Continue!

Thank you Mrs M; I appreciate that! This is probably the longest running thread we have. I've lost track of how many times it's been continued but the archives no longer go back that far.

Here's the latest on the new "97.9Mhz Tualatin" from yesterdays All Access:

-----------KACI-F Sale Approved By FCC Over Cumulus Objection-----------

The FCC has granted the sale of Oldies KACI-F/THE DALLES, OR from COLUMBIA GORGE BROADCASTERS to BICOASTAL COLUMBIA RIVER, LLC over the objections of CUMULUS.

The objection arose from an attempt to reallocate KACI-F to a new frequency at TUALATIN, OR, which would have changed the frequency of CUMULUS' Rock KNRQ/EUGENE, which also has applied to move to TUALATIN in the PORTLAND market. CUMULUS alleged that provisions in the sale agreement between CGB and PORTLAND BROADCASTERS, assigned to BICOASTAL (and including the resale of the station to PORTLAND BROADCASTERS if the Commission approved the frequency and allocation changes, the rejection of which are under appeal), would create an impermissible reversionary interest in the station for CGB and would leave CGB with some control of the station.

Considered by many "The Father of Alaska Broadcasting" has died. This from All Access:

Alaskan Broadcaster Augie Hiebert Dies
Condolences to family and friends of ALASKA radio and TV pioneer AUGIE HIEBERT, who died THURSDAY in ANCHORAGE at 90.

HIEBERT arrived in ALASKA as an engineer at KFAR-A/FAIRBANKS, helped build KENI-A/ANCHORAGE in 1948, and founded NORTHERN TELEVISION INC. to launch the territory's first TV station, KTVA (TV)/ANCHORAGE, in 1953, following that up with KTVF (TV)/FAIRBANKS in 1955. He sold the company in 1997.

who cares. the fairbanks tower was probably the same one i got DXing

Following in the footsteps of WOWO, KGA Spokane has applied to decrease nighttime power to 15kw and give up their Class A status! This will leave them with roughly ZERO skywave protection. The point of this is to enable a co-channel San Francisco Bay station to increase nighttime power to 2.4kw but several stations will see improvements without any change on their part including our own 1520. It will be interesting to see if the latter applies for additional power at night.

Additional nightime power on the Oregon City 1520 accompanied with about 15% of Harmonic distortion by my estimation leastwise as of two weekends ago !

KGDD has not increased nighttime power since they went from 10 to 15kw several years ago. If the Spokane and Marin County applications are built out OR KGDD jumps in with the other applications and all the construction permits are granted, they could raise power but not until then. Whatever you heard was apparently something else.

Here is some Oregon broadcasting history in the making.

It looks like Oregon's very first DTV station KOHD in Bend. Which started broadcasting last year. Has added a short term analog signal on channel 53. The reason, the station started it's own local newscast for Central Oregon this week. Which meant the station needed a way to compete. On an analog level with the well established KTVZ/KFXO duopoly newscast. Which is seen on channels 21 and 39.

Time once again for me to ask how the new antenna is coming along on the Sylvan tower. I thought this was supposed to happen in August. I'm mostly interested in the HD channels.

Not quite sure if this qualifies for this thread, but I've noticed for about a month and a half or two months that KPSU moved their FM on-campus transmitter from 98.3 to 98.1.

Maybe, they're getting interference from the station in Ranier!

OK, let's forget about the CBS stations moving to their new antenna for a minute. KVMX has until February 24 to raise power at their present location. This has to get moving(pardon the pun)soon!

>Following in the footsteps of WOWO, KGA Spokane >has applied to decrease nighttime power to 15kw >and give up their Class A status

This is the end of an era. For years I have occasionally tuned in to KGA 1510 at night. But what I really member is about 35 to 40 years ago, when I was a kid in Seattle, KGA made a very interesting effort, apparently, to tap into the Seattle market from a distance! This is back when KGA had a Top 40 format, and there were billboards throughout the Seattle area inviting people to "Dial 15 tonight" and pick up KGA ... I've often wondered what prompted KGA to try that.

KGA was only Top 40 for a year (and about a month). From a DJ at KJRB at the time: apparently KJRB had locked up the national sponsors, so KGA was desperate for advertisers, any advertisers.

Not sure if it was true, but there was also lots of talk at the time that KGA had more listeners after Dark outside Spokane, than in Spokane. Yes, Seattle, but also Calgary, as Top 40 DJs in that Canadian city report frequently getting requests for lots of songs that only KGA played. In fact, one of the KGA Playboys went to CKXL Calgary after KGA went Country in early 1969 -- John Novak.

This is the first (that I remember) I've heard that KGA had billboards in Seattle. I'll ask a Seattle friend if he or any of his friends remember them.

I don't know when they signed on, but I have a letter verifying my reception of KURB Mountlake Terrace, a Seattle suburb, on October 27, 1968. They were a 250 watt daytimer on 1510 KHz, so acceptable reception of KGA in the daytime in Seattle was unlikely.

KGA started Top 40 on January 15, 1968, and pretty much self-destructed on January 15, 1969, with a really dumb stunt. Details are here: http://www.reelradio.com/jp/index.html#shkga69

As you will see, I was a huge fan of the station at the time. Up to the point of that stunt, at least.

For those of us not interested in a subscription to Reel Radio, perhaps we could have a summary of the stunt, please.

I used to listen to KGA every night...Shane, John Sherman, Derek Shannon...

Living in SE Portland, I had to null out 1520 almost in my backyard to hear it.

1510 KGA was Country until about 14 years ago.

Sorry, I forgot that the text on reelradio didn't explain it. They play a speech from the Station Manager, who was also the owner, saying that the station is switching to Classical Music. Then the DJs lock the doors and declare a mutiny, throwing out the commercial log during the process, i.e. - no spots aired. Listeners are supposed to telephone in with their support.

I've recently heard unconfirmed reports that Shane was PD, and this whole thing was his idea. If you read the comments in reelradio on this aircheck, you'll see that Shane had a great career in Buffalo and the Carolinas after this. And was selling cars in his last market, when last heard from. He came from KPUG Bellingham, before arriving at KGA. He first used the Shane name at KGA.

KODL RECEIVES $2,000 FINE.

This information came from Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin, LLP, Attorneys At Law, September 2007:

-----------Penalty Box Fine for Unauthorized Location Operation-----------

Some things may last forever, but special temporary authority (“STA”) is not one of them.

The FCC has fined Larson-Wynn, Inc., licensee of station KODL(AM) in The Dalles, Oregon, $2,000 for operating the station from an unauthorized location. In response to a complaint made in October 2006, a Commission enforcement agent traced the station’s broadcast signal to the residence of one of Larson-Wynn’s representatives, Mr.Wynn. This location was more than a half mile from the station’s authorized location. Mr.Wynn admitted that he continued to operate the station from his residence under an expired STA dating from 2004.

Mr. Wynn stated he submitted an STA extension request on August 31, 2004. On September 22, 2004, the FCC returned the STA request for failure to file the appropriate fee. He resubmitted the STA application with the appropriate fee five days later. FCC records reflect receipt of the fee, but it has no record of the resubmitted STA application.

The FCC noted that these facts reflected good faith efforts to secure an STA extension and helped to reduce the proposed fine from $4,000 to $2,000. However, the FCC stressed that STA extensions may be granted for periods not to exceed 180 days and that an application for an STA does not give the applicant an unlimited amount of time to operate at locations or at parameters inconsistent with FCC authority.

In this case, Larson-Wynn operated the station at unauthorized variance for over two and a half years. The Commission was also critical of Larson-Wynn’s failure to follow-up on the STA extension application.

For more information about STAs, please contact Joe, Mark, Elise, or Wayne.

KGDD look out at night, you're going to have company in the future. The new Snohomish 1520 is on the way with 20KW non-directional daytime & 50KW directional nights.

This from Everett's Herald Net:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20071026/NEWS01/710260059&news01ad=1

That's insane. If the FCC allocates 50kw on 1520 in Puget Sound, why even bother regulating the AM band at all? Come to think of it, we're not far from that. What's really the difference between anarchy and FCC sanctioned anarchy?

It shouldn't affect them at all. The new station would have to protect them.

Sure it won't affect them at night in Clackamas, but it'll sure make a mess out of 1520 every place north and west of Seattle. I thought the expanded band was created to cut down on interference problems on the rest of the band. So now there's no room for another Puget Sound station in the expanded band, but there IS room for 50kw smack in the main lobe of 20kw at 200 miles. Sorry...still sounds insane to me!

The proposed Snohomish nighttime interference free contour (NIF) is an incredible 44.6 mV/m! KGDD really pounds into that area at night.
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=5 34506

Thanks Bill! That sure is an interesting pattern.

Readers, don't forget to look at BOTH pattern pictures. The second is way down the page.

Our 1520 is a Class II. It has no skywave rights at all. If it comes in north of Seattle, it isn't by any grand plan; it simply does. The reason this hasn't happened before now is probably because KGA has always had skywave rights on 1510 but is giving them up to improve nighttime coverage of a sister station in the San Francisco Bay area.

When I did overnights on the "Sound of Beautiful Music" KYXI, I used to call the Canadian Weather Office to get some B.C. weather information to pass along in the Midnight to 2am segment.

I loved working nights, even if it was 10kw back then...It was more than most stations had!

I agree with you, Scott...It's insane...especially if either station involves AM IBOC. Yecchh, what a mess!

Regarding the Snohomish station pattern: That's pretty much what all Seattle AM stations' coverage patterns look like because of the Puget Sound.

A station on 1520 in the Puget Sound is just plan nuts. In the winter months 1520 from PDX can be heard in Everett and clear up to Vancouver, BC during the day. Something is terribly wrong here. Perhaps someone can put a 50 kW station on 710 here to block out KIRO, bet that wouldn't go far.
Speaking of all of this...I was in Salem yesterday morning and a Country music station was wiping out KXL...good planning there too.

Were you able to tune it out or was it a local pirate?

"Were you able to tune it out or was it a local pirate?"

Yes, I was able to null it out. I believe it might be KERR Polson, MT which would be on their 50 kW signal at that time of the morning. At night I have heard KOAL Price Utah under KXL from Salem and Corvallis, and even in the Portland area when you can null out KXL.

That's a little different because KXL is in effect, a Class I station sans WSB. If I read this right and unless something has changed, they should be protected from that kind of interference during hours that they aren't protecting WSB.

