the Bible Broadcasting Network for instance, want to be on as many frequencies as possible to increase listenership or be above 92.1, since many listeners will admit to never listing to anything below 92.1. The spacing rules need to be relaxed so the original signal can increase power to serve the whole market or a new class A can be used to serve the whole city, instead of using 5 translators. Some of these signals are just too protected. I don't see why it would be a problem to have a 98.5 at 100m and .5 - 1k in Charlotte or a 97.7 at 100m and .5 - 1k in Kernersville? It's a much better service than 4-5 .01k translators at 100m and if you stand in uptown Charlotte with your radio in hand (and everyone looking at you, asking what are you doing?) and set it for 98.1, 98.3, 98.5 and 98.7, you won't find anything there to interfere with and that new signal won't cause any problems for 98.7 in central Guilford County or 98.9 in northern Greenville County, SC. The 70dBu contour likely won't cover all of Mecklenburg County, but it would be a much better service for the community and that is the FCC's goal. More reforms are needed to improve service. Also why not ask anyone interested in keeping their grandfathering to build C facilities or be downgraded. These are very serious problems that need to be addressed. New rules could open spaces for a college station at UNCC in Charlotte or Wake Forest in Winston-Salem? Maybe a new class could be created, like A1 service for college and non-profit broadcasting with newer, more relaxed, spacing rules for all classes?<P ID="signature">______________
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.winstonsalemskyscrapers.com>http://www.winstonsalemskyscrapers.com</a></P>
 
> I think in many cases these broadcasters, like Triad Family
> Network or the Bible Broadcasting Network for instance, want
> to be on as many frequencies as possible to increase
> listenership or be above 92.1, since many listeners will
> admit to never listing to anything below 92.1. The spacing
> rules need to be relaxed so the original signal can increase
> power to serve the whole market or a new class A can be used
> to serve the whole city, instead of using 5 translators.
> Some of these signals are just too protected. I don't see
> why it would be a problem to have a 98.5 at 100m and .5 - 1k
> in Charlotte or a 97.7 at 100m and .5 - 1k in Kernersville?
> It's a much better service than 4-5 .01k translators at 100m
> and if you stand in uptown Charlotte with your radio in hand
> (and everyone looking at you, asking what are you doing?)
> and set it for 98.1, 98.3, 98.5 and 98.7, you won't find
> anything there to interfere with and that new signal won't
> cause any problems for 98.7 in central Guilford County or
> 98.9 in northern Greenville County, SC. The 70dBu contour
> likely won't cover all of Mecklenburg County, but it would
> be a much better service for the community and that is the
> FCC's goal. More reforms are needed to improve service. Also
> why not ask anyone interested in keeping their
> grandfathering to build C facilities or be downgraded. These
> are very serious problems that need to be addressed. New
> rules could open spaces for a college station at UNCC in
> Charlotte or Wake Forest in Winston-Salem? Maybe a new class
> could be created, like A1 service for college and non-profit
> broadcasting with newer, more relaxed, spacing rules for all
> classes?
>


I agree there is an "overkill" of translators as well. These licenses are not being used for what they are intended to be. In upstate New York where I am from, a translator was used on the other side of a mountain because the original signal could not be picked up 5 miles away. I believe i read somewhere that the FCC has put a freeze on accepting anymore translator applications. "His Radio" appears to be a major cause of this "overkill."
 
> >>
>
> I agree there is an "overkill" of translators as well.
> These licenses are not being used for what they are intended
> to be. In upstate New York where I am from, a translator
> was used on the other side of a mountain because the
> original signal could not be picked up 5 miles away. I
> believe i read somewhere that the FCC has put a freeze on
> accepting anymore translator applications. "His Radio"
> appears to be a major cause of this "overkill."
>


Here in Northwest Alabama, we also have "translator overkill" WE have LP's on 92.9, 95.3, 98.7, 99.5, 102.7, & 103.9. One Christian station from Nashville has two translators, some sucky Non-comm from Mississippi has two, and the other two air religious programming from out of town as well (Don't listen to them enough to know their origination stations)

Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer and I'm all for getting the word out about Jesus. But 6 translators in an area with 130,000 people is too many. It seems just to have a translator on the air beaming "something" apparently is the norm now, instead of fulfilling a need. When the majority of these translators started around here, it was because this area was devoid of rock stations. Hence, WKDF/ Nashville was rebroadcasted. Now, Since the X in Birmingham has died a grisly death, it leaves us with yet another set of translators that thinks "fun" is playing Three Dog Night and John Denver. Putrid.
 
I wish that stations which use translators to provide improved receptions within their countours would use on channel boosters(TFT makes them, for example) rather than translators. WSPA kills WPEG in many parts of Asheville with the 97.7 translator and WMIT kills WEND with the 106.3 translator. I know that these stations are not protected since they are so far away but they are listenable (or, were) in certain areas. Not picking on WMIT or WSPA, just venting!

Chris
 
Charley Pride said (sang?) it best...

{From "I'm Just Me", by Charley Pride (Glenn W. Martin, songwriter)}

"..some a-wantin' more, and more a-gettin' less, I just want what I got."


And there you have it...those 13 words essentially describe where we're at, radiologically speaking.

If I didn't own or operate a station, and/or had no access to the airwaves, I'm sure I'd want an LPFM. Of course, this makes the crowded spectrum, all the more crowded. The mentality is, I ain't got nothin', I wanted it, and I got it...to hell with everyone else.

