Where Did NCPR Go—and Who Is That?--88.1 fm Interference

Dear NCPR listeners from Plattsburgh, Burlington and all the other great communities in the Champlain Valley,

As the old joke goes, I've got some good news and some not-so-good news:

The good news is that NCPR has moved its broadcast signal from old 88.3 to new 88.1. We are permitted to operate at a higher power level (1,000 watts instead of a paltry 200 watts) which gives us a signal that is receivable on more radios over a wider range. Wonderful!

The poorish news is a little more complex and contains the word that broadcasters (and soccer players) dislike…."interference." Here's the story:

1. Over the past few years, satellite (XM and Sirius) radios and MP3 players (iPOD's) have become very popular.
2. Owners of these devices like to use them in their cars but its difficult to connect them directly to the sound systems in their vehicles (typically unless you get a brand new vehicle with satellite radio built-in or get a new after-market radio for your older vehicle)
3. But you CAN listen to your satellite radio or MP3 player through your car's existing radio, simply by buying a small FM radio transmitter called an "FM Modulator." This thing is great! You just plug your iPOD (or satellite radio) into it, tune it to a vacant FM channel (usually on the "low" end of the FM band), tune your car radio to the same channel, and hear your own programming through your car radio. Terrific!
4. However, if you installed your FM Modulator before a few weeks ago (when NCPR moved its frequency from 88.3 to 88.1) you probably adjusted it to the first vacant FM frequency you could find.... which WAS 88.1.

And that's exactly the problem. Now there is one modest-sized NCPR transmitter operating on 88.1 and lots of small (but equally determined) FM Modulators also operating at 88.1.

When there are two FM signals available to an FM radio, it chooses the strongest signal to receive, so if you're driving around listening happily to "The Eight O'clock Hour" on NCPR, you might find yourself listening to Howard Stern instead of Todd Moe because of interference from another vehicle's FM Modulator.

Also if you're used to hearing the clean tones of the "White Stripes" from your iPOD on your car radio, your reception might be fuzzy and you might hear "The Thistle and Shamrock" as the mighty NCPR transmitter interferes with your FM Modulator.

The solution is simple: move the channel your FM modulator operates on to 88.5, or 88.7, or 88.9. (just listen to your car radio first to find a vacant frequency)

Also tell everyone you know that has an FM modulator to check if they're broadcasting on 88.1 and switch to a different frequency if they are. After all, they won't want everyone else listening to what their listening to.

NCPR listeners, don't worry, everything will be fine! All our very polite neighbors will do the right thing, switch the channel on their FM Modulators, and your reception of NCPR will become pure as the driven snow (whatever that means!)

This has been an alert from Radio Bob.

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