WMVN is now operating at a new transmitter site and with higher power.
The Bonneville FM in St. Louis announced completion of its upgrade from 50 kW to 100 kW.
Marshall Rice, DOE for Bonneville St. Louis, told Radio World the budget for the project was $850,000.
“The transmitter site for WMVN was moved from the original site, just west of the downtown area, approximately 6 km southeast to a tower owned by the local PBS affiliate. Sister station WIL(FM) was already a tenant on the tower so we had a great relationship with the owner and knew the site.”
WIL at 92.3 was placed on its offsite backup in order to replace a 20-year-old ERI antenna with a new ERI SHPX-8AC6 model capable of handling both stations; an ERI combiner is used to save space and windloading on the tower.
A new Broadcast Electronics 35 kW transmitter was installed at WMVN, matching one WIL already has in service.
The HD transmitter for WMVN was moved to the new location; IBOC HD is achieved through high-level combining of the analog and digital signals of each station, which is then fed through the “T” combiner to the antenna.
The antenna itself was pattern optimized by ERI for placement on the seven-foot tower face. Final tuning of the combiner and antenna was performed on-site by ERI field engineer Jeff Taylor.
“The transmitter suite, although large enough to accommodate the additional transmission gear, needed a complete electrical service upgrade. A new emergency generator was also installed to handle the increased load at the site,” Rice told RW.
John Kijowski is VP and St. Louis market manager.
The station, transmitting at 101.1 MHz, says this will significantly expand its coverage around metro St. Louis plus the Missouri communities of Washington, De Soto, St. Genevieve and Wentzville, and the Illinois areas of Troy, Warrrenton, Farmington, Sullivan and Carlyle.
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