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after 2/19/2009 analog turn off
- Thread starter mgpt6
- Start date
The short answer is "yes" but most of those opportunities have been lost to last October's NCE filing window. I wouldn't expect the death of TV analog to open up room for any new facilities in the future, but several of those new service apps from October will be able to move their transmitter location and/or increase wattage and/or loosen up directional patterns. In some cases quite substantially; I remember the South Shore and the Upper Cape applicants had a lot of TV6 issues from WLNE-TV that'll disappear.
BTW, WRGB-TV6 in Schenectady/Albany is remaining on Channel 6...much to the chagrin of all the NCE FM's around there. Also, 87.9 is reserved for Class D stations only....FM translators and grandfathered stations like WRBB and WBRS. The rules are incredible restrictive for 87.9 usage; only two stations exist that I'm aware of...a translator in Wyoming (I think) and a grandfathered Class D in San Francisco (one of the only major markets without a TV6 anywhere nearby).
BTW, WRGB-TV6 in Schenectady/Albany is remaining on Channel 6...much to the chagrin of all the NCE FM's around there. Also, 87.9 is reserved for Class D stations only....FM translators and grandfathered stations like WRBB and WBRS. The rules are incredible restrictive for 87.9 usage; only two stations exist that I'm aware of...a translator in Wyoming (I think) and a grandfathered Class D in San Francisco (one of the only major markets without a TV6 anywhere nearby).
I heard a Haitian religious pirate on 87.9 in southern NH a few years ago.
The Mount Wachusett TIC could be heard on 87.9 while driving by on Route 2 a few years ago. I don't know if it's still on.
The Mount Wachusett TIC could be heard on 87.9 while driving by on Route 2 a few years ago. I don't know if it's still on.
N
necrat123
Guest
mgpt6 said:
IN Southeastern Mass, the two 88.1's will really shoehorn in anyone else from signing on. Specifically I am talking about WELH (which presently has an application to move to the WNAC-TV tower in Rehoboth, MA with a sizeable power increase) and WFHL located on the WJFD tower in Fairhaven.
Not to mention all the 88.3's (WGAO and WRPS) and WWTA on 88.5. The dial be mighty crowded...although I remember finding room to squeeze a new 88.3 (I think) down in Carver somewhere, but there wasn't any way to do it with the TV6 present; the population density was too high to keep the interfering contour (which is quite large for that low a frequency - see the tables from 73.599) from covering more than 4000 people.
FWIW, IIRC that Wachusett is not a true "TIS" (Travellers Information System) station. It's an unlicensed FM station operating legally under Part 15 rules. The only true TIS/HAR stations on FM are LPFM licenses and those aren't authorized for 87.9FM. In fact, I think in New England only the State of Vermont got any TIS LPFM stations; nobody else bothered.
necrat123 said:
WELH's original power increase application was to move to a transmitter site about 10 miles southwest of Providence with about 700 watts, and I thought they even had a CP granted for it. I don't know what happened to that, but now, apparently they have a new application for 1.2 kW from Rehoboth MA, about 15 miles northeast of Providence, toward Boston. Though it may not technically infringe within WMBR's 60db protected contour, it looks like it would significantly reduce WMBR's non-protected but currently listenable coverage area south and southwest of Boston.
WELH's current 150 watt signal cuts out WMBR around the Walpole/Sharon area going south on Route 95. Their increase will probably cause interference to WMBR right up to Route 128 in the Dedham area, which is about at their protected boundary. I realize that WELH is proposing a somewhat directional antenna, but I'll be checking about whether WMBR may have any grounds for objection to these changes in WELH's power increase application.
Heh, I wouldn't sweat it too much, Eli. Look at the directional antenna pattern WELH proposed; it's extremely goofy. If Bob Surette at Shively told me otherwise, I'd listen to him...but based on my own experience, that pattern cannot be created without using expensive panel antennas, and even then it'll be a challenge to make 85% of the pattern.
I've seen a lot of applications like these (and done one or two myself)...an existing station files a last-minute minor change app right before the pre-window freeze last October. Maybe they'll actually build it, maybe they won't...but what they really want to do is make sure some new interloper doesn't shoehorn their way in on the existing stations' fringe coverage. It's smart strategy...in at least one of my cases, after the window closed there were suddenly a half-dozen new applicants on the existing station's frequency - and because I maximized their facility all those interlopers were shoved an extra thirty miles further away than they would've been otherwise, thus preserving fringe coverage over a nearby metro area.
FWIW, they are increasing height and ERP, but the DA pattern reduces most of that ERP heading northward by 70%. The end result looks like only 350-400 watts heading towards Boston...that's about 3dB more than they're sending now; not a big change. I imagine you'd see some nibbling to WMBR's coverage but not much; the hills near RT.128 serve as a terrain shield for WMBR (and WZBC vs. WRIU, for that matter) moreso than anything else.
