UPDATE: Tuesday, July 9 - HPPR Connect 94.9 in Amarillo is back on the air! Thanks again for your patience!
And don't forget, you can always stream HPPR Connect or HPPR at hppr.org.
UPDATE: Tuesday, July 9 - Engineers are working with the manufacturer, Gates Air to get the configuration settings for the HD importer, which will hopefully get HPPR Connect back on the air today. In the meantime, you can stream HPPR connect at hppr.org.
HPPR Connect at 94.9 FM in Amarillo has been off the air since early Friday, July 5 due to a complicated series of hardware and software issues. The problem began with a commercial power outage that shut down the transmission equipment.
When power was restored and the equipment attempted a restart, a software error occurred that is preventing the equipment from restarting. There may also be damage to the computer hardware within the transmission equipment from the power outage.
The whole situation has proven difficult to troubleshoot and resolve. The repair work has also been complicated by the lack of availability of technical support over the 4th of July weekend by the manufacturer. Our Amarillo and Garden City engineers are currently working with the manufacturer to fix the problem. We hope that Connect at 94.9 FM will be back on the air today, Tuesday, July 9. In the meantime, remember that you can access Connect via your laptop or phone at hppr.org. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
For those of you who are more technically inclined and interested, the HPPR Connect signal at 94.9 comes from an FM translator station located atop the Chase Tower in downtown Amarillo. This translator receives the Connect programming via off-air reception of KJJP’s 105.7 FM HD2 signal (If you have an HD radio you can also listen to Connect on KJJP’s HD 2 signal).
It was the KJJP transmission site at Channel 10 that lost commercial power. And it’s the KJJP HD transmitter that is having the software and hardware issues. The problem specifically is the “exporter” of the HD transmitter. It is unable to run the software programs necessary for a reboot and the solid-state hard drive in the exporter could have been damaged by the power outage and may need to be replaced. There may also be software licensing codes to update. All of this now involves working with the manufacturer of the equipment, Gates Air (formerly Harris).
If you have questions about HPPR’s Amarillo transmission operations, please contact Chuck Springer, HPPR’s chief engineer at engineer@hppr.org.
After the system tried to reboot, it was unable to run some of the programs that produces the HD signal, which is normally picked up by a receiver at 94.9 and rebroadcasts HPPR Connect’s programming.
It is believed that the issue is with the HD importer so the Amarillo engineer is following up with Gates Air, the manufacturer) today, Monday, July 8, to correct the issue.
We are hopeful that the signal will be restored sometime today. In the meantime, you can stream 94.9 Connect at hppr.org.
We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.
