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All-PSA low power AM at 1640

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

Have noticed a low power station at 1640 around Rt 128 in Peabody-Lynnfield area (also
up on Rt 62, Middleton). It plays nothing but public service announcements and once in
awhile calls are given, something like "WPKR-351". Or WPQR something like that? The public service announcements
are for such things as "buzzed driving IS drunk driving"

Wonder where it is, what the purpose is? The fact that calls are given is a sign it's legit
 
that looks like one of thoses if the lights are blinking listen to this announcement you see on the highways maybe there is nothing to be heard when you listened jw??
 
I was thinking that but what's interesting is the call letters are given quickly with no explanation. For example, it DIDN'T say "you are listening to (calls) at 1640 kHz, broadcasting from
(place), a service of the Mass Turnpike Authority" or something similar. It was just the calls
and number. But I wonder if it's Mass Highway or something

On the NY Thruway there are stations like this, or were, and you would hear some traffic
construction updates followed by "what to see and do" messages complete with the "I Love
New York" jingle...For awhile a few yrs back the NH Dept of Trans. had one at 530, or was it
1610, with construction updates and they said they were broadcasting from across the
state line in Tyngsborough--and I could pick it up faintly in N. Reading

1640 has been used in downtown Lynnfield before for a church's low power AM and also
something for the Tower School (for a few blocks you could hear announcements or bits of
kindergartners singing)

It may not be in radio-locator or TV-Radio World yet because it's fairly new.
I did jot down the call letters on a piece of paper in the car (just got) and it's

WPKR-351. PKR... "PiKe"? Mass PIKE? (But this was around 128). And 351 btw is the
number of cities and towns in MA but this was prob. a randomly assigned number
 
Sounds like you heard a Traveler's Information Station(TIS). They usually run ~10 watts into a 10' high whip antenna. I believe that another Federal agency(DOT?)licenses them, rather than the FCC.
 
Well I may have said it was a TIS before, not sure...and btw it's also coming in faintly in
Beverly.
I note that LPFMs use call signs this way: W or K then 3 numbers ("channel" number?) then
2 letters

W262 AB

While TIS/LPAMs tend to use W or K then three letters followed by 3 numbers

WPKR-351

The one I mentioned in Tyngsboro MA (but for NH DOT) was also a TIS. There used to be
TIS-es, maybe still are, from rest areas in VT but I think they may have been discontinued.
Some of them were 100 watts on FM
 
Travelers' Information Systems (TIS, aka "Highway Advisory Radio") stations are licensed by the FCC, but under Part 74 instead of Part 73; the latter being the rule subset that deals with most "full power" AM & FM. FM translators and boosters are also under Part 74, FWIW. Anyways, TIS stations are much easier to engineer into a particular location because the rules are drastically simplified. However, ownership and programming on them are SEVERELY restricted. Basically only government entities (or quasi-gov't, like state/nat'l park services) can apply, and they must have a non-commercial service limited to traffic information, tourist info, stuff like that. A handful of TIS systems are set up to sound more like normal radio stations, even though if you listen closely you'll notice that the content is still very specific. But usually they're very barebones; often you can tell it's an audio recording of a phone call that's on a loop...usually 3 to 5 minutes; any longer and you'll be outside the TIS station's limited broadcast range. TIS stations used to be limited to 530 and 1610 AM, but later were allowed in the Expanded Band (1610-1700 AM) and now you can do them on any available frequency. LPFM's can also be used as TIS stations and there's slightly preferential rules to gov't agencies seeking to do so; plus the "one LPFM per applicant" rule is waived in such cases. It's still pretty rare, though...I think the only LPFM's operating as TIS stations in New England are a handful in Vermont.

FWIW, how useful the content varies WIDELY from place to place. Many are poorly-used; broadcasting a near-useless loop of info...sometimes very out of date. Some are really good, though. I remember hearing the City of Chicago had a hefty network of TIS stations that they made extensive use of back in the 1990's for traffic control and guidance. Not sure if that's still true in the age of smartphones, though.

Also FWIW, if you see a sign on the side of the highway that says "Traffic Info tune to X frequency", nine times out of ten you'll spot a small-ish silver box (about a foot cubed) with a whip antenna mounted right on the sign in question. That's the transmitter.

They don't show up on Radio-Locator but there is a way to search for them on the FCC's website:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/tis.html
There's quite a few in Massachusetts, but I believe you were listening to WQKR351.
 
Thanks for the info--and yes I think at first I had thought they'd said WQKR but when they said it again I mis-heard the calls. I know Vermont's TIS signals were put out from rest areas (such as
in Randolph, Sharon, etc.) It's possible there was a TIS signal in Williston that later became a full
fledged non-comm signal (90.9 or something?)--I mean, someone else later got that freq.

I do recall AM 1050 in Conway NH being a kind of TIS but I think it was just a comm. station
offering a loop with info on local businesses. Again,not govt-run but a commercial station...

