WCCM's W287CW Is On The Air

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Costa-Eagle's translator for 15-70's WCCM ("Galaxia"), 105.3-W287CW Methuen (but xmtr is in Medford), is on the air (PDF link).
Not sure when they came on, but I first noted them a little after 5pm.

 

[raccoonradio]

Originally xmtr to be in Lynn...

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Very directional toward the north, nulled to the south. Protecting all the 105.3 pirates in Boston.

 

[raccoonradio]

A link to a map showing the transmitter co-ordinates on radio-locator had seemed to show the Lynn site for WLYN just off Rt 107 nr Saugus River, though this says Medford.
1570 had been Beverly's WMLO/WBVD/WNSH but COL relocated to Methuen.

Had been scanning the dial the other day and 105.3 from NH-ME seacoast (COL Kittery) seemed weak; maybe this translator was testing and thus interfering.

 

[Gregg.]

Didn't WCCM have a translator on 98.9? Or maybe that never made it to the air.

And is the station Spanish Hits or is it Portuguese, aimed at the Brazilian community?

 

[jlehmann]

Didn't WCCM have a translator on 98.9? Or maybe that never made it to the air.

98.9 is the translator for 1110 WMVX, which previously held the WCCM calls.

 

[raccoonradio]

Radio-locator does list different co-ordinates now for the translator, posting it as being off Girard Rd in Medford.It still lists it as W237BF which were the calls when it was at 95.3 in Middlebury VT.The coverage map does show it pushing north and a null to the south.
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=W237BF-FX&s=C

95.3 is channel 237 while 105.3 is channel 287, thus its inclusion in the current calls

 

[Deleted User]

Radio-locator does list different co-ordinates now for the translator, posting it as being off Girard Rd in Medford.It still lists it as W237BF which were the calls when it was at 95.3 in Middlebury VT.The coverage map does show it pushing north and a null to the south.
https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=W237BF-FX&s=C

95.3 is channel 237 while 105.3 is channel 287, thus its inclusion in the current calls

It appears to be on the old WFNX 101.7 tower..... there was a TV station up there a long time ago, I forget which one at the moment

 

[jlehmann]

It appears to be on the old WFNX 101.7 tower..... there was a TV station up there a long time ago, I forget which one at the moment

Which is also once again the 101.7 WBWL tower, since they moved back there after the downgrades of 101.5/101.9 and upgrade of 101.7 to a class B1.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I checked 105.3 and heard the translator today. It has a lot of multipath distortion here "in the null".

 

[Gregg.]

So WCCM 1570 & 105.3 is Spanish Contemporary? At one time, it was Portuguese.

At 44,000 watts by day, non-directional, 1570 does have a good signal, although that drops to 140 watts at night to protect Mexican clear-channel XERF Ciudad Acuña, which may or may not be on AM anymore.

In a separate post, I speculated that the only Portuguese language station left in the Boston area is 650 WSRO, aimed primarily at the Brazilian community, no longer at immigrants from Portugal.

 

[davideduardo]

At 44,000 watts by day, non-directional, 1570 does have a good signal, although that drops to 140 watts at night to protect Mexican clear-channel XERF Ciudad Acuña, which may or may not be on AM anymore.

The Mexican migration to FM required some operators to continue to run their AM stations in a simulcast with the FM in such cases as where the AM covered areas that FM can not reach.

XERF, at 100 kw, and as a federal government entity (IMER) owned station, did provide such coverage and must continue on AM until such time as new services provide coverage to the outlying areas. This is sort of the same as the case of XEWA-540, which also "moved" to FM, only to be told to keep the AM running, too.

 

[cyberdad]

The Mexican migration to FM required some operators to continue to run their AM stations in a simulcast with the FM in such cases as where the AM covered areas that FM can not reach.

XERF, at 100 kw, and as a federal government entity (IMER) owned station, did provide such coverage and must continue on AM until such time as new services provide coverage to the outlying areas.

As of my last trip to the Gulf coast area (in October) XERF was still operating. It's been years since their days as a "border blaster" regular at my location near Chicago. But their night signal where I was on the Louisiana and Mississippi coast is still quite good. I think it was you, David, that mentioned in the DX forum that they may only be running 30KW these days. That's very plausible given my experience with their signal in my travels.