I don't think KXL has to protect WSB anymore those rules have changed and I believe the range that class 1 stations are protected in is about 1,000 miles and WSB is well outside of that range.

Maybe International Treaties are different, but a new station in Vancouver, Canada, on 1200 KHz, has to protect WOAI in San Antonio, Texas, which must be close to 1500 miles away. With both their night and day patterns!!!

San Antonio, TX is 1880 miles away from Vancouver, BC!

KEX had such a strong signal in Vancouver, BC at night...too bad the CRTC ruined that.

I found this on another site:
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/640.htm
Have there ever been any similar mishaps with small aircraft and the towers in PortTown?

PS...kind of an interesting site:
http://www.oldradio.com/
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/

There was the KOIN crash. For more on that story, here's Craig Adams!

I found this. I remember that ice storm.
http://www.rockininquad.com/joel%20miller%20memories.htm

Has there ever been any plane collisions with any of the towers though?

In looking I came across this, no tower collapse but a pretty "Electrifying" photo of Stonehenge.

http://www.sbe124.org/Tours/Stonehenge_Lightning_Strike_1024.jpg

I think that the airplane crash into one of the KOIN radio towers was before the ice storm collapse of the TV tower, perhaps mid to late 60's. the tower did not come down, but the occupant(s) of the plane died when it crash landed in the cemetary north of Barnes rd. Many years later when the guy wires were replaced, evidence of the impact (nicks and paint) was found on one of the old guy wires.

When KACI comes to Tualatin, that will probably be the end of KRRC. I wonder, do the Reedies care? Lewis and Clark's "KLC" was an Internet only station once KFIS signed on 104.1, but KLC appears to have gone belly-up since then. I presume that this was due to lack of interest.

Was "KLC" on 104.1 at the same time as KRRC ?

> Was "KLC" on 104.1 at the same time as KRRC ?

Yes. I remember driving over to the Lewis & Clark campus in late 1998 or early 1999 and hearing the audio switching back and forth between "KLC" and KRRC.

KACI-FM's Tualatin application was canceled. However, KNRQ's application may be granted.

I don't believe KACI ever submitted an application. They were one of several stations that wanted to move frequency and/or location but the request never got to the "notice of proposed rulemaking" stage.

Semoochie: I don't have any hard facts on the airplane crash into the KOIN-TV tower.

However my brother in-law was employed at Mount Calvary Cemetery at the time this occurred. I gave him a call tonight to see when this happened and to give me any details. He thinks it was Fall 1982-83. The cash happened at dusk or early evening and might have been foggy. Cemetery workers had gone home for the day. The vintage airplane (at the time) had a single engine with wings attached at the ceiling level of the cabin which held a family: husband pilot, wife and two children.

One was under 5 and the other was just a baby. The airplane wing clipped one of the KOIN-TV guy wires which withstood the impact. The airplane did not, crashing just above the main offices of Mt. Calvary Cemetery on cemetary land. The bodies were not recovered until the following day. The baby took the longest to find. An autopsy showed the baby survived the crash but died of exposure. There was also evidence animals had had their way with the body.

The one I'm thinking of occurred much earlier, at just about the same time as the icing on the TV tower.

The east tower for 970 came down during the Columbus day storm in 1962.

The east tower for 970 came down during the Columbus day storm in 1962.

So, tell me something. With the power of these transmitter's how many frickasied birds are picked up around the towers every week?

the dead birds around radio towers thing is an urban legend.

really I never knew about that one but I believe that it is false as if it was true, I would be finding dead birds around the antenna for my VHF base transmitter but I never have. However, the ERP of my base is about 115-120 watts and the maximum ERP allowed for AM is 50,000 watts and 100,000 watts on FM and if that does not kill birds that are near the towers nothing will.

Back to KGA-1510 Spokane: I've unconfirmed reports from a friend in Vancouver (Canada) that KGA's signal there recently got consistently poor. Anyone know if they have actually decreased night power to 15,000 watts yet?

If it wasn't already covered, KGA is now sharing another stations transmitter site and their signal is nowhere near what it once was, in which case, it might not be that bad of an idea anymore. It will probably take several years for all of this to come to fruition.

Craig: That plane clipped a 970 east tower guy cable. I'm not sure when it happened, but even though that tower may have been replaced after the Columbus Day Storm, it was still guyed at the original 2 levels with very hefty guy cables. When those cables were replaced when the tower got re-guyed in 1997 to add the four 2-bay FM backup antennas, you could ideed see the dent in the cable where the plane stuck it. Didn't see any paint, though.

KD7YUF: For AM it's transmitter output power.

In almost 30 years of being a broadcast engineer, I have only found a few dead birds near broadcast towers.

A lot of the danger with high amounts of radio frequency energy relates to the body's resonant frequency. The average bird's body (raptors and smaller), being much smaller than a human body, is resonant at a much higher frequency, like UHF TV and above. I think ti would be difficult to roost in front of a UHF TV antenna.

The questions are: are birds attracted to flashing red lights, and why aren't they talking about putting all electric power lines under ground?

Some years ago, I ran into (no pun intended) a towerkill website that claimed that birds typically get killed by flying into the guy wires. They said nothing about overexposure to RF. That sounded a bit fishy to me because a bird's likelihood of colliding with a guy wire is pretty low.

Here's a link to the tower kill website:

http://www.towerkill.com/

To put it politely, I am more than a bit skeptical about this. They openly admit that there is not a lot of research available on the subject.

A friend who is a "ham" and also flys remembers that the KOIN radio tower crash occured shortly after after he started flying (which was about 1968). He also told me that he was certain that the aircraft involved was a Piper "Cherokee" (PA-28), as that was what he was also flying at the time. He directed me to the NTSB website... I found this report on the incident:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=631&key=0

The PA-28 is a "low wing" aircraft, and only one death was reported, so the details do not match the story that Craig got from his brother in law. The report does indicate "TV tower" rather than "radio tower", but indicates the height to be 555 ft... sounds like one of the radio towers, to me.

Perhaps there have been 2 aircraft incidents at the Sylvan tower site?

I think I found the other:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001214X39751&key=1

The vintage Stinson would have been a "high wing" aircraft.

KGA has not reduced nighttime power.
KGA & KJRB (co-owned) built a new diplexed site south of town in the mid to late 90's. It never has worked right.

The CP for 15 kw night calls for adding a tower (one that only KJRB now uses) to the KGA side of the array. If it's done right, not on the cheap, they'll replace the phasors and ATUs for both stations. To bury new transmission line, trying to dig around all the postage-stamp sized "wetlands" will be a pain.

Mayby have a plane knock off 60 feet or so of the top of the tallest tower. That would get rid of most of the night fading in Coeurd'Alene & North Spokane.

I just finished perusing through 789 entries in today's FCC Daily Digest. That's about 750 more than they have on a good day. Amongst the hordes was an application for Brightwood on 91.1, a Class C3 on Mt Hood. There were also applications for Stayton and Turner.

I think those are all part of the NCE apps just recently applied for...

So they're finally released, eh? I did the Brightwood and Turner apps (and two dozen others around the country) for Mike B Bcast Services. I had heard that the commission was going to cull out the singletons, release them, and then dive into the MX's after. However, that doesn't add up since Stayton and Turner would clearly be MX'd. I guess my fourth hand info is incorrect. .... edit ... OK, I scrolled through half of the list ... 789 Pages with 5/pg is 3900+ ... that seems a little low after you subtract the other actions, i.e. not all of the entries are new apps (most are). I thought there would be about 5000. Many MX's are on the list, so I guess the singletons are in there as well (I found at least one that I did that appears to be a singleton ... )

KFIR 720 Sweet Home has applied for Licence to Cover. I presume this means we should hear their 10kw, shortly.

Question for the engineers:
What are the best (and worst) AM&FM patterns in Portland? Few or no nulls, truly great signal strength in all of the ADI.

Best AM coverage: 620, 750, 1190
Worst AM coverage: 1480

Since no one has a good signal in La Grande, which is in the TV ADI, lets stick to the Arbitron Metro, which includes five counties.

Are you talking day, or night?

It has to be both.

Somewhere along the line station owners lost sight of the importance of a solid, listenable signal. Without that, the best programing ever is practically worthless.

The only exception is an incredibly hot niche format or program that can only be heard on one station. Even then, the listeners can tire of jumping through hoops to tune in.

"Since no one has a good signal in La Grande, "
Actually, not true. Sometimes. KPAM and KEX do have decent signals in areas of LaGrande. I don't need to go there anymore but up until last year at this time, I was listening to KPAM mornings while driving my grandaughter to school. It was a solid signal. KEX would go in and out. KXL and KPOJ non-existent.

KPAM, while you cannot get them in some areas of Portland, travels up the Gorge very well. On day pattern. Night pattern does not. Having said that, it does not come in as well as KFBK from Sacramento. That sucker has a habit of showing up in north central Oregon quite well some days (as opposed to nights).

I'm not sure if it has been discussed here previously, but KFBK has one of the finest transmitter/tower layouts in the U.S. Because the area has such poor ground conductivity, they used a different design with a pair of towers, and a wire between them that acts like a horizontal version of the traditional vertical tower of an omni-directional AM station. It is supposed to provide much higher ground conductivity than any vertical tower design.

It sure seems to work, as they are the only California station I get here in Edmonton on a regular basis (at night). Even got them at high noon once in the winter. They were also the first QSL card I ever received when I started DX'ing in Vancouver (Canada) in the mid-1960s.

OK, I got my KFBK transmitter story mixed up since I read it. Here are the straight goods:

KFBK puts out 3545.89 mV/m, the highest field strength of any U.S. AM station, thanks to having the only true Franklin antennas in the U.S.

You can read more and see KFBK's transmitter site at http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051028.html
The following is quoted from the page:

"A Franklin, strictly defined, consists of two 180-degree antennas separated by an insulator, stacked vertically and fed at the center. By that strict definition, these are the only Franklins in the U.S. (KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota has two 179-degree stacked segments, and shorter segmented antennas are or have been used at several other stations, including KNBR in San Francisco, WHO in Des Moines, KDKA in Pittsburgh, WNBF in Binghamton and WNBC/WCBS in New York.)

"What a Franklin does, in exchange for the cost of building and maintaining such a massive structure, is to provide massive signal efficiency, and thus massive groundwave signal strength. The payoff of all that groundwave strength, coupled with the low radiation angle from the towers, is a resistance to skywave fading that most stations would envy."

