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Driving between Seaside and Astoria, I did check the Seattle stations on the van radio and 92.5, 93.3, 94.1, 95.7, 97.3, 98.1, 98.9, 99.9, 101.5 were all blasting in, like they used to do. I do not know all of those are on Cougar or not. 97.7 KOMO which is much farther SW of Seattle is about the strongest though. I have no idea if they are HD. Why did the stations moved from Cougar to Tiger Mt? Does Tiger cover the Puget Sound better? The altitude looks higher than Cougar though.
KOMO (97.7) does not have HD according to Ibiquity:
http://hdradio.com/stationsThis link *may* give you a list of Seattle-Tacoma HD stations, if not, just click on the city that it does come up with and a “change city” dialogue box will pop up.
Cougar is at about the same antenna height(HAAT)as Stonehenge. West Tiger is significantly higher, to the point that Class C stations have to reduce power.
MW- you are correct in your assumption. My experience living in the Puget Sound basin is that you just hear the Tiger stations well in more locations than the Cougar stations. The extra 1100 feet gets the signal over the tops of a lot of hills with less multipath. It is a clearer signal, albeit not a stronger signal…if that makes sense. The power outputs are lower due to the height being “too high” and the transmitters are another 15 miles further away from the main population- so it is a bit of a trade off. I suspect you gain an extra 125 to 150k in potential listeners on Tiger. Since Tiger is “in” the Cascades vs. “near” the Cascades, you DO lose some of the mountain areas. It would be a stretch to say you lose more than 10K potential listeners there.
Which is why almost everyone moved to Tiger in the 90s. I believe all that remain on Cougar are 89.5, 93.3, 95.7, 101.5. And your former 104.5 The Dalles, soon to be in the hands of the Lord.
You can add 91.3, 105.3 and 106.9 to the list. 91.3 is barely above a full Class C3, limiting its coverage much more than even 104.5.
That is it then? Those few are only the ones left on Cougar? Wow, many did move. It will be interesting to hear KNHC 89.5, as they used to be very tough to log here. I still get 92.5, 94.1. 97.3, 98.1. 98.9, 99.9 on the van radio good. Those are all on Tiger Mt? So it looks like I should hear them as well as what is on Cougar. Where is 88.5 KPLU? They have a pretty decent signal too.
104.5 is going off? I remember them well in The Dalles. The old guy that operated the station back in the 1970. He only came down to The Dalles for shopping once a month I was told. I guess he sold the station and someone else owned it for a time and then move it to the Puget Sound area.It reminds me of KAST FM 92.9 Astoria. It was sold I believe to Salem Broadcasting and moved to the Portland area. For a while the frequency changes around the NW was like musical chairs. I think there were a few others too. The old 98.5 Portland moved to 98.7 and KPDQ moved from 93.7 to 93.9, I think.Thanks. I’ll check out the list. I asked Tom the CE at KAST once about HD on the coast. He kind of doubted it, as the cost is too much. Especially on AM.
I guess I should have picked my terms a little better. KMCQ 104.5 “Covington” has been sold to EMF. SO in a way it is going to the Lord. And you won’t hear the Beach Boys there much longer. Will either be Air1 or K-Love.
Seems like you have a good angle on both mountains. Happy HD DXing!
I should have caught that. 🙂 Too many religious stations on the air these days. I have a wifi radio and I can plug in about any U.S. city and go right up the AM & FM dials and each one seems to have many religious stations and translators. I am surprised they all can support themselves. Here in Clatsop County we have several. I wonder how many ever listen?
Well, apparently enough listen so that EMF could come up with the $8 Million sales price. Nobody else was offering that, it seems.
And yet I am sure they will claim the poor house waiver when it comes to having a local studio. A lot easier to fill up the spectrum when your studio is a rack space.
It’s like the 88.1 licensed to Ocean Park WA. Their tx site is nowhere near Ocean Park. Another rel station that runs 68KW from the South Sound.
By the way, I just checked the coordinates of the Seattle FM tx sites. Wow, has things changed. You are right, few are on Cougar. I do remember one of the PD’s at 96.5 telling me back in the 70s, that the Cougar Mt site did not get into downtown Seattle all that well. He joked that they could be listened to in Clatsop County, but poor coverage in downtown. Maybe that is the reason so many moved. Getting back into FM Dxing should be interesting, as I hear many Puget Sound FMers good on the van radio from both sites.The Ocean Park station is in the Olympic Mountains, as are several other second and third adjacencies. 88.5 is on West Tiger Mountain.
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