Boston FM's Should Be On Route 128

[Shellanswerman]

This morning (03/18) NPR's "Weekend Edition/Saturday" did a story on distant EXURBS...places farther away than suburbs. They focused on cities and towns on rail lines about 50 miles from Chicago, but the tendency surely applies to Boston (don't call me 'Shirley'). If enough of the Metro Boston population were to move westward, FM's on the Pru (never mind the AM's except for WBZ) would be a skosh more difficult to pick up and FM's on route 128 (WODS and whatever 102.5 becomes) would have an advantage. Then would one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree master antenna out there? Some have written that the majority of FM's in Boston are on the Pru so that office workers could get the stations without interference from stations that historically were downtown already, like WBCN...but if all of them moved to Newton/Needham, this problem would disappear. (Oh, by the way, the MAXIMUM population the City of Boston ever achieved was 801,444 in the 1950 census). As the City's population declines, will the center of gravity so to speak force the Metro area's full-power FM's out toward Natick/Framingham/Marlborough? Maybe WGBH-FM should have moved to the TV tower on Cedar St. Needham after all.

 

[Infidel]

> "If enough of the Metro Boston population were to move westward ....."

This IS happening.

 

[Smoke]

Damn NIMBYs!

> This morning (03/18) NPR's "Weekend Edition/Saturday" did a
> story on distant EXURBS...places farther away than suburbs.
> They focused on cities and towns on rail lines about 50
> miles from Chicago, but the tendency surely applies to
> Boston (don't call me 'Shirley'). If enough of the Metro
> Boston population were to move westward, FM's on the Pru
> (never mind the AM's except for WBZ) would be a skosh more
> difficult to pick up and FM's on route 128 (WODS and
> whatever 102.5 becomes) would have an advantage. Then would
> one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree master antenna
> out there? Some have written that the majority of FM's in
> Boston are on the Pru so that office workers could get the
> stations without interference from stations that
> historically were downtown already, like WBCN...but if all
> of them moved to Newton/Needham, this problem would
> disappear. (Oh, by the way, the MAXIMUM population the City
> of Boston ever achieved was 801,444 in the 1950 census). As
> the City's population declines, will the center of gravity
> so to speak force the Metro area's full-power FM's out
> toward Natick/Framingham/Marlborough? Maybe WGBH-FM should
> have moved to the TV tower on Cedar St. Needham after all.

All the NIMBY bastards who see nothing wrong with big honking SUVs and chemically green lawns will go rabid over these mysterious "radio towers" and the horrible mutations they cause... and will call on a cell phone to complain about it.

Radio, like cell phones, are a desired service, but most people think the infrastructure is "icky" and will somehow lower property values.

With the horrible interference WRKO causes at my parent's home, I can see why. People aren't going to want to hear they have sub-standard wiring.

 

[TXengineer]

> Then would one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree master antenna
> out there?

There all ready is one. The FM panels on "FM128" is an ERI 1084
"Cogwheel" antenna system, which has a near-perfect horizontal plane circularity (ERI's claim is +1.5db).

The system IS in fact there...

 

[Garrett]

> > Then would one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree
> master antenna
> > out there?
>
> There all ready is one. The FM panels on "FM128" is an ERI
> 1084
> "Cogwheel" antenna system, which has a near-perfect
> horizontal plane circularity (ERI's claim is +1.5db).
>
> The system IS in fact there...
>
En Englais Senior?
(For those of us who don't speak engineeringease...)
LOL

 

[KML0224]

> > "If enough of the Metro Boston population were to move
> westward ....."
>
> This IS happening.
>

Worcester already fights with Providence to see who New England's second largest city is.<P ID="signature">______________
The 2006 New York Yankees...on to title #27!</P>

 

[HHH]

> This morning (03/18) NPR's "Weekend Edition/Saturday" did a
> story on distant EXURBS...places farther away than suburbs.
> They focused on cities and towns on rail lines about 50
> miles from Chicago, but the tendency surely applies to
> Boston (don't call me 'Shirley'). If enough of the Metro
> Boston population were to move westward, FM's on the Pru
> (never mind the AM's except for WBZ) would be a skosh more
> difficult to pick up and FM's on route 128 (WODS and
> whatever 102.5 becomes) would have an advantage. Then would
> one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree master antenna
> out there? Some have written that the majority of FM's in
> Boston are on the Pru so that office workers could get the
> stations without interference from stations that
> historically were downtown already, like WBCN...but if all
> of them moved to Newton/Needham, this problem would
> disappear. (Oh, by the way, the MAXIMUM population the City
> of Boston ever achieved was 801,444 in the 1950 census). As
> the City's population declines, will the center of gravity
> so to speak force the Metro area's full-power FM's out
> toward Natick/Framingham/Marlborough? Maybe WGBH-FM should
> have moved to the TV tower on Cedar St. Needham after all.


