"I can listen to 'KTI on my computer at work, but cannot get the station clearly when driving around town. How come?"
All broadcasting stations (radio or TV) have a licence to broadcast on a specific frequency, with a specific power (for FM, height of tower and power output). WKTI, like other Milwaukee stations has a class "B" license. Our tower is behind Radio City on Capitol Drive, so our signal originates here. A good example of our coverage map would look like this:
If we broadcast with a higher power output, we would interfere with stations not only in the Fox Valley, but in Chicago. The same is true for stations in those areas - they would interfere with our signal if they were allowed to crank-up their power.
The red circle is our heaviest signal area. You could probably pick us up without an antenna. Extending to the purple circle is where you would need some sort of antenna - a wire or whip. You might also have interference by buildings and/or hills & valleys. The Blue circle is our complete coverage area. In the outer circle, you would need a solid antenna - like a whip on your car - to tune and there would be some static.
BTW: The portion of our signal that goes over Lake Michigan - engineers call that 'feeding the fish."
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