KMJC Louisburg, KS

comfortably_numb · 20-Sep-2016, 9:13 PM

I live in Drexel, MO, just over the state line from Louisburg, KS. According to my TV Fool report, I should be receiving KMJC with just the screws on the back of my TV. However, my roof-mount antenna pulls in stations from Kansas City (50 miles way) with no problems but I can't receive KMJC at all. Any ideas?

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...e2cba78e0f2bf3

rabbit73 · 21-Sep-2016, 11:22 PM

Welcome, comfortably_numb:

You should be receiving KMJC if it is on the air. Anyone else in your area having trouble receiving it?

What antenna and preamp are you using?

If it IS on the air, you must be having equipment trouble or something on N Holmes Rd is blocking the signal.

I don't know your exact address, but this is what I see:

You can do your own green lines here by moving the cursor (drag and drop) to the antenna location.
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=90

Have you tried another TV, another antenna, or another antenna location?

The only other thing I can think of is that the tvfool report is wrong and KMJC has a very directional transmitting antenna that sends very little signal in your direction.
http://www.rabbitears.info/tvq.php?r...s&facid=184373

http://www.rabbitears.info/contour.p...33%2C-94.98725

comfortably_numb · 21-Sep-2016, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Welcome, comfortably_numb:

You should be receiving KMJC if it is on the air. Anyone else in your area having trouble receiving it?

What antenna and preamp are you using?

If it IS on the air, you must be having equipment trouble or something on N Holmes Rd is blocking the signal.

I don't know your exact address, but this is what I see:

You can do your own green lines here by moving the cursor (drag and drop) to the antenna location.
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=90

Have you tried another TV, another antenna, or another antenna location?

The only other thing I can think of is that the tvfool report is wrong and KMJC has a very directional transmitting antenna that sends very little signal in your direction.
http://www.rabbitears.info/tvq.php?r...s&facid=184373

http://www.rabbitears.info/contour.p...33%2C-94.98725

I have an RCA ANT751 pole mounted on my roof, and an RCA TVPRAMP1R preamp. I've aimed the antenna in the direction of the KMJC tower but can't receive anything. It's interesting to note, however, that I can receive KQTV in St. Joseph, MO (104 miles away) as well as KMOS (114 miles away) and all the local Kansas City stations with 100% signal strength. Last night, I was picking up stations in Springfield, MO (140 miles away) and Columbia, MO (163 miles away). So I guess KMJC is just REALLY low powered??

ADTech · 22-Sep-2016, 12:32 AM

Quote:

So I guess KMJC is just REALLY low powered??

"Off" would be more like it. Can't get any lower than that.

The station owner has been trying to hop-scotch his license into the southern Kansas City area for awhile. My money says the transmitter is sitting in the back of a truck or van or is sitting in a garage or storage building.

comfortably_numb · 22-Sep-2016, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

"Off" would be more like it. Can't get any lower than that.

The station owner has been trying to hop-scotch his license into the southern Kansas City area for awhile. My money says the transmitter is sitting in the back of a truck or van or is sitting in a garage or storage building.

Ha! I love it. Stories like this remind me of that old Weird Al movie, "UHF."

ADTech · 22-Sep-2016, 12:54 AM

I'd be surprised if the station has ever been on the air any longer than was necessary for the engineer to say with a straight face (under penalty of perjury), "Yep, I built it and turned it on" so they could file the paperwork for a License to Cover.

FWIW, it started out north of Manhattan and has been through at least two sites in or near Topeka. The last LTC filed was for a site about two miles SW of Hillsdale Reservoir which, ironically, I've gone boating on a few years ago.

comfortably_numb · 22-Sep-2016, 1:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

I'd be surprised if the station has ever been on the air any longer than was necessary for the engineer to say with a straight face (under penalty of perjury), "Yep, I built it and turned it on" so they could file the paperwork for a License to Cover.

FWIW, it started out north of Manhattan and has been through at least two sites in or near Topeka.

So is this like the FM stations that have a license for, say, Ottawa KS but the transmitter is really in Smithville? The owner of KMJC boasts on his website, "TV25.tv shares its content and commercials among 3 stations: KCKS-LD Kansas City, Kansas WROB-LD Topeka, Kansas, and KMJC-LD Louisburg, Kansas. forming a virtual Channel 25 covering more than 2.2 Million People." What a bunch of horse manure.

rabbit73 · 22-Sep-2016, 1:35 AM

If you click on KMJC in your report it says 15 kW ERP.
http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...dALLTV%26n%3d1

but rabbitears.info says 1.1 kW ERP. The directional antenna sends less than 4% of that in your direction. We call that a "peanut whistle."
http://www.rabbitears.info/tvq.php?r...s&facid=184373

Drexel is in a dead zone for the KMJC signal.

ADTech · 22-Sep-2016, 1:42 AM

Quote:

So is this like the FM stations that have a license for, say, Ottawa KS but the transmitter is really in Smithville?

No. This is a case where a station owner is trying to migrate from a small market to a larger one, ostensibly to improve the coverage of hs programming on the south side of Kansas City.

If I were cynical, I'd suspect it's yet another way to try and play the looming spectrum auction and channel repack.

comfortably_numb · 22-Sep-2016, 1:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

No. This is a case where a station owner is trying to migrate from a small market to a larger one, ostensibly to improve the coverage of hs programming on the south side of Kansas City.

If I were cynical, I'd suspect it's yet another way to try and play the looming spectrum auction and channel repack.

Last night I was able to pick up his Topeka feed WROB with decent signal

ADTech · 22-Sep-2016, 3:59 PM

You might want to contact him through his website and see if he can offer any update.

comfortably_numb · 22-Sep-2016, 4:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

You might want to contact him through his website and see if he can offer any update.

I have. He doesn't respond. Too busy I guess.

ADTech · 22-Sep-2016, 8:52 PM

His phone number and email address are on his FCC paperwork filings....

comfortably_numb · 22-Sep-2016, 9:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADTech

His phone number and email address are on his FCC paperwork filings....

I don't think I want to bother him THAT badly

comfortably_numb · 7-Nov-2016, 12:38 AM

It appears they have rectified whatever issues they were having with the transmitter in Louisburg. Friday night, channel 22 (virtual 25) lit up with 100% signal strength and signal quality on my HD Homerun OTA tuner. Not sure what was wrong before, but at any rate, it's working GREAT now and it's added 12 channels to the over-the-air lineup for thousands of people in the extreme south Kansas City area/northern Southeast Kansas area. Turns out the tower is only 9.2 miles from my house, so I drove up there Saturday morning and took some photos of the tower.

comfortably_numb · 7-Nov-2016, 12:57 AM

This appears to be the footprint now:

rabbit73 · 7-Nov-2016, 6:19 PM

Thanks for the interesting report; they finally turned the switch on.

comfortably_numb · 7-Nov-2016, 7:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabbit73

Thanks for the interesting report; they finally turned the switch on.

Shortly after I discovered that it was on the air, they started posting about it on their Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/KCKSTV25/

comfortably_numb · 8-Nov-2016, 3:23 AM

Some cool photos of the engineers working on the tower. A rare view inside how this stuff works https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7732979&type=3