I was trying to listen to the Phillies games the last two days and had a lot of problems with their signal. I tried other AM's and they were coming in clear. Have they lost a lot of power during the day?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
1210 AM Signal Problem
- Thread starter Reggiefan1945
- Start date
8
8638
Guest
Reggiefan1945 said:
Their signal sucks, day and night. While other 50Kw stations boom in here, WPHT is agonizing to listen to. I'm in Ocean County, NJ, about 47 miles from the TX in Moorestown. One evening, out of frustration, I tuned around the dial, looking for some station I could hear the Phils on clearly, when I happened onto WEEU 830 Reading. LOUD and CLEAR, with 6Kw night, almost 100 miles from Reading. Granted, this signal is probably D in my direction to protect WCCO, but 6 Kw D on me can't be more than 50 Kw non-D. I wish their programming were available on FM. And I'm a guy who grew up on AM radio, and still listen to it. But it's hard through the signal drift, I-buzz noise, electrical interference, etc.
Granted I don't know where 1210's stick is, when I was on vacation in King of Prussia, which is about a 20 mile or so drive down The Schuykill Expressway from Philly I was surprised at how very staticy WPHT was. (surprising for a 50KWer). Meanwhile 1540 the all ethnic station was crystal clear. I guess I'm spoiled coming from Hartford, CT where the 50KW WTIC can be heard crystal clear for miles and miles and miles.
J
Jul
Guest
I think that the station needs to replace its current transmitter and get a new one if what the posters are saying is true.
Apparently, the ground system has just dissolved away into a mineral. While the transmitter frequency just continues to drifts from side to side. It is simply amazing that the signal deficiencies do not alarm someone in a level of decision making at that company. Some things are more obvious than others. I guess proof of performance is simply just not a primary budgetary consideration.
J
Jul
Guest
Posters, you should really contact WPHT about the signal problems. This is a problem that the station must fix. http://thebigtalker1210.com/pages/17126.php
if you're using a GE super radio II or III, they ALL drift. on FM too.
This discussion is silly. 10 cents spent (if that)on AM circuits of radios , says a lot about resultant AM reception issues. Not a decent AM radio of low cost has been made in 25 years.
My shower radio is more stable than some of this dreck they sell out there.
Everyone wants cheap then complains how lousy it works.
Center tuned digital radios, are far more stable, but still miss the mark on sensitivity.
Get the Tivoli Model one. A great analog tuned radio, from the Henry Kloss design. and at just a hundred bucks. Your choice of nice wood finishes, looks nice on your night stand. great sound, and performance.
This discussion is silly. 10 cents spent (if that)on AM circuits of radios , says a lot about resultant AM reception issues. Not a decent AM radio of low cost has been made in 25 years.
My shower radio is more stable than some of this dreck they sell out there.
Everyone wants cheap then complains how lousy it works.
Center tuned digital radios, are far more stable, but still miss the mark on sensitivity.
Get the Tivoli Model one. A great analog tuned radio, from the Henry Kloss design. and at just a hundred bucks. Your choice of nice wood finishes, looks nice on your night stand. great sound, and performance.
Sam Lit said:
Were the ground system to deteriorate, it would be noted in the antenna matching, and fixed. Many stations are having ground wire stolen, and it is immediately noticable... often the transmitter will not even take the load.
Get a new rado. today's transmitters don't drift more than a few cycles, if that.
A proof of performance is not the issue; when required, most were done on a desktop. In any case, there is no cost in doing one... just part of the engineer's duties. Today's equipment is so stable that much of the need for a proof is gone anyway.
DavidEduardo said:
I dont have any rado's. I don't even know what a rado is, all I know is that 1210 drifts on my radio. And that's disturbing enough. Besides, they just don't build rado's like they used to. Ya'na mean?
DavidEduardo is correct...(except for the typo "rado"), it is highly unlikely the reason for your drift is the radio station. If your radio drifts, then get another radio.
What else is the cause of signal issues? Power line re-radiation, increased urban development, a changing city skyline, mutliple sources of interference, dirty power line insulators, a transformer making a racket, etc. Put a cheap radio in that mix, and you'll have diminishing results.
