Right After I Post This...

[Laurence Glavin]

I'm sure that right after I post this, WUML-FM 91.5 in Lowell will return to the air...but as of Sunday afternoon (the last day of winter; spring begins tonight at 7:21 pm, followed by a chance of snow and sleet WTF) the station has been silent for at least three days since I first checked. Sunday is a day when they broadcast a lot of ethnic shows, so it's a day that they perhaps garner a few more listeners than their usual fare attracts (Raccoon-man if he could get WUML would just LOVE the really left-wing political shows on weekdays; they make Thom HartmannThom Hartmann sound like William F. Buckley when he was alive). Oh, and another thing" 91.5 is REALLY quiet when WUML is away, in spite of the existence of several flea-power outlets on that channel WUNH comes in very well in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts minus WUML.

 

[carmen]

amazed that it is quiet for you. no WMFO? down in Sharon/Walpole WMFO makes it when WMLN is off, on a decent rcvr

radio-locator lists 170 and 125w ERP for those two. heavyweight power!

 

[Deleted User]

transmitter is smoked

temporary unit supposed to be in tuesday, new transmitter 90+days out.

 

[Deleted User]

All -

For the last few weeks we have been experiencing transmitter failures that have increased over time, resulting in in longer and longer broadcast outages.

These problems have been monitored and recorded in the automated logs. I have been aware of every outage, and have greatly appreciated the assistance and patience of those whose shows were affected. We have responded to each outage and restored the signal as soon as possible.

These outages are due to components in the transmitter that have failed, and it has become clear that the unit is nearing the end of its life. Today at 11am the transmitter failed and operation could not be restored remotely or by resetting the device manually.

Because of the transmitter's age (16 years) and difficulty in getting parts, I'm happy to report that Brenda and I have worked with the University to arrange for purchase of a state of the art replacement transmitter that will keep us broadcasting at our current 1400 watts. I'm hoping to have this work completed in the next 90 days.

In the meantime, I have arranged for a temporary unit, as a stop-gap measure, to keep us on air until the new unit is in place. However, this means we will be off the air until we get the stop-gap replacement - which should be up and running by Tuesday night.

I appreciate your patience. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Tom Tiger

 

[raccoonradio]

My station, WMWM, still has Sean Hayes running prog talk on Radio Free North Shore Thu nights btw [pre-recorded stuff like Radio Nation, I believe]; incidentally today from 3-6 pm we had a guy on in his 80s or 90s playing the banjo and
singing classics like This Land is Your Land, Goodnight Irene, I'll Fly Away, etc.; I interviewed him as well and gave listeners info about old time folk music; mentioned Guthrie and Seeger's political and
union songs and was pleasant about it I was kidding around with the gent and his wife, saying some people may have thought they were picking up WUMB by mistake...

Right now Doug Edwards is playing some cool jazz on 91.7 WMWM....

 

[pqgeorge]

Hi Tom,
I'm curious.... what kind of transmitter are you running right now? What part of the transmitter is at fault? If the exciter is still in good working order and the IPA section is still in good shape, could you possibly bypass the final section and operate on reduced power? I've done similar situations with a "work-around" set up. Hope everything works well for you and the station.

All the best,
Pete (K1XRB)

All -

For the last few weeks we have been experiencing transmitter failures that have increased over time, resulting in in longer and longer broadcast outages.

These problems have been monitored and recorded in the automated logs. I have been aware of every outage, and have greatly appreciated the assistance and patience of those whose shows were affected. We have responded to each outage and restored the signal as soon as possible.

These outages are due to components in the transmitter that have failed, and it has become clear that the unit is nearing the end of its life. Today at 11am the transmitter failed and operation could not be restored remotely or by resetting the device manually.

Because of the transmitter's age (16 years) and difficulty in getting parts, I'm happy to report that Brenda and I have worked with the University to arrange for purchase of a state of the art replacement transmitter that will keep us broadcasting at our current 1400 watts. I'm hoping to have this work completed in the next 90 days.

In the meantime, I have arranged for a temporary unit, as a stop-gap measure, to keep us on air until the new unit is in place. However, this means we will be off the air until we get the stop-gap replacement - which should be up and running by Tuesday night.

I appreciate your patience. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Tom Tiger

 

[Eli Polonsky]

amazed that it is quiet for you. no WMFO? down in Sharon/Walpole WMFO makes it when WMLN is off, on a decent rcvr

He's too far north for WMFO. I think he's up in the Merrimack Valley. WMFO would not go that far north even without WUML on the air.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

True story: I use an external FM antenna indoors attached to a very good receiver in my music room. Apparently there are no reasonably powerful stations on 91.5 in easrtern Mass, RI and CT. When WNYE-FM 91.5 in New York was transmitting with about 20,000 watts from Brooklyn, I believe, I could pick it up at home any time WLTI/WJUL/WWUML was off-the-air. It didn't matter if it was summer or winter, daytime or the middle of the night, humid and warm or cold and dry. Right now, after many tries to get a TOH station ID, nothing but interstation hash. Now, even from the Times Sq. tower, 2K at 900 feet doesn't seem to do it.