What’s going on with WHQR’s signal?
A message from station manager Kevin Crane:
You may have noticed that WHQR’s signal comes and goes in recent weeks, or is ”scratchy” sometimes. There are a number of reasons for this that I want to alert you to.
Back in November, WHQR’s aging tube transmitter suffered a catastrophic failure, which switched us to our low-power backup transmitter. After working on the problem for a few days, our engineers were only able to bring the old transmitter up to about half power, which is where it remains today. At half power, WHQR’s signal does not reach as far as it used to, and our HD channels are unreliable. Our engineers have isolated the issue, but they need to send the problem part to the manufacturer to be repaired. We are waiting until we know that the manufacturer has the right parts on hand to fix the problem before sending this problem part out, as removing this part will put WHQR back on our low-power backup while the main transmitter is being repaired. At low power, WHQR’s reach is greatly cut back and there is no HD service. We hope that repair will happen in February, but to date the manufacturer has not yet received the parts required.
The good news is that we have already submitted an order for a new, solid state transmitter to replace our old tube transmitter. We anticipate delivery in the spring. We expect that the new transmitter will be much more reliable, and our HD signals will be much stronger than they have been in recent years.
We at WHQR apologize for the inconvenience to our listeners, and appreciate your patience as we work through these technical issues to improve our service. Should you have problems receiving WHQR, please remember that you can also listen to your favorite programs on a smart speaker like Alexa by saying “Alexa, play WHQR” or “Alexa, play WHQR Classical.” You can also listen to WHQR on our website at whqr.org, or through your phone using the WHQR app.
If you have questions, email feedback@whqr.org.