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99 X Is Back

Odd...I asked Alexa to play 99X and got some other 99X with a morning zoo style show and a rhythmic/hispanic music mix.

However, when I asked Alexa to play "99x Atlanta" or "Rock 100.5", I got the 99X stream.
When I ask her to play a lot of stations such as Channel 96.3 Wichita she plays X96.3 in New York City she doesn't listen.
 
Perhaps it's just random bloviating on the radio from Barnes but he did make a comment that they were getting a better antenna? Can they continue at the same height and power but have a slightly better signal with a new antenna? Didn't think that is how it all worked but was curious. Even at 13K watts, I've always felt the 100.5 signal was pretty impressive.
 
We haven’t talked about this in awhile but I can only assume W255CJ and WWWQ HD2 will flip to something else soon. I can’t imagine they keep simulcasting 99X on three overlapping signals. Any thoughts on what will go here?
 
Perhaps it's just random bloviating on the radio from Barnes but he did make a comment that they were getting a better antenna? Can they continue at the same height and power but have a slightly better signal with a new antenna? Didn't think that is how it all worked but was curious. Even at 13K watts, I've always felt the 100.5 signal was pretty impressive.

Given it was on fire, it probably was in disrepair for awhile or needed to be replaced. A new antenna can solve some problems caused by the bad antenna.

An antenna can literally make all the difference in some areas. Once a station I can think of installed an antenna wrong when they went to another tower. Was faulty. Lost large parts of the coverage area they were trying to improve. Replaced it with a new antenna and the signal in these areas was fixed. They were not thrilled to say the least.
 
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Perhaps it's just random bloviating on the radio from Barnes but he did make a comment that they were getting a better antenna? Can they continue at the same height and power but have a slightly better signal with a new antenna? Didn't think that is how it all worked but was curious. Even at 13K watts, I've always felt the 100.5 signal was pretty impressive.
The challenge will be continuing to protect WSSL in the SC upstate.
 
I know of a class A station in the Midwest that replaced its antenna in early 2022, and after the replacement, sound quality and reception were significantly improved in what had been "fringe" reception areas (30+ miles from the TX site).
 
Perhaps it's just random bloviating on the radio from Barnes but he did make a comment that they were getting a better antenna? Can they continue at the same height and power but have a slightly better signal with a new antenna? Didn't think that is how it all worked but was curious. Even at 13K watts, I've always felt the 100.5 signal was pretty impressive.
WNNX has a competitive signal over the great majority of the Atlanta metro population. The class C's go farther, but the additional population is comparatively small.

They say that everything is relative. In the Baltimore/Washington area, where I'm from, there are no class C's, and the biggest class B's have signals similar to WNNX, which has 13.5KW at 963 feet. There are some 50KW stations, but their HAAT is generally around 400-500 feet. Radio people in that region do not think of the stations as having small signals.
 
WNNX has a competitive signal over the great majority of the Atlanta metro population. The class C's go farther, but the additional population is comparatively small.

They say that everything is relative. In the Baltimore/Washington area, where I'm from, there are no class C's, and the biggest class B's have signals similar to WNNX, which has 13.5KW at 963 feet. There are some 50KW stations, but their HAAT is generally around 400-500 feet. Radio people in that region do not think of the stations as having small signals.
I’ve always wondered what radio folks from that area must think when they come here to the land of Class C’s for the first time. They must think the signal goes on forever.
 
I know of a class A station in the Midwest that replaced its antenna in early 2022, and after the replacement, sound quality and reception were significantly improved in what had been "fringe" reception areas (30+ miles from the TX site).

WLUM in Milwaukee about 17 years ago went to another tower, and reduced power so it could go Non-Directional. The people they hired to install the antenna did it wrong. Some areas lost it completely, in the city grade there was multipath. Two years later they replaced it and the signal was better than ever. About 2 years ago during or after the repack, something went wrong with the station. It was off the air for an entire day, and when it returned it was never the same. They don't have many engineers around anymore. Contract guys at best. Back then most clusters had their own engineers.
 
I’ve always wondered what radio folks from that area must think when they come here to the land of Class C’s for the first time. They must think the signal goes on forever.
Most of the country is the land of the class C's. The exceptions are southern California and the Northeast. Supposedly, NBC and CBS wanted to protect their 50,000-watt AM's in New York and Los Angeles, and therefore wanted FM to fail. So they were able to influence the FCC to limit FM power in those areas. (At least, that's the story I read.)

In the 60's, though restricted to class B's, Los Angeles FM's were able to get around the power restriction by moving to Mount Wilson, which gave them incredible height and huge signals. KRTH-FM, for example, is 51KW and around 3,000 feet HAAT.

If Scott Fybush reads this, he can embellish/correct what I wrote.
 
Most of the country is the land of the class C's. The exceptions are southern California and the Northeast. Supposedly, NBC and CBS wanted to protect their 50,000-watt AM's in New York and Los Angeles, and therefore wanted FM to fail. So they were able to influence the FCC to limit FM power in those areas. (At least, that's the story I read.)

In the 60's, though restricted to class B's, Los Angeles FM's were able to get around the power restriction by moving to Mount Wilson, which gave them incredible height and huge signals. KRTH-FM, for example, is 51KW and around 3,000 feet HAAT.

If Scott Fybush reads this, he can embellish/correct what I wrote.
By the Northeast, you mean East of the Mississippi River and North of the Ohio River correct?
 
I don't know about protecting WSSL. Many mornings, here in Loganville, WSSL either stomps all over WNNX or it's an unlistenable mix of "Whistle Rock".
 
I don't know about protecting WSSL. Many mornings, here in Loganville, WSSL either stomps all over WNNX or it's an unlistenable mix of "Whistle Rock".
Agree. I’m in Loganville as well. Totally depends on how heavy the tropo is that morning. On heavy tropo days, WSSL covers up WNNX until I travel west just past Stone Mountain. Since the antenna fire, I hear WSSL try to creep in all day long.
 
Any experienced FM engineer will tell you that no matter how much planning goes into the design of the antenna, you never know how the signal will propagate until you light it up. The science that goes into the design is very precise, but results aren't. The antenna itself is only part of the equation. If it is mounted to the side of the tower the pattern can vary wildly depending on exactly where it is mounted. Move it up or down the tower or tilt it or rotate it a little and you can get very different results.
 
Any experienced FM engineer will tell you that no matter how much planning goes into the design of the antenna, you never know how the signal will propagate until you light it up. The science that goes into the design is very precise, but results aren't. The antenna itself is only part of the equation. If it is mounted to the side of the tower the pattern can vary wildly depending on exactly where it is mounted. Move it up or down the tower or tilt it or rotate it a little and you can get very different results.
When I was relocating my first FM to a higher location at about 3000 feet above its market and at about 13,000 feet AMSL, it was a one hour drive up the mountain on a gravel road with multiple 350° flashback turns. I'd drive up, adjust the beam tilt, dive down and drive around the city taking notes. The next day I would repeat it.

I could not do the work at night, as the access road had no lighting, no fencing, and if it rained you had to stop and sit and wait for it to be over and drained.

Every tiny adjustment to the antenna could make major differences in coverage of different populated areas, so I did that process a dozen times or more. All I can compare it with is when you go for new glasses and they do the "is this better or this one" over and over.
 
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