The Best Signal In The Triangle Is...

[raedizzle2008]

WPTF

It's hard to knock 50,000 watts on AM.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

Don't forget it's on the left end. Now that's a MONSTER signal.

Exact-a-mundo, it is! ;D Heck, as I've mentioned before on here, I've heard daytime 'PTF as far west as western Forsyth County, and even around Mt. Airy...but I've even notched 'em once (daytime) in Charlottesville, VA.-almost 200 miles north! (Interesting to note, given there's a 680 in Baltimore that's also a 50kw cranker..and I was about equidistant between RAL and BAL) Nighttime, however, is a different story..WPTF barely even makes it out of some parts of the Triangle! I know it has to protect the skywaves of a co-channel in Memphis, and also Baltimore and Boston. I guess that's why NC State had its broadcasts moved from 'PTF to WRAL-FM last year, which at least has a more "uniform" signal.

 

[EncSpy]

WPTF sends all their power east at night from two towers that are roughly 100ft shorter than what their day tower is...either way.they have one of the more interesting looking transmitter sites in NC...

you can't hear them at all in Greensboro at night, but in the DX mailing list I am in, WPTF is pretty strong in TN, also just about all of eastern NC gets blanketed with a strong groundwave at night still.


so....WPTF and WBT charlotte have the strongest signals in NC....I can get WBT in raleigh during the day...in greensboro is about where their ground/skywave cancellation ring is so it sounds like a shortwave station.

 

[raedizzle2008]

so....WPTF and WBT charlotte have the strongest signals in NC....I can get WBT in raleigh during the day...in greensboro is about where their ground/skywave cancellation ring is so it sounds like a shortwave station.

I've heard WBT in the daytime around Mebane before (east of Burlington), but hadn't tried it in Raleigh days (have heard it at night there). I even heard (barely) WBT daytime once in Danville, VA! But I wonder, how far does WTRU-830 reach? (The Kernersville-licensed gospel 50kw station) I heard it once in Raleigh (day), but some comments made on here seem to suggest it doesn't have a good signal for the power it uses.

 

[XTalker]

Middle of the dial and highly directional signals just don't do a much with 50KW as those on the lower end of the dial. Fact of AM!

 

[EncSpy]

WBT is not highly directional, WDRU...WRBZ, WSML, WNCT are highly directional AM's in NC, WBT is classified as Class A clear channel...WYRM 1110, Norfolk VA, less than 200 miles from raleigh is a 50kw blowtorch as well...but they MUST protect WBT so..having strong nulls to the west when the transmitter sits on the water means most of their power is going out over water AND they must sign off the air at night to protect WBT..as well as several other stations along the east coast.

WPTF is classified as a class B station.....they are protecting and or have to take much more interference at night than WBT has..there is a fulltime station in baltimore and atlanta they are protecting....

all WBT is protecting is KFAB AM in Omaha Nebraska...looking at their coverage maps..they are also using a 3 tower array and sending all their power west at night to protect WBT which sends all their power east

 

[XTalker]

My "highly directional" comment was an answer to the question about 830 WTRU. Might help to read the thread fully.

 

[EncSpy]

My "highly directional" comment was an answer to the question about 830 WTRU. Might help to read the thread fully.

I did, to avoid this confusion..that's what the big quote button is for...

 

[raedizzle2008]

Middle of the dial and highly directional signals just don't do a much with 50KW as those on the lower end of the dial. Fact of AM!

I'm aware of that, but I guess I just didn't know what direction does WTRU send less signal? I'm guessing they're directional at night away from the W-NW, as there's a co-channel in Minneapolis. But during the day, what direction is 830 sending less "oomph" toward?

 

[errandboy]

When WPTF's directional was designed around 1940 they were required to protect 680 in San Francisco (null at around 285 degrees) and 680 in Boston (null at around 37 degrees). The westward null is not a huge problem, but there has been a lot of metro growth toward Franklin county over the years and--as noted already--the WPTF night signal fades fast past Triangle Town Center. WBT has never had a night signal that got much further west than the airport after dark, which cuts off service to Gaston County--one of the larger counties in the Charlotte metro. At one time I think WBT had a synchronous booster transmitter somewhere west of Charlotte.

 

[BIG APE]

One thing is that the radios that are in vehicles these days are worth squat.. My old Delco's back in the 70's on AM would pick up boo coo's more stuff than the high dollar Infinity Junk I have in my Sebring and just foget the one in the Chevy S-10..It's all it can do to pick up the 100,000 watter in the back yard!

