The station will be broadcasting from Turner with 32 watts at 88.5 FM.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809080332

This will be a challenging DX catch from my location in Hillsboro!

Oh lordy, it's one big Folklife Festival. Will there be face painting, as well?

All snark aside, congrats to anyone with the testicles (or in this case, ovaries) to give true community radio a go. We corporate goons salute you!

"This will be a challenging DX catch from my location in Hillsboro!"

It could be covered up by KPIJ (550 watts - Calvary Chapel in Junction City), which I hear with my antenna pointed South.

I don't mean any offense towards Christians, but I think that this is a much better use of the frequency than letting it go to an out-of-town religious group.

"This will be a challenging DX catch from my location in Hillsboro!"

It could be covered up by KPIJ (550 watts - Calvary Chapel in Junction City), which I hear with my antenna pointed South.

The problem DX ing in Hillsboro is a null in that direction (it's essentially due north of the proposed xmtr site) as well as high terrain inbetween.

KPIJ is basically SW of the proposed station.

For details, see page 4 of 12, Exhibit 16a Co-Channel contour info inside the
Consolidated Engineering Exhibit.

As I posted in Towers and Such, the directionality of the proposal had to respect co-ch south and 1st adj KBVM north so the pattern looks like an overcooked sausage.

The Turner KWAX repeater on 92.9, K225BF (which is slightly closer with 23 watts) has a similar pattern and can be heard in Hillsboro, so perhaps there is a chance.

Thanks for posting the link to the Consolidated Engineering Exhibit, Andy. I am a bit surprised that in the city of Salem, KBVM will be expected to have a stronger signal than the new 88.5. In Turner, the new 88.5 will be about 6dB stronger.

What areas of Salem won't get the 88.5 station?

> What areas of Salem won't get the 88.5 station?

This depends on the selectivity and sensitivity of the radio that you use.

Then what areas will be spotty with a radio that has an average tuner?

The proposed transmitter site on Wipper Hill, I'm not seeing on maps. Must be part of the Salem Hills Range where Wipper Road runs parallel.

Poor/bad coverage into west Salem (shadowed) and in Keizer north...should make over south Salem hills and into Downtown and NE ok...with coverage into south (Jefferson) and east toward Stayton too.

Going from the predicted signal contour maps, I suspect that the receptions conditions in Salem might be:
Radio with outdoor antenna pointed south - Good to Excellent
Car Radio - Fair to Good (signal may drop out as vehicle moves)
Tuner with rabbit ears(1) - Fair to Good (antenna will have to be adjusted for best signal)
Portable or Table radio with telescoping antenna(1) - Fair (antenna will have to be adjusted for best signal)
Clock Radio or Walkman(1) - Poor to Fair
Any radio in a metal or reinforced concrete building without the aid of an outdoor antenna- Not Receivable to Fair

Some manual tuned radios with AFC may have problems with the AFC wanting to jump to the slightly stronger KBVM signal.

(1)This assumes that the radio is in a wood-framed building

The whole of Turner is barely within the 60dbu contour, let alone any part of Salem! I don't expect the average person to listen to anything much below that mark.

Here's the proposed transmitter site.
Zoom in after it loads. There's two cell towers
and a 4 sided empty tower like structure.
You can see the site from I-5 if you know where
to look.


http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=salem+oregon&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&ll=44. 78281,-122.9969&spn=0.174478,0.369415&t=h&z=12

All I can tell you about the coverage is that the Longley-Rice prediction looks very promising, a lot better than what has been written in the above posts. FCC predictions are usually very conservative, and the Longley-Rice analysis sometimes a little too generous. In any event, if memory serves Keizer should have good coverage, only the lowest elevations near the river and some obviously shaded areas will be spotty. With the transmitter site link above, you might get a more accurate perspective although Longley-Rice is pretty much the best tool around for real world prediction of coverage.

237m HAAT at 348m AMSL is not too shabby. The biggest challenge for me was designing a theoretical antenna that would fill the FCC 60 DA to 85% (required). I used 3 off the shelf yagis stacked 5/8 wave apart at three different azimuths and power levels if memory serves and got well over the minimum required I'll bet once the gurus at Scala tweak it, it'll get out just fine. There are over 16,000 people within the FCC 60dBu contour and a lot more inside the Longley-Rice 60dBu contour.

Exhibit 10

FCC340

In general, actual distances to the measured 60dBu contours are almost always greater than the theoretical ones you use in the application process. Why the FCC doesn't upgrade from their 1934 model to something a little more contemporary is supposed to happen eventually. Don't hold your breath.