On the other hand, if I own/operate a full power station, I not only don't want interference from low power on/adjacent-channel operations, I also don't want another full power on/adjacent station to be located within 10-15 miles of the spacing limits...I want my deep fringe coverage (in small or micro market operations), so I can sell/have listeners in all immediately adjacent communities. Oh hell...to tell the truth, I want NO competition. I want it ALL...all the listeners, and all the advertising dollars.

Frankly, I never understood translators. To me, the only legitimate use, is to "fill-in" holes in a full power station's 60 dBu contour. That said, it should always be on-channel, using a DA or power adjust, to dictate where the "blind spot" falls.

The DX'ers want..well, distant listening, so keep all the low power garbage off the band(s).

As the last line of the song lyric illustrates, all we really want (and believe we can get), is be able to keep what we've got right now...just don't let it get worse.

In every case, worse is what it'll get, and I'm a certified, card carrying optimist.<P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>
 
A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

Quick quiz time...

What frequency in Western North Carolina had its original application filed for by Charley Pride's broadcasting company?

Let's see who knows...

wncmacs
 
Re: A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

> What frequency in Western North Carolina had its original
> application filed for by Charley Pride's broadcasting
> company?

It was 820 AM if I remember, and was to be licensed to Belmont. He held the CP for that station for about 10 years, but didn't build it because all of the country listeners migrated to FM very quickly after Jimmy Swaggart bought WAME and ended the country format there.

By the time he abandoned his CP, no one was interested in building it.

Later....
Matt Smith, Station Manager
WGSR-TV "Star-39"
Reidsville, NC
 
Re: A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

> It was 820 AM if I remember, and was to be licensed to
> Belmont. He held the CP for that station for about 10
> years, but didn't build it because all of the country
> listeners migrated to FM very quickly after Jimmy Swaggart
> bought WAME and ended the country format there.
>
> By the time he abandoned his CP, no one was interested in
> building it.

That may have happened (I'm not sure), but I know he was originally involved in putting the 880 on in Asheville. It was originally going to be licensed to Fairview as their first radio service, but he sold his interest in it sometime in the late 1980s.

I don't know who eventually put the station on the air, but I know it is part of the Clear Channel cluster in Asheville now, airing Air America.

wncmacs
 
Re: A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

Hold on to your hats: Here's the history, for those of you who are interested. But watch out, it'll make your head spin.

The original Construction Permit was granted in November of 1987, but expired. Three months after its expiration in 1989, an application was filed for a new CP to replace the old one. This was granted in May of 1990, then extended and extended again, then again and again, then allowed to expire. ANOTHER application for a replacement CP was filed and granted in April of 1993. And of course, it was extended. Then extended again. At the same time of this particular extension, the CP was sold from Michael Glinter to River City Communications. River City then sold the CP to John McLeod less than a year later in September of 1996.

The License to Cover was finally granted after the station was signed on by McLeod on November 26, 1997, almost exactly ten years after the original CP was granted. In 1999, the station was sold to "WTZY, Inc.", and went to 5kW around December of 2000. WTZY, Inc. was a holding company owned by Ed Seegar/Blue Dolphin Communications, I do believe. This was the time when Ed was assembling the WQNS/WHCC/WMXF/WTZY group. Finally, the station, as part of the four-station cluster, was sold to Clear Channel in December of 2001.

Incidentally, the station has had four sets of calls: WMIY originally, then WLVM in 1996, WTZY at signon in 1997, and finally WPEK in 2002.

There's your dose of useless information for the day!
 
Re: A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

> Hold on to your hats: Here's the history, for those of you
> who are interested. But watch out, it'll make your head
> spin.
>
> The original Construction Permit was granted in November of
> 1987, but expired.

So, was Charley the original applicant or who started the process of putting 880 on the air?
 
Re: A Bit Off Topic, Concerning Charley Pride

I think Charley was part of the originally applying group, yes. I think, anyway.
 
> Hang on tight...
>

Eric you said it well and I don't think anyone could take offense to what you said. I was just taking about how short spaced some of the FM's are. I still get a good signal from WNMX 106.1 which although it's licensed to suburban Waxaw, NC is still considered a Charlotte station. In Huntersville on the North side of the metro it gets clobbered by another station on 106.1.

As for what you are talking about There is a LPFM at Lake Wylie on the worst possible frequency 93.7 where WFBC blasts into the area and even further north than that. It really doesn't make sense.

As Eric said in this post please don't take offense this is an honest question. Does BBN really need all of those translators? Is anyone listening? We have 930 AM WYFQ with 5kw day and 1 Kw night here in Charlotte and in the 12 years that it has been on I only know one person that listened to it. You never hear anyone talk about it at all. Not so with WHVN, WMIT and WRCM I know there are quite a few who listen to those stations.

It seems like BBN could get a shortwave station and do just as well or maybe better. Shotwave radios are very easy to tune these days. Just a thought!

MikeM
 
Did you forget that BBN is also on full powered 93.5 in the Charlotte area? And have you ever seen BBN's national headquarters on Carmel Road at Hywy 51? It is opulent and surely outdoes any other broadcast facility in the area. I guess they have plenty of loot to put on all those useless translators..Has WYFQ-AM/FM ever shown any ratings Charlotte?
 
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