What a mess, and what to do?

[michaeljwyo]

Hi gang...I decided to post this here...it IS partly metro-related although it's going on here in Evanston. Apparently the natives are getting restless. OUR listeners (KEVA) of course are happy but not everyone here listens to KEVA. And the restless natives are the ones that also DON'T listen to the other local stations -- KNYN 99.1 and KADQ 98.3. I don't listen to them either, obviously. What I'm getting at is these are the fans of the humpy stations...whether it be Jack, the Eagle, or Movin or the Blaze. I've told folks that it's still probably going to be a while til engineers are going to be able to GET to Humpy to work on the combiner and get the humpies back up to full power. Right now the humpies are weak.....and what makes it worse is the 2 FMs here -- 99.1 and 98.3 are bleeding everywhere on the dial and cancelling out the weak humpy signals. Have YOU guys heard anything about Humpy? Combiner fire late last year, right? They were all off for several months. Now they're back on but as far as I can tell, at reduced power. Weaker signals.....which could still be okay...still receivable at some points around town although weak. But the bleeding from those other 2 is making it even harder to listen. My wife is threatening to tell ppl to call the FCC. I'd rather her not.....just paranoid that while they're in town they'll check US (KEVA) out too and find something wrong with us although I try my best to keep everything in line. I'd just rather not see the FCC here. I have emailed engineers asking about Humpy's status, and also on the other end asking why KNYN and KADQ are mixing/bleeding all over the place and gotten no responses either way. Honestly, it's none of my business and I don't want it to be. It's bad enough we have local competitors now and I CERTAINLY don't want to be the one to start some huge war with the competitors and be blamed for getting them in trouble with the FCC.....that's just dirty. Humpy I can't blame....I know listeners here really want the stations back. Heck, even I am known to listen to Jack or Movin once in a while. I'm a quasi-engineer too....I know what it's like not being able to get to the site. That, I understand. But the other 2? Don't they care? Come on....they are bleeding all over the dial and that just isn't right. Again....my main concern should be the station I work for. And it is. The rest really isn't any of my business and I feel I shouldn't be poking my nose into it. But the engineer in me is quite concerned because I know damn well if it WERE my station doing something like this, I'd be on it in a heartbeat trying to fix it. They have no excuse. I have already been up to Medicine Butte where the transmitters are. The snow is long gone that site has been accessible for a couple of months. There's no excuse for no one doing anything about it.
So....what would YOU do?

Michael n Wyo

[dxstuboy]

Michael, you may not like my answer, but here in Sheridan we've got some of the same problems.

Our competitor (Sheridan Media)'s stations bleed all over the dial, and no one seems to care, however, it is a PITA when I'm DXing and getting false positives. The regular public probably doesn't notice/care.

Awhile back, the K-LOVE station here was basically translating itself on 88.3, when the main is on 89.9. I called K-LOVE's engineering, and told them of the problem. Within a week, I received a call from their "Wyoming Engineer" who asked me some questions about it. Half a week later, the problem was fixed. 88.3 has been quiet for nearly a month now.

Sheridan Media, that is another story. Since they are our competition, and they are high and mighty in this town, I have not risked calling them (partially because I want them to shoot themselves in the foot).
Our engineer staff consists of one guy. He, like you, would never let this happen, and is always a phone call away. I've told him several times about any transmitter problems we've had, and he's fixed them usually within few days.

What would I do... I would agree with your wife and call the FCC. Causing spurious signals is illegal isn't it? Just make sure that everything over at KEVA is up to date, and in line, and then make the call.

The thing that is dirty is their transmitters. A bleed onto a license frequency is a no-no, for a licensed station right?

If you're good to go on the KEVA end, and if you're positive you're doing everything by the book, then you have nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, if you're still reluctant to call the feds in, try calling their engineer, keep on them. You don't have to tell them who you are, just say you're a concerned listener. Something has to give, otherwise nothing is going to be done about it.

Again, I warned you, you may not like my answer, but that's what I would do in that situation.

[michaeljwyo]

Thank you Stu. Progress has been made actually. I did indeed talk to someone today and it will be looked in to. The company responsible for the engineering does indeed care....which is awesome to know. They will look into it. He said they just didn't know anything was going on. So it should be solved. He also gave me some insight into the Humpy situation and it turns out it's not only reduced power the stations are running at....it's just EXCITER power. I tell ya if those stations are running on their exciters and they are STILL reaching Evanston...some 30 miles away....that says something. I think it'll still be a bit til old Humpy is uncovered from snow and totally accessible so that ppl can get up there and get things back on track.
Michael n wyo