PRESS RELEASE — Tuesday, May 4, 2010
For Information Call Anne Peterson at 208-373-7368
or Bob Evancho at 373-7369
IdahoPTV Anticipates Salmon Translator To Be Operating Within Two Weeks
Idaho Public Television engineers are working to repair and reinstall needed parts to put the translator on Mt. Baldy outside Salmon back into operation.
Rich Van Genderen, director of technology for IdahoPTV, says the translator, which has been out of commission for approximately four weeks, first became inoperative after a spring storm swept the area. The resulting snow barred access to the mountain until April 27, leaving the Salmon area without an IdahoPTV signal.
“Because the microwave receiver was not working, the part was brought back to Boise for parts and repair,” Van Genderen says. “But the problem has turned out to be at the microwave transmitter site on Grouse Peak outside of Challis.”
Engineers anticipate returning to reinstall the newly serviced receiver to Baldy and then travel to Grouse Peak to repair the microwave transmitter by May 15.
“IdahoPTV certainly appreciates the patience of the great viewers in the Salmon area, and we apologize that this has been such a long outage,” Van Genderen says. “Travel into high mountain sites without ‘application specific’ vehicles, such as Snow Cats, has always been somewhat of a gamble. Sometimes it can take a while for site conditions to stabilize enough to allow safe access.
“The need for safety, coupled with limited financial resources force us at times to take much longer to get mountain access than we would prefer. We don’t like this situation any more than the viewers do.”