Aerial photo courtesy John Owen and Aiken Aerial Photography LLC WKMH(FM), owned by Spirit Broadcasting Group, has installed a Shively Log Periodic Directional FM Antenna as part of an RF improvement project managed by dealer/integrator SCMS.
SCMS supplied the antenna, Harris 5 kW transmitter and Valmont 450-foot tower. The company’s construction division, which has licensed contractor credentials, obtained local zoning, building permits and approvals for the installation of the tower. Tower Guys of Matthews, N.C., was the subcontractor handling erection of the tower.
The station airs at 88.7 MHz. Its licensed transmitter power of 4 kW produces a vertical effective radiated power of 51 kW; it serves Saluda, North Augusta and Aiken, S.C., as well as Augusta, Ga. Jeff Sigmon is chief operator.
Bob Cauthen, president of SCMS, told Radio World that Spirit Broadcasting Group obtained four construction permits via the most recent non-com FCC window and will have a network of stations in South Carolina that will include Ft. Mill, Greenwood, Saluda and Summerville. These four stations are expected to reach a significant percentage of the state’s population.
Cauthen made particular note of the use of a log periodic antenna. “The footprint that these stations can fit in is so small, that the antennas have to be very, very directional, and the patterns have to be designed in a manner that traditional FM antennas often cannot achieve the correct coverage. This is of course because of the crowded spectrum.” For that reason, he said, log periodic antennas are being used more frequently