Who says the Sacramento Valley has poor ground conductivity? Check out http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/m3/ which shows that the site is solidly in a "15 millimhos per meter" zone and on the edge of a "30" zone. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they built that site.

The former VOA site in Dixon, among other government radio transmission installations, is in that "30" zone.

This is not the case on the east coast, where New York City is in a "2" zone and Long Island is "
0.5" Boston is "4".

Portand is in a "4" zone, seawater is "5,000."

I think 1530 KFBK is the only directional using Franklin towers. I hear the effective radiated power of the night array is 400 kW north and south.

1500 KSTP in Minneapolis has one Franklin that they use during the day, and uses three separate towers (across the highway) at night.

680 KNBR's Franklin is top-loaded, but there's a story that at one time they tuned it to have maximum signal in Seattle.

1290 WNBF appears to be just a normal half-wave tower during the day, multiple towers at night. http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=AM&tabSearchType=Appl&sA ppIDNumber=417210&sHours=D

KLVP has applied to change its community of license to Sandy by basically claiming what we all already knew: Cherryville is not a real place! The question remains: How did they get licensed to there in the first place? There are no other changes so I don't quite see the point. Their coverage already rubs up against that of 89.1 so they can't push out the signal any farther toward Portland! Actually, I'm a little surprised there hasn't been a station licensed to Sandy!

Does anybody know what is on Grizzly. I drove thru Prineville and Madras coming from John Day a few weeks ago and was curious to know what is at top o' dat hill.

Grizzly Mtn. serves mostly Prineville. Here's a listing of stations at the site:

RADIO
KWRX 88.5 = KWAX
K240CG 95.9 = KNLR
K287AK 105.3 = KYPL
K293AN 106.5 = KAWZ

TELEVISION
K16EM ch.16 = KOAB
K23CU ch.23 = 3ABN
K25GA ch.25 = currently off
K44AH ch.44 = KPDX
K46AK ch.46 = KGW
K52AK ch.52 = KOIN
K54AP ch.54 = KATU
K66AZ ch.66 = KTVZ

KPAM has applied to increase nighttime power to 15kw from its present site, employing a 4th tower.

Does'nt the current KPAM/KKAD site have 4 sticks?

Yep, from the FCC website, it appears that KKAD uses #1034526, 527, 528 and 529 at night, and KPAM currently uses only #1034526, 528 and 529 at night. KPAM will be be adding a connection to #1034527 for their new night signal.
In the daytime, KKAD uses #1034526 and KPAM uses #1034529.


http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=29553

KFIR's license to cover has been granted. Has anyone heard them yet?

10dB over S-9 in Hillsboro on 100 foot outside "longwire". OK on car radio, slightly noisy on small radio (Eton E-5) in the house.

By about 4:00 KFIR signal was showing significant skywave interference. Now (about 4:35) all I hear is KDWN.

KFIR doesn't appear to be at 10kw today. I haven't checked previously to see if they are testing.

what is a license to cover?

When you file a 302 form, indicating you have executed your construction permit and have commenced with program test authority, the FCC approves your 302 and grants you a license to cover.

Lets talk about KNRQ 97.9 & KWLZ 96.3.

How lond does it take for FCC to give them a construction permit?

This from Wednesdays All Access:

-----------FCC Proposed Fines For Oregon FM Translator Stations------------
The Commission also proposed fines for late license renewal applications against LANE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 4J ($500 for K211BP/FLORENCE, OR) and RURAL OREGON WIRELESS TELEVISION, INC. ($500 each for K208DB and K234AD/ENTERPRISE, OR).

Interesting that the KRVM translator (K211BP) is on 90.1 Mhz, the frequency that KRVM (now 91.9) started with some 60 years ago (12-8-47).

Noticed very good reception on KRVM today... seems like K220IN is off the air.

"License to Cover" refers to a license to cover changes that are stipulated in the construction permit. I'm not too sure what will become of the Tualatin station on 97.9! They adjusted back to a Class A to avoid competition with an application for 97.7 in The Dalles, which has since(I believe)been granted a construction permit. They need to come to some kind of agreement with KACI to make it worthwhile. In the cases of both Tualatin and West Linn, they will probably need Canadian clearance, which usually takes about a year. There are probably other factors.

I can't see 97.9 being worthwhile without a substantial boost in class. If it can't hit all areas that receive Portland diaries, it will only be a marginal player.

Here's a interesting video. TV technology explained back in 1974.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AypDatUPX1I

The Camas translator on 102.3 has applied to move to Mt Scott.

Since the move of KMCQ to the Seattle area seems to be stalled and the KACI move probably never to happen, could someone apply for license for The Dalles area without one of the others being gone. Or when the KMCQ move-in finally happens, is there room for another signal? Unless The Dalles radio stations work it out, there are big holes in the formats provided. What about the license that went into Condon, I believe?

KFI OKed To Rebuild Tower.

The Orange County Register:

http://www.ocregister.com/news/tower-airport-fullerton-1956223-mirada-radio

Former 2nd Tallest Structure In The World, The KATV Tower Falls:

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=58833

Klamath Falls now has a second CHR station: Jammin 105.5 3KJ (KKKJ)

anyone get one of those edenpure heaters being advertized on various radio shows?how's it working for you?

vnyone get one of those edenpure heaters being advertized on various radio shows?how's it working for yu??

I think this is a little off topic but it was my own fault because I didn't define the word, "such"!

Has anyone else noticed KXPC's new translator on 107.1? I haven't bothered to look up where it is yet but it puts out a pretty respectable signal over the east side of Portland. I guess it's a good thing for K-Love that they no longer feed their Mt. Scott 96.3 with their 107.1 in Sweet Home!

Oh, they're finally on the air! I think I read they would be on the Stonehenge tower.

The FCC database seems to think K296FT (the call letters of the 107.1 translator) is on the KGON tower.

I guess it's a good thing for K-Love that they no longer feed their Mt. Scott 96.3 with their 107.1 in Sweet Home!
The first time I ever heard Rocket 107 was when they were being carried in error by K-Love's translator. At first, I thought maybe the translator changed formats! No such luck.

>>I guess it's a good thing for K-Love that they no longer feed their Mt. Scott 96.3 with their 107.1

No, it would have been a bad thing for KXPC because it's illegal to put on a new translator that interferes with the input of an existing translator. The 107.1 input of K-Love's 96.3 would have been protected in that scenario, unless the new signal were an actual "station" rather than a translator.

Need somebody who can evaluate a tower for structural integrity. Suggestions?

How does KLOVES 96.3 get their audio??

KVMX has applied for its license to cover changes so they should be up to 100kw within the next few weeks.

Since they are not DA, they would already be at 100kW since filing a 302 can't be done until your "changes" are up and running.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/infoCP.html

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/eng_fm.pl?Facility _id=12551

>>How does KLOVES 96.3 get their audio??

I assume it was switched to 88.7 to receive Portland announcements instead of the valley ones on 107.1.

Thanks Andy! It varies with the type of service and I'm never sure which way it goes. Since they're at full power, may we have reception reports from down the valley or elsewhere that's seen an improvement?

It will be interesting to see if the new translator helps KXPC's ratings in the Portland area. They made the list once when just the booster was operating without the main signal!

KXPC needs a new format!

I was in Hillsdale yesterday and was close enough to the KGON tower that the 107.1 translator was loud and clear. As I drove into Beaverton the signal weakened quickly. Driving up SW 185th between Farmington Road and TV Highway, KXPC and K-Love battle it out.

In Milwaukee it comes in well but southbound 205 near Gladstone you start losing it with total loss in West Linn but their 103.7 becomes strong there...has a small market feel...needs to tighten up automation...great signal coverage waiting to be sold?

For crying out loud, it's "Milwaukie"!

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN iF SOMBODY FLEW A KITE WITH WIRE TAIL OR WIRESTRING NEAR KEX TOWERS?

I understand it's spelled "Milwaukie" because someone moved there from Milwaukee, WI, named his new home but didn't know how to spell it!

How long would the wire tail be? It could be interesting if the tail were about 1/4th wavelength long!

"I understand it's spelled "Milwaukie"..."

Sorry, off topic, but couldn't resist:

The Milwaukee/Milwaukie Controversy

62kgw,
That is the most correctly composed sentence you have posted in a long long time. Now if you would only turn off the Caps lock button and quit yelling, it would have been perfect.

KQ4,
That article was about Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doesn't explain Milwaukie, Oregon.

"KQ4, That article was about Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doesn't explain Milwaukie, Oregon."

Oh, but it does, Harv! When Lot Whitcomb founded Milwaukie, Oregon, he used one of the several early spellings of the Wisconsin city's name.

(Sorry everyone. If further discussion is warranted, we should take it to the other side.)

My apologies to Mr. Whitcomb! The article I read was simply wrong.

Portland broadcast engineering from the inside at http://www.sbe124.org

Any official comment on the state of KVMX's power?

No, but it's easy enough to find out.

I got out my trusty little 1970's era FM tuner, complete with meter that I thought had gone to Goodwill and checked several locations with no antenna. KVMX came in with the same strength as KUPL but also as KLTH. KUFO and KINK were clearly stronger. At one point, KUPL was the strongest! Then, I attached a bundled up wire and KUPL appeared to be weaker than the rest so from this rather unscientific test, I believe that KVMX has indeed increased power. I extended the AM bar antenna all the way out to check AM reception and went back to FM. To my surprise, moving the bar improved FM signal strength significantly! KUPL was still weaker.

When can we expect KNRQ & KWLZ move-in?

Not before they are approved.

107.5 KVMX sounds stronger, here in Eugene.

Thanks, that's what I was waiting for!

Since it's technically part of the Portland market, I'll mention that KBZY 1490 has applied to diplex with 1220AM, formerly KCCS in Salem.

Is anyone else having any luck picking up 1190 KEX in HD this afternoon (April 1)?

On my morning commute (7am-8am) it seemed to be kinda spotty, but then on the way home (5pm-6pm) I had the HD pilot light but never actually tuned the HD signal.

I flipped it over to 1640 KDZR to make sure my radio was working fine, but still no success with KEX...

Maybe with it being the 1st of the month, the transmitter remote-control bugs haven't all been worked out quite yet...

Well, absolutely no HD on KEX this morning... Strange.

Would be interesting if they got any calls to the station being "off the air"...

Exciter lockups. I forgot to re-enable the automatic blending yesterday. Oops.

