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WFLF 94.5

C

cceng1

Starting Thursday afternoon, WFLF will be operating at a temporoary transmitter site and low power for several days while the tower in Port St Joe undergoes some major work. We will be operating at reduced power from the WDIZ AM site on 15th St on our broadband backup (can be used on all CCPC frequencies)....this antenna has been up for 6 years and this is the first time we have needed it...it is a specially built ERI 4 bay antenna mounted at 300 ft on the North tower of our 3 tower directional system for WDIZ.

I had on the air tonight from about 10pm until 11pm to drive around and check the coverage.....ain't bad for 2kw ERP.

Just thought I would say something about it before someone complains about our coverage/signal.

OK Tibbs....you can start it off.........

cceng
 
Why not convert it over to the DIZ site fulltime and save $$. Ha. ROB will ask: What's the strobey situation lookin like on 15th? Are they gonna build back the Treasure Ship? ;D

Seriously CCENG - bravo on the secondary backup success. Thats really a well thought out and executed plan sir. Would have loved to have been with ya driving that signal. Well, better you drive. Me and that Gin issue. Whats happening upgrade-wise at PSJ? How longs it been? I'm not sure that I have seen that tower down that way. Know most of the others. Is WPFM even still on a tower? LOL.

Rob??? Calling Major Tom - can you hear this station in Navarre? Tropo/aluminum foil issues?
 
I can hear WFLA/WFLF 94.5 and WPFM all the way here in Crawfordville and some areas of westren Leon County on Hwy.20. But I dont get WDIZ-AM 590 out of Panama City I will love to hear it like WDAE or WWBA and WHBO AM station from Tampa reach the big bend area. I can get Tampa Bay's WDAE,WWBA,WHBO,WFLA. Is WDIZ-AM singal is weaker than the other AM stations?
 
There's a lot more land between you and Panama City. Ground conductivity is terrible in that region. Tampa to Wakulla County is almost all salt water.

When I lived in Tallahassee 13 years ago, you could pick up 590, but certainly not the strength of 620 or 820. Have there been changes to the 590 facilities since then?
 
Tibbs...it is structural work on the tower that is going on....the pole that supports the 94.5 antenna is being replaced by a new pole...plus a bunch of guy wire replacement and other work up and down the tower....we don't own the tower, it is owned by Crown Castle......I am going to rebuild the 94.5 antenna while it is on the ground...it has been up there since 1985...we have already ordered and have on hand all of the parts that are normally replaced in a situation like this.....strobie on top of the tower is even being replaced with a new one !! I know that is near and dear to Rob.

On the other posts....Neil has it right on....the ground conductivity around Tallahassee is some of the worst in the country....but they have a 90% salt water path to the Tampa area.....it is a sand (not dirt) between Panama City and Tallahassee....sand is the problem...if it were dirt, we would be coming in there.

oh tibbs...forgot one thingy....yes there is an antenna tuned for 107.9 on the ch 7 tower at 231 and 20.....get my drift?

cceng
 
Re: Ch 7 Co-Tower partners --- got it. Loud-n-clear, strobey master.

Before rob asks: How hard is it for you to climb up that tower pole stick and carry that antenna down? I know from the ground that those antennates look to be roughly about the size of a small room fan you can get in the auto department of Walmart near the aluminum foil section and you are probably pretty strong and a brut and a deer hunter, so you can probably carry it down using both hands and maybe one foot or two. Why it would require lots of people to climb up those
ladder thingys and carry it or they down and take so long to not use that pole? I hear antenna is a Spanish word. What nationality is a strobey?
 
we are talking large winches, steel cable, several men....that antenna weighs about 800 pounds.....it ain't no fan ;)
 
I wonder why WDIZ-AM 590 from Panama City isnt that storng singal during the daytime. Like WWBA and WHBO and WDAE and WFLA form Tampa Bay I can get tampa bay's AM stations why I guess WDIZ is a weak AM singal while Tampa Bay's AM stations down there are stronger into the saltwater. I also got something on AM 590 from the south
(way down south) maybe cuban with classtic music with spanish talk?
 
Louis,

WDIZ-AM is one of the few stations that runs with LESS power during daytime than at night. I believe it runs 1.7 kw-day, 2.5 kw at night, or something to that effect.

I picked DIZ up one night in Tallahassee while it was still broadcasting the standards format.
Because of the Cuban station, it wasn't really "listenable," but I did hear the ID.

CC-Panama City has one of the best engineers behind it, so I'm certain 590 is getting about the best coverage possible given the power levels. Plus, the soil conductivity issues already discussed is the reason why you receive those other stations better.

CW-great backup plan for WFLF. Kudos to you!
 
I believe WDIZ went from 1kw-U, DA-N to 5kw-D, 2.5kw-N, DA-2 sometime in the late 70s or possibly very early 80s. Years later the owners at some point felt they could do better signal wise by reducing the daytime power to 1.7kw allowing for a ND-D contour while leaving the night-time power at 2.5kw-DA-N. Maybe the WDIZ engineer knows more about the history and can chime in and make any corrections if necessary.
 
