KAJF vs KCMN... same tower location but reception issues

comfortably_numb

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Original poster
Pub Member / Supporter
Nov 30, 2011
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24,998
Kansas City / Las Vegas
KAJF and KCMN are two Low Power DTV America stations in Kansas City. From what I see on rabbitears, the towers are in the same location and have the same wattage. However, I can only ever pick up KAJF. I never get so much as a blip from KCMN. Anybody know what's up? I emailed the company but of course they don't respond.


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KAJF and KCMN are two Low Power DTV America stations in Kansas City. From what I see on rabbitears, the towers are in the same location and have the same wattage. However, I can only ever pick up KAJF. I never get so much as a blip from KCMN. Anybody know what's up? I emailed the company but of course they don't respond.


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May not have the same beam patterns or, even tho they are licensed for Xnumber of watts they might not be using it all.
 
However, I can only ever pick up KAJF. I never get so much as a blip from KCMN
Understand that the higher the RF frequency, the higher the power required to get it out. The effective power of KCMN is less because the frequency is a good bit higher (614MHz vs 482MHz). For example, at 7 miles this works out to about a 2.7dB difference.

There's also the consideration of the gain profile of your antenna.

Finally (and not particularly likely), there's also the issue that KCMN is adjacent to channel 37 that is reserved for radio astronomy that may be active in your area.
 
I received the following email from Irwin at DTV America, irwin@dtvamerica.com. He asks that anyone having issues with the KCMN signal please email him with the following information:

Exact addresses where reception has failed,

Type of antenna used (outdoor or indoor),

Directional or omnidirectional antenna.

Maybe we will get to the bottom of this soon.


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Just received the following email from DTV America:

"Good morning Kansas City viewers,

DTV America will be facilitating maintenance work on our tower over the next few days, continuing through the weekend. Please be aware that there may be outages during this time. We apologize for this temporary inconvenience, but look forward to continuing to provide you with excellent quality programming!

Thank you,

Renee"
 
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I took my TV and generator to within a half mile of the tower and no reception. Immediately South of the tower on 58st, I'd presume the antenna is the Red and Pink pole with a mass of horizontal antennas phased for low angle radiation. As of 10-08-20 I don't see a signal being emitted from the tower. I suspect the station is off the air.