KUSP 88.9 transmitter out of commission
Tonight about 8:00 PDT the main KUSP 88.9 transmitter shut down and won’t restart. While modern FM transmitters have a lot of built-in redundancy and outright failures are rare, some parts of the system don’t have back-ups — and it would appear something in that category malfunctioned. Our engineers are on their way to the transmitter site right now to see what happened.
The kusp.org audio stream is unaffected, as are the 89.1 translator serving Hollister, Gilroy, and points north, and the 89.3 translator that serves part of the Santa Cruz area.
I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.
12:30 AM update: Our engineers suspect there is a problem in our FM exciter, a key piece of equipment that takes our stereo audio signal and uses it to synthesize the 88.9 FM signal (which is then amplified and sent to the antenna). An attempt to put a back-up FM exciter into service was unsuccessful (some kind of problem with its power supply). So the primary (and suspect) FM exciter is back in service pending repair and reinstallation of the back-up unit, or discovery and repair of whatever is wrong with the primary exciter in the first place. Not the ideal state of affairs, especially in the middle of a holiday weekend, but it is the best our team can offer you at the moment…
5:00 PM update 9-6-09: The primary FM exciter malfunctioned again about 12:40 PM this afternoon. We were able to round up the parts needed to fix the back-up exciter (thank you Santa Cruz Electronics for being open on Sunday of Labor Day weekend!) and restore programming everywhere by mid-afternoon.