About the new Wind Farm in Atlantic City

[ontheair247]

I've heard about the new windfarm just built and still being completed, located at the ACUA water treatment facility just outside Atlantic City,NJ.
Experience tells me thats where the transmitting tower is for a number of stations such as WAYV, etc,. WMID is nearby, across the highway, WWAC-TV's former analog tv transmitter was also there and some low power FM's are also there.

I've also heard a claim that such windmills can cause interference to signal propogation, at laest there was a claim that they could disrupt analog tv reception.

So my question is, with the turbines practically surrounding the tower that WAYV-FM and others use, is there any noticable effect on wave propagation from this new wind farm?

To view a picture of what I'm questioning about go to http://www.njwind.com/project.html

3/4's of the way to the right on the picture you'll see the tower surrounded by windmills I'm wondering about.

There's also a webcam on that website.

 

[SamBuca]

If there was interference, something tells me the station would have complained before the project was completed.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>

 

[ontheair247]

> If there was interference, something tells me the station
> would have complained before the project was completed.
>
I would assume that yes, but then this is a new meshing of emerging technologies, and AFAIK only one of the turbines is up so far.

Just curious because a few years ago I heard a claim that such prop blades could cause a multipath effect similar to what we've all seen when an airplane flies by and you notice it while watching an over the air VHF tv signal.

 

[Les]

> Just curious because a few years ago I heard a claim that
> such prop blades could cause a multipath effect similar to
> what we've all seen when an airplane flies by and you notice
> it while watching an over the air VHF tv signal.

Propellor-driven aircraft generally have metal props that can
mess up signals, particularly TV. Windmills of any size
generally have blades made of one form of another of plastic
which rarely cause problems.

Of course (he said, tongue in cheek), if a tower were surrounded
by two rings of windmills, the inner of which rotated clockwise
and the outer of which rotated counter-clockwise, the one ring
would serve to screw up the signal and the other would bring it
all back to normal, right?
<P ID="signature">______________
Misanthropy:

Not just a hobby...a WAY OF LIFE!</P>

 

[Andy_Brown]

> Of course (he said, tongue in cheek), if a tower were
> surrounded by two rings of windmills, the inner of which rotated
> clockwise and the outer of which rotated counter-clockwise, the one
> ring would serve to screw up the signal and the other would bring
> it all back to normal, right?

Hee hee ... true if and only if they all are spinning at the same speed, and are equally spaced both on the circumferences (inner and outer) and each inner has a unique outer placed on a common radial.
<P ID="signature">______________
Electricity is really just organized lightning.
~George Carlin</P>

 

[ontheair247]

> > Of course (he said, tongue in cheek), if a tower were
> > surrounded by two rings of windmills, the inner of which
> rotated
> > clockwise and the outer of which rotated
> counter-clockwise, the one
> > ring would serve to screw up the signal and the other
> would bring
> > it all back to normal, right?
>
> Hee hee ... true if and only if they all are spinning at the
> same speed, and are equally spaced both on the
> circumferences (inner and outer) and each inner has a unique
> outer placed on a common radial.
>
Sounds like we have invented the circularly polarized RF filter.
Now if we can get the RF to drive the propellers and feed the power back to the transmitter, we'd have a perpetual energy RF plant.

BTW Tom, one of the locals did provide an answer to the original question on the New Jersey forum.

 

[Turntable]

I would assume that the masts which support the propellors and their associated generation units are made of metal and are also at ground potential. If that is indeed the case, then it's the masts we should be worried about, and not the props.

-A


> > > Of course (he said, tongue in cheek), if a tower were
> > > surrounded by two rings of windmills, the inner of which
>
> > rotated
> > > clockwise and the outer of which rotated
> > counter-clockwise, the one
> > > ring would serve to screw up the signal and the other
> > would bring
> > > it all back to normal, right?
> >
> > Hee hee ... true if and only if they all are spinning at
> the
> > same speed, and are equally spaced both on the
> > circumferences (inner and outer) and each inner has a
> unique
> > outer placed on a common radial.
> >
> Sounds like we have invented the circularly polarized RF
> filter.
> Now if we can get the RF to drive the propellers and feed
> the power back to the transmitter, we'd have a perpetual
> energy RF plant.
>
> BTW Tom, one of the locals did provide an answer to the
> original question on the New Jersey forum.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
"...How can you be deaf, with ears like that??"</P>

 

[Les]

> I would assume that the masts which support the propellors
> and their associated generation units are made of metal and
> are also at ground potential. If that is indeed the case,
> then it's the masts we should be worried about, and not the
> props.

For AM, especially directional, worry about the masts.

For FM the primary concern would be reflections off the blades.
Ditto TV....VHF, just like FM radio.

Until a couple of years ago I lived within a mile of an airport
with the flight path between me and the one on-air station in
town. When the jets came in, no problem. But when the
DC-4's and 6's or the Hercs came in the picture acted like
a crazed dancer with bad rap in the 'phones.

I didn't have any problem with reception of any of the
on-air FM's in town but they were all on the same side of
the flight path as was I.

Nothing scientific in any of that...just personal experience.<P ID="signature">______________
Misanthropy:

Not just a hobby...a WAY OF LIFE!</P>

 

[MikeF]

We are looking forward to a final answer to that.

The 297' windmill masts are metal. The 100' radius blades of the windmills are made of a composite similar to fiberglas. There are static drain wires embedded in each ofthe blades however.

Based on a study that Millennium had done and comments of a number of engineers, we expect the two AM's in the immediate vacinity to directionalize somewhat (at least until the windmill towers can be detuned if necessary). The three FMs aren't expected to be affected much, but we'll see.

So far, with two of the windmills up and turning, we haven't noticed any problems nor gotten any complaints.

Mike

> I've heard about the new windfarm just built and still being
> completed, located at the ACUA water treatment facility just
> outside Atlantic City,NJ.
> Experience tells me thats where the transmitting tower is
> for a number of stations such as WAYV, etc,. WMID is nearby,
> across the highway, WWAC-TV's former analog tv transmitter
> was also there and some low power FM's are also there.
>
> I've also heard a claim that such windmills can cause
> interference to signal propogation, at laest there was a
> claim that they could disrupt analog tv reception.
>
> So my question is, with the turbines practically surrounding
> the tower that WAYV-FM and others use, is there any
> noticable effect on wave propagation from this new wind
> farm?