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ARE CO-OWNED CBS AM STATIONS INTERFERING WITH KDKA?
- Thread starter Savage
- Start date
I had no doubt that's the case, and I apologize for coming here late to the issue.
It's only been a couple of days thus far, but was wondering if anyone's noticed whether 1010 WINS has worsened the KDKA situation appreciably. I know WINS is directional pretty much east and southeast but they are still readable here in Western New York, even with CFRB right across the Lake.
In WNY we used to be able to hear KDKA through the WBZ HD noise. It's completely gone now. 1020 is just a wall of noise locally.
It's only been a couple of days thus far, but was wondering if anyone's noticed whether 1010 WINS has worsened the KDKA situation appreciably. I know WINS is directional pretty much east and southeast but they are still readable here in Western New York, even with CFRB right across the Lake.
In WNY we used to be able to hear KDKA through the WBZ HD noise. It's completely gone now. 1020 is just a wall of noise locally.
Most of the AM band around 1000 is nothing but hash anymore. Most nights KD's signal barely leaves the state in any direction. This from a signal that used to stop car radios on scan as far away as Chicago, Orlando and Toronto and was clearly audible in daylight hours in some Northern suburbs of DC. HD is well on the way to killing the AM band.
"Reliable sources report:" KDKA's nondirectional single tower is not very compatible with IBOC.
KDKA uses a "Franklin" antenna, which is a system splitting the vertical tower in two using mid-height insulators to separate it into two separate radiators. The RF is phase-adjusted to the two stacked elements much in the same way RF is divided in a directional antenna system; in fact, "Franklin" equipped stations employ a phase monitor just like a DA would even though there is just one tower. The purpose of the "Franklin" system is to mitigate the skywave-groundwave cancellation "ring" of reduced coverage which can occur, depending on antenna characteristics and operating frequency, anywhere from 40 to 80 miles away from the station - essentially, if uncorrected, a 360-degree null. It's unique to high-power nondirectional AM stations.
HD-AM requires a linear antenna load with quite equal sidebands and broad bandwidth to work correctly. If the bandwidth is narrow or nonlinear the potential for "self-interference" increases dramatically - so the IBOC station inundates its analog listeners (comprising 99.994% of today's audience) with tuneout-producing HD "hiss."
I would suspect that the "antenna issues" are strictly due to the CBS corporate mandate - apparently a desperate one - to "get IBOC on the air at all CBS-AM stations no matter what." KDKA wouldn't have any "antenna issues" if they'd stick with good old analog AM, likely what virtually all of its audience would prefer as opposed to screwing with this ill-advised hybrid system which is going nowhere.
KDKA uses a "Franklin" antenna, which is a system splitting the vertical tower in two using mid-height insulators to separate it into two separate radiators. The RF is phase-adjusted to the two stacked elements much in the same way RF is divided in a directional antenna system; in fact, "Franklin" equipped stations employ a phase monitor just like a DA would even though there is just one tower. The purpose of the "Franklin" system is to mitigate the skywave-groundwave cancellation "ring" of reduced coverage which can occur, depending on antenna characteristics and operating frequency, anywhere from 40 to 80 miles away from the station - essentially, if uncorrected, a 360-degree null. It's unique to high-power nondirectional AM stations.
HD-AM requires a linear antenna load with quite equal sidebands and broad bandwidth to work correctly. If the bandwidth is narrow or nonlinear the potential for "self-interference" increases dramatically - so the IBOC station inundates its analog listeners (comprising 99.994% of today's audience) with tuneout-producing HD "hiss."
I would suspect that the "antenna issues" are strictly due to the CBS corporate mandate - apparently a desperate one - to "get IBOC on the air at all CBS-AM stations no matter what." KDKA wouldn't have any "antenna issues" if they'd stick with good old analog AM, likely what virtually all of its audience would prefer as opposed to screwing with this ill-advised hybrid system which is going nowhere.
Savage said:the skywave-groundwave cancellation "ring" of reduced coverage which can occur, depending on antenna characteristics and operating frequency, anywhere from 40 to 80 miles away from the station - essentially, if uncorrected, a 360-degree null. It's unique to high-power nondirectional AM stations.
Which sounds like most of the complaints they're getting now in the daytime.....
T
tschmed
Guest
KDKA's HD is up and running 24/7. Noticed it Tuesday evening.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
...if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it fall....
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
Parttimer said:I'm sure all those 78-year-olds appreciate the sound quality of HD.
yes, it makes them nostalgic for the 78-RPM record collections they used to have
- Status
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