KNRQ's application to move to Tualatin as a Class A on 97.9 with 260 watts @ 470 meters HAAT has been granted! Final authorization is dependent on Docket #5-10, which I haven't been able to find yet. I'm sure they'll come to an agreement with KACI The Dalles, which should enable either themselves or the owners of KACI to raise power from the construction permit coordinates.

97.9 KRRC ?

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=66303

Since KRRC is a Class D station, I believe the extent of their protection is against unlicensed(pirate)stations. I don't believe they are even able to bump a translator. If they can, I think their best bet is a third adjacency. 96.3 could be authorized any day now so that's out of the question.

> 97.9 KRRC ?

...This is the death-knell for them.

Same deal as KMIH on Mercer Island, WA - another class D. I believe they finally found a different frequency, I think they had to convince another station to move up or down in order to do it.
Here in Portland I wouldn't be surprised if that's not possible here.

And before someone says "what about 102.7?," that would mean 103.3 would need to move to 103.5 and 104.1 would need to move to 104.3 - not to mention KXPC would need to also be bumped up from 103.7 to 103.9 (unless they're going elsewhere), and those are just the in-Portland and close-to-Portland stations that I can think of off the top of my head. I don't have a comprehensive list of everyone that would be affected (or if they're willing to budge).

Yes, I know 102.7 is currently home to an EMF translator.

There's no way that K103 is going to be willing to reduce power so an 8 watt Class D can continue on the air! If they took away KXPC and K103 moved to 103.5, they would have to protect Seattle and need to drop back to a Class C0 unless they could convince the Seattle station to downgrade to C0 instead! KRRC's only hope is to locate between local frequencies and 102.7 appears to be the only option if indeed it is.

Couldn't K103 simply be reclassified as a C0, without any power reduction?

No, because it's at 470 meters and the cutoff is 450 meters. They would also lose some protection if they did. KXPC would have to be moved regardless! There's just no advantage to doing so.

Couldn't K103 have a directional null to the north?

Not without KOPB, KKRZ, KRSK and KQOL doing the same. Oh, and the CP for KNRQ would have to be changed, too. It looks the coordinates drop it right into the master antenna at Skyline.

Again, why would they want to cut off coverage to the north for an 8 watt station?

I hate to bring this up again, but is there *really* no way that ch 200 could be used for KRRC after ch. 6 goes dark?

From the FCC site:

"*** Use of Channel 200 87.9 MHz is restricted to existing
displaced full service Class D noncommercial educational
stations. See 47 CFR 73.501. Channel 200 is not available for
use by other station classes and services.***"

That frequency would be second adj. to KBVM... but with 8 watts is that a problem? If they co-located with KBVM (Sylvan site) to reduce interference, with 8 watts the 60dbu contour would reach the Reed campus (Example: K220IN, with 5 watts from the slightly more distant Skyline site reaches the edge of the Reed campus).

Does KRRC still operate the carrier current / campus only AM station ?

I didn't know they ever did. Is there a reason why they would? Unless something has changed, there's a club and if you join the club, you get to go on the radio.

The CC AM may have been operational before the FM was on the air, I heard about it from a friend that was a student there in the early 60's... the station had to pay the power company a bunch of $$ to by-pass some power transformers so that it would cover all the newer dorms.

I had no idea you were talking about that long ago! Now, it makes sense: No one had an FM radio so they used a carrier current AM frequency to supplement. I believe the FM has been there since 1958.

Reed College originally operated carrier current station KRCB which stood for: Reed College Broadcasters. KRCB operated on 660kc with studios in the basement of the mens dormitory. Format was Classical music. KRCB slogan: The Radio Voice of Reed College. KRCB signed on the air in October 1955.

KRRC began operation on 89.3mc with 10 watts on May 1, 1958. Antenna height was 90 feet.

One year to the day before KISN! So, I guess the carrier current is even older than the FM! Maybe, there's something about it on their website.

Found some KRRC History here:

http://web.reed.edu/reed_magazine/aug2002/features/KRRC/2.html

A few fun things:

1. The student standing next to the window in the second picture on the second page was my source of info about the CC operation.

2. The article mentions "Egg crate" sound proofing... but if you look at the wall in that same picture, you will see only ugly blotches. Turns out that the fire marshal was not too keen on the egg crate covering, so they were all ripped off the walls shortly after they were installed.

3. Barry Hansen *might* be one of the other students pictured in the article... Anybody recognize him for sure?

Yep and it still happens, the egg crate issue.

We had a fire inspection at our stations in 2001 or so and the fire marshall's office made us remove the foam egg crate ( packing material ) from the walls in one 'on air' studio. Other studios the engineer installed only a few patches on walls and on ceilings here and there, those were allowed to remain.

In '68 or '69, student-CE Gray, worried about the FM's license, told me he wished they had CC so they could put the less well-behaved kids on it. But the cost of transformer-bypassing was prohibitive, contractor work. (I didn't catch, or have forgotten, that they'd had CC previously.)

The FM was popular in the surrounding neighborhoods (Eastmoreland, Woodstock) for its classical programming. KBOO was still also a ten-watt D, with about a six-mile range from the West side; I don't think KJIB was on the air just yet. And back then, few students owned FM receivers.

I think KJIB went on in '68, shortly before KBOO.

In 2003, a nightclub burned down because of combustible egg crate soundproofing material, killing 96 people ( http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/21/deadly.nightclub.fire/ ). I don't blame fire marshalls for disapproving of this stuff.

I used to go to a school that had formerly had a carrier current system in operation. When we cleaned out the filing cabinets at the radio station, I took a bunch of the carrier current documentation with me, so that it wouldn't get thrown away. When carrier current broadcasters want to cover buildings served by several different transformers, they are faced with the problem that the transformers block the signal. Among the documentation was a white paper from LPB that discussed three ways to get around this:

1) Have the power company install bypass capacitors across the transformers. This approach is generally not practical because of cost and safety issues.

2) Run an audio feed to each building and use separate transmitters. For best results, the transmitters should either be adjusted for zero beat or the broadcast frequencies for adjacent buildings can be staggered by 20 kHz or so to prevent interference (say, you call your station "AM 600" but the actual frequencies used are 590 and 610 kHz). Carrier current transmitters were crystal controlled, so getting and maintaining zero-beat could be a feasible strategy. In the days of analog tuning dials, frequency staggering would not have caused too much confusion for listeners.

3) Have one transmitter with multiple signal injection points. This means that a coaxial RF feed must be run to all the buildings. LPB had two different solutions for multi-point signal injection: a) a star topology that consisted of a passive signal splitter to send RF to a passive power line coupler at each building or b) a backbone topology (like the old 10-base-2 Ethernet networks) with a high input impedance active coupler "tee-ed" into the backbone at each injection point. The far end of the backbone could have either a dummy load or a passive power line coupler. The active couplers consisted of a little linear amplifier built around a 6AQ5 beam pentode (good for about 2 or 3 watts, according to LPB) and a circuit to match the amplifier output to the power line.

As noted above, the KNRQ to Tualatin move is dependent on the final outcome of MB 05-10, which is under reconsideration because of FAA issues that appear to be on the way to being resolved. Should this petition be approved, then KACI, not KNRQ will move to Tualatin as a Class C2 unless further maneuvering is done. This is the same petition that would move KNRQ to 107.9, KHPE to 103.7 and KXPC out of the area completely.

In answer to my long time question, The Water Cooled Newsletter reports that the new antenna for the Sylvan tower has been shipped and should arrive the week of April 14. Now, we'll see if applications begin to come in for the affected stations. So far, only KINK has a construction permit. Since I'm here, I'll mention that the KLVP application to change its community of license from Cherryville to Sandy, has been granted.

Sounds like a new HD-ready combiner has been ordered as well

Hopefully, they will have better weather for antenna installation than the NCE folks had a few years ago!

Since most of the CBS transmitters in the old building are in two sections, I wonder if they will try to move them half at a time to the new building, or just buy new gear?

"I think KJIB went on in '68, shortly before KBOO."

KBOO began operation June 18, 1968 at 1pm.

KJIB went on the air September 21, 1968 at 6pm after having a target date of June 15, 1968. There were many delays including receiving the broadcast equipment.

When KRRC went on the air May 1, 1958, 10 watts traveled a longer distance, since there were so few FM's on the air. It was reported KRRC was heard throughout the Portland area and in some parts of Vancouver.

I think it was the summer of 1959 that I did some summer work at KRRC. It was FM at the time. You turned the transmitter, which was in some other location, on and off with a toggle switch mounted on the side of the console, an RCA 76B, as most were in that era. Anyway, there were egg cartons all over all the walls and ceiling at that time.

When I went to KLC at L&C in 1967, they had transmitters in each dorm and fed the signal via a telco pair to each transmitter. We had a variety of transmitters in the most god awful places to put them...usually in the boiler rooms of the dorms. Maintaining them was not very easy. They were on 24/7 in very hot rooms. Some were in locked closets. When one was off, I had to find an RA or someone with a key to get in there....not easy at all hours. A few years later, I don't remember when, exactly, we took them all out in the summer and put the two 50W transmitters made by United Radio's Earl Misner in the equipment room rack and kept the late model 20W LPB as a spare and trashed the rest. We buried coax to each dorm from the equipment room and put half on one transmitter and half on the other one and did what Afredo called method #3. We had line matching unit in each dorm at the same point the transmitters had been at. Each transmitter was slightly off the "designated" frequency on either side. Much easier to maintain and keep functioning. Less tubes to check and stock and no more getting boiler oil on your clothes and sweating profusely to work on them.

That's an awful lot to remember from SO long ago. Congratulations!

That's cool to hear about, Jimbo. Great recall. Did anyone who came through there go on to a career in radio?

Dave Paull for one. That would make an interesting thread to start.

"What broadcast school did you learn from?"

Alfredo: I'm pretty sure that the nightclub fire was aided by combustible foam used for soundproofing - worse than egg cartons!

Yes, Craig, Dave Paul was one that was there when I was there. Michael Bailey, also.

I am surprised I remember from that long ago, also. I have photos/slides around here somewhere of the "way it was".

"FMedia!" is reporting a new C.P. for Shaniko on 90.9MHz with 12.5kw at 73 meters. The C.P. is held by Educational Broadcast Service. This was issued on March 18, 2008. In other goings on:

KOBN Burns 90.1MHz with 1.2kw at 269 meters. This will be an OPB station.

KETP Enterprise 88.7MHz with 100 watts at 535 meters. This will be an OPB station.

KOTD The Dalles 89.7MHz with 12 watts at 589 meters. This will be an OPB station.

