Wandering translator

[CAwasinNJ]

There's a translator owned by Sun Valley up near Logan that apparently can't figure out what it wants to do. It started on 107.7, and has now applied for 106.5, 105.9 (3 times) and now 105.3 all within the last month.

It translates KUSU, so...pinging Friend Lee! Can you give us a clue what's going on up there?

[friendlee]

Hello? Did someone ping me?

Actually, it's part of a translator move using the 'hop method' (or as I like to call it "lather, rinse, repeat" ;D ) which has been explained to me as: sign it on for a few hours, move it 25 miles, sign it back on for a few more hours, move it 25 more miles, and so forth. This is something CVRG is working on and as it happens, UPR is the only facility that they can obtain a reliable input signal from as they move it up and over the Bear River range (the mountains on the east side of Cache Valley). Gary and 'Nigel' might have more details should they wish to share.

(I was about to make up a story about seeing a Citroen with a folded dipole on the roof and a bearded fellow with sunglasses behind the wheel travelling down Logan Canyon but then realized that might be closer to the truth!)

[CAwasinNJ]

I've heard of that trick. I wasn't clear about why it would be done that way, but I think I figured it out. It looks like it has to do with FCC rules for minor vs. major changes. This is what it says in 47CFR 74.1233(a)(1):

For FM translator stations, a major
change is any change in frequency
(output channel) except changes to
first, second or third adjacent channels,
or intermediate frequency channels,
and any change in antenna location
where the station would not continue
to provide 1 mV/m service to some
portion of its previously authorized
1 mV/m service area. All other
changes will be considered minor. All
major changes are subject to the provisions
of §§73.3580 and 1.1104 of this
chapter pertaining to major changes.

Major changes are a much bigger deal, so this would look like a way around it.