"This looks like a job for LeeRoyMan--aka Dave Montgomery. He would be the most clued-in of all of us to explain the weak signal.
My pet theory is background noise. KAAY is not alone in having diminshed coverage. There's a 5KW on 670 in Glenwood, 35 miles from me, that I cannot pull in. There's another 5KW on 590 in Hot Springs, roughly 30 miles away, same story. There's a couple of 1Ks within 10 and 15 miles, respectively, that might as well not be on the air.
My take is that the amount of electronic intereference to AM has grown exponentially with the increase in computers, cell phones, garage door openers, vacuum cleaners, Skil saws and Lord knows what-all else over the past 20 years.
Felix McDonald used to claim that even leaves on the trees in springtime and summer would interfere with KAAY's coverage, and it's commonly accepted that nobody knows more about RF propagation than he does.
Dave M will be The Man on this issue.
When I knew Russell Jones, he was the sweetest, gentlest kid you could imagine. All he wanted to do was work on the air. I do not know where he is now, so if anyone runs across him, tell him I said hey!
David B. Treadway
Doc Holiday VII"
I agree, David...Leroy IS The Man! I also agree on foliage and man-made interference. Being a Ham radio operator, I can attest to the fact that foliage can and does affect my transmitted signal. I won't go into all the details. Man-made interference also diminishes the capability to receive signals. I am so glad I live out in the country, where there is little said interference. Due to consumer-grade electronics in my own home, I only have noise on a few select frequencies, thankfully, but for the most part, my location is almost totally noise-free.
As for Russell Jones, he's now on the "wanted list" for contacts and comments for the blog....
Thank you, David!
Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)
I worked at KAAY continuously (except for about a six month period late in '85) from Oct. of '84 through the end of 2005. I can tell you that the transmitter problems were numerous the last several years I was there, but one of the main problems was the building of some type of structure within a mile of the transmitter in about 2000 that threw the pattern completely out of whack, and because of that (and to accomodate FCC regulations), we had to reduce power by more than one half (at night)until we could get the issue resolved. That temporary "solution" began in 2003. I've been told by a Citadel person in the last year that the problem had been taken care of, but I wouldn't be so certain of that.
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