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This is Public Service
Friday, October 26, 2007
KPBS Radio 89.5 Maintains Constant Fire Coverage despite Transmission Troubles By Lauren Coartney The Harris fire raced up Mount San Miguel in San Diego early Monday, burning through power lines by 5:30 a.m. and cutting power to several transmitters situated at the crest. With no back-up generator, KPBS, the city's public radio station, lost its signal and went off the air. One of only two local radio news operations, KPBS had become a crucial source of information on the 2007 fires, which were engulfing San Diego from the east. Many city and county officials had been directing the public and their own agencies to 89.5 FM during news conferences. "Even when we lost our radio transmitter, we kept broadcasting continuously via live Web transmission," said Nancy Worlie, KPBS Communications Manager. FM 94.9 Partnership Knowing thousands of people were looking to the station for critical updates, the radio programming director, John Decker, called several stations for help before alternative rock station FM 94.9 agreed to temporarily carry KPBS' broadcast on their frequency. Though KPBS-TV Channel 15 also went off the air, service to Time Warner and Cox Cable customers was uninterrupted, since KPBS provides a direct fiber feed from the university to those cable service providers. Not until Wednesday was Rockley Curless, a KPBS engineer, able to get to the top of Mount San Miguel to check the transmitter. While a community tenant communications building 10 feet away was completely destroyed, the building that houses the KPBS transmitter was unharmed. "There were even little green plants still around it," said Leon Messenie, director of engineering. "We feel really lucky." Currently, the TV and radio stations are back on the air, running off of a low-power generator located on the SDSU campus. They will return to full power as soon as San Diego City officials and CAL FIRE approve generator installation on the mountain. (reprinted from SDSU) |
San Diego Fire Communications (WasThis is Public Service)
"Roadie" wrote in message ups.com... Friday, October 26, 2007 KPBS Radio 89.5 Maintains Constant Fire Coverage despite Transmission Troubles SNIP Indeed KPBS did a great job, as well as FOX which was on nearly 24 hours with excellent coverage. Others were ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN 87.7 MHz FM was set up with fire news for mobiles and those with power outages (25,000 at one time) Amateur radio operators were on 2 Meters. 440 MHz, and HF in full force. Callouts were made to ARES and RACES assissting the Red Cross, and County Emergency Coms. Hams activated fire information nets on several repeaters for mobiles and those without commercial power. Some repeaters were on battery power or generator power when the main power lines failed. Volunteers carried fuel to the repeater sites when needed. Some repeaters were destroyed in the fire, but many have been on continously Communications were vastly improved over the 2003 fires. The internet was an excellent source for fast breaking news, including road closurers, traffic flows, evacuation center locations, evacuation orders, videos, fire maps, fire status updates, water and air quality, and much MUCH more. See URL: http://www.fox6.com/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/ http://ac6v.com/EP.htm Well done San Diego Lamont in San Diego |
San Diego Fire Communications (WasThis is Public Service)
On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:28:12 -0700, "The Shadow"
wrote: "Roadie" wrote in message oups.com... Friday, October 26, 2007 KPBS Radio 89.5 Maintains Constant Fire Coverage despite Transmission Troubles SNIP Indeed KPBS did a great job, as well as FOX which was on nearly 24 hours with excellent coverage. Others were ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN 87.7 MHz FM was set up with fire news for mobiles and those with power outages (25,000 at one time) Amateur radio operators were on 2 Meters. 440 MHz, and HF in full force. Callouts were made to ARES and RACES assissting the Red Cross, and County Emergency Coms. Hams activated fire information nets on several repeaters for mobiles and those without commercial power. Some repeaters were on battery power or generator power when the main power lines failed. Volunteers carried fuel to the repeater sites when needed. Some repeaters were destroyed in the fire, but many have been on continously Communications were vastly improved over the 2003 fires. The internet was an excellent source for fast breaking news, including road closurers, traffic flows, evacuation center locations, evacuation orders, videos, fire maps, fire status updates, water and air quality, and much MUCH more. See URL: http://www.fox6.com/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/ http://ac6v.com/EP.htm Well done San Diego Lamont in San Diego 87.7 mHz is merely the audio portion of TV channel 6 in Tijuana. Nothing was ''set up''. |
San Diego Fire Communications (WasThis is Public Service)
On Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:34:40 -0800, David wrote:
On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:28:12 -0700, "The Shadow" wrote: "Roadie" wrote in message roups.com... Friday, October 26, 2007 KPBS Radio 89.5 Maintains Constant Fire Coverage despite Transmission Troubles SNIP Indeed KPBS did a great job, as well as FOX which was on nearly 24 hours with excellent coverage. Others were ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN 87.7 MHz FM was set up with fire news for mobiles and those with power outages (25,000 at one time) Amateur radio operators were on 2 Meters. 440 MHz, and HF in full force. Callouts were made to ARES and RACES assissting the Red Cross, and County Emergency Coms. Hams activated fire information nets on several repeaters for mobiles and those without commercial power. Some repeaters were on battery power or generator power when the main power lines failed. Volunteers carried fuel to the repeater sites when needed. Some repeaters were destroyed in the fire, but many have been on continously Communications were vastly improved over the 2003 fires. The internet was an excellent source for fast breaking news, including road closurers, traffic flows, evacuation center locations, evacuation orders, videos, fire maps, fire status updates, water and air quality, and much MUCH more. See URL: http://www.fox6.com/ http://www.signonsandiego.com/ http://ac6v.com/EP.htm Well done San Diego Lamont in San Diego 87.7 mHz is merely the audio portion of TV channel 6 in Tijuana. Nothing was ''set up''. Rickets must you always be so fricking negative? |
San Diego Fire Communications (WasThis is Public Service)
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