Solar Outages May Affect VPR Reception

Courtesy NASA Goddard Photo And Video

You may hear occasional outages on VPR over the next several days. That's due to the 2013 spring solar outage season.

A solar or sun transit outage is an electromagnetic phenomenon wherein a station is temporarily unable to receive a satellite signal due to interference from the sun as it passes behind the satellite.

Solar outages occur on a predictable schedule and affect stations in the U.S. for about five consecutive days, for as much as six minutes a day, twice each year. In Vermont, they are expected to effect us March 2-5 around 2 p.m. each day.

Thanks for your patience!

VPR Expands Service In Brattleboro & Southern Vermont

88.9 Coverage Map

We are thrilled to announce that Vermont Public Radio has expanded its service in Brattleboro and southern Vermont!

You can now listen to VPR News on a new full-power station at 88.9 FM. 88.9 can be heard from Bellows Falls in the north to Greenfield, Mass., in the south, and from Marlboro in the west to Keene, NH in the east; covering a total population of about 145,000.

Next week, Brattleboro's former translator station in Brattleboro at 94.5 FM will move to 94.3 FM, increase power from 10 to 190 watts, and begin broadcasting VPR Classical throughout Brattleboro and surrounding towns, including Vernon and Guilford.* About 22,000 people will be able to hear that station.

VPR Classical is also available on 88.9-HD 2 with an HD radio.

94.3 Coverage Map

The addition of 88.9 drastically improves reception in Brattleboro and Windham County. It’s an area of Vermont that has never been able to receive VPR well, and this new station fulfills VPR’s long-time goal of serving the Brattleboro area with a stronger broadcast signal. The station also provides “first service” to more than 18,000 people who do not have reliable access to public radio at all. The addition of VPR Classical at 94.3 brings VPR’s 24-hour classical music network to the Brattleboro area for the first time.

We hope you will try out the new stations and let us know how they are sounding in your area!

*Update 11/12/12: VPR Classical is on on the air at 94.3 in Brattleboro as of this morning!

WVPS 107.9 At Low Power Week Of July 9

Coverage map for the WVPS backup antenna

Next week beginning Monday, July 9, WVPS 107.9 will broadcasting at low power from an auxiliary antenna in order to complete essential and significant antenna work. The work is expected to last 2-3 days* and will result in a noisy or loss of signal for some of our listeners, particularly those in Quebec and to the northwest of the WVPS coverage area. WVPS listening area.

Part of the work will include relocating parts of the antenna to effect the amount of power directed toward the horizon, and as a result the WVPS coverage area may be slightly altered after the work is completed. Affected areas will most likely be on the fringe areas of the signal or possibly the coverage area closest to the antenna.

Vermont’s short summers mean we have a small window of opportunity to get necessary work done at our mountain transmitter sites while the weather is generally cooperative. We know you count on VPR to be there for you everyday, and we want to thank you very much for your patience in advance.

If you are able, we hope you will listen to online at VPR.net or by using the VPR iPhone app or our mobile site at m.vpr.net

Update 7/12/12
We learned late yesterday that the work on WVPS will take longer than expected, due to challenges with the layout of panels for the new antenna. The station will remain at low power through Friday, we'll be at full power over the weekend, then go back to low power for a couple days next week (weather-permitting) to complete the work. We know this is frustrating for many listeners. We want to thank you again for your patience, and please know that we are working to get these upgrades finished as soon as possible.


Update 7/16/12
WVPS is back at low power today to finish up the work. If all goes well, we should be back on the air at full power this afternoon. Thank you again for your patience!

A Few Signal Changes In Middlebury

Vermont Public Radio is switching around a few of our signals in the Middlebury area this week. For several years, listeners in parts of Middlebury have been able to receive VPR's news and information service on a small, low-power translator at 95.3 FM. As of this week, that signal changes to 99.5 FM, which provides better coverage in the pockets of Middlebury that aren't able to receive our WVPS 107.9 Burlington nor our WRVT 88.7 Rutland signals.

