Hello, my name is Mark Voris Chief Engineer for the Spirit Catholic Radio Network and welcome to Engineering!
On this page you will see the “technical” side of the network.
Check out a recent roller coaster of a ride captured on my dashcam during a visit to our KETT Mitchell tower.
We are headquartered with our studios and main offices here in Omaha.
Air studio Production studio Technical Operations Center-TOC
We have 19 transmission sites scattered across Nebraska and one site in west-central Wisconsin. Nine of those sites are currently full-power stations (1000 watts and up), three are translators (250 watt repeater stations) and eight Low Power FM – LPFM (100 watt stations) owned and operated by local groups.
Spirit Catholic Radio has partnered with My Bridge Radio to redevelop a tower site at Valentine for SCR’s KVEJ 91.9 and MBR’s KMBV 90.7 signals. We have cleaned up the site by removing six unused satellite dishes, dirt work requiring leveling of the space for a shelter to be placed, and finally a layer of rock spread and packed. A prefab building and electrical has been installed in short time then a tower crew was on site to install the antennas for both stations. A ground system was installed around the circumference of the building with six ground rods and number four stranded wire in the form of a halo ground. The building ground is bonded to the tower ground and is bonded with electrical ground.
Before…………. And…………. After…………..
Shelter Tower with both antennas KVEJ antenna
Grounding for rack and transmitter Transmission lines in the shelter Transmitters are in place and on the air.
Our work here requires the use of many tools and test equipment in order to maintain our network of stations. Recently I had to deal with an antenna issue with one of our LPFM affiliates. The antenna is 75 feet above the ground and beings I don’t climb towers anymore a crane with basket was brought in to get me to the antenna.
The antenna shown in the second image is what is called a circular polarized antenna, both vertical and horizontal polarization. Most vehicles have vertical receive antennas and radios in the home usually have horizontal receive antennas. The problem was that the antenna was no longer tuned on frequency for the station at 104.3 MHz(Megahertz) therefore causing a problem with a large amount of reflected power shutting down the transmitter. When an antenna is tuned to the station’s resonant frequency power output of the transmitter(forward power) is at 100% with no power being reflected back to the transmitter however if the antenna is mistuned or loaded down with snow or ice some of the power will be reflected back into the transmitter. Most transmitters will handle reflected power to a limit and then will protect themselves by lowering power or shutting down. Referring to the third image of the antenna you will notice the elements(red arrows) can be adjusted to tune.
To tune the antenna I use assorted pieces of test equipment to measure the adjustments made. The main instrument I use is a Vector Network Analyzer(image below) used to measure the characteristics of the antenna and coax that connects the antenna to the transmitter. The yellow line on the display is the main indicator I’m looking at. The dip at the bottom is the frequency 104.3 MHz that the antenna should be at. When the antenna was first measured it was showing a resonant frequency of 104.6 MHz causing the high reflected power and shutting down the transmitter. Until I was able to re-tune the antenna, power on the transmitter was lowered to maintain a listenable signal. This is not the normal activity that I deal with daily but sometimes these special issues do come up.
There are times when parts wear out and replacement is necessary. Recently our transmitter up in Northeast Nebraska had problems staying at full power. After intense diagnoses I found one of the power supplies wasn’t getting the required 220 volts. The cause was a high voltage contactor that had failed. After 11 years of running 24/7/365 with heat it just fell apart….
A new contactor installed and we are back to full power!
The repairs continue here at Spirit. Recently our backup BE FM5C transmitter out at Wood River had a serious heat issue. The transmitter consists of 3 fans
that keep air flowing over the amplifier modules and power supplies as well as the exciter that has 1 fan. Two of the three fans locked up and were not working.
The exciter’s fan also locked up and quit working. No spare fans at the site or with us, we made a run to Grand Island to find something to get us back up
and running. We ended up getting a floor drum fan to push air through the back where the three fans are and with luck our engineering friends with
NTV in Kearney happened to have a fan that would work in the exciter. We ordered new fans for the transmitter and had another spare fan back at the shop
in Omaha. The transmitter was fully repaired and back on the air within 3 hours.
Old fans locked up Old fans removed from transmitter
New fans ready to go in Two new fans in, one to go
This is the amplifier tube for the KVSS and KOLB backup transmitters. It has the ability to put out 20,000 Watts
of RF power.
SIGNALS ON THE NETWORK
Transmitter site
(Disclaimer: Estimated Field Strength Exceeded at 50 percent of the potential receiver
locations 50 percent of the time, at a receiving antenna height of 30 feet.)
KVSS 102.7
Location: Southwest of Omaha, NE
City of License: Papillion, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 46.1 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 1,270 feet – Eight Bay
Main Transmitter: Nautel NV20LT solid state type
Backup Transmitter: BE FM25T tube type
KOLB 88.3
Location: Northwest of Osmond, NE
City of License: Hartington, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 370 feet – Ten Bay Directional
Main Transmitter: Nautel NV30LT Solid State type
Backup Transmitter: BE FM25T Tube type
KJWM 91.5
Location: South of Wood River, NE
City of License: Grand Island, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 35 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 591 feet – Six Bay
Main Transmitter: Nautel NV15LT solid state type
Backup Transmitter: BE FM5C solid state type
KEJS 88.1
Location: North of Weissert, NE
City of License: Sargent, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 1.2 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 249 feet – Three Bay
Main Transmitter: Nautel VX1 Solid state type
KVEJ 91.9
Location: North of Valentine, NE
City of License: Valentine, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 1.3 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 180 feet – Three Bay
Main Transmitter: Nautel VX1 Solid state type
KONL 91.5
Location: East of O’Neill, NE
City of License: O’Neill, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 1.2 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 249 feet – Three Bay
Main Transmitter: Nautel VX1 Solid state type
KFJS 90.1
Location: North of North of North Platte, NE
City of License: North Platte, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 13.2 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 335 feet – Three Bay
Main Transmitter: Elenos ETG10000 solid state type
Backup Transmitter: Elenos ETG2000 solid state type
KETT 99.5
Location: South of Mitchell, NE
City of License: Mitchell, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 13 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 300 feet – Six Bay
Transmitter: Elenos ETG5000 solid state type
KETW 90.5
Location: Northwest of Ogallala, NE
City of License: Ogallala, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 2.5 kW
Antenna height above ground AGL: 184 feet – Three Bay Vertically Polarized
Main Transmitter: Nautel VX1 Solid state type
K257FK 99.3 Translator
Location: Northwest of Columbus, NE
City of License: Columbus, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 250 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 236 feet – Two Bay
Transmitter: Elenos ETG500 solid state type
Receive antenna is a horizontally polarized Yagi pointed towards Omaha
K217GM 91.3 Translator
Location: Chadron, NE
City of License: Chadron, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 250 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 85 feet – Two Bay
Transmitter: Elenos ETG500 solid state type
K208GM 89.5 Translator
Location: Straussville, NE
City of License: Falls City, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 250 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 229 feet – Two Bay
Transmitter: Elenos ETG500 solid state type
Our LPFM Affiliate Stations
KLPH-LP 103.9
Location: Alliance, NE
City of License: Alliance, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 49 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM350W solid state type
KJTJ-LP 107.5
Location: Sidney, NE
City of License: Sidney, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 101 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM350W solid state type
KNKP-LP 104.3
Location: Imperial, NE
City of License: Imperial, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 75 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM300W solid state type
KQPK-LP 96.9
Location: McCook, NE
City of License: McCook, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 52 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM350W solid state type
KMKP-LP 106.5
Location: Holdrege, NE
City of License: Holdrege, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 49 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM300W solid state type
KPKA-LP 100.1
Location: Beatrice, NE
City of License: Beatrice, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 78 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM300W solid state type
KMAY-LP 102.5
Location: York, NE
City of License: York, NE
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 39 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Crown Ecreso FM300W solid state type
WASB-LP 96.5
Location: Boyd, WI
City of License: Boyd, Stanley, and Cadott, WI
Effective radiated power ERP: 100 W
Antenna height above ground AGL: 59 feet – One Bay
Transmitter: Elenos ETG500 solid state type
WASB-LP also has a co-located studio and air their weekend Masses.
Contour Maps produced by REC Networks.
Check back periodically to see any updates.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mark H Voris – Certified Broadcast Radio Engineer – Amateur Call NØVUB
SPIRIT CATHOLIC RADIO NETWORK
