KAKM Signal Update

Wed, October 15, 2008
Posted in Technical Updates

As many viewers have already noticed, we’re in the midst of a difficult technical problem with our TV signal.

Late last week we began to experience problems with getting our TV signal out to our transmissition site at Goose Bay, just north of downtown Anchorage across Knik Arm.

This signal problem tends to break up the over-the-air signal (both audio and video) to varying degrees depending upon time of day and other factors. Therefore, anyone watching KAKM via analog or digital over-the-air signals (“rabbit ears” or “antenna” sources) are affected — which is a good portion of our audience. Viewers on GCI Cable are unaffected. Viewers in Mat-Su area on MTA cable, however, are affected, as MTA currently pulls its feed from our over-the-air signal. Some evenings, the breakup is so bad the station is completely unwatchable.

Our engineers have been working every day (and night) for the past several days tracing the source of the problem, working with equipment vendors and, thankfully, getting assistance from fellow broadcast engineers in the Anchorage area. We’re down to three possible problems, each of which are being tested and investigated at this time. We’re working with vendors, including one that’s flying in late this week, and we’re considering even more dramatic and expensive measures.

We’re using our web site, KAKM.ORG, to post updates as we get them. And to help people find these updates, we’re also:

updating our overnight phone system to alert people of the web updates
taking calls at our main number — 550-8400 — during business hours
asking our engineers to take as many after-hours technical calls as they can after hours (in between repairs and tests)
handling e-mail inquiries, web comments and complaints as fast as we can, including a message from our General Manager, Steve Lindbeck
intermittently displaying a “lower third” message on KAKM’s broadcast signal, alerting viewers that we’re aware of the issues and referring them to KAKM.ORG for more info

Meanwhile, we need to let the broadcast engineers continue their work. We’re checking in with them every few hours and as we learn more, we’ll post updates here.

We deeply apologize to our over-the-air viewers for this interruption in service.