99.5 once aired VPR Classical, but with the addition of VPR Classical in Addison County at WOXM 90.1 FM, it is no longer needed.

We've updated the station list at VPR.net and will have updated printable cards and maps very soon. Thanks for listening!

Improved VPR Classical Signal in Central Vermont

Update for Tuesday, June 28: WVXR 102.1 FM is up to full power as of 3 this afternoon! Thank you for your patience as we finished this big project. I hope you'll try it out and let us know how it sounds!

We have great news for classical music fans in Central Vermont! Engineers are getting ready to replace the antenna for WVXR 102.1 FM in Randolph, which will allow us to broadcast the station consistently at full power. This upgrade will result in a stronger, higher-quality signal for more of the WVXR coverage area.

VPR Classical went on the air in Central Vermont last fall, but due to significant problems with the antenna, we have not been able to broadcast consistently at full power.

As long as the weather holds out, work will begin Monday, June 27 and will take 1-2 days to complete. For the safety of the tower crew we’ll need to take the station off the air during that time, but when it returns it will be a more robust signal than before.

WVXR reaches about 92,000 Vermonters across a large swath of central Vermont including the communities of Randolph, Bethel, Brookfield, Tunbridge, Sharon, Barnard, Woodstock, Royalton, Chelsea, Barre, and more.

We look forward to improving our service to you with this critical upgrade!

WRVT Rutland Is Getting An Upgrade

If you listen to Vermont Public Radio on WRVT 88.7 FM in Rutland, you may have noticed poor or no reception at times this week. I wanted to provide you with an update on the issues we are experiencing and provide details about an exciting improvement on the horizon!

A couple of weeks ago, our main signal from our Colchester studios to WRVT on Grandpa’s Knob failed, and the back-up signal system kicked in. That back-up system does not provide the same level of quality audio our listeners expect, but it at least kept WRVT and running. Unfortunately, the back-up signal also failed, so now we are using a second back-up solution that is operating normally and at 100% power.

The other issue has to do with the time of year: in the fall, many broadcasters (including VPR) are doing critical maintenance work on towers because, as you might imagine, getting to those towers in the dead of winter is a challenge! Because we share our transmission facilities with other broadcasters, we sometimes have to go to low power or off the air completely to protect the safety of engineers working on the tower.

Fortunately, I also have some great news: we were recently granted permission by the FCC to nearly double the power of WRVT 88.7 FM. Beginning November 29th, VPR will be upgrading that transmitter and other critical infrastructure. Once the work is complete, WRVT listeners will have a stronger and better signal – and 40,000 more people in the Rutland County area will be able to receive VPR! We expect the work to upgrade and improve WRVT will be completed during the week of December 13.

Thank you very much for your patience as we work through these issues. Until then, I hope you’ll listen to VPR online if you are able.

WVPR 89.5 Work Is Almost Complete

Work continues this week on our WVPR 89.5 transmitter on Mt. Ascutney. The antenna sustained some significant damage earlier this year due to falling ice. In order to repair it, we needed to have the entire antenna assembly removed from the tower and sent back to the manufacturer (in Maine) to be repaired.

Today and tomorrow, weather-permitting, engineers will be climbing the tower to take down the backup antenna we've been broadcasting on and installing the repaired (and structurally reinforced) antenna. As a result, WVPR 89.5 and WNCH 88.1 will be off the air or at low power during the work to ensure the safety of our engineers.

Once the antenna is installed, reception should return to normal without further interruptions. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we address these complicated and unexpected technical challenges, and we will keep you posted if anything changes.

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!

Transmitter Move: It's Kind of Like This....

VPR's Rich Parker on our 107.9 transmitter move: "It's kinda like this....a farmer was going to town with a fox, a goose and a sack of corn. When he came to a stream, he had to cross in a tiny boat, and could only take across one thing at a time. How does he get them all safely over the stream?"

Thanks for your patience. We'll be at low power off and on for the next 8-10 days, but the result will be a more reliable signal!

Click here to learn more about this move. If your reception is affected, try listening online using VPR's Audio Player.

Moving our 107.9 Transmitter

We'll be moving our WVPS 107.9 transmitter on Mount Mansfield in the coming weeks. Below, VPR's Director of Engineering Rich Parker explains what has gone into this project - and what you can expect during and after the project is completed:

"We are reaching the final stages of our long term project to move our WVPS 107.9 transmitter and equipment from its previous location in the Vermont Public Television building to a newly constructed facility where the WCAX-TV building used to be. This new facility, a major project of the Mount Mansfield Colocation Association (MMCA, a collaboration of TV and Radio broadcasters on Mt. Mansfield), will be the new permanent home for WVPS.

The preparation and execution of the final move of the transmission equipment will be taking place over the next several weeks. WVPS will go to low power for up to two days this week while engineers start work on the shared transmission lines at the new site. This is the portion near the base of the tower on top of Mount Mansfield.

After that is completed, we will go back up to full power until the end of September, when WVPS goes to low power again for two more days to allow for completion of transmission line work inside the building where the transmitter will be located.

At that point, we will switch to a new, higher-power backup transmitter which will be approximately three times as powerful as the previous low-power backup. WVPS will stay on that new backup transmitter, located at the new transmitter site, for up to ten more days while crews disassemble and move VPR's high powered transmitter down to its new location in the MMCA building.

During the periods of low power operation, some listeners located far from Mt. Mansfield may experience a loss or degradation of signal - more so during the initial low power phases, and somewhat less during the final low power stage (on the new, more powerful backup).

If everything goes as planned, and there are no unexpected delays due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances, we expect WVPS to be returned to full power at it's brand new location on Friday, October 9.

This is the culmination of over ten years of work and planning in coordination with the other broadcasters on Mt. Mansfield. With the need for the TV stations to transition to Digital (DTV), there was a need for an entirely new configuration of towers, buildings, and other facilities
atop Mt. Mansfield. Once this work is completed, WVPS will be in a new building, with excellent heating, cooling, and clean air for the transmitters, and two large powerful generators which supply emergency backup power to the entire facility.

Thank you for your patience as we complete this final stage of a very extensive and complex project - but the results will be a much better home for WVPS for years to come."

For more information about the history and scope the colocation project on Mount Mansfield, click here.

From the Mountain to Your Radio - Your Pledge at Work

VPR Director of Engineering Rich Parker send this note yesterday:

It's the first day of our membership drive with volunteers answering phones and we always get a lot of questions about how VPR signals get to various parts of Vermont. When VPR started, there was only one transmitter, WVPR at 89.5 - it was on the top of Mt. Ascutney, overlooking Windsor, Springfield and the Connecticut Valley. Due to the faithful and generous support of our listeners and underwriters over these past years, we are now able to broadcast across the state of Vermont and nearby border states from nine full service FM stations and fourteen low powered translators - carrying VPR News and Information and VPR Classical to our listeners.

Because of technical advances and innovations, and with some infrastructure support in the form of grants from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) we are also able to provide the new digital HD radio to our listeners. With the capability for 'multi-casting' - putting multiple program streams on one frequency - we are able to serve our listeners better with more of the program services they enjoy. This is particularly important as we continue to expand our VPR Classical network - in areas where there is not an available signal for VPR Classical yet, it can often be heard on the HD-2 multicast channels of our other VPR News and Information stations.

But how does all this get to you - or more importantly, how does this all get into your radio? VPR has the majority of it's transmitters atop many of the high mountain peaks of Vermont. Today, we'll show you a little bit of the WVPS facility atop Mt. Mansfield.

The picture above was taken in late October, shortly after WVPS went on the air with it's new antennas, on a brand new tower atop Mt. Mansfield. The day before, tower riggers had just finished installation of the last panel antenna - it was a beautiful and sunny fall day!

As you can see from the picture, Mt. Mansfield can be a difficult place to work for much of the year, but the high elevation is key to the wide reach which WVPS has across the northern part of our state. When you turn on your radio to 107.9, you can picture the radio waves coming out of those panels at the top of that tower, going through all that ice and snow, and finally ending up at your radio receiver. While it sometimes seems like magic, it is the result of a great deal of hard work by our capable and very talented engineering staff - who sometimes have to go up there to work under less than ideal conditions.

