ANALOG VS. IBOC-WMVN 101.1 East St. Louis, IL

 

Frequency      Before IBOC Activation                                 After IBOC Activation

100.8 MHz       Very minor sidebands from WMVN/KFNS-FM   IBOC sidebands from WMVN

100.9 MHz       Primarily KTUI-FM Sullivan, MO                       Wiped out by IBOC sidebands from WMVN

101.0 MHz       Analog sidebands from WMVN                         Analog/digital sidebands from WMVN

101.1 MHz       Center frequency                                             Center frequency

101.2 MHz       Analog sidebands from WMVN                         Analog/digital sidebands from WMVN

101.3 MHz       Primarily KTXR Springfield, MO                        Wiped out by IBOC sidebands from WMVN

101.4 MHz       Very minor sidebands from WMVN                   IBOC sidebands from WMVN

 

As is the case with WIL, this illustrates the fact that WMVN’s IBOC operation wipes out 600 kHz of spectrum space. By contrast, analog takes up less than 200 kHz of space, and produces superior audio quality over IBOC. The audio quality of WMVN (known as “Movin’ 101.1”) was already CD-quality before they made the illogical step of switching to a spectrally inefficient technology that has no technical integrity. In the case of WMVN, there is a semi-local station on 100.7 MHz. Pointing the antenna toward WMVN’s transmitter site, signals on 100.7 MHz, dominated by KFNS-FM Troy, MO, are practically unlistenable. This was measured at Hazelwood, MO using a modified Kenwood AR-304 AM/FM/FM Stereo receiver with a selectivity modification by Dr. Bruce Elving at FM Atlas, with an Antenna Performance Specialties APS-9B nine-element FM yagi antenna at 26 feet (7.9 meters) above ground level.