Mark Howell wrote:
On-channel boosters are not quite the same thing as translators.
Boosters are used when terrain obstacles block parts of the predicted
coverage contour of an FM station. They are allowed only to fill such
"holes," not to extend what would otherwise be the station's coverage
area. The SF bay area is full of them, as the topography prevents any
FM station from reaching full coverage without boosters.

I didn't think station-owned translators were allowed to extend the
station's coverage area either? (but independently-owned translators
are; IIRC the FCC does not allow independently-owned boosters)

Seems to me a large proportion of *commercial* translators are fillins,
not range extenders. Of course the situation is very different for
non-commercial translators!
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Mark Roberts wrote:

Not sure what the San Francisco KITS booster is doing -- KITS is
transmitting from the Sutro tower which should give reasonably good
coverage of most of the city.

San Bruno, actually. The SF booster is ON Sutro Tower, though, to fill in the
hole left by Twin Peaks and such.


--
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring
production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." --FZ

Eric C. Weaver had written:
| Mark Roberts wrote:
|
| Not sure what the San Francisco KITS booster is doing -- KITS is
| transmitting from the Sutro tower which should give reasonably good
| coverage of most of the city.
|
| San Bruno, actually. The SF booster is ON Sutro Tower, though, to fill in the
| hole left by Twin Peaks and such.
|
Ah, thank you. That makes more sense -- though, interestingly, a
1998 schematic from STI of the tower doesn't show the booster. The
FMs it shows are KFOG, KSOL, KOIT, KKSF.

I guess I had thought more FMs were on Sutro (such as whatever 95.7
is this year). But it is mostly a TV tower, after all.

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