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WAZX AM 1550 Back on the Air Testing 2/24/2020

1

1030khz

Checked at 2pm (2/24) and heard WAZX 1550kHz testing with selections of oldies music from the 50s to 80s with occasional automated time check announcements. The signal was strong driving from northern Gwinnett heading through town on I-85 south and peaking just about spaghetti junction with the quick drop off in signal strength starting in downtown and nulled out in the noise south of the airport past I-285. The typical daytime pattern for this station. I did not hear a trace of WAZX going further south on I-85 into Alabama whereas I could still pick up the typical Atlanta 50kW day timers and of course WSB 750.

Is WAZX signing on for another FCC STA silent operation renewal, or showing off for a perspective buyer?

- Harry S
Buford, GA
 
Looks like its license is up for renewal on April 1. I guess testing is a sign it will be renewed.

Why do owners of no-hope AMs like this hold on to them instead of just turning in the license and getting what they can for the equipment? A station that only gets on the air for unscheduled test transmissions isn't making any money, and its owner is still paying the license fee. For what? Hoping that a nostalgia boom kicks in and AM is cool and popular again?
 
1030khz said:
Checked at 2pm (2/24) and heard WAZX 1550kHz testing with selections of oldies music from the 50s to 80s with occasional automated time check announcements. The signal was strong driving from northern Gwinnett heading through town on I-85 south and peaking just about spaghetti junction with the quick drop off in signal strength starting in downtown and nulled out in the noise south of the airport past I-285. The typical daytime pattern for this station. I did not hear a trace of WAZX going further south on I-85 into Alabama whereas I could still pick up the typical Atlanta 50kW day timers and of course WSB 750.

Is WAZX signing on for another FCC STA silent operation renewal, or showing off for a perspective buyer?

- Harry S
Buford, GA
Click to expand...

When 1550 lost it's original site (1990s?), a shopping center in West Cobb that was redeveloped, they went from class B to D. They are protecting stations in Huntsville AL., Augusta GA, and Vienna GA. BTW there use to be a 1550 in Soddy Daisy TN (Chattanooga) too. If everything is working correctly (super wet or super dry soil conditions can mess with a directional site) I 85 south of Atlanta is a not in their coverage:

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WAZX&service=AM&h=D
 
CTListener said:
Looks like its license is up for renewal on April 1. I guess testing is a sign it will be renewed.

Why do owners of no-hope AMs like this hold on to them instead of just turning in the license and getting what they can for the equipment? A station that only gets on the air for unscheduled test transmissions isn't making any money, and its owner is still paying the license fee. For what? Hoping that a nostalgia boom kicks in and AM is cool and popular again?
Click to expand...

Couple ideas:

1) Could they be the originating signal for yet another translator, however they can be shoehorned in?
2) Could they be the basis of a digital-only AM band? Of course, the problem there remains the glacial adoption of HD Radio receivers, and the interference problems at night. A specific digital signal should be able to be plucked out of the air among one groundwave signal and an assortment of skywave signals; the only catch is that the radio has to know which one to pick; it can't just lock on to the strongest one, unless you do away with the class A clears, and even then. http://www.insideradio.com/free/are...cle_6889d412-fc71-11e9-8db0-d3ada915c928.html

Of course, if we were to have a new dedicated digital radio band, my vote would be to convert TV channels 5 and 6 to a 78-88MHz digital-only FM band. But I think that's since been allocated to cellphones or something.
 
Ch 5 and 6 are still allocated for television. With the ongoing television repack, those channels will be getting more occupants, mostly moving down from UHF.
 
On Air All Last Night

Adding to the cacophony that already exists on 1550.
Its good to run a transmitter every so often so the tubes won't gas up. Believe they have an MW50 which has tubes.
But that north Atlanta area is a market to itself. Its a highly lucrative area. Just google the homes in that area. No section 8 there.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Ch 5 and 6 are still allocated for television. With the ongoing television repack, those channels will be getting more occupants, mostly moving down from UHF.
Click to expand...

I thought that channels 2-6 were generally deemed unsuitable for DTV? You can use them for DTV, but the results aren't the best compared to UHF or High VHF (7-13).
 
Channels 2-6 are the low rent district of the TV spectrum. However, a handful of stations have taken the money in the spectrum auction to move down there. I’m guessing they figure most of their viewers get them on cable and satellite in the first place.
 
Assuming the FCC doesn’t assign both channel 2 and 3 in the same market one of these channels should be availed. The old Channel 2 + 3 analog signals are 6 Mhz wide. CDs have a sample rate of 44.1 KHZ. In theory 136 “CD” channels could fit in 6Mhz channel using the CD compression scheme. The “problem” with the lower Channels they don’t perform as well UHF or high VHF channels carrying DTV signals. There are digital compression schemes that work in crappy RF situations. There are FM transmitters and receivers that can work in narrow channels. So the 6Mhz could be broke into 50 Khz slots yielding 120 channels excluding IF issues could be doable. That’s assuming every station has their own transmitter tower etc.

IMHO a better answer is for a “community” signal that is assigned to an market where the participating stations build and share one market covering signal with everybody’s programing on it.
 
WAZX AM 1550 is back yet again at Noon on Sunday (3/1) for more testing with the same type of musical selections. Call sign announcements only at the top of the hour.

- Harry S.
Buford, GA
 
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