WCKL –still owned by The Black United Fund- has been operating under an emergency STA at reduced non-directional power of 250 watts daytime and 11 watts night, since August 15. This is due to damage to the transmission line to tower number three caused by a tractor being used to mow the lawn. They have until February 15 to complete repairs.
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WCKL is Operating at Reduced Power
- Thread starter MHVRadiofan
- Start date
The "Brian Dodge Traveling Sideshow" I guess now has a home. (physical space for a studio)
They've dispensed with the cobbled together set-up that made the average pirate radio station layout sound and look "pro"; no more shoebox with 'tunes, and audio drop-in's and then back to music already in progress. They've pitched their tent and parked in a nondescript building near a muffler shop. And apparently,they have a real audio board, just like the real broadcasters use. I understand that they have a neon sign in the window that says " We're serious, this time"
I listened briefly the train wreck that is morning drive on the station today.
Were production values and execution of the programming improved ? Nope.
Is the actual audio quality any less distorted and any more listenable? Double Nope.
However, the kid announcing/hosting most of the show gives a Dodge a run for his money in terms of his on air presentation. Dodge could learn a thing or two from him.
With the transmitter running 250 watts, it should be able to cover the whole village of Catskill.
They've dispensed with the cobbled together set-up that made the average pirate radio station layout sound and look "pro"; no more shoebox with 'tunes, and audio drop-in's and then back to music already in progress. They've pitched their tent and parked in a nondescript building near a muffler shop. And apparently,they have a real audio board, just like the real broadcasters use. I understand that they have a neon sign in the window that says " We're serious, this time"
I listened briefly the train wreck that is morning drive on the station today.
Were production values and execution of the programming improved ? Nope.
Is the actual audio quality any less distorted and any more listenable? Double Nope.
However, the kid announcing/hosting most of the show gives a Dodge a run for his money in terms of his on air presentation. Dodge could learn a thing or two from him.
With the transmitter running 250 watts, it should be able to cover the whole village of Catskill.
It's not a cheap fix from what I have experienced in the past. I know of issues in the past wiith that station and the ground wires. Not sure how they will cover the expense...unless it is covered by insurance. Anyone know the physical studio location?
I can't find the first few pages of the old log book, but I believe when they first went on the air they were 500 watts. We kids in Eastern Queens NYC knew that they would be a real challenge to hear. Obviously, WCKL wanted to cover Albany.
They turned out to be a sunrise-time catch, like so many of the 'upstate' New York stations were.
The pattern shown in the Radio-Locator depicts them as having huge, understandable nulls toward WHYN and WFIL, plus toward 560 in Maine. Wouldn't 250 watts omni be an incursion? I'm no techie -- just a DXer -- but that directional WCKL pattern on Radio-Locator was not sending anywhere near 250 watts toward WHYN. Their balky lawnmower probably sent more signal toward WHYN. Now they are sending 250 that way.
They turned out to be a sunrise-time catch, like so many of the 'upstate' New York stations were.
The pattern shown in the Radio-Locator depicts them as having huge, understandable nulls toward WHYN and WFIL, plus toward 560 in Maine. Wouldn't 250 watts omni be an incursion? I'm no techie -- just a DXer -- but that directional WCKL pattern on Radio-Locator was not sending anywhere near 250 watts toward WHYN. Their balky lawnmower probably sent more signal toward WHYN. Now they are sending 250 that way.
Radio-Locator charts tend to be a bit overly optimistic, in real world of average consumer radios.
As part of the FCC approval of the temporary change if there is interference complaints WCKL must immediately further reduce power or discontinue operations immediately. Since it has been over a month already I guess nobody has complained yet. The average AM listener is unlikely to notice interference unless it intrudes into the stations protected contour.
As part of the FCC approval of the temporary change if there is interference complaints WCKL must immediately further reduce power or discontinue operations immediately. Since it has been over a month already I guess nobody has complained yet. The average AM listener is unlikely to notice interference unless it intrudes into the stations protected contour.
In my earlier post, I forgot to mention the fact that you only hear "half" of the music, since they haven't bothered to properly send a mono signal to the transmitter site. You would think that they would fix, now that they are live during the morning, the distorted audio, and wire up the studio the right way.
As to the modification on reducing the output and changing to an omni pattern, are they even reducing their power at night , as per the information on radio-locator?
As to the modification on reducing the output and changing to an omni pattern, are they even reducing their power at night , as per the information on radio-locator?
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