Oregon radio

[bobdavcav]

Two questions,
1. On Saturday on I-5 south of Longview WA, I was tuning around the dial and heard what sounded like hot AC on 97.9. I thought at first KNRQ had moved in, but it was playing Pink's Raise Your Glass into Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day. Is this a pirate?
2. Where are the Cumulus towers in Eugene located? When I was in Newburg a while back, I could get 103.7, 107.9, 99.9, 94.5, 106.3, 107.1, and 101.5, as well as a weak signal from KDUK 104.7. I couldn't get KZEL 96.1, KEHK 102.3, or KNRQ 97.9. Those might have been audible on the IPod in Salem, but I was in the car and couldn't get them while moving.
3. Last but not least, what's wrong with KFBW to the south? All the other Portland stations were fine about halfway to Salem, but KFBW had lots of static.

[semoochie]

Static is an electrical noise, often associated with AM.  You're hearing multipath interference.  That's two or more signals arriving at slightly different times from different directions.  105.1 uses the same antenna and Effective Radiated Power as 105.9.  If they weren't somewhat equal, 105.9 might have been operating at lower power than usual.

[bobdavcav]

Hmm, thanks for clearing that up. They must have been quite low, because 105.1 was loud and clear, and 105.9 was getting severely multipathed. Even KFIS had a better signal than KFBW, even though, for some reason, my IPod refused to pick it up on scan.

[Darth_vader]

Remember how Andy_brown once explained it, semoochie? Multipath doesn't necessarily sound like static, but rather a little bit of high-end "crunchy" effect on the stronger signal, like the "ghosting" effect on NTSC television when watched downtown.

My guess is the "static" was probably a birdie being generated within the I-device. The poor KFBW signal was probably getting overpowered by the device's own internal interference.

[bobdavcav]

Makes sense, but why would 105.9 be the only frequency affected by reciever interfeerence?

[semoochie]

It's possible but people have a tendency to refer to any type of noise, as "static".

[Darth_vader]

True.

[Anonymouse]

On Saturday on I-5 south of Longview WA, I was tuning around the dial and heard what sounded like hot AC on 97.9. I thought at first KNRQ had moved in, but it was playing Pink's Raise Your Glass into Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day. Is this a pirate?

Is it still there? Might actually be KNRQ moving in with a new format. But if that happened it would be all over the board.

Or KRRC trying and making a comeback...

[bobdavcav]

I doubt KRRC's 8 W would make it up that far, KNRQ is more likely, but I lost it before we got anywhere near Portland. Not sure if it's still there, haven't been down that way since.

[semoochie]

KRRC is selling its license and is off the air.  When they come back on, it might be from anywhere.