Getting Mega Boston on FM

[beantownradio25]

Okay so it's been a year since they launched Mega Boston on WLLH Lowell/Lawrence and later WAMG Dedham.

What are the rules for AM on FM translators? Could WLLH get an AM on FM translator in the Lowell area?

 

[robotique]

well since WNNW 800 AM did it (92.1) then Im sure Mega could....if there was room on the band.

 

[DanStrassberg]

well since WNNW 800 AM did it (92.1) then Im sure Mega could....if there was room on the band.

Doesn't the rule on AM on FM translators require that the translator have been in existence before the FCC began allowing AM on FM translators? As I understand it, the rule does not say that the translator can't be moved to a complying location (even from quite far away), but it can't be a new translator. At least that's the way I understand the rule. If I'm right, Gois would have to find a translator whose owner is willing to sell it and then find a location that meets all of the criteria, one of which is that the translator's coverage area cannot extend outside of the coverage area of the AM that is to be rebroadcast. One of the things the rule has accomplished is to considerably increase the resale value of translators that existed before the FCC instituted the rule on AM on FM translators.

 

[necrat123]

Doesn't the rule on AM on FM translators require that the translator have been in existence before the FCC began allowing AM on FM translators? As I understand it, the rule does not say that the translator can't be moved to a complying location (even from quite far away), but it can't be a new translator. At least that's the way I understand the rule.

You are correct. That's how the 105.3 in Fitchburg came to be. It moved 10+ hops and three frequencies before ending up there.
For Mega ,low and behold there is one, and it's not that far away. W279BQ 103.7 in Gloucester could be a prime candidate. Good engineering could get it inwards. I don't even know what they're broadcasting, their fcc license says their associated with (legally rebroadcasting) WSMA out of Plymouth.

 

[raccoonradio]

103.7 is a WSMA //, or at least was when they went on, with an antenna off Highland Ave in Salem

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=42.50167,+-70.92528+(W279BQ-FM)&om=1

 

[DanStrassberg]

For Mega ,low and behold there is one, and it's not that far away. W279BQ 103.7 in Gloucester could be a prime candidate. Good engineering could get it inwards. I don't even know what they're broadcasting, their fcc license says their associated with (legally rebroadcasting) WSMA out of Plymouth.

The WCRB tower on Wood Hill in Andover might turn out to be a good location--but maybe not. WLLH's unusual synchronized operation might or might not create problems. Most Class C AMs in this part of the country (of which WLLH is one...err, two... err, who knows?) have NIFs of ~25 mV/m. Do the NIFs of WLLH's two transmitters overlap? I would guess not, but I don't really know. If not, does Wood Hill fall into the gap between the two coverage areas? If so, I suppose it would be ruled out as a translator site. Chris Hall says that, with the aid of a GPS-based carrier-synchronization system, he has, for all practical purposes, eliminated the hash zone, where a sub-audio beat between the two transmitters essentially made the signal unlistenable. It seems to me though, that even with absolutely perfect synchronization, standing waves would remain a problem. At the trough of a standing wave, the signal level would surely fall below the NIF limit. Interesting technical problem!

 

[Laurence Glavin]

In the past, listening to WLLH-AM while trravelling between Lowell and Lawrence was an adventure. It was like radio Moscow on one of my old radios that picked up SW broadcasts. Now, WLLH seems to hold steady, which I could more easily experience when it was English language. What kind of reception people get in their homes if they live in the spaces in-between (Twixbury or Dracut) I don't know, but for me WLLH-AM Lawrence is tied with WNNW and WRKO. WCEC really isn't all that strong. Then comes WBZ.