You can always contract a guy like myself (well, technically I'm part of Broadcast Signal Lab) to do a check and make sure there's no contour overlap but I suspect you'll just spend money to learn that WMBR has no grounds to object.
:-\ Them's the breaks, though...we all have known for years (decades, even) that the Boston dial was crowded and only going to get moreso, and that any fringe coverage just cannot be counted on. Just ask WZBC how they feel about WSMA! :'(
Barman's cousin must have an exceptionally good radio and antenna to pick up WMBR all the way down by the Cape. If he's right on the water, perhaps he's getting the benefit of some over-water path (there shouldn't really be one, the azimuths are wrong, but one never knows).
I've seen a lot of applications like these (and done one or two myself)...an existing station files a last-minute minor change app right before the pre-window freeze last October. Maybe they'll actually build it, maybe they won't...but what they really want to do is make sure some new interloper doesn't shoehorn their way in on the existing stations' fringe coverage. It's smart strategy...in at least one of my cases, after the window closed there were suddenly a half-dozen new applicants on the existing station's frequency - and because I maximized their facility all those interlopers were shoved an extra thirty miles further away than they would've been otherwise, thus preserving fringe coverage over a nearby metro area.
FWIW, they are increasing height and ERP, but the DA pattern reduces most of that ERP heading northward by 70%. The end result looks like only 350-400 watts heading towards Boston...that's about 3dB more than they're sending now; not a big change. I imagine you'd see some nibbling to WMBR's coverage but not much; the hills near RT.128 serve as a terrain shield for WMBR (and WZBC vs. WRIU, for that matter) moreso than anything else.
You can always contract a guy like myself (well, technically I'm part of Broadcast Signal Lab) to do a check and make sure there's no contour overlap but I suspect you'll just spend money to learn that WMBR has no grounds to object.
:-\ Them's the breaks, though...we all have known for years (decades, even) that the Boston dial was crowded and only going to get moreso, and that any fringe coverage just cannot be counted on. Just ask WZBC how they feel about WSMA! :'(
Barman's cousin must have an exceptionally good radio and antenna to pick up WMBR all the way down by the Cape. If he's right on the water, perhaps he's getting the benefit of some over-water path (there shouldn't really be one, the azimuths are wrong, but one never knows).
aaronread said:
As far as I know, the MIT students/alums who run WMBR don't contract for that. They do it themselves. I just have to make sure they're aware of this most recent WELH app.
aaronread said:
I thought he meant WELH. I didn't think WMBR made it to the Cape. I've always lost their very last fringes just south of Plymouth, though I've heard that they may come in up on the outer Cape (P'Town, Truro, etc...) over the water. I haven't been out there in ages.
aaronread said:
Oh yeah, I always forget that MIT has that "house edge" on most stations, don't they?
Yes, but the problem is that the same few students/alums have been the station techies for quite some time now, and they tend to get burned out sometimes... WMBR needs to attract some new MIT students who are interested in something as seemingly anachronistic as FM radio technology in the New Millennium....
Speaking of which, I was in the west suburbs today, and put on WBRS... still in 180 degrees out-of-phase stereo, except at times, they switched to right channel only... like they realized that at least the sound gets out (doesn't phase cancel) when it's only on one channel... but, then later they tried switching back to both channels for stereo, and it was still L-R instead of L+R... how difficult is it to wire their airchain in-phase??
HAH! Fat chance of that happening. The days when college radio stations had to beat off qualified volunteers with a stick ended over 15 years ago. They are not coming back. Why should a student get excited about a technology that is effectively meaningless to them (and always has been for most of their lives; these kids were born in 1990, after all) and is old, crotchety, and intricately tied to business entities (RIAA, music labels, Clear Channel) they've been raised to hate? Especially when there's new stuff like WiMAX and 3G/4G cellphone internet that's both much "cooler", much more capable, and a helluva lot more potentially lucrative?
Anyways, if WMBR is really having problems with their engineering staff not being reliable enough, I respectfully suggest that the only way to "fix" that is to pay for professional assistance. You can have it fast, cheap or good quality: pick two. Having "reliability" means fast and quality, so it ain't gonna be cheap. Or, as is the case with most college radio, "free".
Depends a bit on what's causing the problem in the first place. I know first-hand how bad the wiring in there is. But it might not be the wiring either; could be any one of two dozen different equipment failures along the airchain. Plus it's summertime when most of the students are gone and nobody at the college cares about the station...and also when the budget is essentially empty until the SAF money comes in around September or October; if it's an expensive problem to diagnose and/or fix, then maybe it's been decided that it has to wait? ???
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