Blurt: 96.9 FM in Palomar Mountain

[hipman2]

Ken Leighton: SD Reader Blurt:
http://www.sdreader.com/published/2007-11-29/blurt.html

Excerpts: In June, the Federal Communications Commission approved construction of a 25,000-watt transmitter on Palomar Mountain that will use the 96.9 frequency. The tower will broadcast KRTM's religious programming, which originates from Calvary Chapel Bible College in Temecula. A spokeswoman for KRTM said the tower should be operational by the end of December and that the signal will reach most of San Diego County.

Steve Bessette, GM of KRTM, makes several corrections on the article. He states that the 25,000 watts will be on the station's current channel: 88.9 FM, not 96.9. This will be sometime in 2008, not by the end of this year.
KRTM does have a licensed translator on 96.9.

An e-mail from a reader says that he saw that the FCC has granted them a CP to relocate to Mt. Palomar but on 88.9 at .27kw. He does not see any application or CP for a move to 96.9.
Effective Radiated Power: 0.001 kW(H) 0.27 kW(V)

I guess Ken isn't getting his facts straight.

 

[SDRadio]

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=K245AI&service=FX&status=L&hours=U has the 96.9 translator for KRTM (or repeater) located on Mount Woodson near Poway.

http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=KRTM&service=FM&status=C&hours=U has the Mount Palomar locatoin with a city grade signal from Escondido/Oceanside north to Hemet.

 

[w9wi]

Steve Bessette, GM of KRTM, makes several corrections on the article. He states that the 25,000 watts will be on the station's current channel: 88.9 FM, not 96.9. This will be sometime in 2008, not by the end of this year.
KRTM does have a licensed translator on 96.9.

An e-mail from a reader says that he saw that the FCC has granted them a CP to relocate to Mt. Palomar but on 88.9 at .27kw. He does not see any application or CP for a move to 96.9.
Effective Radiated Power: 0.001 kW(H) 0.27 kW(V)

The maximum power for a Class B1 station is 25,000 watts at 100 meters. KRTM has a permit to change to 270 watts at 932 meters. The much greater antenna height would require a corresponding power decrease if KRTM were to be Class B1. According to the curves on http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/fmpower.html the appropriate power for B1 at 932 meters would be 202 watts. That would provide the same coverage as 25,000 watts at 100 meters.

Quite often, stations claim 25,000 watts in situations like that, so that they can be compared to other stations with lower antennas. The audience doesn't understand tower height - you don't want a station with a tower only 100m high and 6,000 watts to claim their coverage is better because they have 6,000 watts and you have only 270.

So I'd say their 25,000 watt claim is indeed a bit misleading, but not nearly as much so as it may appear, and not in practical application.