I think that some stations who are currently on the Pru might end up short-spaced to on-channel or first adjecency stations if they move 12 miles west. I think of WBCN and the Connecticut station, and WXKS with WAAF, for example.


Also, WGBH with nearly 100K grandfathered from Blue Hill is so damn strong, I don't think that they will ever have a problem with western growth.

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by HHH on 03/19/06 04:03 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[TXengineer]

> > > Then would one of the tower owners put up a 360-degree
> > master antenna
> > > out there?
> >
> > There all ready is one. The FM panels on "FM128" is an ERI
>
> > 1084
> > "Cogwheel" antenna system, which has a near-perfect
> > horizontal plane circularity (ERI's claim is +1.5db).
> >
> > The system IS in fact there...
> >
> En Englais Senior?
> (For those of us who don't speak engineeringease...)
> LOL
>

There is a 360° master antenna mounted on the FM 128 tower. Meaning it radiates a near perfect signal in all directions from the antenna.

 

[webcastboy]

> out there? Some have written that the majority of FM's in
> Boston are on the Pru so that office workers could get the
> stations without interference from stations that
> historically were downtown already, like WBCN...but if all
> of them moved to Newton/Needham, this problem would
(snip)
> toward Natick/Framingham/Marlborough? Maybe WGBH-FM should
> have moved to the TV tower on Cedar St. Needham after all.
>

I think the problem is less with the location of the Pru stations and more with two issues: first, the horrible quality of the Pru's master antenna, which leaks RF everywhere and is already at maximum capacity. Second, the sheer mass of steel and concrete in downtown.

The former probably won't ever be solved, unless Mayor Mumbles gets his 1000ft skyscraper and somebody does a good job putting a master antenna on that. You watch, though - if a 1000ft skyscraper does get built in downtown - EVERYONE will be clamoring to get on it. It'll have all the height benefit of the Needham towers plus the location benefit of the Pru. Whoever owns that tower will be raking in the dough from tower rent!

Anyways, the latter issue also won't be "solved", although actually IBOC might help with it. The buildings in downtown have significant building penetration issues, and the proximity of the Pru means phat signal strength to get through. IBOC won't help so much there...BUT, the buildings also cause insane multipath, and IBOC *will* help a great deal with that.

There is also the problem that Corey Hill causes with downtown Cambridge and Boston reception of Needham stations. Corey Hill is in Brighton/Brookline; Summit Ave goes over the peak of it. It causes a substantial terrain shadow in Allston, Cambridgeport, and parts of Back Bay. Not enough to be deadly, but enough to be annoying.

Between all these issues, I don't see anyone leaving the Pru for 128 anytime soon. Remember that WERS used to be on the Pru, and they left for OFC and never looked back. In retrospect, they probably should've built their OFC tower (Emerson paid for it, although the OFC building owners actually own it) to have a master antenna system. Wouldn't be surprised if a few Pru stations would've jumped to escape the insane tower rent (something like $100k annually per station I think).

Speaking of WGBH, they DID try mightly to move to Needham, but the FCC wouldn't allow it. I don't know the details, but I suspect it had something to do with WGBH's grandfathered ERP of 98kW and also interference to WZBC. I dunno about WZBC (their filed engineering applications seem to indicate total interference to WZBC would decrease, not increase), but in terms of ERP, I suspect they wanted to keep the ERP but adjust it for the additional height of a Needham (it would've added roughly 400ft of height), IIRC their application was for 21kW; well above most of the Needham FM ERP's. My hunch is the FCC probably wanted them to adjust it for the normal power levels of a Class B station, which would've been more like 8 or 9kW ERP. That's a hefty drop in wattage, and WGBH's ultimate goal would be to get better Boston penetration (something the Blue Hill site has a lot of trouble with, hence their Beacon Hill translator on 96.3) and Needham isn't great for Boston penetration based on the above factors...but with 21kW they probably would've been able to overcome the usual Pru and multipath issues.

Ah, here we go - here's the app from the CDBS:
http://tinyurl.com/kmqmu Yes, it was for 21kW ERP. For reference...WJMN, WBMX and WCRB are all around 8 or 9 kW.