 

[XTalker]

Ape is so right! If you had a room full of those things today you could be a rich man. Just figure out how to package them for home use and make millions!

 

[vtjazy]

does anyone know about how much area Q99 (WSLQ) covers? I know they are at 150Kw. just wondered how they ranked nationaly. and to those who ever thought about the Roanoke/Lynchburg market and where they transmit from. a place called Poor Mountain. went up there last week. A-maaaaaaaZING!!! -took a pic or two and then some!

carlosswicegood, WSLQ is actually 200k once you factor in beam tilt.

(High Point native now living in Blacksburg, VA)

Anyone from the Triangle ever get 200k WRVQ/Richmond? I occasionally hear them fighting WGBT in and around Blacksburg when the weather's right. 'GBT blasts waaaay up into VA and is pretty much a local station here. Even pick them up indoors on portable radios, if you position it just right.

WTHZ is sketchy in Blacksburg but blows really well into Roanoke. To add a blow, there's also a religious translator on 94.1 in Christiansburg (just outside Blacksburg), but that's off air more often than not. To make matters worse, there's a 94.1 in Oak Hill, WV (just over a mountain ridge) that occasionally wafts in, just to give ol' Majic a kick in the gut. Sorry, Ape. :-\

On a good radio, WSMW comes in pretty clearly in Blacksburg, HD even. Only problem is on a cheap radio, sideband from Q-99 devours Simon. WPAW blows in almost like a local, as does WVBZ. There's a nearby 101.5, but on good days, WRAL-FM's HD will show up on the sides of the local, and the radio blends from the local analog to WRAL's HD. WQMG is patchy in town.

Surprisingly enough, I can pick up WNAA very reliably here, despite only being 10k from Greensboro. On humid nights I've even picked up WIST-FM, generally under WBRF's (98.1) sidebands and fighting with another 98.3 from Farmville, VA.

When I'm in Greensboro, I get WBT fairly strongly. I can usually hear 920 WPCM's daytime really faintly in Blacksburg; WPTF's daytime too. WPAQ comes in well, of course, but CFMZ (nee CHWO) seems to do better in High Point than it does here.

To condense that huge block of text into a nice list, I'd have to say best signals in Greensboro Market:
WPAW
WSMW
WVBZ
WGBT
WZTK
WPCM
WPTF

and for a non-100k dinosaur,
WNAA

 

[EncSpy]

WNAA was actually 10 watts until 1985 when they built a 500ft stick on A&T's football field and blasts away, the old antenna still sit on top of Price hall on campus...the signal dosen't get out too well to the west (just about gone by winston salem) but tapers out around hillsborough and done by durham to the east and can be heard faintly in fayetteville

...its a piss poor excuse for a college radio station, when you look at Elon, UNC-G, & Guilford College (non students/alumni can get on the air easier than students, most of the mass comm/journalism students couldn't run the board if it could save their life)..but thats another rant that my college money help pay for...

 

[raedizzle2008]

WNAA was actually 10 watts until 1985 when they built a 500ft stick on A&T's football field and blasts away, the old antenna still sit on top of Price hall on campus...the signal dosen't get out too well to the west (just about gone by winston salem) but tapers out around hillsborough and done by durham to the east and can be heard faintly in fayetteville

I actually remember when 'NAA was a "pip-squeak" 10-watter, back when I was a kid! I lived at the time about a mile west of UNC-G, and could hear their signal kinda okay on my trusty little 'ol clock radio! ;D Of course, when they upgraded to 10kw in 1985, they were that much more easy to hear, but I'm afraid as time progressed they sounded less and less like a "real" collegiate station and have since almost become a non-commercial clone of WQMG and WJMH, with maybe a few "talk" shows from time to time. And not as much jazz (which I love) as they used to play. I've heard WNAA once up in Roanoke, VA on a car radio, and also around Mount Airy. I've gotten them okay in Winston-Salem, although W-S has its "rival" station, WSNC 90.5, which makes it a little hard to hear WNAA in some parts of town if you have a crappy set LOL

 

[charlestondxman]

Living in Charleston, SC, a good 210mi from Raleigh, I can often pick up several of the Triangle stations either late at night or early in the morning.

WRAL has the best signal, as it often comes in around 6-8 am in the Charleston area, because that frequency is wide open, with only a station in Brunswick, GA interfering with the signal. RAL probably has the best signal in the Triangle, as I have heard them clear in Dillon, SC, almost 100 miles away, and it doesn't usually go out on 95 until just north of Florence.

I heard it on a cold winter night at University City, near Charlotte, and near Spartanburg.