Once I was in Niagara Falls and there was a TIS called CFLZ--"or if you prefer, C-F-L-Zed"--at
91.9. I wrote to Glenn Hauser and he mentioned it on World of Radio. Later changed freqs I think.
It broadcast from the top of the Skylon Tower, IIRC

I did see transmitters like what you mentioned.
 
aaronread said:
Travelers' Information Systems (TIS, aka "Highway Advisory Radio") stations are licensed by the FCC, but under Part 74 instead of Part 73; the latter being the rule subset that deals with most "full power" AM & FM. FM translators and boosters are also under Part 74, FWIW. Anyways, TIS stations are much easier to engineer into a particular location because the rules are drastically simplified. However, ownership and programming on them are SEVERELY restricted. Basically only government entities (or quasi-gov't, like state/nat'l park services) can apply, and they must have a non-commercial service limited to traffic information, tourist info, stuff like that. A handful of TIS systems are set up to sound more like normal radio stations, even though if you listen closely you'll notice that the content is still very specific. But usually they're very barebones; often you can tell it's an audio recording of a phone call that's on a loop...usually 3 to 5 minutes; any longer and you'll be outside the TIS station's limited broadcast range. TIS stations used to be limited to 530 and 1610 AM, but later were allowed in the Expanded Band (1610-1700 AM) and now you can do them on any available frequency. LPFM's can also be used as TIS stations and there's slightly preferential rules to gov't agencies seeking to do so; plus the "one LPFM per applicant" rule is waived in such cases. It's still pretty rare, though...I think the only LPFM's operating as TIS stations in New England are a handful in Vermont.

FWIW, how useful the content varies WIDELY from place to place. Many are poorly-used; broadcasting a near-useless loop of info...sometimes very out of date. Some are really good, though. I remember hearing the City of Chicago had a hefty network of TIS stations that they made extensive use of back in the 1990's for traffic control and guidance. Not sure if that's still true in the age of smartphones, though.

Also FWIW, if you see a sign on the side of the highway that says "Traffic Info tune to X frequency", nine times out of ten you'll spot a small-ish silver box (about a foot cubed) with a whip antenna mounted right on the sign in question. That's the transmitter.

They don't show up on Radio-Locator but there is a way to search for them on the FCC's website:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/tis.html
There's quite a few in Massachusetts, but I believe you were listening to WQKR351.
Click to expand...

Actually, beleive it or not, they are licenssed under PArt 90 of the FCC rules (90.242 to be precise).
 
raccoonradio said:
I do recall AM 1050 in Conway NH being a kind of TIS but I think it was just a comm. station
offering a loop with info on local businesses. Again,not govt-run but a commercial station...
Click to expand...

Last time I drove through Conway they were still doing the visitors information radio on 1050 and on an FM translator....operated by WMWV I think
 
ok so its WQKR351 , 1640. It transmits from the water tower on summit ave in peabody. But is there a purpose?
 
Thanks for the info on where it broadcasts from, etc. I don't know the purpose of what is
now all-PSA radio, but maybe:
--construction updates (128, etc.)
--traffic info (but there are traffic reports on several stations)
--tourism info?

maybe there is a purpose but we don't know yet.
One page lists:
Water Tank Summit Ave
Certifier: Robert L Champagne

http://www.city-data.com/towers/lmobile-Peabody-Massachusetts.html#ixzz0wdsruQ9N

(I think Champagne is police chief of Peabody or something? last name familiar...another
page also says something along the lines of City of Peabody, Safety or something)
 
We have a similar one here on 1650, a TIS operated by the city government of a local suburb. They mostly put "community info" on it. I think there's generally a wide berth on what the city can put on the frequency, as long as it's non-commercial information.

Ours runs spots about city government news and events, weather forecasts and automated time/temp checks, last I heard it. The transmitter is at a centrally located fire station in that suburb. In theory, for example, the TIS could notify people when they hear the local tornado warning sirens go off (they have messages to this effect - I don't know if it happens in actual practice).
 
CJRN is on 710 AM these days, I think. It's a full-power station, and you can hear it on the U.S. side of the border for some distance in the Buffalo area.

And also in NY State, the Thruway Authority has LPFMs...at least one that I know of, not that terribly far from OMW Land at the western end of the Thruway in Ripley NY, just over the PA/NY border. I was there when Scott Fybush recorded an ID from it and took a picture of the facility...a small building right by the toll booth, IIRC.

http://www.radio-locator.com/info/WNYP-FL

Legal ID on the Erie PA page of Toppy...

http://www.tophour.com/audio/index.php?q=f&f=/Erie PA
 
Back in the 90s, the city of Milwaukee put a community info station of 1080 that really put a whammy into my reception of
WNWI when it was in NW Indiana. It did not last more than a year or so.
The 1610 TIS stations in the Chicago area are still on, but it seems like they changed from fewer, higher powered transmitters to a greater number of weaker transmitters, all running non-synchronized. This isn't nearly as helpful as it was back in the 80s.
Then you could find out what conditions were before you got into them. Also, they used to give expressway travel times, where I think they now just mention delays as reported by the pavement "average speed" sensors.
There seems to be some human input as delays may sometimes be described as "due to a crash".
But most of the time, they are not very useful due to lowered power and non-synched operation.

A few others in Chicago on the AM xband:

1610- Traffic info (several)

1620- Traffic info NW suburbs (WQVR-356) (bites into my 1620 AM pt 15)

1630- O'Hare airport traffic and parking info

1650 Village of Skokie information loop

These are all 2000-hz cutoff mushboxes, and operate at the limits of intelligibilty....actually they're only about
80% intelligible....it is a requirement that you engage mental audio processing to discern what the muffled words
were. Imagine a sentence where every sharp and sibilant sound is gone and that's what it's like.
Or if 2 pillows were strapped to your head while listening...
 
can anyone tell me how long its been up?? i lived in peabody for 18yrs and moved away when i was 19 so i dont remember this maybe a websight etc?? thanks
 
This just started very recently (the 1640), within past month or two. I don't know how long the 1650 TIS from Logan has been up. In the past, like even a month or so ago, I also got an LP-AM
at 1640 or so in downtown Lynnfield from The Tower School and/or a local church
 
There's been one on 1140 for years promoting the historic Blackstone Valley. Signs on the Mass Pike alert motorists to its presence.
 
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