WVPR 89.5 and WNCH 88.1 At Low Power Friday

As you know, VPR has been experiencing some challenges with its WVPR 89.5 transmitter on Mount Ascutney. Engineers were on the mountain last week to troubleshoot two problems - a leak in the transmission line, and a faulty combiner. Thanks to assistance from Nassau Broadcasting (with whom we share a master antenna on the tower), we are at full power for the time being. We've determined that falling ice from the top of the tower is the culprit for the leak in the transmission line as well as some damage to our antennas.

Work has been scheduled for tomorrow (Friday 4/30) to remove the damaged antennas and to do preliminary installation work for the new combiner. As a result, 89.5 and 88.1 (and potentially translators in Manchester, Newbury, Woodstock, Brattleboro and Kendall at Hanover) will be operating at low power most of the day and will be off the air for approximately two hours in the afternoon. Once that work is complete, full power will be restored until crews can get up there to install the repaired antennas later in May.



This work is weather-dependent, so if anything changes with the schedule, we will let you know. Thank you again for your patience! We hope you can listen online if you are unable to hear VPR on the radio during this time.

Work on WVPR 89.5

WVPR, 89.5 is currently operating at reduced power on its back-up transmitter. Engineers are working to address two problems:

First, the transmission line that goes from the transmitter up the tower to the antenna needs to be under pressure to operate, and we have discovered air leaking out of the line. Just like finding the cause of a flat tire, engineers must climb the tower and manually search for the source of the leak before it can be repaired.

Second, the combiner that serves WVPR and Nassau Broadcasting, the broadcaster that shares our tower, needs to be replaced. VPR engineers were able to make a temporary fix to it last month, but it did not last as long as we hoped.

On Friday, weather-permitting, an engineer will be on Mount Ascutney to try to perform a temporary fix to the combiner. We hope this is successful, but it will still be a temporary fix until we can install the new combiner, which has been ordered and should arrive in the next week to 10 days.

Prescott Tower will also be at the mountain, climbing the tower to examine the transmission line and find the pressure leak.

During the work, WVPR will be off the air to ensure the safety of our engineering crew. We may also need to take VPR Classical’s WNCH 88.1 signal off the air at that time, and our 89.5 HD channels will be off the air as well.

We know being without VPR can be frustrating, and we apologize for the interruption. We will keep you updated on what’s happening as soon as we know more. In the meantime, I hope you’ll listen to VPR online if you are able.

Thank you very much for your patience and support.

The 89.5 WVPR Story

Here's the short version: Something was broken at VPR's transmitter site on Mount Ascutney. The station was off air or at low power for a long period. It was a complex problem that took a while to diagnose and fix. VPR listeners were patient and understanding while VPR engineers worked long days and weekends. Now the problem is fixed!

If you would like to know more, read on.

We thank our listeners for their patience while we worked to get 89.5 WVPR back to full power. The problem was related to a faulty combiner element (see photo below). WVPR shares a common antenna on the tower atop Mt. Ascutney with another broadcaster, and the combiner is a key piece of equipment that keeps both stations on the air.

Normally this combiner system works quite well, but recently, a series of events led to some major damage to one of the components, so huge amounts of output power from the transmitter were being reflected back into the output. Fortunately, there is a device that protects the transmitter from severe damage by automatically reducing this reflected power. That’s what made 89.5 go to low power, making it difficult for most of you to hear. We knew what was happening, but we didn’t know why.

Thus began a long period of investigation of the many complex elements which form a modern transmission system - a search that would even have made Sherlock Holmes scratch his head.

What we eventually learned was that the filter was damaged inside - and that was what created the problems.

Once it was determined for certain what the problem appeared to be, we called the factory in Maine. The factory engineer came to Vermont and brought the new parts with him. He was able to work with VPR's engineers to get the part replaced, reassemble the combiner, and retune it properly; so the WVPR transmitter could go back on the air again at full power.

With these extremely complex, and high powered systems, it takes a lot of careful diagnosis to really know what is going on, and that involves taking things apart, turning them on and off, and otherwise disrupting operations. Add to that the fact that it is still 'mostly winter' on top of the mountain, so travel on snowmobile or tracked vehicle can be slow and difficult.

We fully appreciate how disruptive this was for our listeners, and we worked extremely hard to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. Thanks again for your patience during this time. We also appreciate the kind words sent via email and posted on Facebook.

-Rich Parker, GSEC
VPR's Director of Engineering

Update On WVPR 89.5

If you listen in central or southern Vermont, you may have noticed that VPR has been having significant issues with our transmitter on Mount Ascutney over the last several days. Many listeners from your area have experienced poor reception and in some cases, have lost reception altogether.

I want to assure you that VPR's engineers are working hard to resolve the problem. Our engineers have been on Mount Ascutney all week and have successfully pinpointed the cause of these issues. Due to the failure of a critical broadcast component listeners to WVPR 89.5 FM will continue to experience poor or no reception for the next several days. This also affects our 89.5 HD channels and our low-power translators at 94.5 FM in Brattleboro and 92.5 FM in Manchester.

We have ordered new equipment and we hope to have it installed and have the station back on the air by late next week.

I know you count on VPR to be there for you everyday, and I know how frustrating it can be to be without your daily companion. Thank you very much for your patience as we work to resolve this issue. In the meantime, I hope you’ll listen to VPR online if you are able.

Problems With WVPR 89.5

If you've had trouble listening to VPR at 89.5 over the last several days, I just wanted to let you know that we have been experiencing problems with our transmitter, which affects the signal at 89.5, our translator at 94.5, as well as our HD channels.

We are not sure yet what the exact cause is, but our engineers report there is a problem with the the filter/combiner network that leads up to the antenna. It's causing the transmitter to automatically reduce power in order to protect itself from being damaged.

Engineers working on it, and hope to have the problem corrected and WVPR restored to full power very soon! Thank you for your patience!