WAMO/W261AX

[PHIL Z]

W261XA 100.1 Has applied to move Off the KDKA TV Tower to the WDDZ/WKST Site. With the Same Power Level. But Lower Height and Directional Pattern. Anyone Know Why?

 

[RadioPhillyFan]

Could be a number of reasons - never count out the fact of doing so to launch a translator. These minor changes may be enough for the FCC to allow another translator, as extrodinarily unlikely as this circumstance sounds and unfathomably irrational for the FCC. They allow two Class B nondirectional (WDAC and WPST) class B FM's to operate on the same frequency less then 60 miles from each other, the overlap is horrid, but both are grandfathered. Even though it could be fixed by moving WDAC to 94.3 and realisticly it would cause less issues and broaden PST to reach all of Philly and DAC to reach all of the Lehigh Valley and some of the Delaware Valley along with it's current reach. As this I mean that there may have been an issue preventing a 107.3 translator (isn't that even open for a Class A?) from being put on the antenna. MMR 93.3 can't exist on Roxbourgh in Phiy because of PPZ 103.9 - as Scott once said.

But, realisticly. This moves puts the station significantly closer to the central area of Pittsburgh, giving it a possible better population reach. Assuming that was why such move was made. Radio-Locater will help you understand this a little bit more. Just look up the call letters.

 

[fybush]

You can't license a new translator right now. New translators can only be applied for during FCC application windows, and the last one for translators was in 2004. When a window opens again, many channels in urban areas such as Pittsburgh will be off-limits to translators in order to provide spectrum space for new LPFM stations.

As for the grandfathering to which you refer: the reason it's called "grandfathering" is that it allows for continued non-conforming operation by stations that were short-spaced before the current spacing rules went into effect.

(And, no, WDAC can't go to 94.3; it would then become impermissibly short-spaced to other signals such as the 94.3 in Hagerstown/Chambersburg.)

As for W261AX, it's all about terrain. From the KDKA-TV site in the north hills, it's somewhat shadowed to the African-American population in areas such as the Hill District. The WDDZ/WKST site in the south hills is a little shorter, yes, but with a cleaner line of sight across the Monongahela to the areas WAMO wants to target, I'd suspect.

 

[cingram]

As for W261AX, it's all about terrain. From the KDKA-TV site in the north hills, it's somewhat shadowed to the African-American population in areas such as the Hill District. The WDDZ/WKST site in the south hills is a little shorter, yes, but with a cleaner line of sight across the Monongahela to the areas WAMO wants to target, I'd suspect.

This also will have the interesting side effect of putting me within the 60 dBu contour of W261AX, since I live
relatively close to the 1250/96.1 site.

C.

 

[Parttimer]

As for W261AX, it's all about terrain. From the KDKA-TV site in the north hills, it's somewhat shadowed to the African-American population in areas such as the Hill District. The WDDZ/WKST site in the south hills is a little shorter, yes, but with a cleaner line of sight across the Monongahela to the areas WAMO wants to target, I'd suspect.

The signal even has trouble on Route 51 on the back side of Mt.Washington. Plus the Mon Valley is the next highest African-American population after the city itself, so it can only help their numbers.

 

[Parttimer]

Also I wonder if they might try to get their hands on either the 99.3 or 105.5 translators to retore the coverage to the north....

 

[PGHsalesguy]

Can an AM station have more than one translator? Thought it was still considered "experimental" from the FCC. Also, why are they so garbled lately?

 

[fybush]

AM-on-FM translators were made officially legal in a rulemaking proceeding a couple of years ago and no longer require an STA to be granted. There is no limit on how many translators an AM station can have, though the AM station's own signal forms a de facto limit (the 60 dBu contour of the FM translator can't extend beyond the 2 mV/m contour of the parent AM station.)

There's an AM up here near me in western New York (WCJW 1140 Warsaw) that has four FM translators blanketing almost every inch of its AM signal.

 

[johnsummers]

Here in Dallas, KSKY/660 has 3 (!) translators. 99.9 in Ft. Worth, 95.5 in Arlington and 92.9 in Dallas. The 92.9 translator is, allegedly, 800 watts!