KKJC-LP 96.3MHz McMinnville seeks 93.5MHz. Application as of February 25, 2008.

Good for Shaniko! Those poor few folks can listen to everyone else from Spokane to Tri-Cities to Portland to Bend and then some, but can't toss out some local stuff for the few folks there.

I wonder where they are putting the stick. It's so nice and slightly rolling there. But hey tourist fans, the Shaniko Hotel should be opening up for seasonal duties at $49 a night again soon. Probably around Memorial Day.

BTW, the FCC database lists the calls as "KHJJ"
Wait a sec... this thread about the former LPFM KHJ Madras has a link to their website that says it's returning in 2010 on a new frequency with higher power. I wonder if these are the new specs?

Or, with a name like "Educational Broadcast Service," will it be a Christian teaching/ministry satellite rebroadcast station?

Well, the owner of the old KHJA-LP (now KGBZ-LP) is listed as "CENTRAL OREGON EDUCATIONAL RADIO CORPORATION"... I would have guessed the same for it as well.

Jeffreykopp said:

"In '68 or '69, student-CE Gray, worried about the FM's license, told me he wished they had CC so they could put the less well-behaved kids on it. But the cost of transformer-bypassing was prohibitive, contractor work. (I didn't catch, or have forgotten, that they'd had CC previously.)"

I just found a tape from '64 or '65 Where the KRRC announcer clearly stated "KRRC FM 89.3, AM 660" ... anybody here know when they pulled the plug on the carrier current operation?

It looks like a fairly busy day: KPAM's application to raise nighttime power to 15kw has been granted. KNRQ has applied to modify it's construction permit for a Class A, licensed to Tualatin, to a C2. KACI will have to change frequencies and KNRQ promises to reimburse them. In Lebanon, a party has applied for 5kw fulltime on 1100. At the coast, KSHL has applied to move to Coburg, giving Eugene a C3 on 97.5!

FCC web site says KSHL will be at 97.7...all moving when KNRQ moves outa town???

Thanks, I didn't double check it, just figured they'd stay on frequency. Come to think of it, 97.5 is probably too close to Bend from that location.

KNRQ's modification would not only force KACI-FM to change from 97.7 to 93.5, it would also force the not-yet-built station in Condon to switch from 93.5 to 106.1. Wonder what that does to their engineering?

Also, I've been scratching my head over this Condon app. Somehow I totally missed First Broadcasting filing a CP.

Sure, its filing says the Condon channel "was designed as a replacement station to provide coverage to areas where service would be lost by the move of station KMCQ on Channel 293 from The Dalles, Oregon to Covington, WA."

But is this really viable?
It's not as if the proposed contour would cover a population sufficient to support a station: proposed contour.

The city of license, Condon, had a 2000 census populatin of 759, and the estimated population in July 2006 was 693, a drop of 8.7 percent. All of Gilliam County was 1,915 in the census. Add Sherman County, another 1,935 in the 2000 census, and it doesn't seem to be enough to be profitable.

Here's an intriguing note. Gilliam County's big employers are giant landfills. As one website nots "By levying a fee of $1 a ton, Gilliam County receives enough money to pay the first $500 of the property tax bills of its inhabitants, an amount that covers the full tax bill for almost half of the county inhabitants, as well as funding other county projects."

Sounds like a lot of low-value properties in the county, which means, I suppose, lower incomes and even less potential revenue for a station.

I suppose once KMCQ gets to Covington and is worth a kajillion bucks as a 100 kw powerhouse in a top 20 market, First can afford to run an automated jukebox in Condon.

I think they've already given us a clue in the call letters, which are KHAL. Many jocks refer to automation systems as "Hal" after the computer in 2001. "Open the pod bay doors, Hal." "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave," and etc.

Anyone got insight?

KMCQ may be stuck as a Class C3 for some time. In order for KMCQ to get higher power, the Bellingham station on 104.3 has to move to 104.1 and they've applied to do so but the Canadian government wants 104.1 in Vancouver and that could hold things up for quite awhile, if not forever!

I wonder if Cumulus would be picking up the new 97.7 in Eugene.

Have to laugh at the new 960 50 kw! in Junction City. Eight towers with really tight nulls north & south (Eugene). OK signal in Waldport tho...

Why build this?

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=6 25070

A 50kw on 960 huh? Well one of those nulls runs deeply N.E. I can tell you that for sure ! KALE Richland,Wa. CFAC Calgary. And the old KNEW Oakland, Ca ( I think its the Green 960 now )For your null to the south.

Great signal out to the coast and somewhere like Chiloquin, Oregon. Oh but lest we forget the 960 in Klamath Falls. So I guess we need to shift that ride side pattern maxima more to the east.

960 in SF was once KABL. KNEW/KEWB was on 910.

This one doesn't make any sense to me either. The only one who will profit is the tower company.

and maybe the local farmer(s) who are housing the 8 sticks. Lots of real estate here. Think the local 660 AM is somehow involved here. It's near their site.

Anyone hear when the 1130 AM in Mt. Angel going on the air?

Not quite as bad, but similarly, the new 1100 in Lebanon, 5k on three towers, looks as if it protects north, south and east, leaving a straight shot west to the coast and beyond. Check the engineering from the app here. Scroll down to page 23. Sorry, I don't know how to link directly to a single page in a multipage PDF.

Good quote also from the commission's letter of 2/12/08 to Jessica Lund, choosing her app over a competing one from Alexandria for a new service at Tillamook, based on the number of people served. The commission wrote, "Lund provided information indicating that her Lebanon, Oregon, proposal will serve 639,985 persons within its 0.5 mV/m contour, 170,182 persons within its 2 mV/m contour and will provide nighttime interference-free service to 995 persons.

WOW

(Apparently, Alexandria didn't file any information on proposed number of people served, which is why she got the nod, according to the letter)

Eugene is within the 5mv/m contour for 960 in the daytime but it looks like the nighttime contour will barely reach the city, if at all! 1100 looks fine at all hours if the intent is only to cover Lebanon, Albany and Corvallis. It should get into Salem to some degree but Eugene appears to be out of the equation. I'll have to look at it again. As long as I'm on this thread, I got to wondering if CBS's intent is to install their new antenna and check everything out, using KINK as a guinea pig, including HD Radio broadcasts, since they already have a construction permit. Then, if all works well, we'll see the other applications filed.

When you have that tight of a null you will get a lot of distortion. I doubt that that 5 mV signal will be listenable in Eugene. It'll fade in & out as you drive around.

The other party that would benefit from the proposed 960 would be the power company. I can't figure out, either, why they would want to design a station that throws a lot of power into the middle of nowhere. Maybe they like paying a lot for towers, land, and electricity?

This from R&R:

Oregon
KHAL-FM(CP)/Condon
PRICE: $45,000
TERMS: Asset sale for cash
BUYER: Manciu, Danny V., headed by Owner Danny Manciu. Phone: 541-298-4141. It owns one other station. This represents its entry into this market.
SELLER: First Broadcasting Investment Partners, LLC, headed by President/CEO Gary Lawrence. Phone: 214
855-0002
FREQUENCY: 93.5 MHz
POWER: 100kw at 945 feet
FORMAT: CP - NOA
COMMENT: First Broadcasting Investment Partners' CP for KHAL-FM/Condon, OR to Danny Manciu's Haystack Broadcasting for $45,000, payable in cash at closing.

Craig, Dan Manciu came by the paper today to make the announcement. He told us he was planning a version of the Mix format, at least to start. and that studios are being built at the transmitter site. They have until June 9 to get the station on the air.

When I teased him about the KHAL call sign and its association with Hal the computer on 2001, he said a Hal Rose was one of the principals in First Broadcasting, thus the calls.

Thanks! Love call sign stories. Some are very hard to decipher until you know the meaning.

A construction permit has been granted to MetroEast Community Media for Brightwood: Class C3 on 91.1 with 380 watts @ 507 meters HAAT on Mt Hood. These are the cable access people and programming will be in that vein.

what will happen to this CP?

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=122760

The only thing below a translator on the list of priorities is an unlicensed station. The translator will either have to change to another frequency or not.

Cool that Brightwood made it. I did that app for Michael B. Inc.
Actually, Michael J. ran down the site. I did the DA, ERP and interference analysis and the 340. Could have done more ERP but that would have required 3 nulls. As it is, there are two ugly ones. 60 dBu doesn't make it to Sandy, but coverage will. Will probably be pretty scratchy in East Portland because of the null at 300deg.

The EMF translator is bounced. Good bye. Yippee!!

Will it also bump this translator?

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=91971

It appears so.

Is it 40dbu that has to be protected?

Yes. The CP 40 in that direction falls about halfway between Detroit and Sodaville, so it would appear that the 60 coverage of the on air translator would greatly overlap ... but its late and I'm tired.

The CP consolidated engineering exhibit on the 340 has the co channel interference analysis which shows the CP 40. The link to that is on the query w details result.
The xlator 60 is linked right to the query results if you select details.

FMedia! reports a new 100kw C.P. for Lonerock, Oregon on 88.3MHz. 81 meters directional with 65% power. Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Honolulu, Inc. C.P. issued April 11, 2008.

What is "the 340", Andy?

Form 340 is an Application for Construction Permit for Reserved Channel Noncommercial Educational Broadcast Station. It's like a 301 in the Commercial band. There are a whole bunch of sections requiring different information, since the rules are different. Non coms still compete for CP's on a points system, like the commercial stations did before 1996. It's pretty complicated and requires analyzing the amount of pre existing service by existing stations within your proposed 60dBu contour.
Bringing service to underserved areas counts for big brownie points. see Sec. III, Fair Distribution Of Service.



Here is the form and instructions.

Here's what it ends up looking like. The exhibits are available as links (scroll down the pdf).

> FMedia! reports a new 100kw C.P. for Lonerock, Oregon on 88.3MHz.

I looked up Lonerock,OR. That place is in the middle of nowhere!! See http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lonerock,+OR&ie=UTF8&ll=45.0926 71,-119.883928&spn=3.164624,7.701416&z=7

These guys must like to run up the electric bill just for fun.

And it looks even more ridiculous when viewing the 60 dBu contour map on the FCC's website:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1226155.html
If you don't immediately see Lonerock, it's in the south-southeast right above the blue contour plot.

These guys must like to run up the electric bill just for fun.
More like they probably want to spread their version of how everything will end to all people and wildlife by any and all means possible. "100,000 watts of the Book of Revelations to Gilliam and Morrow Counties!"

