• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WDRC-FM signal Question

Can't answer the last question but the 102.9 translator in Greenfield was strong going N to near Brattleboro. A good 15 mi of coverage in a hilly terrain. But after that a dead frequency (102.9).
 
During the last 3 says I've been all over CT and Western MA. DRC's signal was real weak around Union CT and quite poor around Feeding Hills-Agawam MA. It is NOT as strong as in the past. In Union, for example. WPLR and KC 101 were much stronger. You could get them both on seek.
Same thing in NW CT Canaan and Sheffield MA . Of all the CT biggies, DRC's signal was consistently weaker.
They should consider some field strength tests. Maybe the need a does of Viagra to the old antenna.
The car radio isn't an issue. I even had WHOM 94.9 (Mt. Washington) in Union CT (just over the CT state line on I-86) coming in stronger than WDRC. An it wasn't a fluky day for reception.
 
There has been quite a bit of tropospheric ducting during the last few days. I've otten numerous calls at WCCC-FM from listeners along the shore who are hearing WFME 106.9 from NJ overtaking WCCC and two calls from WFME listeners in NJ who are hearing WCCC causing interference. Perhaps that has something to do with your altered reception of WDRC-FM.
 
Re; rcs's reply: the reception of 106.9 CCC was consistently stronger than DRC in practically every nook and cranny of CT and in Sheffield MA. Although living now in MA I remember when DRC and CCC were virtually equal in signal strength in many areas; now no longer the case. Plus there were no out of area stations showing up on the radio this wed-thur-fri. Nothing.
 
vibe said:
Re; rcs's reply: the reception of 106.9 CCC was consistently stronger than DRC in practically every nook and cranny of CT and in Sheffield MA. Although living now in MA I remember when DRC and CCC were virtually equal in signal strength in many areas; now no longer the case. Plus there were no out of area stations showing up on the radio this wed-thur-fri. Nothing.
Click to expand...

That isn't true everywhere and certainly not in every nook or cranny! WCCC should be much stronger than WDRC-FM in northern CT and western MA because of where their respective transmitter sites are. WDRC-FM's site is more than twice as far from the Springfield area as WCCC's is.

But, listening in the car just last week, I had some fade on DRC-FM in the Sturbridge/Charlton, MA area - but it came back up for a bit approaching Oxford and Auburn before being gone for good. None of the other WEST PEAK stations came in that far, nor does WTIC-FM. CCC is the strongest there, but goes away in the Worcester area too. Saying that CCC is stronger than DRC-FM in Massachusets elicits a big "so what?" from me. It should be, the tx site is much closer - in fact, significantly closer to Springfield than to New Haven. Let me flip this around by telling you that DRC-FM comes in quite well in much of central/eastern Long Island while WCCC hardly makes the trip. WCCC, WTIC-FM, and WRCH do not do very well in southern CT or adjacent sections of NY but do better in Springfield. It's all about location, location, location.

Combine that with coverage that extends well into Fairfield County (in places where you can't pick up WCCC) and I stand by my statement that WDRC-FM has the best overall coverage of an FM station in the state. In the car, I can listen to it for 2 hours straight when driving from NY to Boston. I cannot say that for any other station in that area.

Remember, some of the local reports are subjective - thanks to terrain. Which is why my comment is a more general one. For example, all Hartford/New Haven area stations die pretty quickly as you head south on I-684 into Westchester County, NY. However, WDRC and WPLR do come back for a few minutes in central Westchester before fading for good. Yet, all of the H/NH stations come in farther south in Fairfield County. All of this is thanks to terrain, as 684 generally runs along west-facing hills with terrain blockage eastward. The same thing happens in NE and NW CT and western MA in hilly terrain. A good example of this is Burlington, CT, much of which slopes downward to the northeast. West Peak and New Haven signals come in better in parts of MA than they do in parts of Burlington. In fact, Springfield stations can come in like locals there, better than WDRC, WHCN, etc. But, that is a local effect which doesn't mean that those stations are stronger. It's just the trick that terrain can play.

Likewise, West Peak signals seem to do better in parts of Torrington than the Avon/Simsbury ones do, even though they must travel farther. And, WCCC doesn't come in well at all in Waterbury or Danbury - places where WDRC comes in just fine. It just depends upon the section of town and where the hills are.

Overall, West Peak is the best tx site in the state (thanks to a central location and favorable terrain) and, thanks to frequency allocation, WDRC has the best FM signal of those that transmit from that spot. Their audio quality, however, is a different subject.... ;)
 
FWIW, 'DRC's signal down here in Long Island begins to pick up around Westbury, LI (about 15 miles from the
far eastern border of Queens), and really picks up strength around Huntington, LI. The station holds its ground with hardly any splatter from local oldies station WBZO 103.1. By far, the most impressive Hartford
FM signal performance in this neck of the woods of Nassau County.

WTIC AM's daytime signal dies off on the LIE in Queens right at the split with the BQE before entering the tunnel to Manhattan. TIC at night is very dodgy due to skywave/groundwave interference and heavy splatter from WBAL in Baltimore.
 
BRNout said:
Overall, West Peak is the best tx site in the state (thanks to a central location and favorable terrain) and, thanks to frequency allocation, WDRC has the best FM signal of those that transmit from that spot. Their audio quality, however, is a different subject.... ;)
Click to expand...

It seems as of recently their signal has been spotty in places where there previously use to be good, full quieting signal. I wonder if perhaps they're having issues with their antenna and/or transmission system. One office that use to listen to them switched to another station as they complained that DRC was coming in "choppy" or with static.
 
FWIW: WDRC-FM did put up a new ERI 5 bay broadcast antenna when they went IBOC.

You know this does bring up a good point, I just thought of. When WAAF moved their antenna to the WUNI antenna, and first fired it on, the coverage was assumed to be bad. The fact was, an RF meter proved otherwise, that the coverage was in fact, good, but there was another problem. When it was all settled down, it was determined to be a badly configured T1 circuit that caused the issues.
Why does this make me wonder? WDRC is on a T1 now too instead of microwave...
Could the issues that made WAAF sound weak with the T1, be the current issues WDRC is having?

I don't know if their chief Scott reads these boards but his boss Ray does and I am sure this isn't being "blown off", there is probably an exorbanent amount of troubleshooting involved with this.
 
I hope they can fix whatever it is. At least they didn't make the mistake of moving their transmitter like WAAF-FM did. Ever since, I can no longer receive a signal here in New Britain.
 
I just drove down I-91 tonite from Brattleboro Vt to Springfield then on the Mass Pike to near Worcester, MA (Woostah). The Greenfield, MA translator on 102.9 wiped out DRC's signal to nearly Northhampton, MA. Then DRC's signal was clearly weaker than 105.9 and 106.9 until Holyoke where it was strong to between Palmer and Sturbridge on the Pike.
All I can say is that DRC's signal appers weaker than what it was 30 yrs ago in the same areas.
But nothing compared to what happened to AAF which is clearly a seperate issue.
 
As of yesterday morning there's still a noticeable loss in signal strength driving the Wilbur Cross/Merritt Parkway from Wallingford to Norwalk. I wonder if they even know they have a signal issue.
 
There has been some really strong signal enhancement the last few days. You very well could have been hearing WWFS's HD carriers getting into WDRC making it seem like it's weaker, when it is now. Especially down near Norwalk and that area...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom