[HCDX] Useless 1630 & 1700 kHz logs

["Terry Krueger" <tocobagadx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Took the 4-mile hike on Honeymoon Island (off of Dunedin)
on Saturday, February 24.  Great out there, with
plenty of nesting ospreys (not the Marine Corps crashing
kind), one young eagle, one Great Horned owl, two black
racers and one gopher tortise all viewed right on the trail.
Also, one Cessna 172 repeatedly practicing stalls at about
1500 feet.

In the parking lot just before setting out, noted a couple
of X-band freq things:

1630 WRDW, Augusta, GA 9:18 a.m. (1418 GMT) good level w/
ads for
stores in Augusta, coastal MS and New Orleans.  Male canned
"1630 WRDW" then immediately into dead air.  Still silent
past noon recheck.  Threshold traces of stations on 1650 and
1690, but unable to copy decent details.  1610 occupied by
the Tarpon Springs TIS, 1620 quiet, 1640 the usual harmonic
of the 820 Largo Spanish station, and 1680 the Orlando
area-faux TIS licensed station.

1700 "Fontana Plaza Micro Radio [NOT!]," Palm Harbor, FL,
still a semi-mystery.  Noted around 9:30 a.m. (1430 GMT)
initially on
the island, good signal w/ looping spoofed Clinton voice,
promoting stores in the "Fontana Plaza," inlcuding the Lucky
Supermarket, Baskin Robins (joke about how he [Bill] took
Monica there, and she got a stain on her dress from spilling
ice cream), Cruisin' Auto Parts, Spotty's (?) Restaurant,
Save On Drugs, the Fontana Indoor Swap Meet, and Western
Bingo.  The Plaza location is announced as "on Sierra Avenue
and Fontana Plaza East."  Opening loop ID includes (over
piano): "At 1610 AM you're tuned to Fontana Plaza Micro
Radio... preset your car radio to 1610 AM... so next time
you're in the area, you can hear the joke of the day,
speaking of which..." into lame Clinton joke about building
homes like Carter did upon leaving office, with
"stonewalls."  Also, the next time you take a trip to the
Plaza (as long as it's not Linda Tripp), etc.  Well, I have
never heard of any of these stores, streets or a Fontana
Plaza in this area.  And indeed a quick check of the maps
for north Pinellas, and phone book for north Pinellas and
south Pasco Counties show nothing.  So, after leaving the
island, I drove around the traffic mess between Alt. US 19
and US 19.  It appears this is coming from, or at least very
near to, the Pelican Car Wash, 31425 US 19 N, Palm Harbor.
In this small strip center (across from Ferman BMW), the
signal peaked (overmodulating).  No signs or visible
antenna, and the cashier and assistant manager were clueless
and quite unfriendly about the inquiry.   Also in the strip
center are a Meineke Brakes & Muffler, a nail and tanning
salon, Quizno's Subs, and an AT&T Wireless reseller (also
installs car alarms, custom audio etc. in several garage
bays).  No clearly marked name for the strip center, but
seems to be Pelican Service Center, judging by the lettering
above the Meineke sign on the building.  So what gives?  I
can only guess that this is one of those micro advertising
transmitters, purchased from someone far away (suspect out
west, based on store and road names), and whoever turned it
on has not bothered to record a new announcement loop yet.
However, someone must have figured out how to tune it up to
1700 kHz, from the apparent former 1610 frequency.  And
activating it on 1700 in this area makes sense, being that
the City of Tarpon Springs TIS on 1610 is loud and clear in
the area.  Signal still there on US 19 at Gulf To Bay, but
pretty much gone southbound US 19 after that.  At home, very
weak traces of it using the Scotka loop, not enough to have
copied it from here, though audible enough to tell it's a
looped recording.  MORE: From Tony Simon, South Florida...
"Did a Lycos search on "Fontana Indoor Swap Meet", found a
website titled "California Swapmeets", and sure enough,
under
"F", found a "Fontana Indoor Swap Meet" at 9773 Sierra
Avenue
in Fontana, which would match the street you heard on the
elusive TIS.
http://www.swapmeets.com/smca1.htm#F
and... Could the 1700 TIS actually originate from Ferman,
perhaps to be put to use as a publicity tool for the already
radio-omnipresent Ferman Automotive group? Lots of car
dealers
have used micros in the past... Just a thought."



Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html


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