I'll stop now.

That 60 dBu contour map is amusing. How many people live within that contour?? These guys are just contributing to global warming (in more ways than one).

A rim-shot audience to the NE...100kw can go 100 miles...if you really want to listen!

Being non-com it can feed translators in more lucrative markets outside the 60dBu, like Fossil, Spray and Granite.

I like it...Metro City...although they could get into the Tri-Cities...

I heard from Radio Tower Company that they are taking down the north tower at the 1150 AM site in Vancouver on Wednesday morning at 7AM.

Is the 1150 site the one off 39th street or the one off 4th Plain?

5500 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd.

They took the center tower down a few years ago.
(And if anyone still can't place it, it's just north of Fourth Plain and just east of Stapleton Rd., which these days is smack dab in the middle of everything. There's new condos built up all around it now, before you could see the base of the towers from the road.)

I believe that these days, KPAM and KKAD broadcast from the array near NE 39th St. and NE 162nd Ave.

15507 N.E. 34th St.

How can they take down another tower? That would make them nondirectional and they couldn't do more that 2.5kw, if that and it wouldn't adequately cover the city of Portland! Are they just replacing it with another one?

1150 has been operating non-directional since they took the center tower down. They were granted a STA in June of 2007 to operate at 1.25kw non-directional days and 11 watts night.

They will be replacing the North tower as part of their CP for 10kw DA-2

It's interesting that they are replacing the newer of the two remaining towers at that site. The tower that is coming down was put up in 1967-68 when KKEY went to 5kw. The south tower is the original from 1954.

The only thing I read in the application was that they would either disconnect the center tower or take it down completely. No one mentioned anything about other towers. I missed the STA; that's interesting!

Ghost towers in an array (towers that don't radiate) must be detuned, and still present a large opportunity for reradiation that can mess up field strength measurements close in within the null(s). Sometimes this is unavoidable in a DA-2 situation where the day pattern uses different towers within the array than the night pattern does. When at all possible, if the tower is not to be used, it should be removed. As to why they might leave an older tower up instead of a newer tower, it comes down to making the pattern work. Distance between towers is a parameter that has intrinsic value to creating the pattern. To minimize expense and avoid moving a tower to a new location, just take out the one that doesn't fit the plan.

I am surprised that 1150 comes in as well as it does in Hillsboro, given that they are running just a bit over 1kW.

Years ago in the 80's their day signal use to have almost as "loud" a signal in Salem as KEX. Now it's almost gone...

"Good for Shaniko! Those poor few folks can listen to everyone else from Spokane to Tri-Cities to Portland to Bend and then some, but can't toss out some local stuff for the few folks there.
I wonder where they are putting the stick. It's so nice and slightly rolling there. But hey tourist fans, the Shaniko Hotel should be opening up for seasonal duties at $49 a night again soon. Probably around Memorial Day."

Some updated information on that. Here's what I wrote in my newspaper column this week:

It's True: The town of Shaniko (pop. approx. 30) may be getting its own radio station.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a construction permit in March for a noncommercial educational FM station at 90.9 mHz, with Shaniko as the city of license.
This doesn't make a lot of sense on the surface, but a glance at the coverage map filed with the application shows it would deliver a solid signal to Madras.
There's an interesting background to Educational Broadcasting Service, the nonprofit Albany-based group building the station. According to a "statement of purpose" filed with the application, the group shares a goal of "wishing to embrace and share historical audio recordings in order to teach future generations about them."
EBS said it also promotes improved public safety communication, including easier access for local authorities to broadcast public safety and emergency guideline information, and "the members also believe that certain styles of musical history as well as the legacy of radio talent from the fifties and sixties should be preserved for future
generations."
The group was originally formed in 1999 and planned to syndicate programs to other stations. "Various historical audio archive materials were obtained, including recordings from former U.S. presidents, other politicians, show business talent and other important historical persons." says the filing.
The group produced sample shows for a "Rare and Scratchy Rock and Roll" syndicated program, but wasn't able to sign up enough stations, so decided to build one of their own. An earlier attempt in Albany had some problems with the engineering, but the FCC opened a filing window last October, and EBS went for Shaniko.
A construction permit was granted in March, and the call letters KHJJ were assigned in April.
The application also said the group had a goal of mentoring young volunteers so they could get experience in radio from experienced professionals.
Those in the radio business will recall that KHJ in Los Angeles was one of the top rock and roll formatted radio stations in the country for many years.
Does that mean Boss Radio will be coming to Wasco County?
Maybe. The construction permit is valid to 2011, so it may not be any time soon.
And, in response to an e-mail query, we received this from Ron Erickson, whose company has been hired by the group as engineers and consultants: "For now all we can state is that Federal permission to build this station has been issued, initial call letters assigned (which may or may not be the call letters used when the station signs on) and that the operators
intend at this time to program some type of nostalgic radio format."
Stay tuned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Does that sound as if perhaps poster 62kgw could give them some format and production pointers?

So what ever did happen to 1290? I gather that they were shut down by government order, but not one of the magnitude that knocked KISN off the air. I believe I was living out of state when this all happened.

The expanded band(1610-1700Khz)was created to clear up interference on the rest of the AM dial. The idea was for a station to move to the expanded band and discontinue service on their heritage frequency. A study was made to show what stations would reduce the most interference by shutting down. 1290 in Lake Oswego was one of those stations. There was to be a 5 year period after the station was licensed to operate on the new frequency, that they could continue to use the old one as well. At the end of the 5 years, stations were supposed to give back one of the frequencies. Now, stations are fighting the concept and are wanting to keep both frequencies but none of this came up until our local 1290 was returned and went silent. In this particular case, both 1290 and 1640 were sold to Disney and 1290 was leased back to Crawford until their license expired.

> Does that sound as if perhaps poster 62kgw could give them some format and production pointers?

This is the PERFECT opportunity for him!!!

On a different (but radio signal related note), I have been driving through eastern Oregon and Idaho during the past day. I was surprised to observe the following:

1) I could swear that there are more over-the-air television signals available in La Grande than in Portland. There were two VHF signals and almost 10 UHF signals. One of the UHF stations was running Univision, and it appeared as if each of the major networks was being carried on two different channels. One was likely a relay of the Boise affiliate and the other might have been from Portland or elsewhere.

2) KSRV 1380 "The Bull" in Ontario really "gores" its way into Idaho. I-84 goes alongside the towers. I passed by at night, and I was able to hear the station for 50 miles before the co-channel interference got too objectionable. They were playing automated country hits at the time.

I just assumed an old line station like that would be News/Talk long before now.

About a month ago, I drove through Ontario during the day. At that time, syndicated talk shows were on 1380. My guess is that the country music is on during the overnights only. I listened to them briefly on Sunday morning, and they were running church programs.

I just noticed that there is an allotment record for KNRQ as a Class C2 at Tualatin. I thought they had to have a construction permit first. There's still one for the Class A also.

Doesn't it have to be alloted before you can file for the construction permit?

apparently not. There's quite a bit within reason that falls under "minor change" these days!

KRYP 93.1. I'm trying to figure out why they wont upgrade to class C1 from Class C3. All they have to do is move KKNU to 93.5 and move 93.5 in Condon to 107.9

107.9 is currently occupied. There's a chance it could move to Eugene but that's still too close. The owners of KNRQ, in order to operate a Class C2 in Tualatin on 97.9, have requested moving KACI The Dalles to 93.5 and KHAL Condon to 106.1. The Dalles is definitely too close to Eugene to have another full power station on the same frequency, in this case, C and C2. It's still possible that revisiting MB 05-10 will end in a rulemaking that would throw all of this out and bring KACI to Tualatin instead. It would appear that KRYP's best bet would be to get KKNU to downgrade to C1, bringing the former up to C2 or putting in a directional C2, possibly requiring KKNU to drop to C0, at least on paper.

93.3 KKNU has already been reclassified as a C0!

KQAC which repeats KBPS-FM programming at the coast is now on the air:

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=91191

I can hear it (in scratchy mono only) from Hillsboro with my antenna pointed SW. No sign of the HD portion of the signal from here, however.

Anyone know what the KQAC call letters stand for? That's pretty close to KOAC which is 45 miles away as the crow flies.

The "AC" is for "All Classical" for sure:

http://www.allclassical.org/index.php5

The "Q" might be a tie-in to KQHR, or perhaps was the best sequence available from the FCC that contained an "AC", or perhaps it could represent "Quality All Classical".

WOW! Gleneden Beach gets yet another station! First it was KQAC from KBPS-FM, now comes KOGL 89.3 from OPB with 21 watts.

The top of hour ID on OPB is getting lengthy.

I don't think it's legal yet. They don't have the HD1 information. I've noticed that about several stations.

This from All Access:

--------------------KRKO Gets FCC OK For Power Boost--------------------

SR BROADCASTING Sports KRKO-A (NORTHSOUND 1380)/EVERETT, WA gets FCC approval for its application to go from 5,000 watts full-time to 34,000 watts days and 50,000 watts nights. KRKO, one of eight remaining locally-owned stations in the SEATTLE-TACOMA area, will start testing the new signal in the FALL.

"This is a significant milestone in the re-emergence of the City of EVERETT," said Pres./GM ANDY SKOTDAL. "Every major commercial broadcast station in the region abandoned their home cities and took their studios to SEATTLE years ago. We’ve worked tirelessly to grow this local radio station in EVERETT."

I spent a lot of time listening to OPB HD2 or OPBMUSIC this last weekend... I will have to say that they have stepped up the quality of both the audio and programming.

Obviously the station is voice tracked but the music selection was quite well thought out.

It would be really nice if they had the PAD (Title and Artist information) on the scroll.

Does anyone know if the CBS stations (KUPL, K-hits, etc) are on a temporary antenna? I was down at the coast last week and traveling through Tillamook, I could not receive any of the CBS stations very well. Everything coming off of the Stonehedge tower was good. Seems in past years, all Portland stations could be received quite easily in Tillamook County.

Quite likely, installation effort on their new antenna system would require shifting to the back-up antenna and/or reducing power while workers are on the new tower.

Yes, we're all on backup for that reason.

That's great news! I was wondering when it was going to happen.

The Mt. Scott translator for Way-FM on 102.3 is now on the air.

Bye-bye Star 102.3...

I wish they'd put a 102.3 translator in Eugene too.

How about a real Hot AC format for 102.3?

This is the first time I've gotten anything on that frequency. I don't think it's too much of a loss.

Then 960 50 kw in Junction City got it's Construction Permit yesterday. They can start stacking steel.

How long does the 1130 AM CP in Mt. Angel have to build?

CP runs out 2/01/2020:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Applica tion_id=1158321

Speaking of CP runouts, I talked to Dan Manciu in The Dalles Monday about the June 9 deadline for his CP for KHAL in Condon. He said his engineer was able to get a one-week extension due to weather. Apparently the concern over thunderstorms for people working on metal towers was enough to convince the FCC to grant them a week's time. He said they planned to start test Tuesday or Wednesday. Haven't had a chance to check out 93.5 yet to see if they're on...

I thought it was a joke. It was just a misprint: 2/10/10! As long as we're on the subject, I noticed sometime back that KPDQ's CP to put in a directional pattern and increase nighttime power, ran out quite a while ago. That's the one that was supposed to be 1kw but they had to back it off to 600 watts. I wondered at the time if they would bother building it.

What kind of format is 93.5 KHAL running?

KHAL is not on the air at this time. I live in Heppner and have my radio hooked up to cable and should be able to pick the station up. I will try to keep you guys posted.

PS: regarding the format, I thought I read on this board somewhere that they were going to put on AC or something similar to what they have on Mix 104.5 in The Dalles.

I will keep my SIRIUS... At work I listen to 107.7 KUMA, Hot AC.

just a misprint: 2/10/10!

OOPS! sorry about that... I was using an Asus Eee, the screen and keys are quite small! The date should be 02/01/2010.

Just heard "Mix 93.5 is KHAL The Dalles, Goldendale" ... pretty weak from Hillsboro.

As Jr_tech said, KHAL Condon signed on sometime on Saturday. They are calling themselves Mix 93.5 with top of hour as "Mix 93.5 is KHAL Condon, The Dalles, Goldendale.

They are playing AC music.

Signal is OK in Heppner. I can pick it up on my clock radio.

How does 93.5 KHAL (Condon) serve The Dalles?

I'm still trying to figure out how they are going to make any money with a signal in Condon and not have a good signal in a large city like The Dalles. There are not that many businesses in Condon and the population is also small.

Move it to The Dalles after 104.5 goes dark?? (if that ever happens).

I noticed from what little I could hear, that even though they use the "Mix" handle, the music that they were playing was somewhat different than 104.5 , KMCQ... How many "flavors" does "Mix" have?

How does KHAL's signal sound, driving around the Hillsboro area? Does the Way FM translator mostly cover it up?

Got a 10 element Yagi and rotator on your car radio?

I would consider KHAL to be a good DX catch from Hillsboro, but not a signal suitable for listening. Even the strongest central Oregon signal that I can DX from Hillsboro (Laser 96.5) can not be heard on my car radio.

I tried to pull in "Laser 96.5" yesterday using a Radio Shack VU-120 combination TV/FM antenna. When I turned the antenna to try throw a null at the 96.3 "K-LOVE" translator, I could tell that there was something at 96.5, but the audio was so distorted that it was unintelligible. The tuner that I used has too wide a bandwidth, and I probably need an antenna with more gain.

Here is another geeky radio question: what type of antenna is the master antenna atop the Stonehenge tower. It looks to be some type of helical design.

Geeky answer: Jampro Spiral

http://www.well.com/user/dmsml/stonehenge/index.html

(not counting the KNRK antenna at the very top)

It's a Jampro JTC-3. It's 98 feet long and weighs more than 20,000 pounds.

I have been reading articles about homebrew antennas for the 2.4 GHz ISM band. There are construction articles for circularly polarized antennas with a helical design, but these all work in the "endfire" mode (i.e. they are directional, like Yagis). So, I wondered, what if a scaled down version of this Jampro antenna were built for 2.4 GHz?

Now, I see that this antenna would end up being kind of big. If the KGON antenna were scaled down for 2.4 GHz, it would be a little over 4 feet long (if my assumption that the antenna dimensions scale linearly with wavelength are correct). If one of the 15dB gain UHF antennas shown on the page linked below were scaled down, it would be about 13' 4" long.

Alfredo_t says:

"The tuner that I used has too wide a bandwidth"

You might want to try some narrow band ceramic filters in the IF strip... I understand that these can sometimes be found in Hillsboro

> You might want to try some narrow band ceramic filters in the IF strip... I understand that these
> can sometimes be found in Hillsboro.

Will do! I will report my DX findings here after trying the narrower filters.

KOHP is OPB's newest FM C.P. It was granted on May 14, 2008 to Riley, Oregon. KOHP will broadcast on 89.1 MHz. with the power of 2.5kw at HAAT 540. meters from Glass Buttes.

KOHP will replace K212AQ 90.3 MHz. Riley (Wagontire) with 50 watts directional also on Glass Buttes. K212AQ has been on the air since February 1989. This station has had terrific coverage. I've heard it at Narrows and at Summer Lake in the Oregon Outback. I guessing KOHP should cover most of Southeastern Oregon from it Glass Buttes vantage point.

I think I can top Hillsboro for KHAL. They are audible in Toledo WA this morning but this is with a VU-190XR Radio Shack antenna with a 30 Db pre-amp. This is being heard on an Accurian HD Radio receiver which was recently repaired because of an issue with the FM antenna connector.

Good catch! I think these new HD radios are very good for FM DX when connected to an outside antenna. I just got a (cheap and great) Sony XDR-F1HD tuner (see review by K6STI):

http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

Even people that HATE HD should love what this little wonder can do!

I just started a thread on the other side of the board to yack about (hopefully, very much non- Portland) DX catches.

"Mix 93.5" KHAL's signal is solid in the Gorge, east of the Bonneville Dam area. As expected, the multipath is quite severe in The Dalles.

I can hear KHAL in Bend. They are airing a message for Condon listeners to call them locally or write to them in The Dalles

Yes, I heard that and wondered why they don't mention an email address. Cole Malcom is the OM for 93.5 KHAL, 102.3 KYYT and 1400 KLCK.

Living in The Dalles, I was eager to hear the KHAL signal, but no luck at first. Today I had to go to Sherman County and was able to lock in a button. Very nice signal up on top, and most of the way back to The Dalles. Somewhere east of The Dalles Dam started to get multipath. But now that I've got the frequency set, I can pick it up so-so in town. Of course, that's on a stock Honda car radio, vintage 1990. Your mileage may vary.

"Mix 93.5" KHAL is playing a great variety of "Soft Rock" from the 70's, 80's, 90's and Today.

KHAL can be heard in parts of Salem, but the Way FM translator dominates the frequency around the Portland area.

As usual the WAY FM translator can be shut off if anyone in the Portland area writes a letter to the FCC complaining that it is interfering with their ability to hear a licensed station.

That would be pretty tacky for someone to do that just so they can DX a station. Way FM's translator is miles and miles away from KHAL's 60 dbu.

Yes, 93.5 KHAL doesn't put enough signal into the Portland area, to make a case to shut down a translator. However, 104.7 KDUK certainly does! The Way FM translator at 104.7 (Portland) needs to find a new frequency!

Exactly my point. One letter is all it takes.

It could be argued that cramming the band with translators of stations that are not even IN the market is a bit tacky.

The local translator on 91.9 had an objection filed because someone couldn't hear a station in Longview. This dropped their power from 10 to 5 watts. The party withdrew the objection when they realized they couldn't hear the station with the translator off the air, either!

Now, they have a CP for 11 watts! There goes KRVM's signal in Salem...

Seriously, why hasn't someone in Portland, sent a letter to bring 104.7 KDUK back?

>>There goes KRVM's signal in Salem...

from an 11 watt translator from Portland?

On another note I notice that KOHI 1600 has a vastly improved signal since the last time I heard them... New tower must be operational.

I can now receive KLYK (Magic 94.5) on 97.9 in the west side of Longview with an indoor radio clearly now. It used to go to only 3 or 4 on the S meter now it goes to a full 7. On 94.5 which has its transmitter on a hill on the east side of Castle Rock it still only goes to a 4 on the S meter on my radio which has a 4 foot attenna. Bicoastal must have moved the translator to the KEDO tower and increased the power to 250 watts (it used to be 50 watts and only 8 meters above the lowland ground), which now gives KLYK a strong signal on the west side of Longview. It should stay put on 97.9 until Portland gets a class A or higher station on 97.9.

97.9 will be at least a Class C2 whether the allotment moves from Eugene or The Dalles.

Recnet.com places K250AE 97.9MHz in downtown Longview, sided by: Florida St., 12th Ave., Commerce Ave. & Hemlock St.

This from All Access:

------------------KGA Will Reduce Night Power For KPIG------------------

The FCC approved MAPLETON COMMUNICATIONS' applications to reduce the nighttime signal of Sports KGA-A/SPOKANE from 50,000 watts to 15,000 watts to allow its Americana/AAA KPIG-A/PIEDMONT, CA to increase nighttime power from 230 watts to 2,400 watts, over the objection of RAY O'RUSSA. The move will give KPIG more nighttime coverage over the SAN FRANCISCO area.

The most significant part of this move is that KGA is giving up its clear channel status and will receive no skywave protection. Our local 1520 may gain from this.

Oregon City's 1520 is still protecting KOKC in Oklahoma City. (It'll always be KOMA to me! I heard them in Troutdale once in the early 70s.)

Hi Mark! This is slightly off topic, but since you brought it up...I heard KOMA on the car radio one night near Benson as I drove home after signing KBPS off for the night. KYXI had dead air at the time and KOMA had a strong enough signal I could hear their audio with KYXI's carrier!

Without looking into the situation, I'm guessing that KGDD is currently protecting KGA's skywave signal and not doing so would increase coverage to the west and somewhat north.

As a teenager in San Diego in the late 60's, I had a car radio button set for KOMA (and another one set for WLS).

Love those 1/2-wave towers!

In the FCC's opinion:

In addition to the considerable enlargement of KPIG(AM)’s nighttime coverage area, the KGA(AM) reduction in power would also yield nighttime coverage improvements for two other licensed AM stations: KSPA(AM), Ontario, California and KGDD(AM), Oregon City, Oregon. Approximately 557,000
additional persons would receive nighttime interference-free service from KSPA(AM) and 67,000 additional persons from KGDD(AM). The Statement also indicates that two new stations with pending license applications and four other existing Class D stations could potentially benefit from the modifications to KGA.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-1660A1.pdf



Glad I got high speed internet for this thread.

