Silly Math Fun for AM'ers

[Mike Sheridan]

WWKB - WGR = WNED-AM

1520 - 550 = 970

I know pretty lame but I was trying to figure out why KB always had a signal around 660 on some radios when I lived a couple of miles away from the transmitter. I was looking for some kind of harmonic.

 

[John C]

1520 Divided by 1= 1520 (WWKB Divided by their ratings lately = WWKB!) ;D

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

WWKB - WGR = WNED-AM

1520 - 550 = 970

I know pretty lame but I was trying to figure out why KB always had a signal around 660 on some radios when I lived a couple of miles away from the transmitter. I was looking for some kind of harmonic.

You nailed it.

Conversely, 1520 - 970 = 550 and 550 + 970 = 1520. Seems 970 has always been a challenged frequency in the southtowns, although it's a flame thrower in the city and Niagara county. In parts of Toronto it's like a local. But in some areas of Toronto an interesting dynamic occurs with CHUM-AM on 1050 and CFRB-AM on 1010. 1050 - 1010 = 40kHz Subtract 40 kHz from 1010 and you get 970 which creates cancelation for WNED-AM in some areas of Toronto.

Welcome to fun with image frequencies and harmonics. A swell way to spend a Saturday night. So this is what it's come to?!

There's all kinds of electronic craziness when dealing with image frequencies of your radio plus 2nd harmonics, half harmonics, especially around the Hamburg sites of WGR, WWKB and WNED-AM. Not that I'm a math whiz, I'm just sayin'.

 

[Bob1370]

Image frequency signals within your radio can always play hell with some signals. In Rochester, for many years WGR was a challenge to hear on the south side of Rochester and in Brighton--you'd hear WAXC overriding it on 550 at times on a cheap car radio because WAXC on 1460 was 910 kHz--second harmonic of a typical radio's 455 kHz intermediate frequency--above WGR. Could have some issues with a number of Buffalo stations in the south towns depending on where you are.

But a lot of WNED-AM's troubles in the south towns and Southern Tier have more to do with that tight directional pattern. They beam most of the signal north through the city of Buffalo toward Niagara Falls and Toronto, with only a minor lobe directly to the south and near nothing to the east and west. It's probably more directional than it needed to be when it was built in the late 1940s because they figured they'd configure their signal to hit the population center--never anticipating how the city would shrink and population would move south and east in the ensuing 60 years.

 

[Savage]

I pulled out of a Syracuse parking garage one day about 12 years ago and powered up the AM radio. The radio had been left on the WCJW preset, and as the radio came up, I heard a crystal-clear WSYR on 1140.

I pulled out the cellphone and called Conrad Trautmann to warn him WSYR had one helluva second-harmonic problem. Conrad chuckled and advised that the high signal strength from WSYR and the IF system used produced a pronounced image, primarily on Ford car radios. Sure enough, I was driving a Mercury, so that was the problem.

Legend has it that WPTR in Albany used to have a chronic problem with a second harmonic thrown by WABC's old General Electric transmitter, especially at night. As we all know The Big 1540 is massively directional to the northeast and "Whipter" had famous difficulties covering the southern suburbs on the back side of the array, so the 770 harmonic was reportedly quite troubling.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Can't you just envision Savage tooling around the Salt City in a big ol' Mercury Grand Marquis with the faux convertible top, looking upper-demo. Man, I hope you didn't wear a hat and leave the left turn signal on for three miles while tuning the radio and driving in the passing lane at 38 miles an hour. Crown Vic's and Grand Marquis. Trademarks.

 

[Savage]

Topper Time (a blast from the past for those who, like me, are old enough to remember Rochester's Topper Pilsener Beer, but that's another post on another blog)......

Not only was it a Grand Marquis - it was police-car white, had crushed-velour blue upholstery, faux "wire wheel" covers and....YES!! A DASH MOUNTED COMPASS!! And just to further fuel Pastrick's glee...yep. It had a vinyl roof, but the color combo was white on white so The Villages effect was muted slightly.