590 has never run 5kw....in 1985 they switched from 1kw day nd/1kw night d to 1.7 kw day nd/2.5 kw night d.....I made the swap.....when they were 1kw they had 2 towers....when they went 2.5 kw night they added another tower.

wooten
 
I see... So 590 went from two towers to three towers at night with a 1.5kw nighttime power increase, but remained non-directional during the day with a 700 watt daytime power increase? Thanks for the clarification.
 
I can now see what a radio station operator has to go through.

Glad that God brought this back to my memory.

During my stint, as an announcer, I remember everything that the first overseer had to endure just to stay on the air.  For years I though getting into terrestrial radio would be the thing for me but since I'm now remembering everything my friend had to endure, I've decided to ditch my plans for starting up my own terrestrial radio station.

For those who want to flame these professional radio station operators and say they don't know what they're doing, ponder on these thoughts.

1. The man that gave me my first stint had to spend his own money, most of the time, just to keep me and WAQU 91.1 FM on the air.  We didn't have too much support coming in from the listeners anyway.

2. When an issue would come up and he was unable to fix it, this person always called upon the AFR tech people to help him.  Sometimes they wouldn't even bother to help Mr. Dean Wilson, resolve those issues and left him to fend for himself.  (Examples of these issues include: The satellite getting off its proper spot, to drag in the programming from AFR, issues with the broadcasting equipment and/or computer and/or the transmitter catching on fire.)

3. Paying so much a month, just to keep the small station at its current facilities.  This station was located in a small room, in a big building, on the north side of my hometown.

It was no fun for my friend Mr. Dean Wilson.  He was excited about bringing this station here but once it became a burden for him to help run this small station, he had to step down and let some other local person(s) take the ship over.  At that time, his health wasn't really great anyway.  Now that he has passed on, I miss him very much but I'm resting in the fact that I'll get to see him again, when I make into Heaven too.

Now if those issues were involved with the upkeep of a small satellator 250 watt station, just imagine the ones that are involved with these bigger and more powerful players. 

Something to think about.

Glad that you have your own Internet station Mr. Alan McCall.  Hope I can soon get one going too.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. When I said a mouthful, didn't I cceng?
 
OK RDP....this is your fault for getting me started on this......I have first hand experience the "engineers" and I use the term VERY loosely with both American Family Radio out of Mississippi and Swaggart out of Louisianna.....they are a bunch of glorified audio visual technicians who have no F**King idea how to run the technical aspects of a broadcast station....whether it be religious or otherwise....they think that because they are broadcasting the word of God, they do not have to adhere to either good enginnering practices or comply with FCC rules and regulations.....the only religous broadcaster that I have found to be above board and FCC compliant is Family Life Radio out of Arizona (they have WJTF in Panama City) they run a tight technical ship and it is by the rules.....they are good people.

For 2 years I have been trying to get Swaggart's people to clean up their 250w FM here in Panama City....it interferes with our 93.5 signal within a 1/2-3/4 mile radius of their transmitter site. Everytime I call them they give some crap about they just don't have the money to send anyone here to fix it........while on the air they are continually begging for money to buy Swaggart more prositutes and whiskey.....ok flamers...bring it on...
 
I feel you man!  When my friend had issues with our local AFR station, he didn't get much help in fixing them.  They did him very dirty and I wasn't too thrilled with that.  I enjoyed my stint though.  Glad that AFR moved out Selma, when they did, in 2003.  They didn't have a clue and still don't have one when it comes to tech issues.

The sound quality on WAQU still sucks to this day. Still they have issues with a choppy sound and the satellite going offline every so often.  

Glad that I'm no longer involved with and/or give to that station.  Those people didn't seem to care about their station here and sadly they still don't.

Just telling it to you, as I see it.  I know what my friend had to endure, after he helped put AFR on the air here.  So sad the high ups did him dirty.

What a shame indeed.  Glad he left the overseers post when he did. 

R.D.P. <><

P.S. I'm not too impressed with AFR's current presentation.  All they do is talk and yak.  Not even sure if this station has any listeners at all now. Since they moved, no one seems to be interested in this station. All the rage and excitement has moved over to WRNF 89.5 FM (Moody Radio South). The few listeners we had, at WAQU, have moved on and I'm glad they did.

B.T.W. I'll take the blame for anything bad and/good that comes from this discussion.  If anyone wants to praise and/or attack me bring it on.  I'll take my licks like the 40 year person I am.

Personal Dedication: Goes out to those who think they know radio broadcasting but have never been involved with it.
 
RDP wrote "Personal Dedication: Goes out to those who think they know radio broadcasting but have never been involved with it."..........Uh, Rob?
 
I did leave the WAY-FM group out as being on the ball and above board....sorry for leaving them out in my previous post....the are good people too.....my opinion.....

cceng
 
Wait, include me in CCENG. I can't change a friggin lightbulb. R.D.P - good to see you on this side of the AL line. Lemme get this right, Swaggart's group of con artists can't comply with basic FCC because they are broke? Dang, let a new owner of a translator get word of that and you will have a 200kw signal taking down your talker CCENG. Think of all the strobey's that will require.
 
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