Keeping a tradition alive...
On the subject of towers - I can't help but notice that construction of the new/replacement tower going up at Council Crest seems to be stalled out at a relatively low level. At least it doesn't seem to be getting any taller...
I've noticed something strange for a while on 105.9 (since before The Brew switch). My Zune displays the RDS info, however for the callsign it first shows KENJ, then KQQL, and eventually it shows KQOL. Most of the time it shows up as KQQL though...
Any ideas?
I have seen "KENJ" on the RBDS PI code for some time, and indeed that is what it is today.
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Author: Jr_tech
Sunday, May 03, 2009 - 9:38 pm
Also noticed, since the HD is off, the RBDS PI code on my Sangean HDT-1 tuner comes up as "KENJ". I thought oh-oh, new call letters for a new format, but I seem to recall the code showing "KENJ" once before.
Just double checked with an Audemat Navigator and it indeed sez PI="1BEB" which does translate to "KENJ".
KQOL should be "3BB7" ?
Author: Jr_tech
Monday, May 04, 2009 - 10:37 am
Odd, The PI code was correct last night after the HD was fixed, but seems to have reverted back "KENJ" again... perhaps a grand RBDS generator conspiracy? 
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So perhaps, it is a persistant "glitch" in the RBDS generator? The HD PAD info correctly states "KQOL-FM"...strange!
My Jensen has been flashing KENJ since write before the 105.9 switch but I've also noticed it on 92.3.
Its a hex code rather than call signs. Some broadcasters do this in place of PI to facilitate data delivery.
There is a no one standard being used around the world for this.
When someone uses the RBDS system differently it has these consequences.
So what is changing the RBDS generator at the transmitter? The evening work was done at the transmitter site, for a while, the RBDS generator was sending the proper PI Hex code "3BB7" and my Sangean was decoding it as the correct "KQOL". The next day the generator had reverted back to sending the Hex code "1BEB" and my Sangean was decoding it as "KENG". The correct PI code is important to FM Dxers, as this might be the only ID that can be recorded during a brief "E" event or meteor skip.
Chris Weiss should be able to clear this up...I think it's a Clear Channel thing.
As I understand it, the artist & title info goes from the studio to Austin and comes back to the RDS generator. Since 1000+ calls are floating around in their system, the PI codes fly by. Mostly I've seen KABL first.
There's a PI code calculator at http://www.w9wi.com/articles/rdsreverse.htm
Oops, I have been typing 1BEB instead of 1BE8 
KXMG 1150 changed calls to KLPM on April 14th. Does anyone know what those calls stand for?
KLPM (1150 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Contemporary Christian format. Licensed to Portland, Oregon, United States, it serves the Portland area. The station is currently owned by Bustos Media of Oregon License, LLC. The station currently has a construction permit from the FCC to increase their daytime power to 10,000 watts and nighttime to 63 watts.
[edit] History
From July 4, 1954 when the station first signed on with the call letters KHFS until 1956 then KEY and then KKEY was owned by the Weagant family of Vancouver, WA. After trying several different formats throughout the 1950s and 60's, in 1971 KKEY went all talk with such hosts as Jack Hurd, Alan Hirsch, Peter Marlon Jones, Jerry Dimmitt, and Rick Miller. Originally a daytime only station, KKEY was granted nighttime authorization in 1988 to operate at 47 watts. KKEY remained with primarily a talk format until the station was sold in 1998. It temporarily went off the air before signing back on as KKGT, again an all talk station.
The KXMG callsign was used by a Los Angeles, California based station broadcasting a similar format under the branding Mega 1540 AM Stereo and was owned by the Spanish Broadcasting System. That station launched on March 29, 1996, on the frequency of the former KSKQ, which had just moved to FM. KXMG played Mexican regional music (such as banda and mariachi), mixing current and former music. That KXMG lasted until the spring of 2001, when multi-billionaire Paul Allen purchased the station and ended the Spanish language broadcast, switching 1540 AM to Allen's new Sporting News Radio as KCTD (now KMPC). Various stations still air Mexican regional music, and "Recuerdo" (103.9/98.3) plays the older songs.
The station was assigned the KLPM call sign by the Federal Communications Commission on April 14, 2009.[1]
Great, but it still doesn't answer my earlier question. What do the new KLPM call letters stand for?
Craig, I believe it is K--La--PaloMa. "La Paloma" means "The Dove" in Spanish.
Littlesongs Thanks!
Years ago, I saw a Portland area Hispanic business directory that had a listing for a Christian format called "La Paloma," which was originally slated to broadcast on 1010.