We'll be profiling our other sites as time goes by - I hope you'll stay tuned; and I hope you'll make a pledge - we really couldn't do it without you! For the VPR Engineering staff - Mike Seguin, Brian Marshall, and Asa Sourdiffe I say 'Thanks for your support all these years!' 

Rich Parker, GSEC
Director of Engineering
Vermont Public Radio

Why VPR Classical is Off the Air in Middlebury

The VPR Classical translator at 99.5 fm is currently off the air due to technical problems. I asked our director of engineering, Rich Parker, to explain some of the challenges we’re facing.

But first, a primer on translators: translators are low-power “booster” frequencies. They do not broadcast on their own, instead, they must be able to pick up the signal from an existing transmitter and rebroadcast it. Translators are easier to procure than full-power transmitters, and can be great for improving reception in a small, concentrated areas.

It has always been challenging to pick up the VPR Classical signal from 88.1 WNCH at the Middlebury translator, but we usually managed pretty well under less than ideal circumstances. However, some new construction near the site has added just enough more interfering reflections that it has tipped things past the balance where a reliable off-air pickup is possible. 

We are looking into mounting a receive antenna on another location that would might have better pick-up, but this will take some time, coordination, and there will undoubtedly be some costs. We are also looking to find out whether we can pick up a better audio signal for 99.5 from 90.9 WOXR from the Champlain Valley.  

The good news is that Vermont Public Radio has been awarded a license for a new VPR Classical station in Middlebury at 90.1 FM, for which we applied to the FCC during a rare non-commercial application 'window' in 2007. We're confident we’ll be able to raise the $250,000 - $300,000 needed to build the transmitter and begin broadcasting within the next year. At 1,000 watts, we are hopeful that classical music fans across Addison County will be able to hear this new station. 

Intrepid Engineering

A listener recently told us that his favorite thing to do on a cold winter morning is to stay in bed and listen to VPR on his alarm clock...so much so that he had to change the station to something less appealing so that he would actually get up and go to work!

Next time you're all cozy and warm and enjoying VPR, I hope you'll send good thoughts to our crack engineers, who work tirelessly throughout the year to keep VPR and VPR Classical on the air. Here's a picture of Eli from Prescott Towers on Mt. Equinox last week, helping install a new FM antenna for VPR Classical at 95.1 WVTQ, which broadcasts from Sunderland/Manchester.  Brrr!

Mike said: "Temps were in the low teens with some wind at the time.  It was an interesting trip up the mountain. Brian (Marshall) and I got almost all the way to the top only to get the tracked ATV totally stuck in a rather large snow drift. We ended up having to winch the ATV through the drift. Fun! 

We were able to test the new transmitter in analog mode for a minute or so into the new antenna, so progress is being made."

You'll find more photos of the work on WVTQ at our Flickr site!

Happy new year, everyone!

VPR Classical Goes on the air in the NEK

I'm thrilled to report that our newest VPR Classical station WVTI 106.9 is now broadcasting from the Island Pond/Brighton area. The station went on the air just before 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon and is the first analog VPR Classical station to serve the Northeast Kingdom.

Because WVTI uses a directional antenna, the FCC requires that we operate at 50% power for up to 10 days so that they can verify that there are no interference problems with the new pattern. Once we receive notification from them we will increase to full power. Also, as with any new transmitter there will inevitably be some testing and tweaking of the new frequency, so don't worry if the station goes on and off the air intermittently over the next couple of weeks.

Here's the coverage map - we hope you'll tune in and let us know how it sounds! Find out other ways to hear VPR Classical at our website.


Wondering just what happens up there to make the magic of radio happen? Check out these photos, taken by our engineering crew.

And if you have the stomach for it, take a virtual ride with our intrepid broadcast engineer Mike Seguin as he drives to the summit of Paradis Mountain, where the transmitter is located: