I know they put out just below 300kw in power. Just curious, Is there a big difference in signal between them and the other class Cs?
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99.7
- Thread starter ThePowerCow
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I did a Longley-Rice (as well as Radio-Locator.com and fccdata.org) assessment of WMC (the 300kw stick) compared to WXMX (100kw from about the same spot) and KJMS (100kw from closer to downtown), and it looks like Downtown Memphis is better covered on WMC-FM (99.7) than WXMX, but not better than KJMS. Jonesboro is also covered the best by WMC.
The scientific reason I can think of is that while higher power helps on a completely flat plane, no where is perfectly flat thanks to local terrain and the curvature of the Earth. Because of these two factors, the 100kw will still get out about as far as the 300kw.
Depends on the kind of radio you have. If you're using a Walkman or clock radio, you'll have an easier time getting FM 100 on the fringe. On a good car radio or home stereo, you usually won't notice much difference.
When it was a Jonesboro station, KJBR/KIYS 101.9 always seemed to have some real zip to it. I regularly heard it on a car radio past Cape Girardeau on the I-55 run to St. Louis. I'd usually start losing it around Jefferson County, and it would always be gone past Herculaneum. That's roughly the fringe of the St. Louis metro area, though St. Louisans generally consider Jeffersonians to be rednecks and don’t claim them. Most of the Memphis stations start coming in as you get south of New Madrid.
During my college years (early to mid-90’s), the Memphis stations would usually start picket fencing about halfway to Little Rock. I always found WEGR went farther than everyone else on the I-40 run. Although it was usually gone by Little Rock, I once found my seek had stopped on WEGR as I got near Russellville and Dardanelle. KLSZ 102.7 out of Ft. Smith quickly started stomping on it, though.
I know there are no 99.7FMs between Atlanta (where I live) and Memphis. There’s WOOF in Dothan to the southwest and WWTN in Nashville. I know that WMC-FM did pickup one night many years ago on my car radio (400 miles away) when the WWWQ/Atlanta tower went offline for about 30 minutes because there’s nothing to interfere with it between Memphis and Atlanta.
I forgot to mention that Tropo is rampant in the South-east this time of year, which may allow you to pick up even weaker stations well beyond the normal fringe coverage.
The radio horizon is the radio horizon. The extra power won't get you too much farther, but it will make the signal clearer than the lower powered stations above that horizon. The real advantage is building penetration..or at least it used to be when it mattered. Plus, FM100 had to replace the antenna on an emergency basis in the 2000's. I don't think they had time to do a pattern study or anything like that. The signal has never been the same since.
I don't remember encountering a lot of tropo during my brief time in Memphis. However, being on the 8th floor of Richardson Towers meant I could get a lot of stations. Seemed like most of the non-local stations I got were from Arkansas, or else closer areas like Jackson, TN and Tupelo. KOLL 94.9 and KKYK 103.7 were common at the time. About the only Nashville station that was a regular was WZEZ 92.9. About the only Jackson, MS area station I regularly got was the 105.1 signal, which was north of town. I got WDJC 93.7 out of Birmingham a handful of times as well. I don't remember it being a regular, but I didn't listen very long when it was on as I've never been a particularly religious person. I usually had the radio on when I was in my room unless my roommate asked me to turn it off. Then, I'd put headphones on. Those weren't particularly useful at getting much DX, even on the 8th floor.
Didn't FM 100 also have a transmitter issue around 1990 when it had to operate at greatly reduced power? I remember having a friend from West Helena who had some FM 100 swag because he reached out after the station had suddenly disappeared. Seems like he said they'd sent him a note with the merchandise thanking him for listening and saying it was operating at reduced power until its transmitter was fixed.
I don't remember that, but I remember Power 92.3 (at least, I think that that was what they were calling themselves at the time) in Jackson having similar issues back at about that time. Seems like it was summer 1990. Another station offered them the use of their tower during that time, but 92.3 turned them down. Never found out why.
I can remember in the 90's that there were times that WWTN in Nashville blew out FM 100 at times in the Summer in the Jackson and Dyersburg areas. I found out later that at that time WWTN's tower was at Manchester, which would definitely put it at a higher level overall and reach out further. I'd guess that and FM 100's transmitter problems were the cause.
It is interesting to see the FCC database, but it’s still just an effective 100kw signal, so it’s not three times more distance from the stick or anything, although no one on here claimed it is. Wanna see some crazy radio math, look at the power of some LA FM’s vs. HAAT or tower height. Line of sight is radio delight. Cool that folks still pay attention to this fun stuff.
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