The Brightwood station now has call letters: KZME

Here's some pictures of a TV tower in Prague.

http://deputy-dog.com/2008/07/17/ever-seen-a-creepier-tower/

Wow! I wonder if any more of those sculptures are available to decorate the Stonehenge tower?

What is the purpose of that grill-like structure in the part of statue that should be the baby's face (last photo in the above linked page)? Some of these huge babies would make a nice addition to the Stonehenge tower or, better yet, any building downtown!

On an unrelated foreign tower note, I once read that in the past, the Eiffel tower was used as a longwave transmitter site. I assume that in this context, longwave refers to the European longwave broadcast band. The transmitter was located in a vault under the sidewalk, and a wire came out of the vault and ran up one of the tower legs in a shunt-fed arrangement. I don't know what they did for a grounding system, as I can't imagine that it would be too practical to dig up all the streets around the tower to install radials.

One ground rod or more likely several copper rods plunged deeply into the soil would work well enough depending upon power and frequency. Also they could have installed a vertical dipole type of antenna.

Not as efficient in either case, but effective to a certain point.

I have seen pictures of the first "transmitter" (about 1908) and if I remember correctly (so there is some doubt here) It was a motor driven alternator...I don't think these could achieve much more than 100 khz. I have read that the steel support structure extended down to bed-rock, so the tower was probably well grounded.

When I visited Paris in the mid-90's I went up to the top of the tower at around 990 feet. Pretty stunning view all over cause the area is flat. It was built around 1890 and was an exhibit for the then Worlds Fair and was to be torn down after event but was kept erected cause there was heavy experimentation on a new phenomenon...the electromagnetic wave. There is a life size wax statues of Edison and Eiffel at the top...oh to have been there to hear what was said! Most of Paris's FM's are mounted there...it's RF city.

Just measure Z as you go up the tower until you get 50 + jx and shunt feed the mother.

30 years ago, this would have been MAJOR news! Some may still consider it so: KFXX 1080 is constructing a new antenna site about 800 feet from the present one. Daytime power will remain at 50kw but with only 2 towers.(I'm almost sure they're currently using all 3.) Nighttime, they will drop to 8.7kw, utilizing all 3 towers. The coverage will remain close to what it is now. You probably thought that was all. Boy, did I have you fooled! They will be diplexing with KTRO 910 and here's where it starts to get interesting! "The mighty ninety one" will reduce to 2 towers in the daytime for a whopping 2.2kw and use all 3 at night at 3.5kw! Are you still with me? I can go over it again. For their trouble, during the daytime, it looks like they will lose Hillsboro completely and be cut way back in other areas of Washington County. The only gain I can see is east of Gresham, for whatever that's worth. At night, it actually looks better than currently in Clackamas County and Hillsboro looks much better than the daytime proposal. I hope there's a modification that will bring up the power levels and improve coverage but as is, this is just insane! By the way, KTRO is still owned by Entercom. Who knew?

910 in its past, has been at a lower power before. On the south shore of Smith Lake they were always 1kw directional since September 22, 1947 until their move to the current site on October 1, 1966. Before that, they were a 250 watt daytimer from Fruit Valley, Wash.

When KWJJ 1080's towers were lined up NE to SW, they used all three day and night, just cutting back to 10kw at night. They relocated one tower in the 70s, I believe, into the present dogleg, and went to two towers daytime and three at night. Don't know what engineer signed off on the project, but the bandpass was lousy...KWJJ (AM) sounded muddier than other stations.

I lived on SW Primrose Street off Barbur Blvd in 1959-60, and KISN's 1kw was lousy. That whistle in the signal was much more prominent...but I stuck it out!

I seriously wonder if listeners are as tolerant of a harder-to-tune-in station these days...I'm still scratching my head about station operators settling for lower power than what was previously authorized. KLYC and Salem's 1390 used to run 1kw at night, and today it's less. I've even heard of some Class C (graveyard) signals relicensing at lower than the maximum 1kw. An extreme example down here southeast of Phoenix is a station that used to run 1kw with two towers at night that is relicensing from Coolidge to Apache Junction. The location of the transmitter site remains in Coolidge, but they're cutting back to 185 watts directional at night...The main lobe comes just short of the new city of license 25 miles away, and was MUCH better under the old pattern...a real dumb decision in my book.

Are these modifications accommodating short-spacing/interference issues in today's standards?

Makes no sense. At a time when Puget Sounds gets a new 50kw on 1520, KTRO moves a few blocks down the road and gets their power cut in half...all with less co-channel issues than the old days. There's no 910 in Seattle anymore, and no 910 in the Tri Cities either. Sheesh...

Clearly, the land the current 910 array sits on is worth a small fortune. That trumps coverage of 910 when it's just one of the AM's in a cluster group. To know for sure about the reduced power, you'd have to look at adjacent channels based on what Scott pointed out about Tri Cities and Seattle.

I found some more information on the Eiffel Tower's use as a longwave transmitter site on Wikipedia. Apparently some of the transmissions were of an experimental nature. For instance:

"On November 20, 1913, the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, exchanged sustained wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory which used an antenna in Arlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, D.C."

The longwave transmissions were discontinued in the early 1950s. Likely, a variety of different designs were used between ~1909 (when the first transmissions occurred) and the 1950s.

It makes sense that they would have used an Alexanderson alternator in 1908-1909, as this was the only type of transmitter available back then that could produce a continuous wave at kilowatt power levels.

On an unrelated note, this downgrading of KTRO really sucks! Right now, 910 has a pretty good signal in Hillsboro, for a station that is on the opposite side of the West Hills. Perhaps this downgrading of stations for the sake of consolidating transmitter sites is the beginning of the end for the AM broadcast band?

910 needs to resume as kisn 91 soon!!ooldies!!forget ktro!!!

Perhaps this downgrading of stations for the sake of consolidating transmitter sites is the beginning of the end for the AM broadcast band?
Was anyone saying this when the original 620 towers went down, or when AM stations first started diplexing? The thing that concerns me about all this is hearing that the original AM towers for most stations were designed to be however much of the wavelength (I want to say 1/4 or 5/8) for the best quality signal.

By the way, KTRO is still owned by Entercom. Who knew?
Not me, either. Knowing that Entercom knocked off some perfectly good talk shows (namely, Clyde Lewis and Rick Emerson) when MAX 910 switched to an automated oldies format that was really too much of an embarrassment to be called "KISN 910," (although I wasn't around when the original station was on the air, hearing the tapes and such was amazing. Years later, the energy, excitement, and atmosphere is still there) Clyde made a prediction that the oldies would be jettisoned to make way for another talk format. And he was right.

Hatfield and Dawson has done all the engineering for the changes coming for 1080/910. This sounds like the best for both stations for a long term site. KTRO lease is up at 2010 and could not be extended thus the changes.
Both get new towers/ground systems...hey...maybe even transmitters!
That alone will help KTRO.

Radio saved the Eiffel tower... what will save radio?

Complicated Diplexing or Triplexing , in some cases is a difficult endeavor, even now with all our computers to figure out the zillion variables. I know of several chronically screwed up diplexed AM transmitter sites over in this general neck of the woods. All factors have to be perfect all the time. That means big bucks : towers, ground systems, transmitters, feed lines, phasors in a minimal space and an environmentally acceptable Electromagnetic field maxima and minimas within the surrounding human population and industrial applications, like gasoline storage tanks right off the end of the maxima of a 50kw directional AMer. The issue is the static field potential in a highly combustible environment. So , last I heard, this station was running at 15 KW until further notice.

It isnt pretty, especially if you are paying for it. And Mark is right, bandwidth suffers much of the time especially on AM because of the higher Q factors that come into play when a pattern is tightened up for some reason or higher Q can result from just diplexing two stations. The whole array just becomes 'over tuned' to the point where there is an unintentional loss of power in a lobe in some random direction , like straight up??? So then you have high Q reducing bandwidth expression and LOWER power because it is being wasted in the + Y direction Ya, it happens to the best of them? And sometimes it doesnt get fixed, it just gets left the way it is...and becomes a chronic effect.

OK, they can't just cut off 2 or 300,000 people like this. What I think is happening is that it's easier to get local approval for fewer towers and less power. Once they get that approval, they might plan to put up 2 or 3 more towers and boost power on both stations.

The addition of towers only complicates the engineering , usually , and for owners, that means MONEY for the extra towers , tuning, engineering costs and field pattern studies required etc etc etc. Astronomical !

So its all about modifying the pattern for some reason or its about diplexing for reasons of economy. And/ or diplexing AND modifying the patterns of perhaps BOTH stations with an increase in power but modification of the pattern(s) or reduction of power so that a pattern can be 'loosened up ' but maybe for two stations if its diplexed, which helps the overall tuning issues and lowers the antenna Q, which is a good thing. But after the engineering/physics of the whole thing is worked out and PAYED FOR , then sometimes a compromise is struck between pattern approval and power and the engineering costs.

They CAN ignore hundreds of thousands of people because ANALOG AM radio is a 'step child' in the grand scheme of broadcast radio ownership these days, as we all know. And if the FCC approves the resultant field strengths in the proof of perfomance, it becomes part of the license and there is nothing much anyone else can do about it, but file a complaint to the Commission.

Sometimes that works, good luck !

They can ignore hundreds of thousands if they are not in the city of license anyway...

sure the extra coverage is meaningful in a large metro area but as long as they have the required signal level over the center of their city of license they are legally fine.

That is true about the city of license.

But sometimes a license will require minimal Millivolt field strength readings in suburbs or outlying areas encompassing other cities and towns. Some of these towns may or may not be required to be identified in the once per hour legal identification.

That's not what I meant at all. I can't see a large corporation voluntarily decreasing the worth of a viable property by making the signal noncompetitive. If it came to that, it would make more sense to just take it dark! Speaking of such things, It was earlier mentioned that 1150AM removed a second tower with the intention of replacing it in a different spot. Apparently, the local powers that be, won't let them replace the tower! This is probably alarming news for the owners! That leaves them with 1 tower and a limited amount of time left on their construction permit. If they can't replace that tower before the CP runs out, I can envision a scenario where not only would they be stuck at around 1kw but would be forced to relicense to Vancouver! I heard about this sometime ago so don't know what the current situation is.

In the specific case of KTRO, I wouldn't be too surprised if Entercom's only objective is for the signal to stay "good enough" so that Salem will continue buying airtime.

Salem has a "Local Marketing Agreement" with Entercom for 910.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_marketing_agreement