Apparently it is the time of year to deal with translator issues…We received a number of reports that our Worland translator was performing poorly.  I had never been to the site before (one of the last that I had never actually visited).  Once we drove into Worland, we could clearly hear that the translator was having issues.

There were strong first adjacent signals on both the input and output frequencies of the translator…Not good.  Since this translator is in the commercial portion of the band, it must be fed over-the-air and can not be fed via satellite like many of our others.

At the site on Rattlesnake Ridge…

Not a bad little site…
At least there aren’t any rodents invading it!

WPR’s translator, including cavity filter on the output…

Cavity filter on the input of the translator as well…
Despite the filtering, strong local interference was still causing issues.

The fix was to replace the existing translator with equipment capable of receiving and re-transmitting the main channel HD signal of the input station on the output frequency.  This worked much better and protects from both co-channel and adjacent channel interference on the input.  Unfortunately we can’t do anything about adjacent channel interference on the output frequency…

Just another day bringing quality public radio to the people of Wyoming…