Lufkin, Texas-based community radio stations KSWP and KAVX are suitably proud of their new Nautel transmitters. They decided to replace the old transmitters after years of patching up their previous transmitters. Tim Swanson, the stations’ chief engineer, explained the reasoning: “We had never used Nautel equipment before, but when we started having significant problems with our old transmitter, our radio engineering firm Broadcast Works spent many hours contorted into weird positions trying to diagnose the issue. Their engineer Hank would say, ‘You need to drive a new Nautel under this!’”
After a funding drive with their listeners, the Lufkin Educational Broadcasting Foundation, which manages the stations, ordered an NV20LT and an NV30LTN.
Clear differences
Swanson noted clear differences between the previous and new transmitters, “We love how quiet our Nautels are! I can actually talk to someone on the cellphone without going outside the building! And they run so much cooler than the old units.”
Swanson adds, “Our assistant engineer Stephanie Moree and I are both really happy with the transmitters. I like that I can lose an IPA module and stay at full power, and module replacement looks incredibly easy. It’s so exciting to see these upgrades become a reality. Thanks to our generous donors, we now have the most reliable signal since we signed on more than 35 years ago.”