A meeting this week will try to strengthen the signals between the city's community radio station and the city.
For two years, CFIS-FM has been attempting to boost its signal up to 600 watts, which would allow it to be heard across the majority of the city. Right now it broadcasts at five watts, from a little transmitter on top of Cedar Towers Apartments across the road from their broadcast centre at Studio 2880.
They hope to erect a 75-foot tower by the city water tank on Carney Hill at a site already designated to the Prince George Amateur Radio Club (ARC), which is partnering with CFIS on the proposal, but they have been hitting roadblocks.
The latest letter from the City of Prince George, signed by Ian Wells, Manager of Real Estate, said that the tower and transmitter could not go to that spot for two reasons. He claimed "Telus currently retains exclusive rights" to the location, and there were also plans for emergency 911 systems to be installed there and there might not be space for the radio tower too, plus "frequency interference" was a concern.
After two years, CFIS operations manager Reg Feyer can't believe these issues are still in play. He said Telus was already openly supportive of ARC's plans. The site is already home to a telephone pole with attached antennae that ARC operates now for amateur radio purposes. Prince George Search and Rescue would also use the tower, when it is built, to enhance its radio communications abilities for training and emergency response.
Furthermore, said Feyer, there was copious open ground to plunk any number of towers on, and "I'm not an expert in this part of radio, but I have been assured by a number of engineers, including from Industry Canada, that there is no chance of interference between our kind of signal and 911's kind of signals. They don't mess each other up."
The compounded problem for the radio station is licensing. They can't buy the bigger transmitter itself, which will take fundraising, until they have a license from the CRTC (Canada's radio regulators) for a larger signal, and they can't even apply for the license until they have the location confirmed.
"We're all getting told 'no, no, it's not me, you have to talk to this other person over here,' over and over again," Feyer said. "I have a meeting on Thursday morning with the mayor, (city manager of Public Safety and Civic Facilities) Rob Whitwham, Frank VanderZande from ARC and our own technical engineer. I hope that will clear a lot of this up, but I am concerned that Telus is not at that meeting and they are a big part of this discussion. We have to end this round-and-round once and for all."
CFIS-FM can be heard at 93.1 on the radio dial, but not in a lot of homes and businesses due to the weak signal. They are best heard on vehicle radios and are also available online.
