Big Antenna

[dfwrunner]

Is somebody ever going to use that giant antenna (WQKC 93.7) on top of gorbett's hill in Freetown? It's just sitting there, all alone, right in proximity to 500,000 people (Bloomington and surrounding counties).

 

[Bomba]

Hello, dfwrunner:

If the site is not too dated, it indicates that the Central Indiana Skywarn Link for Jackson County was granted access to that tower. You may have only been interested in commercial broadcasting stations; but, the site has some cool pictures of the location, including from up on the tower. Find some nice pictures at the following website: http://www.w9ice.com/freetown.htm

Enjoy!

--Bomba

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Thanks for the pictures...I supervised the construction of that building in 1992 and installed the broadcast equipment. 'Twas a sad day when that fire breathing signal was silenced. And yes, it is in proximity to a lot of people...if you have a 50,000 watt license. It takes a full Class B signal to get to Bloomington & Columbus from there. A lower power FM signal might reach Seymour & maybe Bedford....clearly more cows within 10 miles of that stick than people.

 

[dfwrunner]

Hello, dfwrunner:

If the site is not too dated, it indicates that the Central Indiana Skywarn Link for Jackson County was granted access to that tower. You may have only been interested in commercial broadcasting stations; but, the site has some cool pictures of the location, including from up on the tower. Find some nice pictures at the following website: http://www.w9ice.com/freetown.htm

Enjoy!

--Bomba

Yup, I've seen those before. My parents live about a mile away. I'll be visiting there (from Dallas) next week.

 

[dfwrunner]

Thanks for the pictures...I supervised the construction of that building in 1992 and installed the broadcast equipment. 'Twas a sad day when that fire breathing signal was silenced. And yes, it is in proximity to a lot of people...if you have a 50,000 watt license. It takes a full Class B signal to get to Bloomington & Columbus from there. A lower power FM signal might reach Seymour & maybe Bedford....clearly more cows within 10 miles of that stick than people.

Hmm, i think qkc was only 25kw and reached bloomington just fine. I could pick it up Just south of Indy most of the time. Bloomington is only 18 miles away. Seymour is about 18 miles east, columbus is about the same (ok walesboro) northeast. Certainly 50kw would be much better, but i don't think it essential to reach the majority of the population centers. I read that WJCD was bought for something ridiculous like 135k. If I'd have known that, I'd have bought it and it would still be on the air. I would have made some changes for sure, it always sounded amateurish to me. there was so much untapped potential in that station.

Another thing that annoys me is repeaters...it really annoys me that they keep setting up repeaters for WFIU for example well within the listening area where there is a perfectly good signal. The FCC is out of control. They allowed a religious AM station in Dallas to set up 3 repeaters in the city limits that were within the listening area of existing stations...i complained loud enough to get one of them shut down, but sheesh, the stupidity.

 

[dfwrunner]

Thanks for the pictures...I supervised the construction of that building in 1992 and installed the broadcast equipment. 'Twas a sad day when that fire breathing signal was silenced. And yes, it is in proximity to a lot of people...if you have a 50,000 watt license. It takes a full Class B signal to get to Bloomington & Columbus from there. A lower power FM signal might reach Seymour & maybe Bedford....clearly more cows within 10 miles of that stick than people.

Hmm, i think qkc was only 25kw and reached bloomington just fine. I could pick it up Just south of Indy most of the time. Bloomington is only 18 miles away. Seymour is about 18 miles east, columbus is about the same (ok walesboro) northeast. Certainly 50kw would be much better, but i don't think it essential to reach the majority of the population centers. I read that WJCD was bought for something ridiculous like 135k. If I'd have known that, I'd have bought it and it would still be on the air. I would have made some changes for sure, it always sounded amateurish to me. there was so much untapped potential in that station.

Another thing that annoys me is repeaters...it really annoys me that they keep setting up repeaters for WFIU for example well within the listening area where there is a perfectly good signal. The FCC is out of control. They allowed a religious AM station in Dallas to set up 3 repeaters in the city limits that were within the listening area of existing stations...i complained loud enough to get one of them shut down, but sheesh, the stupidity.

Also, why is the maximum transmitter size in Indiana only 50kw when in Texas is 100kw. Didn't WIFE FM used to be 100kw?

 

[badjef]

Also, why is the maximum transmitter size in Indiana only 50kw when in Texas is 100kw. Didn't WIFE FM used to be 100kw?

There is a map that the FCC used years ago when determining the power requirements necessary for FM stations and they decided to split CONUS (continental US) into different zones. Since the population was mostly in the Northeast, the powers were limited to 50kw @500ft (class B) due to squeezing more stations in the area. (ie: NYC market has ~8% of the US population)Class A & B only existed.

Outside of that zone, power levels were allowed 100kw @2000ft (Class C). Class C's were not allowed in the NE Zone.

Since those rule were established, The FCC added Class D, then went crazy with A1, B1, C1, etc.

That is the short answer.

The FCC has the legal answer @www.fcc.gov. if you have a problem with insomnia, just the surfing will cure it for the "long" answer.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[media1170]

WIFE-FM (formerly WISH-FM) was 50 KW from teh top of the Channel 8 1000' TV tower on Post Road south of Washington St.