Are you any relation to Jack Hurd? The names are quite similar! KKEY was never KEY, not that the station didn't try to get those call letters but the FCC wasn't biting. See Craig Adams' upcoming KKEY history for a better explanation of the nighttime power situation. If KKEY was off the air before changing to KKGT, I sure don't remember and I was there until just before the call letter change. They weren't off before changing to Great Talk and the call change would just be a formality.
You're welcome Craig.
"Are you any relation to Jack Hurd? The names are quite similar!"
You read my mind Semoochie.
Speaking of KKEY, I passed along the news about this brand spankin' new forum to Jerry Dimmitt.
There is nothing noted in The Columbian or The Oregonian about KKEY going off the air.
It looks like Pamplin's application for 740 in Redmond has been backed off to 10kw fulltime with different patterns for day and night, employing a 7-tower directional array. Bellvue will receive a good signal. Seattle is within the 2mv/m contour and Tacoma is well outside but still within 0.5mv/m. Everett looks pretty iffy. There appears to be a hard null toward Portland and Vancouver BC.
KFEQ Radio Tower Collapses After Farmer Mows Hay, Snagging Guy Wires. See Picture.
From "The News-Press" St. Joseph, MO:
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/jun/16/kfeq-radio-tower-collapses/
KFEQ is 680KHz with 5kw directional.
Caption: "Well, Dang! no hay next year."
Is that type of above ground feed system common, and does the "cage of wires" act like a shield ? any guesses about Z ?
Send the farmer the bill.
KZEL Eugene has been granted an increase in tower height, bringing it up to full Class C status. This will prevent KWLZ West Linn from being non-directional and their application to modify their construction permit has been dismissed. I was hoping the 2 parties would come to an agreement before it got this far.
For KFEQ, that is an "open-wire feedline" heading back to the transmitter building. Very efficient. I believe the few wires around the outside are a good enough shield for medium-wave RF.
The story says the site is 69 years old.
See http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051028.html for some more open-wire feedline pictures of a 62 year-old site.
It is hard to beat air as a low-loss dielectric in a transmission line! 
I'm a bit surprised to see that KFBK is able to push a HD signal through that 1988 vintage prototype DX50.
By the time you get a DX-50 ready for HD it's got a lot of new boards in it. The newest Harris transmitter, the 3DX50, has major problems running IBOC. They keep blowing multiple RF modules.
I am not an engineer, but my experience has been to avoid anything with a Harris label on it.
My experience is that Harris is one of the "high end" transmitters for radio.
In 1990 when a 1kw station I was working at purchased the Gates One, they said it could be "digital ready" way back then.
It was called "Gates One" because Harris had such a bad name at the time that they went back to the name of the former company they had purchased trying to send the message that they were improving their products. They had been building bad stuff with many proprietary parts that were only available from Harris at high prices. You could buy their box cheap, but they got you later.
KFBK's DX50 serial #1 is now the backup, the new main is a Nautel.
98.7 KUPL has serial #1 & 2 of the Harris ZD10 from 1997, combined! After lots of upgrades for free by Harris, I think it's doing OK.
The 105.1 KRSK Harris ZD10 has been fine.
The 1080 KFXX Harris DX50 has been amazingly reliable.
The new 99.5 KWJJ Harris HT/HD transmitter had a problem with one display board, but otherwise it has been great.
Forgot to mention that the DX-50 does real good with IBOC.
We had Harris MW50 #8 at KING=AM in Seattle, purchased in 1974 to replace a monster GE. It was good. But somewhere after that, Harris was taken over by the bean counters.
I inherited a Harris MW1 that had been purchased in 1983 at my current station and I could not wait to get rid of it. It was a terrible design with those awful modules. If there was an electrical storm anywhere in the county, we'd lose one or more of them. Parts were expensive. Even with a pristine 50 ohm load the thing would not positive modulate above 105% at full power. The tuning method of stretching or compressing the coils was ridiculous.
Seven years ago we replaced it with a BE 1A that has been excellent.
The old Harris was sold to a used xmtr dealer and is now in Mexico where I'll bet some poor engineer is cussing it out daily.
Has Z100 turn on their RDS display, since Z100 hasn't show any RDS or P1 for a while.
KZEL doesn't really need that extra boost they do very well at it is now. I agree with semoochie that something could be done for both parties to be happy.
It's the Class Bs(C2) and lower that really need the boost.
The FCC has just authorized AM stations to use FM translators. They must be owned by someone else and it extends to include LPFMs. The AM must remain on the air. I wonder if any local stations will take advantage of this.
I wonder if any local stations will take advantage of this [AM programming being re-transmitted over FM translators].
I'm not holding my breath for it to happen in the Portland area, with how crowded the FM dial is here. However, I could see this being attractive to religious stations, if there is some third-party operator of translators in the area, such as Gospel Echo.
