In the upper 80s heat my program started skipping and having dropouts. At first I thought someone sent me bad mp3 files, but then I discovered the browser was parked on a newspaper's website, the kind that is overloaded with animated ads, videos, and other scripts pushing the limits of CPU memory. It was causing my stream to skip.
After that was repaired I went out to fiddle with greenery, listening to KDX on the Grundig Fr-200. Music played , got quiet, and became totally silent... for a long time... nothing on the air.
Inside I found the computer screen had no programs running. Everything was shut down. There had been a power outage and I got re-booted.
Not weather realated that we know of.
At 7:15 PM CDT an aggressive lightning storm asserted itself into the area causing the decision to disconnect from the air and web.
About 2 loud strikes nearby but the storm quickly subsided and dissolved.
At 7:55 PM CDT KDX Worldround Radio returned to operation and is now running calmly.
Radio stations that are demolished by bad weather are unable to file reports in this thread.
About 9:30 PM CDT a second storm arrived, starting with a quick power "brown-out," and the lightning map was showing very wide-spread lightning in the entire region, so we cut power for the night and went to stand-by mode.
Stand-by mode means the operator went to sleep after muttering the words, "To hell with it."
During the 4 AM CDT hour KDX returned to the air for testing, following last night's storm shutdown. All was quiet until 5:30 AM when the first hint of dawn brought storms and rain, which are forecast to come and go throughout the day.
Not far away, right across the Mississippi Drink, 25,000 Illinoians are without power due to downed trees and power lines.
Now at 8:30 AM KDX is on the air again, but traces of thunder may account for the booming sounds off in the distance, so we are set for another shutdown, making the most off and ons in a two-day period.
Got some real good reading done during the heavy rain. Bertrand Russell. Check him out.
Previous weather forecast called for about 20% chance of rain no big deal.
So, I check the late afternoon weather report and...HUH?
ENTIRE AREA IS UNDER TORNADO WATCH!!
NORTH OF HERE UP NEAR QUINCY UNDER TORNADO WARNING!!
Will we have to wear shoes? Shirts? Pack for move to shelter?
This 6th World Extinction Event takes itself way too seriously.
8:30 PM CDT Sunday Night the Air Raid Sirens sounded as funnel cloud action was seen on radar heading directly toward the Internet Building here in the Center of North America.
The sirens sounded again, up to five times, and that was enough to spook the weather which rushed as far from those loud sirens as possible, which was Illinois.
About 9:30 PM CDT Sunday Night KDX returned to full operation, transmitting on AM 1670 and 3-Streams Online.
All clear.
Thank BoB!
is my witness
A 20% chance storm is happening all around with lightning pop festival, but I'm risking my computer streams because we're right in the middle Of "Carnegie Hall Live," a program we're authorized to carry at the designated time, so I will continue to carry it unless an act of BoB knocks me down.
For safety the AMT5000 is disconnected because its ground radials extend outdoors and make attractive lightning attractors (attractive attractors). The ground and AC power are disconnected from sensitive equipment.
To be able to listen to the program on a radio I am connected to my stream by Flash Audio and feeding it to my editing transmitter, Wholehoise 2.0 on 101.5 MHz.
This has become a daily storm corridor and I'm this close to calling the mayor to see what can be done.
Have you considered battery power?
Just the other day I ran the idea of a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) through the brain, but there are confusions over how actually much safer that would be.
There would still be a connection with the cable for internet, a possible path of lightning terror.
And the AMT5000 still has outdoor exposure through ground radials.
When push comes to backing up KDX doesn't need to stay on during violent weather, except maybe those times that are contracted with producers...
I'm not declining the idea of batteries, just not sure of the increase to safety that would bring.
Right now my policy is confusion.
Storm is bearing down on this part of the midwaste with concussive and percussive bangings and flashings.
It's only just past dark so I have scouted the locations of emergency lights and prepared to move below for guard duty on the broken washing machine, the only surface available.
Determined to fulfill my agreement to carry the Santa Fe Chamber Music Concert I am pressing ahead at great risk to the electronics, but some things in life are more important than some things. Two different sets of some.
Hmmm, the banging is getting farther away, the static on the MW band seems to be less.
We might not need to shut down after all.
But panic must remain alert because fun can turn serious at the snap of an imaginary finger in space, where gods lurk.
Well, in the time it took to write this message the emergency is now downgraded to "departing storm."
We return you to regular stuff.
It was Sunday evening, July 19, 2015, the Mischke Roadshow had run on KDX Worldround Radio and the new Blare OnAir Show titled "U the 1" was about 14-minutes into the program, when a decisiojn was made to shut the station down and disconnect all wiring from contact with the outside world.
We had been watching the actual sky and the LIGHTNING MAP website, which showed lightning strikes getting closer and closer. The deciding event was a volley of loud bangs within less than a mile.
Of course with the system turned off there was no more LIGHTNING MAP, so all I had was visual and audio senses from the windows.
Silence. A lot of silence. By 9:52 PM CDT KDX was returned to streaming and airing as the storm had shut up.
All night broadcasting went well but about 9:15 AM CDT we were back on the LIGHTNING MAP watching a pop-corn show as lightning was parading along a narrow path uncomfortably close to the north while we listened to thunder from here in the Internet Building.
We held firm and the storm crossed the river into Illinois.
At 3 PM CDT it got dark but was still very dry, so I set up my Sangean U1 Yard Radio tuned to KDX and cut the grass using our German Brill manual mower.
At 4 PM thunder started and by 4:03 I was signed off and disconnecting wires to the outside. A severe wind blast caused a neighbors tree to crash in his yard.
A continuing rain was joined by thunder until quiet resumed after 5:30 PM.
I noticed a signal on my FM channel at 89.5, and a louder clearer version of the same signal at 89.7, which called itself WBGL. It was not listed on my chart of nearby stations on or adjacent to my frequency.
Returning to the air at 6:03 PM, a visit to radio-locator.com showed WBGL as a 4.3 kW station in Gulfport Mississippi, 2.5 states south on 91.7 MHz.
The only explanation for hearing it on 89.5 and 89.7 would be translators, but until I can verify it, it becomes a DX mystery for now.
The Lightning Map showed that a couple of bangs were very nearby so I started the shutdown procedure, but then all went quiet so I am running on standby alert, keeping the streams going.
I did close the AMT5000 because I like to detach the ground radial that extends outdoors and would be a serious lightning target.
Now on KDX-FM from the indoor transmitter site.