I believe that WZPL has a back-up on the north (former AM) tower.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Thanks for the pictures...I supervised the construction of that building in 1992 and installed the broadcast equipment. 'Twas a sad day when that fire breathing signal was silenced. And yes, it is in proximity to a lot of people...if you have a 50,000 watt license. It takes a full Class B signal to get to Bloomington & Columbus from there. A lower power FM signal might reach Seymour & maybe Bedford....clearly more cows within 10 miles of that stick than people.

Hmm, i think qkc was only 25kw and reached bloomington just fine. I could pick it up Just south of Indy most of the time. Bloomington is only 18 miles away. Seymour is about 18 miles east, columbus is about the same (ok walesboro) northeast. Certainly 50kw would be much better, but i don't think it essential to reach the majority of the population centers. I read that WJCD was bought for something ridiculous like 135k. If I'd have known that, I'd have bought it and it would still be on the air. I would have made some changes for sure, it always sounded amateurish to me. there was so much untapped potential in that station.

Another thing that annoys me is repeaters...it really annoys me that they keep setting up repeaters for WFIU for example well within the listening area where there is a perfectly good signal. The FCC is out of control. They allowed a religious AM station in Dallas to set up 3 repeaters in the city limits that were within the listening area of existing stations...i complained loud enough to get one of them shut down, but sheesh, the stupidity.

Yep, it was 25KW at 700', which equates to 50KW at 492'. That's why I noted that a full class B is necessary to get to Bloomington. Better check your map...downtown Bloomington is 23.8 miles from that site & the furthest city limit of Bloomington is better than 25 miles. The 70db 'city grade' contour of a full Class B is around 21 miles. Even the full WQKC signal didn't city grade Bloomington. Anything less than that would be worthless.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

There are numerous LPFM channels that would work on this tower. However, I would be
giving bad advice if I told you to go for it.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

There are numerous LPFM channels that would work on this tower. However, I would be
giving bad advice if I told you to go for it.

Classic Rock for Medora(swiiiishhhh) LPFM. Or, Serving 295 people and 2500 Cows, Goats, and chickens(swiiiishhhh) LPFM.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

There are numerous LPFM channels that would work on this tower. However, I would be
giving bad advice if I told you to go for it.

Classic Rock for Medora(swiiiishhhh) LPFM. Or, Serving 295 people and 2500 Cows, Goats, and chickens(swiiiishhhh) LPFM.

Maybe even a dual city ID...Medora/Freetown. Never mind, WJAA has that format covered. Oldies & Adult Standards are open.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

I learned very early in the game. Just because there is an open frequency does not make it a good
idea to start a radio station.

You need thousands of potential listeners. You need a community with an economic base that wil
pay for your operation. A town with many mom and pop businesses is better than a town taken over
by chain stores.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

IS there a town not taken over by chain stores?

 

[dfwrunner]

Yep, it was 25KW at 700', which equates to 50KW at 492'. That's why I noted that a full class B is necessary to get to Bloomington. Better check your map...downtown Bloomington is 23.8 miles from that site & the furthest city limit of Bloomington is better than 25 miles. The 70db 'city grade' contour of a full Class B is around 21 miles. Even the full WQKC signal didn't city grade Bloomington. Anything less than that would be worthless.

I live in Dallas, its 60 miles across from west fort worth to east dallas, all one big city, so I have problems thinking of 20 miles as a long distanct for a radio station. I used to drive from my parents through the national forest to bloomington listening to WBWB all the way (it was actually a cool station then), which is a pretty tiny signal.

 

[dfwrunner]

IS there a town not taken over by chain stores?

lots, but then they don't have any mom and pop businesses either

 

[dfwrunner]

There are numerous LPFM channels that would work on this tower. However, I would be
giving bad advice if I told you to go for it.

Classic Rock for Medora(swiiiishhhh) LPFM. Or, Serving 295 people and 2500 Cows, Goats, and chickens(swiiiishhhh) LPFM.

Maybe even a dual city ID...Medora/Freetown. Never mind, WJAA has that format covered. Oldies & Adult Standards are open.

classic country/bluegrass would fare pretty well...actually both medora and freetown have approximately 500 people each. Pershing township has around 1500 people, salt creek however only has about 300. I don't think that's the biggest problem...there are almost no businesses to buy time. I still wonder how the station in Nashville (vni?) survives, i'm only guessing thorugh donations. I think a small business might be able to operate a small station as a loss leader to advertise their business maybe cooperatively with other businesses.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

There are numerous LPFM channels that would work on this tower. However, I would be
giving bad advice if I told you to go for it.

Classic Rock for Medora(swiiiishhhh) LPFM. Or, Serving 295 people and 2500 Cows, Goats, and chickens(swiiiishhhh) LPFM.

Maybe even a dual city ID...Medora/Freetown. Never mind, WJAA has that format covered. Oldies & Adult Standards are open.

WVNI's transmitter is sited to serve Bloomington...not sure where their studio is, but I doubt it's in Nashville.

classic country/bluegrass would fare pretty well...actually both medora and freetown have approximately 500 people each. Pershing township has around 1500 people, salt creek however only has about 300. I don't think that's the biggest problem...there are almost no businesses to buy time. I still wonder how the station in Nashville (vni?) survives, i'm only guessing thorugh donations. I think a small business might be able to operate a small station as a loss leader to advertise their business maybe cooperatively with other businesses.