It was unofficially the company car, nicknamed The Grandpamobile. My former partner's brother owned it; then gave it to bro; he drove it all the time he was SM of WKGW/WRUN Utica, then the car wound up at WYSL back in The River 93.3 days. We drove the thing until it had racked up something like 240,000 miles. Every time it got a little gravel nick it went off to the body shop for a tradeout paintjob, so it even looked showroom new. When I sold it for $500 it was on engine #3 and transmission #2. Most comfortable damn car I ever drove.

HUH???? Type a little LOUDER.

 

[Play Freebird]

Who else here remembers the WVOR Solid Gold Cadillac?

Jack Palvino let me borrow it for a few days in February 82 after my Pinto blew an engine. Fortunately, we had no transmitter problems that week, as I doubt it would have made it up Baker Hill without sliding off into the ditch.

 

[Savage]

Yeah, baby...a white Grand Marquis with blackwall tires. The octogenarian GPS (dash compass) was a real Chick Magnet.

Chicks with trifocals. And wearing peach-colored Orlon....anything.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Ah. Elmwood Village, Lance Diamond patrons. Sorry, you have to be from Buffalo to get the reference.

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

Who else here remembers the WVOR Solid Gold Cadillac?

Oh, yeah!  The "WVOR Solid Gold Cadillac", a Cadillac Eldorado convertible as I recall, that once belonged to Al Wertheimer who's been mentioned a few times on these boards as of late. 

Boy, has this thread wandered off course all because of Mr. Savage's Mercury Grand Marquis.

Sure glad I'm not paying for the gas for that Cadillac or Savages Merc at today's prices.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Ah. Elmwood Village, Lance Diamond patrons. Sorry, you have to be from Buffalo to get the reference.

Just set off the cougar alarm.

 

[yugoidar]

JPB, I'm guessing you're not talking about a Mercury Cougar alarm!

 

[T_Magoo]

Ah. Elmwood Village, Lance Diamond patrons. Sorry, you have to be from Buffalo to get the reference.

"Where you went up, to get down."

I worked there post-disco at Grafitti's for Joe Jacobi for a few years. What a riot. We used to get busloads from Canada that showed up for "Thirsty Thursdays." We had to start shutting down at 1 instead of 4, because it got too nuts. We'd got to Mickey Rats on Main to finish the night off. "You kids listening at home...don't try this!"

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Ah. Elmwood Village, Lance Diamond patrons. Sorry, you have to be from Buffalo to get the reference.

"Where you went up, to get down."

I worked there post-disco at Grafitti's for Joe Jacobi for a few years. What a riot. We used to get busloads from Canada that showed up for "Thirsty Thursdays." We had to start shutting down at 1 instead of 4, because it got too nuts. We'd got to Mickey Rats on Main to finish the night off. "You kids listening at home...don't try this!"

Magoo! Those were the days when you and our good friend Charley "were on the Pro Tour!" This thread is taking an interesting turn. Next we'll be talking Shadrack's, Merlin's, the Brick Bar and stepping up to spin Cassidy's "Wheel" (of innebriation.) Then there's the Big Ten Club and WMU Club on the lake and Dirty Dick's Bath House on Main, which because a jazz joint and the early incarnation of The Tralf, named after planet Tralfamadore. I wasn't a regular at any of those joints, but they sure had a reputation.

Which calls to mind the mythological Pig Palace, "somewhere in Sloan, not far from home... where every night is ladies night with live music featuring the run-of-the-mill bar band. Mediocrity never sounded louder!" I produced that commercial one day after doing about a dozen bar spots in two hours, using shopworn over-stated bar and concert spot lines for a place that didn't exist. We'd run the spot on 97 Rock every so often and always get calls from listeners asking "where is that bar???" Like the commercial sez, "Somewhere in Sloan, not far from home..."

And as long as we're talking wheels 'n rides, what about the WHEN '62 "Heavy Chevy" in Syracuse. Sure, "out of the market," but it was a good promotional tool for the station. I should know the answer to this, but did WGR ever have a '55 Heavy Chevy? I'm thinkin' they did.