LONG DISTANCE AM STATION MOVES

[1L6E6VHF]

Note also that WRNJ, as a Class B station, IS protected from interference at night - but to a degree. They certainly don't have protection of their 2 mV/m nighttime contour as is mentioned in the rules, only the oldest regionals have that.

The NIF contour they had when that finished their CP on 1510 (i.e., the area where the field voltage of their 230w DA signal is 20 times as great as all the interference they receive, likely primarily from WLAC and WUFC) is protected from any stronger interference from future facilities.

This means that, if WPUT in Brewster, NY wanted to upgrade to 10kw, using a 16-tower array that protected both WLAC and WUFC by blowing all their RF in the face of WRNJ, it would be returned for destructive interference to WRNJ.

I would have said that WRNJ must have a tiny NIF contour, because of so much interference from WLAC. Looking at the plots, I see that WLAC and WUFC, in protecting each other, also inadvertently protect WRNJ. Their NIF might not be that bad (my rough guess would be in the neighborhood of 5-8 mV/m)

 

[satech]

I would have said that WRNJ must have a tiny NIF contour, because of so much interference from WLAC. Looking at the plots, I see that WLAC and WUFC, in protecting each other, also inadvertently protect WRNJ. Their NIF might not be that bad (my rough guess would be in the neighborhood of 5-8 mV/m)

WRNJ's nighttime signal is completely inaudble in the town of Washington, NJ, which one of their FM translators (92.7 W224AS) is licensed to. Although far less than that of their daytime AM signal, the coverage of their two FM translators is far greater than that of their nighttime AM signal. So could WRNJ operate as a daytimer on AM, or would that downgrade them from Class B to Class D?

 

[w9wi]

WRNJ's nighttime signal is completely inaudble in the town of Washington, NJ, which one of their FM translators (92.7 W224AS) is licensed to. Although far less than that of their daytime AM signal, the coverage of their two FM translators is far greater than that of their nighttime AM signal. So could WRNJ operate as a daytimer on AM, or would that downgrade them from Class B to Class D?

You can't license a completely new station as a Class D, but you *can* convert an existing station to Class D. So yes, WRNJ could do that.

They would have to reduce their nighttime power enough to get their RMS field strength below that 141mV/m@1km figure. The fact their night power is less than 250 watts doesn't matter, since their antenna is efficient enough to reach Class B status.

 

[satech]

You can't license a completely new station as a Class D, but you *can* convert an existing station to Class D. So yes, WRNJ could do that.

I'm just thinking of that because I heard that AM daytimers can get an FM translator and broadcast on the FM translator even at night when the AM signal is off the air. Since WRNJ has two FM translators which I'm sure the majority of their local audience is listening to, and a marginal directional nighttime AM signal which probably very few listen to, they could reduce operation and maintenance costs by just operating the AM as a daytimer, while the FM translators get to stay on at night.

 

[w9wi]

Yeah, I'm actually surprised I've not yet heard of any AM stations doing exactly that. It certainly seems to make sense.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Thought I'd heard of some stations doing that, including one in either KY or TN that used to be 5 kW day 1 kW night, but dropped power to I think 1 kw day and 100 watts night because they had the FM translator..

Couldn't find that one, but turns out there's more here.... http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=215513.0

 

[fybush]

Yeah, I'm actually surprised I've not yet heard of any AM stations doing exactly that. It certainly seems to make sense.

It's happened. 1520 in Shelbyville, Indiana, whatever the calls are lately, lost one of its three towers in a storm and eventually dropped a second tower to go ND (at lower-power), figuring the FM translator was where more of its audience now is listening. It's not the only one.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Thought I'd heard of some stations doing that, including one in either KY or TN that used to be 5 kW day 1 kW night, but dropped power to I think 1 kw day and 100 watts night because they had the FM translator..

I think the station in question is WVJS 1430 in Owensboro, KY, which went from what I think was a 4 tower array to one tower and class D status.  The other towers were demolished in 2012, although they live on via Scott Fybush's 2013 Tower Site calendar!

Also: 950 WXLW/Indianapolis has downgraded from a class B two tower DA to class D operation, and begun a simulcast with class A 95.9 FM. The ND facility actually upgrades the night signal in the northern part of the Indy metro, while the FM provides fine coverage of the south end.

 

[1L6E6VHF]

WRNJ's nighttime signal is completely inaudble in the town of Washington, NJ, which one of their FM translators (92.7 W224AS) is licensed to. Although far less than that of their daytime AM signal, the coverage of their two FM translators is far greater than that of their nighttime AM signal. So could WRNJ operate as a daytimer on AM, or would that downgrade them from Class B to Class D?
[/quote]

This is because Washington NJ, west of the transmitter, is in the major null of WRNJ's nighttime directional pattern.

It needs to have a very deep and wide nulll to the west to protected the skywave contour of Class A WLAC.

 

[stereolane]

Yeah, I'm actually surprised I've not yet heard of any AM stations doing exactly that. It certainly seems to make sense.

It's happened. 1520 in Shelbyville, Indiana, whatever the calls are lately, lost one of its three towers in a storm and eventually dropped a second tower to go ND (at lower-power), figuring the FM translator was where more of its audience now is listening. It's not the only one.

Nice if you can get it. I've had an app pending for a translator sitting at the FCC since 2003.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Yeah, I'm actually surprised I've not yet heard of any AM stations doing exactly that. It certainly seems to make sense.

It's happened. 1520 in Shelbyville, Indiana, whatever the calls are lately, lost one of its three towers in a storm and eventually dropped a second tower to go ND (at lower-power), figuring the FM translator was where more of its audience now is listening. It's not the only one.

This post is an almost off-topic tangent... but it fits and may stimulate thinking about why we "romance" radio.

I remember ripping copy off the news teletype in Canton, IL one day and reading about 1520 going on the air that day in Shelbyville, IN. I don't know why it captured me, but more than other such announcements, it did.

Fast-forward a few years and I find myself working in Indianapolis and living maybe 20 miles from the Shelbyville station. Here is the folklore about what made that station an instant celebrity of sorts in the community. If you have been sleeping under a rock, I need to tell you that Indiana (particularly in that era) is BASKETBALL CRAZY. The high school team from Shelbyville had a basketball game and a blizzard made something of a surprise arrival. This is before cell phones. This is an era when some folks did not have a home phone. The radio station stayed on all night long. (Small town stations typically signed off at about local bedtime.) The station spent the night relaying information about where students were spending the night so that parents could rest easy. The station was able to relay info from law enforcement and school officials that gave the parents comfort.

In this day of cell phones, texting and Internet, it may be hard to remember... or if you are younger... imagine just how scrawny of ability to communicate at times like that was in that era.

My observation was that the station enjoyed a prominence in that community for a number of years that exceeded normal expectations. It was a "fluke of fate" for the station.

 

[EncSpy]

the station is WSVX Shelbyville IN