Friday, December 17, 2010

WQJJ-LP receives permit to raise antenna height, lower power

Jasper's spunky little LPFM, WQJJ "Fox 97.7" has received a construction permit to alter their facilities.  The current TX site is off Brakefield Dairy Road (AL-195) north of downtown Jasper, with 100 watts from just 30 feet.  The permit will raise the antenna height to 135 feet, with a drop in power to 53 watts (all powers horizontal).

Although in theory the coverage may not seem like it would change much due to the decrease in power, gaining that much height is sure to improve the reception in the outer reaches of the city.

CP issued for new LDTV facility near Dothan

W18DY-D came across the desk the other day, as an original construction permit.  The facility's 54 dBu contour will cover Dothan, Headland, Enterprise, Ozark, Hartford and Graceville, Florida.  No word yet on what programming would be offered if the facility is ever built out.

Keeping an eye on a few translators…

A few translator moves have cropped up in the FCC database.  First up is W244CN, licensed to Enterprise but "transmitting" (I'm not convinced it's on the air) from the Highland Home area of south central Alabama.  It recently made a move on paper to the community of Ada, north up US-311.  An application is now pending to move it further up the road, this time to a site near US-331 and CR-23 in an empty lot of farmland.  The facility is predicted to throw at least some signal into the city of Montgomery, which may be the ultimate destination for this facility.

Second, there's the old standby W286AQ, ever on the move and never on the air.  It started out licensed to Northport and actually near that city.  It has since migrated across Tuscaloosa County to Vance and then Wilton in Shelby County, near Montevallo.  This facility also has an application in the works, moving it further south of Birmingham and towards Jemison.  This frequency is a real fruit-basket turnover in central Alabama.  Since this one vacated Tuscaloosa, a Demopolis-licensed translator on the same frequency has crept into Tuscaloosa County.  Meanwhile, another translator that's never been on the air as far as anyone knows, licensed to Alabaster, is hiking up the road to Hoover.  My original thoughts were that W286AQ would eventually be combined or replace the Alabaster facility, but now it appears to be moving further south.  The APP shows 218 watts and would put a good signal into the rural area between Jemison and Calera.

In other news, Selma's W232AN is to change over from relaying another FM to carrying WJUS-AM out of Marion. WJUS has been rumored to be getting this as an FM translator for a while.  Plans are to move the translator on into Marion in the near future.