1 of 1- RadioActive
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Is This Real? U.S. Station To Shut Down Due To Climate Change
I've got to admit this is a first - a California radio station that's been on the air for almost 40 years is about to go silent for good and is blaming climate change as the reason.
How do they explain it? It's all about interference from another station hundreds of miles away. Is this really a thing?
"A phenomenon known as ‘ducting,’ created by warmer waters, changes how radio signals travel over bodies of water, allowing FM frequencies to travel farther across the ocean. As a result, broadcasts on a frequency many miles away are able to reach new coastlines and interfere with the same frequency that would previously be shielded from that interference based on distance alone. The KSBX frequency at 89.5 FM is an unfortunate victim of this phenomenon, being increasingly overrun by a station using the same frequency 200 miles away, creating an unintentional problem that that the other station cannot fix."
KCBX To Shut Down Transmitter Due To Climate Change
- mace
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Re: Is This Real? U.S. Station To Shut Down Due To Climate Change
Back in 1986, when I was driving to San Francisco, I had a similar experience. I was up near the bent elbow portion of the state and I was receiving a station from San Diego. All waterpath. Once the highway turned inland, signal disappeared.
- Skywave
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Re: Is This Real? U.S. Station To Shut Down Due To Climate Change
I'm wondering if they connected the dots properly on this one. The interfering station, KPBS in San Diego, broadcasts in HD, but KSBX does not. It doesn't take much HD signal to override an analog-only signal, This is the reason that CFPT-FM (106.5 in ) went HD at the outset in order to counteract WYRK-HD in Buffalo.
There is no question that thermal ducting is the root cause of the problem, but has the frequency (pun not intended) of the occurrences really increased that much over the past few years, or is it the fact that there are a lot more HD receivers in cars, and a weak HD signal is capturing the receivers of the intended audience? Most HD-equipped car receivers are activated by default, and the car owner may not even be aware of the feature.