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WVOX (1460 AM) Translator

B

Barry

The Westchester County station filed with the F.C.C. that its recently licensed translator, on 98.3 FM has recently "resumed operations." The 15 watt transmitter is said to be located on the WFAS-AM tower in Hartsdale NY, broadcasting directionally to the northwest.
Does anyone know whether it's actually on the air?
 
The silent STA for W252DX 98.3

Please be advised that W252DX, Facility ID # (201735) at White Plains, NY went silent on January 8, 2022. The coverage of the facility is not as expected and a new antenna will be designed and will be ordered for this site. Therefore, a 180 day period is respectfully requested to remain silent to allow sufficient time to complete this project. Attached please find an Anti Drug Abuse Certification as executed by the licensee.

Sincerely, Bud Williamson
Technical Consultant to WVOX
 
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Thanks, Nick.
It's interesting that WVOX is located in southern Westchester County, yet the translator is situated to the north, and will beam its signal northwest. That's probably to avoid interfering with WKJY 98.3. But most listeners in the area covered by WVOX will apparently not be able to receive the translator signal.
 
What about W252CS which is supposed to be translating an HD subchannel of WVOX's sister station, WVIP? They got approval to move that one from Brooklyn to Palisades Park, NJ back in August but it's not on the air in that area.
 
As luperm said above, "Seems like a waste of electricity..."
You really need to be almost in the shadow of the WFAS Hartsdale tower to hear this tiny signal on 98.3. When I saw it was back on the air a couple weeks ago, I was curious.
Co-channel WKJY from Hempstead, NY can be easily received nearby, but when I got close enough, W252DX blotted out K-JOY, with a silent carrier. So while the translator is technically "on", when I heard it yesterday afternoon and early this morning post-midnight, it was carrier only; no audio.
This facility has spent much more time off the air, than on. After being silent/off-the-air since last January 8th, it had to get back on by 12:01 AM January 9, 2023, or face forced expiration the translator's license. It's license renewal (expiration was 6/1/22) is still pending FCC approval.
If they renew this, they'll renew anything.
 
Ex-RadioTV said:
As luperm said above, "Seems like a waste of electricity..."
You really need to be almost in the shadow of the WFAS Hartsdale tower to hear this tiny signal on 98.3. When I saw it was back on the air a couple weeks ago, I was curious.
Co-channel WKJY from Hempstead, NY can be easily received nearby, but when I got close enough, W252DX blotted out K-JOY, with a silent carrier. So while the translator is technically "on", when I heard it yesterday afternoon and early this morning post-midnight, it was carrier only; no audio.
This facility has spent much more time off the air, than on. After being silent/off-the-air since last January 8th, it had to get back on by 12:01 AM January 9, 2023, or face forced expiration the translator's license. It's license renewal (expiration was 6/1/22) is still pending FCC approval.
If they renew this, they'll renew anything.
Click to expand...
A filing with the F.C.C. stated that they are working on improving the translator's signal. This includes ordering a new antenna for it. Since the one year anniversary of their original STA was in early January, they resumed transmitting a signal, temporarily using the old antenna.
It also explained there were delays due to work that had been done to the tower, including the installation of a new base insulator.
Late this week, I did hear the signal, about 8 miles north of the tower. It may have extended further.
I wonder if the fact that the signal is not beamed in the direction of the primary area covered by WVOX is an indication there may be a format change from their current community talk format, once they start simulcasting on FM.
 
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Good info, Barry. At least you heard some programming there.
I’m skeptical about the stated work on the WFAS tower. If the base Insulator was replaced in in 2022, I’d have expected to see something filed by Cumulus. The last tower work that was reported to the FCC was in mid-2021, making adjustments to the skirting on the tower ahead of the digital operation. That was followed by the filing for direct measurement, which was granted in October 2021. It’s been quiet since.
 
I was in that area today. The translator appears to be on with some dead air. I was able to see the tower and it was getting stepped on by WKJY.
 
15 watts is good for like 3 miles max.
Electricity use like 1 kilowatt-hour almost every 3 days,
one kilowatt-hour in NY is like 25-30 cents.
 
What's really pathetic in Westchester County is the 1 watt translator for WLNA 1420 AM on 94.3 FM, in the Peekskill area. Not only does the translator have a very limited range, WLNA is highly directional. It rebroadcasts WBPM, in Saugerties NY
So the translator is a rebroadcast of a rebroadcast.
 
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I heard WVOX AM on this translator, for the first time. There was no mention of it on the TOH ID, so probably considered to be testing.
 
Translators are only required to ID themselves at 3 pre-defined times per the FCC... once between 7 & 9 AM, once between 12:55 PM and 1:05 PM, and once between 4 & 6PM OR in morse code once per hour. As has been discussed, most translators, especially those tied to an AM Primary, use the the FM as their main source of promotion and branding even in cases where the footprint may be smaller than that of the AM Primary. With so many of them shoe-horned in, its become increasingly difficult to discern which is which mainly when you cannot keep up with what station is relaying on any given day.
 
Barry said:
What I meant is that WVOX 1460 AM did not mention the translator when it gave its station ID.
Click to expand...
The problem is that the 98.3 translator does not cover any of the Sound Shore area (primarily New Rochelle) which is the focus of WVOX.
 
Radi0411 said:
Translators are only required to ID themselves at 3 pre-defined times per the FCC... once between 7 & 9 AM, once between 12:55 PM and 1:05 PM, and once between 4 & 6PM OR in morse code once per hour. As has been discussed, most translators, especially those tied to an AM Primary, use the the FM as their main source of promotion and branding even in cases where the footprint may be smaller than that of the AM Primary. With so many of them shoe-horned in, its become increasingly difficult to discern which is which mainly when you cannot keep up with what station is relaying on any given day.
Click to expand...
luperm said:
The problem is that the 98.3 translator does not cover any of the Sound Shore area (primarily New Rochelle) which is the focus of WVOX.
Click to expand...

Who said tis a problem? maybe they wanna cover a little beyond what the AM might focus on. Its legal.

also translators dont even have to oralyl id, they can id via fsk ,frequency shift keying, which is inaudible to the human ear and msot modern translators have the abuility built right in, stock from the transmitter
 
luperm said:
The problem is that the 98.3 translator does not cover any of the Sound Shore area (primarily New Rochelle) which is the focus of WVOX.
Click to expand...

It's a "problem" that stations have little to no control over as far as spacing and contours are concerned. I'm certain if they could have acquired "ideal" coverage on their 98.3 translator they would, but the problem is that any other station on the same frequency (WKJY) and other recent translators all have to "play nice" and in a perfect world, not interfere with one another (same goes for 1st and 2nd adjacents too in many case). Does that happen realistically? Rarely. Things tend to present better on paper than in reality as far as coverage and interference are concerned. In this case, New Rochelle is too close for WVOX to hit with the 98.3 translator due to WKJY protections which is why they only have 15 watts and a directional signal beamed North essentially. From their perspective, 15 watts on FM is better than 0 right? This is a clear case of what spacing permitted for that channel and they are probably lucky they got even that based on spectrum congestion in the NYC-metro. On the flip side, I'm sure the people in Dobbs Ferry, Hartsdale and Tarrytown are pleased with the alternate means of listening if they enjoy WVOX programming.
 
Perhaps once the translator is completely set up, WVOX will tweak/change its format to become less focused on southern Westchester County. Otherwise it seems rather pointless to operate a translator beamed toward central Westchester County (unless the owners are considering selling the station).
 
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