By Jack Roland, CBRE, AMD and CBNT
KLove /Air 1 EMF Colorado Engineering.
Greetings, during the month of November and latter part of October things have been extremely busy in Colorado as we finally managed to get all the work done in Durango for the old KTEI (now KLove KLCQ). I met a new friend and really great engineer down there, Joe Frankland, who was employed by our land lease owner and also good new friend and top engineer Jim Burt. Jim runs an engineering contract firm in Durango and has been extremely busy himself so he lent Joe to me to get all the work done on KLCQ. I went down and spent a couple of days with Joe getting the satellite dish built, installed, aimed, and cross poled, installing the Nautel VS 2.5, and getting it all airworthy and turned on. So, all is finally done with that one! Really happy to have it going and completed.
Just built dish — The KLove carrier locked in on the Field Fox!
Jack signing KLCQ “ON THE AIR”!
The Rack
For the time being the transmitter is located on top of the small 5 foot rack due to the building being extremely small. Next year I will want to have some AC installed and move the Nautel VS 2.5 into a small rack down lower if feasible. Next on the agenda is getting 100,000 watt erp KIQN (soon to be KLove KLCX) licensed to Rye/Pueblo. It is underway even as I type! It has been a bit of an adventure already as I inherited a BE FM35B that was in need of some TLC. We had to transport a 500 pound Shively bandpass filter up to the site on a UHaul trailer and had to chain up the truck to make it as the snow had already fallen to make site access a little difficult. More on that in a later edition.
During the month of October, I was able to go visit my Mom back in NW Georgia and while doing so was able to finally after all these years as well to visit the really nice Hamshack of K4KR, my longtime friend Kenny. Jim, KCØRPS had been out to visit Kenny a few years earlier, and now it was finally my turn. Kenny’s shack is literally in the east wing of a barn, and while the rest of the building looks like a barn, Kenny built out this beautiful wood paneled room, did the electric and set up his work bench and ham shack . One of the nicest I have ever seen! And it was good to have breakfast with him and his wife LeAnn and visit in Chickamauga Georgia.
Kenny in front of the “barn” The K4KR work bench
K4KR at his very nicely appointed operating position
And just a few hours later, I was able to visit my very first radio station where I worked as a DJ at the age of 16! I also got to meet up with quite a few of the WFLI alumni who I had worked with and who had been on the air at this Chattanooga heritage 50,000 watt radio station beginning back in the early 1960’s! This was very special to me, as I got to visit with guys I knew back in the late 70’s when I got my start in radio. This station also features one of the last intact Western Electric transmitters in existence. AND, I also got to set down in their “museum” section of the building in front of the very Gates console that was on the air there when I started. Lots of tubes and even the old smell I remember from my earliest days in radio. The place hadn’t lost any of the old atmosphere and memories. One of the guys that was there, Mike Green (KD5NCQ) who was known on the air as “Machine Gun Green”, was the DJ who originally trained me and who I was a fan of when just listener to the station. Pretty cool for a 16 year old at the time. Mike and I got back in touch a few years earlier via, you guessed it, ham radio. How cool is that?!?!
WFLI Jocks Jack, Mike “Machine Gun Green”,
Jack at the old Gates console
And Tim Cunningham from the late 70’s in front of the station.
The old original WFLI Gates control room console
It was really a great time getting to visit this facility and see where it all started for me. This was where I obtained the old 3rd class license with Broadcast Endorsement certificate and my first on air experiences. It was a very special time that I will never forget.
Our friend and fellow amateur, Robert, KC8GPD is a big part 15 AM enthusiast, and has a really great little station setup in his apartment in Denver with a streaming format, closed circuit AM electrical common current facility, and streams a really cool format from his home studio. Check it out at: http://www.facebook.com/classichits1630am
Robert writes: we run classic hits from the 1960s to 1990 (playlist is over
2000 tracks and growing) and everything in between, also run public service
announcements from the ad council, BBC news at the top of the hour, and a
syndicated old time polka show every Wednesday at 6 p.m. mountain. We are
looking to add an oldies show in the future as well when the guy doing it is
ready to syndicate it. Also looking to add local weather from NWS if/when it
becomes available in MP3 download. The station uses all professional
broadcast gear from microphones to processing is NRSC compliant, we even
have EAS decoder and monitor LP-1: 98.5, LP-2: 850, Aux: 162.550. The
station is fully automated using “RadioDJ” automation software. We run
250uV/m @ 3m on FM which gets about 600-700ft to a sensitive portable with
good adjacent channel rejection. The AM with 100mW input and a 3 meter
antenna gets about 150-200ft with good signal to a good all band portable
receivers. Everything is balanced line +4dbu between everything except to the
fm. there is a conversion from balanced +4dbu to unbalance -10dbm near the
FM transmitter because that is what it is designed for. The aim is balanced
input and capable of -99% / +125% modulation. The pictures of the station in
drop box tell a lot about the professionalism of the operation that is run
here. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dmoop1yl8rts94m/AACdzBO4TqUYiCrU1itPwTusa?dl=0
Robert P Chrysafis
Classic Hits 1630 AM 88.9 FM Denver
Professional Part 15 Low Power Radio
Email: Classichits1630am@gmail.com (best bet for a fast response)
Phone:720-338-3020
Don’t forget the SBE IRLP (and Echolink) Hamnet, the first and third MONDAY EVENINGS of the month. AND the EMF Hamnet now is the same manner on every Monday evening at 7pm Mountain time for radio discussions, both broadcast engineering and amateur radio. Details on how to join are at http://www.qsl.net/ke0vh/sbehamnet. I hope you will be able to join us and share your engineering and ham exploits!
73’, God be with you, & see you next time! KEØVH