RVA is very close, as you can hear it north on 95 almost all the way to Richmond, and I've also heard it in Charleston and Columbia, stronger in Columbia. Surprisingly, WQMG from Greensboro comes in on 97.1 sometimes, even with a 96.9 in Charleston.

One time, I heard 93.9 from Terrell's Mountain in North Charleston, but the new signal is much weaker.

Of course, WPTF has a great signal at night throughout the South Carolina coast, and all the way down to Florida. During the day, you can hear them all the way to Myrtle Beach, and during the winter, it comes and goes around the Mt. Pleasant area.

 

[vchimpanzee]

so....WPTF and WBT charlotte have the strongest signals in NC....I can get WBT in raleigh during the day...in greensboro is about where their ground/skywave cancellation ring is so it sounds like a shortwave station.

I've heard WBT in the daytime around Mebane before (east of Burlington), but hadn't tried it in Raleigh days (have heard it at night there). I even heard (barely) WBT daytime once in Danville, VA! But I wonder, how far does WTRU-830 reach? (The Kernersville-licensed gospel 50kw station) I heard it once in Raleigh (day), but some comments made on here seem to suggest it doesn't have a good signal for the power it uses.

It may be my antenna, but on my best radio I don't pick up WTRU. I used to. I don't pick up WSJS either, though WFNZ sounds like it will break the radio. I think the last time I picked up WTRU at home I was using a radio where the AM antenna was the power cord. I hooked up a round TV antenna to a place on the back and that doesn't seem to get the best results.

 

[fortmill]

so....WPTF and WBT charlotte have the strongest signals in NC....I can get WBT in raleigh during the day...in greensboro is about where their ground/skywave cancellation ring is so it sounds like a shortwave station.

I've heard WBT in the daytime around Mebane before (east of Burlington), but hadn't tried it in Raleigh days (have heard it at night there). I even heard (barely) WBT daytime once in Danville, VA! But I wonder, how far does WTRU-830 reach? (The Kernersville-licensed gospel 50kw station) I heard it once in Raleigh (day), but some comments made on here seem to suggest it doesn't have a good signal for the power it uses.

It may be my antenna, but on my best radio I don't pick up WTRU. I used to. I don't pick up WSJS either, though WFNZ sounds like it will break the radio. I think the last time I picked up WTRU at home I was using a radio where the AM antenna was the power cord. I hooked up a round TV antenna to a place on the back and that doesn't seem to get the best results.

I never heard of a radio that used a power cord for an am antenna---but cheap home radios often use the power cord for FM. You might try turning your radio for best AM reception--the AM antenna is almost always inside the radio---table radios and boomboxes. Regarding WTRU, I recieve it day and night here south of Charlotte--WPTF too, though neither holds any interest to me. WSJS and WFNZ both have VERY TIGHT directional lobes (obviously) so you must be in the WFNZ lobe and outside the WSJS lobe. In regard to a previous post concerning Triad stations in the Blacksburg/NRV area of VA, I remember when they had their own Arbitron ratings book, WJMH always was ranked there--the only Triad station to do so. Of course, WJMH always ranks in the Roanoke/Lynchburg and the Triangle ratings, often in Charlotte--so ratings wise you might say they get around better than most Triad stations.

 

[XTalker]

AM antennas are usually a coil of copper wire inside the radio. The power cord antenna was most likely for the FM side.

 

[vchimpanzee]

AM antennas are usually a coil of copper wire inside the radio. The power cord antenna was most likely for the FM side.

Okay, I'll take your word for it. There was something in the directions for the new radio. I had never seen that an AM antenna was needed on any other radio I had, and this one had a place to put it. I used an old round TV antenna. I figured why throw it away?

 

[VODood]

To answer the question about 'RVA (formerly WTRG, an oldies station), I've heard, though intermittently (at times), the signal in some parts of Greensboro and even once or twice in Kernersville! They are said to have one of the largest "footprints" (coverage areas) of an FM station in the nation, but I don't think *the* largest. And I've also heard 100.7 around Morehead City some years back, as well as 101.5, 106.1 and 94.7 from Raleigh...but Wilmington, well I can certainly understand 101.3 making it iffy to get WRAL in-town, but aren't there other Triangle signals that can get into New Hanover? I want to say 'QDR, but I think there's a 94.5 in WIL that would mess it up? What about 106.1?

WRVA-FM, formerly WTRG-FM, is the 12th "strongest" FM in the nation with a coverage of more than 10,220 miles. Can be heard in three states; NC, SC and VA.