I was in West Salem last evening and this morning and I found KPIK-LP on 102.9. What a great station. Oldies and Classic Hits from the 50's through the 90's. The audio wasn't the best quality, but the music was great and a pretty good signal for only being 2 watts.

I DX it once and a while from Hillsboro..."so much music, so few watts".

Nice little station.

KPIK-LP's signal is much better than KPIE-LP from Dallas. I can barely get the station in Salem. KPIE-LP has 200 watts.

94.3 KPIE-LP has 100 watts, which is the maximum allowed for an LPFM.

102.9 KPIK-LP's audio sounds terrible! Why are they using MP3's?

Because they can?
Because they aren't selling anything nor have stockholders to please nor have really anyone they HAVE to please.
So, why would they care?
Not everyone has the high tech audio to discern the difference and not everyone can even tell the difference. Leave em alone for cryin out loud!

I heard them in McMinnville! I was amazed at the 2 watts listed at Radio Locator.

http://www.lpfm.ws/scoreboard/scoreboard.php?mode=list&state=OR

Wow, I never realized there we so many LPFMs in Oregon! Couldn't one of these serve a decent population center if it was somewhere flat?

KPIK-LP could sound much better, with some help from qualified people.

We could all sound much better with some help from qualified people.

102.9 comes in parts of Salem ok but once you go up the Hiway 22 hill in out east towards Stayton the 2 watts just boom in...and your still many miles away from their TX site SE of Stayton. Would be interesting to see what their tech infrastructure is.

I can't tell from Hillsboro, do they broadcast in stereo? Mono-only FMs can get more range than stereo at the same power.

Yes, they broadcast in stereo.

>>I DX it once and a while from Hillsboro

2 watts over Scio making the trip to Hillsboro...you must have quite the antenna and reciever to pick up!

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KPIK&service=FL&status=L&hours=U

Not a real biggie, I have the APS-9B not the 13:

http://www.starkelectronic.com/aps13.htm

It is mounted only about 20 ft AGL on an antenna rotator.

I am presently using a Sony XDR-F1HD tuner as my Primary FM Dx tuner.... for 100 bucks this is an AMAZING tuner!

Some of the time, KNBQ Centralia (off the back of the antenna) covers up this little station. Right now it is coming in pretty well... they just played ABBA "SOS".

60 miles as the crow flys for 2 watts...hey...if ya wanna pick up the station you can with a little $ for some gear.

They advertise as having a "large tower on a major peak"... that may be stretching the point a bit, but a 51m AGL antenna 389m above sea level ain't bad!

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=133093

I just don't understand the concept of licensing these secondary stations. Its community of license is well outside the 50dbu contour. It would be like licensing KHPE to Portland! Even Scio is too far away!