KTUH to Resume Broadcasting on August 16

KTUH, the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa radio station, plans to resume broadcasting at 6 a.m., Thursday, August 16.

The FM station originally was planning to go back on the air on Monday, August 13, but is unable to do so because its new Shively antenna was damaged in shipment, and KTUH must await four replacement parts from the manufacturer in Bridgton, Maine.

The damage was not discovered until Wednesday, August 8, when Ross Putnam, the antenna contractor, noticed that two inner connectors, about 1/4-inch in diameter and 1 1/2-inch in length, had been bent, as had their sleeves. Even slight damage to the small connectors affects the antenna‘s performance.

KTUH, the University of Hawaiʻi‘s FM radio station, is putting up the new tower and antenna to increase the station's power from 100 watts to 3,000. The $68,000 project has taken 13 years to complete and is being funded entirely by student fees and community donations.

The project, which started July 30, coincides with the station's celebration of 33 years of all-live broadcasting from the Manoa campus (90.3) and repeater sites at Mt. Kaʻala (91.3 North Shore) and Leahi Hospital (89.7 Hawai‘i Kai).

During the three week recess, Ross Putnam and his crew from Putnam Installation Company Inc. will have removed KTUH's original tower and antenna, installed new anchors for guy wires, plus a new 90-foot tower and a 4-bay antenna that will boost a 2,000 watt signal by 1,000 watts. KTUH Chief Engineer Dale Machado will be installing a 2,000-watt transmitter in a sixth floor room of the Social Sciences Building.

With the power increase, the station expects to reach a substantially larger audience with programming that is produced by student volunteers, who call the station Hawaiʻi‘s Only Alternative.