Didn't know where to stick this. Thought it was noteworthy. KLSX 97.1 FM Los Angeles which has held those well known calls since 1986, changed on June 30, 2009 to KAMP "97.1 AMP Radio".
KYTE 102.7 Newport has applied to move to the Coast Range as a Class C0 with 37kw @ 648 meters above average terrain. This will give them in excess of 70dbu in Salem, Albany and Corvallis while maintaining it in Newport through Lincoln City. It should be fairly listenable on the west side of the west hills and the AirOne translator is going to want to find a new spot on the dial.
The approval by the FCC of AM stations being able to simulcast their programming on FM translators is a big deal, especially if you have an AM with a bad night signal, or a daytimer with no night signal.
Now, you can broadcast a non-directional FM signal that can duplicate your daytime 2mvm coverage, (a 60 dbu contour on FM) or coverage of 25 miles from your transmitter location, whichever is less. Most of these translators will run 250 watts, although they could run less if their antenna is located higher.
Translators for this use must have been licensed on or before May 1, 2009, and they may be owned by the owner of the AM that is being simulcast.
To put this in persepective, an AM station owner can buy an existing FM translator and equip it, and have an FM station for less than $ 100,000.
This is huge in smaller markets and will become so in larger markets where smaller AM stations only cover part of a metro area in the daytime. Now they can have a night signal which means they can add local sports, etc.
My personal belief is that if a Broadcaster picks the right frequency for one of these things that when the 3rd adjacent protection for full-power FMs goes away, one of these translators could be upgraded as a full-power station.
I was up at our transmitter site at Healy Heights Friday and noticed the new tower at Council Crest is almost as tall as the old one now.
It looks like they are within 50' to 75' of the top!
The new tower is much more substantial than the old one.
I was by the zoo today, and I noticed the two free-standing towers. I thought, that looks like Healy Heights, but why are there two towers? Now I know.
This from All Access [July 21, 2009]
------------------------------Two CC/Denver Workers Fall From Tower------------------------------
Two workers were hurt after they fell 30 feet from a radio tower while doing work for CLEAR CHANNEL/DENVER MONDAY afternoon, reports DENVER's ABC7-TV. "CHARLES LOVELL, 48, and 24-year-old PEDER MORK were airlifted to DENVER hospitals.
"The men suffered ankle, leg and back injuries, said WELD COUNTY Sheriff JOHN B. COOKE.
"The men were suspended above the ground from a cable that was attached to the tower above them. The other end of the cable was connected to a winch on the ground, but a cable on that winch came loose and the two fell to the concrete below.
"At this time there is no criminal investigation and the call is being handled as an industrial accident," COOKE said."
Since Channel 6 is no longer in use.
Will KBVM, KMHD, KBPS, and KBOO able to raise their powers from their current level?
This is just conjecture but the 88.7 and 89.5 frequencies on Mt. Hood pretty well block out anything more powerful than what KMHD is currently running. KQAC has a construction permit for(I believe)5.2kw. They might be able to get as much as KMHD has currently but they may not think that small of an increase is worthwhile. KBOO could probably go up to a full Class C1 but anything beyond that may be problematic because of the new construction permit for 91.1, also on Mt Hood. Actually, they could probably go up to a C0 because KOPB is and they're in about the same boat. They may not think it's worth the cost though.
I have seen CPs for changes on the FM dail in Portland note that there are increases on tower heights. I saw the CP for KYTE and the proposed pattern that's not bad looks good up and down the coast and in the mid valley.
"Since Channel 6 is no longer in use.
Will KBVM, KMHD, KBPS, and KBOO able to raise their powers from their current level?"
Probably not. For the most part, their powers are a result of co-channel, first, second and third adjacent stations that must be protected, not Ch. 6.
Anyone running less horizontal than vertical may be able to raise power to equal amounts (circular) after the rules about Ch. 6 protection are rewritten. They can probably apply for that now, but won't get a CP until the rulemaking is finalized. Ch. 6 gave waivers to most of the existing NCE's but one would have to examine each of the applications to know for sure. Since I did the apps for Brightwood and Turner, I've seen the specifics on most of those stations and without spending big bucks on funky directional antennae, I doubt they can raise power. You can probably answer this question yourself with a lot of digging around at the FCC web site, but my educated guess is that there is little to no wiggle room for the stations asked about.
There's a new tool on NPR Labs' website for determining interim IBOC power levels. Check it out at http://www.nprlabs.org. It looks like K103 is the only station in town that has absolutely nothing to worry about. Other stations should be able to take advantage of the full 10db increase but it will take some doing.
Here's a update on the Council Crest tower in yesterday's Oregonian.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/07/council_crest_tower_will_retir.html
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