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WGN 720 Files To Correct Coordinates

S

Schroedingers Cat

WGN 720 has applied to correct coordinates, by less than one second. Is this a clue that they still plan to stay at the site, to know exactly where the tower is, to better plan and survey for a dual use of the site as before? The only diplex I can see working there is with WLS. WSCR and WBBM are too close, at 50 kHz and 60 kHz. 570 and 630 in Washington, DC (WWRC and WSBN this week) were only able to diplex because 60 kHz was less than approximately 10% of the frequencies, according to the late Glen Clark, who as Staff Engineer at WLS worked on the tower relocation (to Addison, near Grace and Fullerton) research circa 1975. It never happened. WENR and WLS shared 890 kHz from a tower in Downers Grove, a few miles South of the old WCFL/WMVP 1000 kHz site, before moving to the border of Mokena and Tinley Park.

Even then, they'd have to use some type of skirting to make the electrical height of the radiator for WLS less than the 241 degrees it would be using the actual WGN tower.
 
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Schroedingers Cat said:
WGN 720 has applied to correct coordinates, by less than one second. Is this a clue that they still plan to stay at the site, to know exactly where the tower is, to better plan and survey for a dual use of the site as before? The only diplex I can see working there is with WLS. WSCR and WBBM are too close, at 50 kHz and 60 kHz. 570 and 630 in Washington, DC (WWRC and WSBN this week) were only able to diplex because 60 kHz was less than approximately 10% of the frequencies, according to the late Glen Clark, who as Staff Engineer at WLS worked on the tower relocation (to Addison, near Grace and Fullerton) research circa 1975. It never happened. WENR and WLS shared 890 kHz from a tower in Downers Grove, a few miles South of the old WCFL/WMVP 1000 kHz site, before moving to the border of Mokena and Tinley Park.

Even then, they'd have to use some type of skirting to make the electrical height of the radiator for WLS less than the 241 degrees it would be using the actual WGN tower.
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In past discussions on a possible diplexing partner for WGN, I've overlooked the WXES 1110 AM site. The tower is 493 Ft tall. While shorter than the legacy WGN tower at 740 Ft, it's still a reasonable height for 720 kHz in todays world where any vertical structure is good enough to load up to keep the license active. It's a far better choice than what WSCR and WBBM are getting from the WYLL site in Deplanes where the two unused towers are way shorter at 220 Ft.

I'm assuming the WXES tower was the original WMBI AM tower from years ago with an insulator at the base that had the FM antenna added to the top at the beginning of WMBI FM. Only about 2 miles SE of the current WGN Site. Wouldn't affect local and regional coverage all that much.

Then there's the example of KFI 640 kHz in Los Angeles that had warehouse buildings built on its transmitter site probably about 30 years ago. Have no idea how they maintain the radials on the site with the warehouses and the parking lots paved over the radials. The original tower was hit by a single engine plane back in 2003. The tower came down on the parking lot and didn't hit any of the warehouse structures. The replacement tower collapsed during the erection process as well.

WIND would work as well except way further southeast by 30 miles or so. WLS is not that close either but 25 miles straight south. Not sure what plans Vertical Bridge has for the WLS site and if Cumulus will just pull the plug one day when it feels like it.
 
JoeU said:
In past discussions on a possible diplexing partner for WGN, I've overlooked the WXES 1110 AM site. The tower is 493 Ft tall. While shorter than the legacy WGN tower at 740 Ft,
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Why do the HAVE to partner up and mess with the #3 6+ rated signal? They could be a "host" for 1110 AM which would be an "improvement" physical tower height for WXES. Right now they don't have a full class B FM to herd their OTA listeners to.

IMHO the AM signal is all they got. They would be foolish to mess with it.
 
secondchoice said:
Why do the HAVE to partner up and mess with the #3 6+ rated signal? They could be a "host" for 1110 AM which would be an "improvement" physical tower height for WXES. Right now they don't have a full class B FM to herd their OTA listeners to.

IMHO the AM signal is all they got. They would be foolish to mess with it.
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The mayor of Elk Grove appears to be pushing the building of 4 data centers on the property of the WGN Radio site. It's unclear what Nexstar, the owner wants to do as far as selling the site or leasing land for the data centers to be built.

Logistically it would be a nightmare to keep transmitting from the site with 4 data centers built on top of it. The buildings would need to built with heavy shielding, AC input filtering in order to reduce interference to the server's operating in the data center. The issue of cooling, introducing water to the property is also a concern. What effect data centers built on top of the radial system and the inability to maintain the radials properly will effect signal efficiency in the long run.

The original plan was to build a new 740 Ft tower on the far northern end of the WGN site and demolish the existing tower. The construction permit for this was canceled in December 2025. Then reports of building more data centers on the property came to light in January. Thus, the discussion of WGN diplexing from another location of an existing transmitting site as current day broadcast ownership has zero interest in building a new site out even as a simple non directional site.

What may save the day for keeping the status quo is Illinois talking about eliminating tax incentives to build out new data centers in the state. This may effect the financial viability of building the data centers on the WGN site.
 
JoeU said:
The mayor of Elk Grove appears to be pushing the building of 4 data centers on the property of the WGN Radio site.
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Does His Honor have any plans regarding the electric power and the cooling system, both of which are likely to add strain to his city's utilities?
 
K.M. Richards said:
Does His Honor have any plans regarding the electric power and the cooling system, both of which are likely to add strain to his city's utilities?
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That part of Elk Grove Village (It's official name) has had plenty of industry for at least 50 years. In fact, I worked in EGV at then-Northrop Corporation for several months in 1985-86. I would be absolutely shocked -- SHOCKED, I say -- if they weren't already prepared for such expansion.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Does His Honor have any plans regarding the electric power and the cooling system, both of which are likely to add strain to his city's utilities?
Click to expand...
Quote from Chicago Northwest Suburban Daily Herald:

"Johnson expressed confidence that plans for a new ComEd substation at Devon and Ridge avenues — what would be its fourth in town — could be the solution to extending more power to the WGN site three miles away, and give data center developers the assurances they want before investing in the property."
 
KilowattKat said:
And we have a solution. Build Data centers in space!

apnews.com

Musk vows to put data centers in space and run them on solar power but experts have their doubts

Elon Musk is bringing the same revolutionary thinking that helped him upend the car industry to the data center business with promises this week to put up to a million new satellites in the sky.
apnews.com apnews.com
Click to expand...

Yabadabado1 said:
Fine and dandy as long as Musk moves out there also to "supervise" them.
Click to expand...

He likes Mars so much, let him and his data centers live there. Probably could set up some kind of solar array for the power and the planet itself can handle the cooling (the average temperature on Mars is around -81°F/-60°C). Just leave a window or two open and put dust filters in front of them.
 


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