96.7 Utah County

[Terry]

Station ID:
“KQMB Levan, KKUT-HD4 Mt. Pleasant, K244DH Saratoga Springs”

Months ago I could receive Utah County’s 96.7 clearly here in east Murray; no more. It can barely be discerned among the country sounds of KKEX-FM1 from Tremonton.

I can still usually hear KKUT-HD4 though their HD4 signal is, as always, weaker than their HD1, 2 and 3 signals.

Is KQMB on the air?

Has anyone else heard this Utah County 96.7 lately? How’s the signal in Utah County?

I don’t know how to characterize the format. As for me, there is too much unfamiliar music to keep me listening for long. I only listen out of curiosity.

They do have a few ads. Very few. I hope they can get enough to pay the bills.

My opinion, for what it’s worth (near zero), they need a better format. They could just copy KBZN 97.9 so as to give me something to switch to when 97.9 is playing ads. Or what about comedy like “Funny 1060” from Calgary that can be heard here at night. Or maybe continuous barking sounds; my dog would listen.

[David]

According to the FCC database, KQMB resumed operations in April 2020 under the parameters listed in the station's construction permit. However, there was a 15 watt booster in Provo which was apparently turned off sometime in 2020. That may be the reason you're having trouble hearing the station now.

Speaking of KQMB, Frank just filed an extension of engineering STA application to continue operating KSRR 1400 with 100 watts and a Morad AM vertical antenna. In reading the application, it sounds like Frank is having one heck of a time trying to get a permanent tower built for KSRR! I wish him well in his endeavors.

licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101824536&formid=911&fac_num=53103

[kenglish]

I'm listening to something on 96.7 in Midvale/Fort Union.

I've listened through a couple of TOH ID's, but they are too weak to make out the call sign. The commercial was nice and loud, right up there with the music.

[CAwasinNJ]

I'm trying to think of how HD1, 2 and 3 could be stronger than an HD4. Unless KKUT is doing one of those experimental things where the digital carrier is only on one side of the analog signal then all of the HD channels would be on the same physical carrier. You don't mean that the level is lower do you Terry?

I don't know if the station has officially launched yet, but since you didn't mention the branding I'll assume it hasn't. Hopefully Frank will be here soon to let us know what he can.

KQMB's licensed contour hasn't gone anywhere near Provo for quite a while.

[Terry]

When my Sangean’s display shows “HD” on KKUT then KKUT’s analog volume switches to an identical digital volume on HD1, but with better audio quality and much better stereo separation. Simultaneously HD2 and HD3 are available but at a markedly lower volume. At the same time, HD4 appears on the display as available, but sometimes is silent, sometimes comes on for one second then goes silent, and sometimes sounds perfect though at the same lower volume as HD2 & HD3. I often have to move the antenna around the room to get a good signal on HD4.

As for branding, there is none, just his wife’s ID at low volume, and sometimes an ad or two.

The audio quality is excellent on KKUT-HD4, but the music selection seems pretty random to me.

[CAwasinNJ]

I'm 99% sure that you moving your antenna around doesn't have anything to do with whether the audio comes through, it's just a coincidence. Frank has talked about STL problems in the past and I'm pretty sure that's what's happening. The audio feed to KKUT is dropping out so there's nothing for it to rebroadcast on the HD4 when that happens. Hopefully he'll be by shortly and can give us an update.

[fmdj1]

-Sorry, I just saw this thread. Regarding the signal, we are fighting 11kw with 250w, but the intention is to repoint it towards Utah County anyways (not that we don't like Salt Lake, it's just that it is already so well covered, we're trying to give Utah County its own stations)

-Regarding the format, yes, still a work in progress so we haven't officially launched it yet, but many of the songs that will remain part of it are already in rotation. Think Soft A/C for the modern middle-aged mom.

-Regarding the KSRR filing, yes, we've had a difficult time securing land to build close enough to Provo to keep Provo the city of license (which is pretty important to us). With how crazy the housing market continues to be, most of the people with any sort of land that would work have dollar signs in their eyes because they think some land developer is going to buy them out. We are making some progress with the City of Provo on some land they own and are hopeful, if they approve it, we can get it all built this spring. Thanks for the encouragement David!

-Regarding the HD4 dropouts vs the other channels, yes, our problem is because there is no line of site between our studios and the KKUT studios, we have to deliver the audio over the internet which, unfortunately, is not always reliable, particularly between Saratoga Springs and Manti. Hopefully we can find a better solution for the long-term.

[amanuensis]

Is the format now on KSRR basically what it was before? I have not been able to pick it up yet on my car radio. Where I live in West Jordan, all I get on 1400 is a harmonic from 700. I was in Lehi a couple of weeks ago but still could not pick up anything.

[fmdj1]

Right now we're running Sounds of Sunday in rotation on KSRR until we get the tower and studio in place. The goal is to primarily have local talk and local high school sports programming on K-Star. It does get tough to pick it up north of American Fork, especially if it is after sunset or near high power lines. I do regularly get it in Saratoga Springs during the day but it's gone as soon as the sun goes down. Because it's licensed for 1kw day and night, once were on a full tower with full power you should receive it easily.

[CAwasinNJ]

Frank, am I correct in assuming the internet feed you're talking about is coming from 45.79.99.31:8000? (If not please ignore everything I'm about to say.) I found that by accident back in early December I think. Before you changed the port numbers I had saved that as the feed for Utah's Goat and I didn't realize I was listening to the other feed for a while. Anyway, I've listened off and on since and I've never heard any dropout problems so the output from your end doesn't seem to be a problem. One thing you could try would be to use a 3rd party VPN service on the receiving end. That would change the path across the internet that the data has to go through and might bypass any clogged peering connections that are causing you trouble. Do you have the same trouble feeding KQMB?

[fmdj1]

Feb 2, 2021 3:33:22 GMT -6 CAwasinNJ said:

Frank, am I correct in assuming the internet feed you're talking about is coming from 45.79.99.31:8000? (If not please ignore everything I'm about to say.) I found that by accident back in early December I think. Before you changed the port numbers I had saved that as the feed for Utah's Goat and I didn't realize I was listening to the other feed for a while. Anyway, I've listened off and on since and I've never heard any dropout problems so the output from your end doesn't seem to be a problem. One thing you could try would be to use a 3rd party VPN service on the receiving end. That would change the path across the internet that the data has to go through and might bypass any clogged peering connections that are causing you trouble. Do you have the same trouble feeding KQMB?

Yes, it's the same feed that will feed the website once it is up. A VPN might not be a bad idea. The main problem we are seeing is when there is a dropout, whether on our end or theirs, the decoding box sometimes locks up, requiring a manual reboot of the box. I need to go down and upgrade the firmware on it to see if that resolves it. We use a similar box at KQMB without problems.