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Mix 98.5 and 102.5 WCRB off the air

R

RadioJay

Guest
Anyone know what's up?<P ID="signature">______________
Moe: (Sees a microphone in a radio studio) Ooh, a microphonie!

Curly: Or a phoney at the mike!

Moe: Quiet numbskulls I'm broadcastin'!

From The Three Stooges episode "Micro-Phoneys"</P>
 
Probably technical difficulties caused by the weather.
 
Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

Year's ago under the previous owner, Rev. Jones, WCRB use to sell off part of its frequency to some medical information network or Musac type network which weakened CRB's reception.
Sometimes, particularly at night I get a rock station overriding CRB which is deadly for a Classical music station.

Anyone know it Charles River Broadcasting is still selling off part of its frequency ? The only commercial classical music station should have a clear and uncluttered signal. But I guess anything for a buck.



> Probably technical difficulties caused by the weather.
>
 
Re: Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

> Year's ago under the previous owner, Rev. Jones, WCRB use to
> sell off part of its frequency to some medical information
> network or Musac type network which weakened CRB's
> reception.
> Sometimes, particularly at night I get a rock station
> overriding CRB which is deadly for a Classical music
> station.
>
> Anyone know it Charles River Broadcasting is still selling
> off part of its frequency ? The only commercial classical
> music station should have a clear and uncluttered signal.
> But I guess anything for a buck.
>
The rock station you hear interfering with WCRB's claptrap is probably not a function of its Subsidiary Carrier authority, but the fact that when channel 4 needed to install its new DTV antenna, WCRB was evicted from their tower. Since then, the South Street snoozer has had to make do on the what is called the 128 tower that also "houses" WBUR and WODS. Since this tower is closer to an UNBUILT cp in Truro on Cape Cod, WCRB operates with somewhat less power than would be authorized otherwise, and also uses an antenna not customized for 102.5. The day they switched, I noticed a considerable drop in signal strength on my primary receiver. From time to time, FMs on 102.5 in southeastern Maine and LI, NY can come in when distant signals get a boost, primarily in summer (remember summer? remember the Sun?).
 
Re: Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

> Year's ago under the previous owner, Rev. Jones, WCRB use to
> sell off part of its frequency to some medical information
> network or Musac type network which weakened CRB's
> reception.
> Sometimes, particularly at night I get a rock station
> overriding CRB which is deadly for a Classical music
> station.
>
> Anyone know it Charles River Broadcasting is still selling
> off part of its frequency ? The only commercial classical
> music station should have a clear and uncluttered signal.
> But I guess anything for a buck.

Where are you listening from? WCRB transmits from Route 128 by the Newton/Needham line. If you're close to Boston or line of sight of the Pru, the rock you're hearing may be intermodulation interference from one of the stations on the Pru (especially if you're listening on a Walkman, boom-box, clock radio, or other lower-quality tuner).

WCRB has one of the strongest Boston commercial FM signals in outlying areas. I've heard it way out in areas of New England where I was hard pressed to hear any other commercial Boston FM's. However, due to it's transmitter location and Prudential interference, it's not always clean in or near the city.
 
The common factor everyone's missed so far.

> Anyone know what's up?
>
WCRB and WBMX both transmit into the same antenna, the FM 128 master antenna.
Was WJMN also off the air? They might have switched to the new aux antenna immediatley after the failure so you wouldn't have noticed.

If WODS and WBUR were off, it was more likely a electrical failure in the building.
 
Re: The common factor everyone's missed so far.

> > Anyone know what's up?
> >
> WCRB and WBMX both transmit into the same antenna, the FM
> 128 master antenna.
> Was WJMN also off the air? They might have switched to the
> new aux antenna immediatley after the failure so you
> wouldn't have noticed.
>
> If WODS and WBUR were off, it was more likely a electrical
> failure in the building.
>

94.5, 98.5, and 102.5 seem to be weaker than usual right now. 94.5's IBOC is also off. 90.9 and 103.3's signals seem to be at the normal level, and 90.9's IBOC is still on.
 
