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WBMW 106.5 Signs on with 25,000 watt signal

R

Radiowomen

The WBMW upgrade that took three years signed on the air this weekend. The ERP is 12.5 KW which when factoring in the HAAT equates to 25 KW. The new signal is from a brand new 350 foot tower two miles South of the Ledyard landfill site. The signal is directional with a null toward WWKS 106.3, but's it's full power in all other directions. CL&P still hasn't provided the site with power, so we are operating full time by generator.

Early reports so far show better reception in Colchester and increased building penetration to inexpensive radios in Waterford and East Lyme.

Thanks to my team for the many long hours it took to make this happen. Jason Teft, Steve Savino, John Bernazchez, Brian Ram, Phil Gilman, Mayor Rodolico, Peter Doyle with the FCC and Jeff Reynolds.
 
I'm getting a broken stereo signal here in the south end of New Britain...IF I have my antenna wire in the right direction. It beats what I was getting from WBMW-FM here before: nothing.
 
http://radio-locator.com/info/WBMW-FM (Looks like it needs to be updated!)

Just to nitpick, the call letters referenced above should say WWKX-FM 106.3 of Woonsocket/Providence ("Hot 106"). :)

As for other first adjacent stations, I doubt WEIB-FM 106.3 of Northampton, MA would be any problem. Ledyard and Northampton are only 70 air miles apart. However, I don't get any trace of their signal. I'm 45 air miles from Northampton and have trouble getting them on my Panasonic "Walkman" in Springfield.

I also gave second adjacent WBLI-FM 106.1 of Patchogue, NY a thought. I think central Long Island is far enough away? :p
 
They are coming in good here in Wallingford. I had them on tonight.

I like the tunes I heard on there tonight.

I wish WCTY 97.7 give a kick to their signal.
 
I listen to WTCY online, and agree, I wish we could pick it up off air up here.
 
Of course, the crappy signal of WUCS-FM 97.9 of Windsor Locks/Hartford would have to cease operations first (10 miles away and the stereo is all noisy?).

I assume the WCTY-FM transmitter is the one you see to the right as you approach Mohegan Sun on CT Route 2A in Montville?
 
In eastern Long Island I noticed WBMW was the strongest eastern Connecticut signal. It was coming in HD pretty well.
 
You're correct KML-224... That is indeed the WCTY tower you see when heading toward the 'Sun on Route 2-A. It's 292 feet above ground on Cook Drive (off Route 32) in Uncasville. The HAAT is 410 feet with a Nautel feeding a 2-Bay ERI. It replaced a shorter stick in 1990. The additional 117 feet helped overcome some terrain issues that distorted the old pattern to the Northwest toward Colchester. The current pattern is truly onmi-directional.

Jim
 
I still can't think of why they allowed 97.9 of Windsor Locks/Hartford to get that close. Another similar situation is WYBC-FM 94.3 of New Haven being only about 22 miles away from WERB-FM 94.5 of Berlin (High School).

As for WBMW-FM, I'm still getting the same noisy stereo signal here in New Britain. Again, it still beats the nearly non-existent signal I was getting before. It still seems weird to hear a voice-tracked Michael Maze on WBMW-FM now and then on WMRQ-FM 104.1 in the afternoon!

As I typed that last paragraph, it sounded like a country station (not WCTY-FM), tried to interfere with them. E-skip perhaps?
 
24 hours or so later, your station's signal is real weak again. I haven't moved my antenna wire at all. Hmmmmm! Also, the e-skip of yesterday is not showing up today. Oh well!

Has CL&P given the newer site its power yet? A generator had been mentioned before. :)
 
I've listened to the HD2 at various times over the past week, and it sounds like it's only airing the left audio channel.
 
With this signal upgrade, WWRX and WBMW changed communities of license, so Jammin switched from Pawcatuck to Ledyard and BMW from Ledyard to Pawcatuck.
 
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