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What does this mean?
- Thread starter Mrtejano
- Start date
It means the owner of the translator's application to move to 99.7 was denied because the interference it is experiencing was not caused by a change in the co-channel Beaumont station.
The rule apparently is designed to grant translators some relief if a full power FM makes a modification that causes interference to the translator. That is not the case here because the Beaumont station's current licensed facility pre-dates the translator at its current licensed facility. Changes to the Beaumont station have not occurred, so no relief is warranted for the translator from interference on 104.5.
La Mejor is much better off staying on 104.5 than battling KVST and several LPFMs on 99.7. Baffles me why the license holder wanted the frequency move in the first place...the current 104.5 signal is a good as a Houston "translator" is going to get.
Probably a knee-jerk reaction to their first taste of tropo.
It depends.
Most of the time, it would be minimal, but during tropo season, the translator would likely get obliterated by KKMY on a regular basis.
Several of the Devers rimshots are co-channel with stations in Corpus. They also lose the tropo battle with the Corpus stations often during tropo season.
If tropo from stations in Corpus can literally erase the presence of 100kW stations all over Houston, these dinky 250W translators don't stand a chance with co-channel C1s that are much closer to Houston than the Corpus stations.
When is "tropo season" exactly?
In its simplest form, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropospheric_propagation
The "season" can be in one day and not the next, and it can be highly directional. There are considerable effects based on latitude, too.
I once got "FM 100" in Lima, Perú, at my location in Quito in around 1966 in late, dry August when our day temperatures were as high as 80 but nights could be in the 40's. Since there were no other FMs to compare with anywhere on the path, I could not evaluate with any depth. But Quito is relatively near the coast, Lima is on the coast and there is a nice inversion-prone area of the Humboldt Current with cold water and higher air temperatures. That is about 850 miles, and for a while reception was very very good.
In Texas, it's a little different. It can be around for many months, usually during the late evening hours to mid morning almost daily. They are directional, as David mentions, as they can carry signals in a duct from generally one direction. Having lived in the Austin metro, I usually got stations from either San Antonio, Houston, Dallas or the Hill Country, but not necessary at the same time. Houston stations always interfered with Austin stations that were co-channel or adjacent to those stations. Just as I would get tired of hearing FMs that I had no interest in hearing every night for the second month straight, it would be over and I wouldn't hear them again. Sometimes it would be for a week, a month or six months.
FMs aren't the only thing that carries far distances. I've gotten ATSC TV in those areas, too, including some low power TV from Victoria until almost lunch time.
FMs aren't the only thing that carries far distances. I've gotten ATSC TV in those areas, too, including some low power TV from Victoria until almost lunch time.
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Is there a time of year when Tropo is better? Is it better during hot weather or cold weather? Is it better in the midst of high humidity or lower humidity?
Spring time is the best time, but it can happen anytime of year along the coast. Humidity is a key ingredient, usually you'll find there may be a front or associated weather phenomenon between the receive and origination locations. Tropo is created by thermal inversions - layers of the atmosphere that are at dramatically different temperatures, thus creating a "mirror" that reflects the signal that would normal go out into space back down to earth. Quite similar to the mirror effect of a mirage looking down a hot stretch of highway.
Coastal effects have been mentioned several times already, and when you have cold water and much warmer air or warmer water and cold air, you have a perfect setup for those conditions. I know of FM DXers in coastal areas who look at air and water temperatures to get an idea of when conditions may be setting themselves up.
I recall when hurricane Hugo visited Puerto Rico in 1989 and I noticed points where many, many Dominican Republic stations came into my area of Rio Piedras in San Juan. It's about 260 miles from Santo Domingo to that location, and I would have enjoyed the phenomenon were it not worrying about falling trees and flying signs and debris!
As many posters stated, it is very hit and miss. One of the regular visitors in Houston is KMDL 97-3 The Dawg Kaplan/Lafayette, LA at 38kw which often overpowers KAJA 97.3 from San Antonio at 100kw. I suspect this is because there is no dominant 97.3 between Lafayette & San Antonio and there is a lot of water/humidity between KMDL's transmitter south of Lafayette in Vermilion Parish and Houston. In some cases, 100.7 WTGE from Baton Rouge also shows up over 100.7 KKHT-FM (Houston rimshot). To show how erratic the propagation can be, I've never received WYNK 101.5 and 102.5 WFMF (co-located with WTGE) during tropo events.
One cool thing is 92.3 WRKN LaPlace/New Orleans is a very frequent visitor in Galveston at night since the signal is traveling across so much water and 92.3 is pretty clean down there.
For TV, Victoria regularly visits Houston. I've also received WKRG Mobile, KATC Lafayette, KADN Lafayette, and KVHP Lake Charles when I lived in Katy (attic mounted antenna faced southeast) but I now live in the city and my antenna faces almost due south so I no longer receive any out of town channels. Due to the hassle of deleting so many channels I would never watch, I don't often re-scan so I'm sure there are many more visitors I haven't received.
One interesting phenomenon is when I lived out in Katy: When I would occasionally tune in 105.3 KTWL Hempstead on analog and then the HD signal of Magic 105.3 in San Antonio would pop in right over it, all with not even a hint of the analog signal.
Further proof of tropo ficklenss: I've caught WYNK several times on the southside of town. One time had it fighting both KROX/Austin and XHAVO/Reynosa.
Also, you can check both the real time DX map here to see where activity has been registered by ham operators in the 2 meter band (144-148 MHz), which tends to be a good indicator of skipping at the longer wavelengths of FM and TV.
http://aprs.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/
There is also a site that produces DX propagation forecast maps:
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html
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