Re: Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

Thanks, I live on the South Shore and the signal interference with the rock station doesn't do much for CRB.
They have always done things the cheapest way. Have you ever seen their studios. Not what you would call plush or overly ostentatious.


> > Year's ago under the previous owner, Rev. Jones, WCRB use
> to
> > sell off part of its frequency to some medical information
>
> > network or Musac type network which weakened CRB's
> > reception.
> > Sometimes, particularly at night I get a rock station
> > overriding CRB which is deadly for a Classical music
> > station.
> >
> > Anyone know it Charles River Broadcasting is still selling
>
> > off part of its frequency ? The only commercial classical
> > music station should have a clear and uncluttered signal.
> > But I guess anything for a buck.
> >
> The rock station you hear interfering with WCRB's claptrap
> is probably not a function of its Subsidiary Carrier
> authority, but the fact that when channel 4 needed to
> install its new DTV antenna, WCRB was evicted from their
> tower. Since then, the South Street snoozer has had to make
> do on the what is called the 128 tower that also "houses"
> WBUR and WODS. Since this tower is closer to an UNBUILT cp
> in Truro on Cape Cod, WCRB operates with somewhat less power
> than would be authorized otherwise, and also uses an
> antenna not customized for 102.5. The day they switched, I
> noticed a considerable drop in signal strength on my primary
> receiver. From time to time, FMs on 102.5 in southeastern
> Maine and LI, NY can come in when distant signals get a
> boost, primarily in summer (remember summer? remember the
> Sun?).
>
 
Re: The common factor everyone's missed so far.

There was some sort of planned work or maintenance at FM-128.

WBUR's logs show that they switched to their backup on the B.U. Law Building between approximately 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM yesterday, and they knew in advance because it's noted that they warmed up the backup transmitter filaments beforehand.

> > Anyone know what's up?
> >
> WCRB and WBMX both transmit into the same antenna, the FM
> 128 master antenna.
> Was WJMN also off the air? They might have switched to the
> new aux antenna immediatley after the failure so you
> wouldn't have noticed.
>
> If WODS and WBUR were off, it was more likely a electrical
> failure in the building.
>
 
Re: Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

That 102.3 in Truro was built years ago, it's just silent now.


Since this tower is closer to an UNBUILT cp in Truro on Cape Cod, WCRB operates with somewhat less power than would be authorized otherwise, and also uses an antenna not customized for 102.5.
 
Re: Why is 102.5 WCRB's Reception Always Weak

> authority, but the fact that when channel 4 needed to
> install its new DTV antenna, WCRB was evicted from their
> tower.

Not quite. WCRB's old panel antenna system was designed and had the mounting hardware to be built on the then 5 foot tower face of the reduced tower section. However the new tower section is either 8 or 9 foot, and in order to have the new antenna fit, a modification of the antenna system was called for. Well when the antenna your using is old enough, like theirs was, it was more cost effective to move into the existing FM128 building.

> Since then, the South Street snoozer has had to make
> do on the what is called the 128 tower that also "houses"
> WBUR and WODS. Since this tower is closer to an UNBUILT cp
> in Truro on Cape Cod, WCRB operates with somewhat less power
> than would be authorized otherwise, and also uses an
> antenna not customized for 102.5.

WCRB is running 8100 watts versus 8800 watts. That 700 watts difference is very negilible. Especially in the Boston area. Where you'll hear the difference in 700 watts is up near the Portsmouth, NH area or down near the southern shore line of Rhode Island. Anywhere within the metro Boston shouldn't make a difference. And the fact that the antenna is a broadband FM antenna versus a 102.5 "cut" antenna also make little difference. If broadband antennas made such a dramatic loss in FM service area, you'd never see them installed. If the antenna system installed was "cut" for say, 98.5, and you tried pumping 102.5 into it, then I could see that make sense, but the antenna they have now works fine for 102.5.

> The day they switched, I
> noticed a considerable drop in signal strength on my primary
> receiver. From time to time, FMs on 102.5 in southeastern
> Maine and LI, NY can come in when distant signals get a
> boost, primarily in summer (remember summer? remember the
> Sun?).
>

If you hate the station so much, why do you still continue to listen to it?

Curious...
 
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