Todays transmitters also can operate into a multitude of loads. And while this would make for inefficient means, It is highly unlikely a transmitter of recent generation manufacture, would drift off frequency. And even if that were the case, it probably would shut down with any wild shift.
Car radio antenna systems, particularly windshield antennas, are generally the main reason for poor AM performance. Add engine noise (Alternator noise) or from other on-board electronics, and you have a practical "RF soup" of interference sources. Usually a good car body ground established will fix those issues. FM reception is much more forgiving with a questionable car radio antenna system.
In the home, dimmer switches, computers, security systems, all create irritating AM noise.
treat yourself to a better made radio. It may be more trial and error before you find the one that suits you.
Kyle D said:
Funny, but everything in that post had to do with the quality of broadcast equipment which is NOT made by the radio business: frequency stability, load sensing, etc.
You’ll have to forgive me, because I’m at the beginning stages of operating an AM radio and figuring out all that broadcast stuff. I am just so perplexed at the complexity of it all. Let see, according to the instructions, you turn it on, set it for AM, adjust the antenna, then pick a station. Well, this may take some practice, so just bare with me, if I don’t get this right the first time. Ok. Gee, only 1210’s analog HD causes a center tune deviation over a measure time frame. Now what does this tell me. Could it be SATAN? No. Then it must be a Quadrature carrier shift, since it’s definitely not my handy dandy radio, complete with handy dandy instructions. But remember I’m only an amateur at this. Oh and while we’re learning, let’s make another complicated analysis. 50 KW, minus inherent local signal deficiencies, equals, one inadequate GROUND SYSTEM. And I thought I they would never figure out a good use for simple arithmetic. I hope this type of thing doesn’t involve a logarithmic table, then I’ll have to start all over again
Sam Lit said:
Te HD signal is digital, there is not analog HD signal.
Very unlikely. Have you actually looked at their ground screen and radials? More likely, it is the gradual increase in man made noise in the area coupled with ever-declining receiver quality that makes stations appear to have deteriorated.
Well, something is up with WPHT's signal because it is not very effective for a 50 kw transmitter. From where live in Chester County (roughly 25 miles west of Philadelphia), WPHT's signal registers a 4 out of 10. This is similar to the signal strength of stations like WNTP, WIP and WPEN. Of those, WNTP is 50 kw during the daytime, but directional away from my location (we're in the null). All three have signal strength of 4/10 - like WPHT. The other big 50 kw signal in the area, KYW, blasts a daytime 10/10 signal and a nighttime 8-9/10. At night, WPHT's signal can be as tough to listen to as a skywave signal - at times being highly compromised by RF interference around the house. I have an easier time listening to WBZ at times.
Granted, areas to the west of Philadelphia seem to have poor ground conductivity, but this should not impact WPHT's signal so severely within the metro area. I wonder if they just have a lousy transmitter location for reaching the whole market. That being said, their groundwave signal only seemed impressive when traveling to the south, along the Delmarva peninsula. It does not go all that far in any other direction. When compared with other 50 kw stations around the country, WPHT is definitely an underperformer. And, it has little to do with frequency location.
Granted, areas to the west of Philadelphia seem to have poor ground conductivity, but this should not impact WPHT's signal so severely within the metro area. I wonder if they just have a lousy transmitter location for reaching the whole market. That being said, their groundwave signal only seemed impressive when traveling to the south, along the Delmarva peninsula. It does not go all that far in any other direction. When compared with other 50 kw stations around the country, WPHT is definitely an underperformer. And, it has little to do with frequency location.
J
Jul
Guest
Posters, you should really contact WPHT-AM about the signal problems. This is a problem that the station must fix ASAP. You can contact 1210 AM via this link: http://thebigtalker1210.com/pages/17126.phpBRNout said:
Sam Lit said:
Sometimes recapping a tuner with drifting problems helps to stabilize it. Change the electrolytic caps out on it; those things have fairly short lives.
Friend of mine did that to a high-end tuner that had gotten all drifty (to the point where it would sometimes go up or down a station or two). Changing the electroytics brought the unit back to spec.
- Status