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Champaign/Danville/Decatur WCRA (Effingham) applies for nighttime power, aided by potential KAAY downgrade

Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts

As long as KAAY (Little Rock) was around, Effingham's longtime local station, WCRA, also at 1090, could not get even minimal nighttime power. It couldn't even get pre-sunrise authority.

With KAAY's application to downgrade to class D status, that may be changing. WCRA has applied for secondary nighttime status with a power of 25 watts. The application narrative explains it:

The proposed night facility is permissible upon the licensing of the KAAY construction permit
for secondary status ... effecting a change in class from 1A to D.This change permits
the initiation of secondary night authority for WCRA serving the entire community of Effingham with a
night interference free contour.... Therefore, it is requested that processing of the WCRA
application be held in queue until the grant of the KAAY license application. It is noted that KAAY has
operated for approximately four years on a 25% night power of 12,500 Watts which causes significant
interference to domestic and Canadian protected stations.
Click to expand...

WCRA's rather restricted operating parameters resulted in its becoming a fairly early adopter of FM, buying a station that had been run out of Decatur in 1963, beginning to operate it locally, and, a few years later, achieving full class B status (now WCRC, as it has been since 1976). In the 1970s, the FM station could be received regularly in east-central Missouri (until co-channel KWWR Mexico, MO upgraded).

Once KAAY downgrades to class D status, it will be interesting to see if other 1090 daytimers in the Midwest take advantage of the opportunity to add or increase nighttime power.

The WCRA application also redescribes its daytime power authorization to match current practice.
 
The point is 25 watts is not zero watts. Another study might mean much more power. So many steps are such small ones but after a few, it's substantial. And the fact is, if they didn't apply for it, somebody would negate any nighttime whatsoever.
 
b-turner said:
The point is 25 watts is not zero watts. Another study might mean much more power. So many steps are such small ones but after a few, it's substantial. And the fact is, if they didn't apply for it, somebody would negate any nighttime whatsoever.
Click to expand...
To me, the interesting thing is the possibility this opens up for class D stations that couldn't get nighttime power until now because of KAAY. I see two stations in Iowa, one in Missouri (not counting the one that went defunct that nobody wants), and a few around Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, etc. that could benefit. The stations in small communities may find that it's worth it to spend a relatively small amount of money to simplify their operations and provide nighttime service.

One other interesting thing in the engineering study was the comment about the interference KAAY is currently providing to other stations with its 12.5 kW STA nighttime power.

Yes, WCRA has two translators. One's out in the middle of nowhere halfway to Mattoon; the other should provide good coverage of Effingham itself but it's on 107.7, which has a whompin' C0 out of St. Louis on the channel, plus a first adjacent to Terre Haute, Indiana. Even mild tropo is likely to cause interference to the translator. In the summer and early fall in the region, tropo is frequent (speaking from experience).

As b-turner says, if WCRA didn't apply for it, another station on the channel might have tried with a power level that would have precluded anything for WCRA. It's Cromwell's money, after all.
 
And this pops up today (August 13th) in KAAY's application for an STA extension (it's in all-caps in the original):

MORE RECENTLY RLH‐CBC LEARNED THAT THE OWNER OF THE TOWERS, VERTICAL BRIDGE, AMENDED THE SITE INFORMATION TO SHOW ONLY TWO TOWERS. THIS PROMPTED RLH‐CBC TO REVISIT THE SITUATION AND CONFER WITH ITS CONSULTING ENGINEERS ABOUT POSSIBLE TECHNICAL OPTIONS THAT WOULD ALLOW KAAY TO OPERATE WITH NEW PARAMETERS AND INCREASED POWER. THESE DISCUSSIONS HAVE BEEN POSITIVE AND RLH‐CBC EXPECTS TO FILE A NEW CONSTRUCTION PERMIT APPLICTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
Click to expand...
It will be interesting to see if this affects WCRA's plans or its chances to get any nighttime power at all. We'll have to see what KAAY comes up with, first.
 
I doubt KAAY ever had any intention of dropping to 80 watts at night. They've been milking the 12,500 "temporary" extensions for years now.
 
JJSPC said:
I doubt KAAY ever had any intention of dropping to 80 watts at night. They've been milking the 12,500 "temporary" extensions for years now.
Click to expand...
The KAAY CP to downgrade expires next year. It looks like this may now be revised.
 


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