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KBRT(AM) Broadcasts Live From Oak Flat
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Crawford Broadcasting Co. President Don
Crawford inaugurated KBRT(AM)’s new transmitter site at Oak Flat,
Calif., on
Feb. 28.
Director of Engineering Cris Alexander wrote
about in the March
edition of the company’s Local Oscillator engineering
newsletter. Once Crawford pressed the RF On button on the new Nautel NX50
transmitter, Chief Engineer Bill Agresta phoned the remote control at the old
Santa Catalina Island site to tell them it was time to switch off the
transmitter.
The moment marked the culmination of KBRT’s move
from its historic
location on Santa Catalina to the new property.
Alexander wrote that
the new transmission facility does not cover the same listening area as the old
location. Despite the fact that the Santa Catalina site was only 10 kW
compared to the new 50 kW facility, ground conductivity simply cannot
compete with salt water (5,000 millisiemen). Its old island site enabled KBRT
to broadcast clear to San Diego and the San Fernando Valley — areas
where
Alexander says the signal now drops off.
However, he said
that the Oak Flats transmitter puts out metro-grade (2mV/m) and city-grade
(5mV/m) signals to a combined 32 million listeners in Southern California.
KRBT, which is now licensed to Costa Mesa, broadcasts clearly
to the majority of Orange County, Los Angeles County and from Oceanside to
Burbank, as well as Victorville.
By December, KBRT must remove the generator and Nautel XL12
from the old island location. They have sold their ND10 auxiliary transmitter
to a buyer in Colorado; that must also be recovered and shipped. Alexander
notes that the rest of the equipment is for sale; buyers will be in charge of
transport.
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