Or it exemplifies the particular way in which Family Radio ran this station.
I promise you that WINS or WOR would not do things this way. And you'd see a lot larger reaction if they went silent.
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Or it exemplifies the particular way in which Family Radio ran this station.
I promise you that WINS or WOR would not do things this way. And you'd see a lot larger reaction if they went silent.
You can probably count on two hands the number of AM stations across the country for which this is true. Maybe you'd need a third hand.
Since Harold Camping died, Family Radio is barely in existance. For being such a cheapskate, Harold always insisted his stations were up and running with audio. You can't bilk little ol' ladies out of their life savings without them being able to hear your predictions for the 'end of times'. I remember tuning in one of his shows, where he said (to paraphrase): 'Folks, given the end of times is near, you don't need to burden yourself with material goods and cash. Why not donate your home, or get rid of Satan's currency, and let it do some good via Family Ministries?'
If I didn't think people were falling for that line, I'd have to laugh at the irony.
As of yesterday (October 25th), Family Radio's 1560 WFME is back on the air, transmitting a 1 kW signal from a temporary slant wire antenna strung up on the WNSH tower in West Orange, NJ. A far cry from their former 50 kW signal, but it's good enough to maintain the license.
Apparently, it's not on today because I am not picking anything up on 1560 from my home in Lower Manhattan.
That's what I thought was happening.
WDTW 1310 (the former WKNR Keener 13) rebuilt their array because the tower legs rusted out. This time they used 6 or 8 above ground radials around each of the six towers. It has good coverage, although when they did the proof of performance, the measured field strength values were way above the Standard Pattern to the South. Power has to go somewhere, and there's only 5000 watts to radiate, so there probably is a reduction to the North. Still a decent signal though. I was surprised.
Is it? Even if the signal can't be heard at all anywhere in the city of license?
WFME filed an amended STA application last week, approved by the FCC on Oct 22, to transmit with 1 kw from that slant wire antenna out in NJ, down from 12.5 kw in their original application.
Maybe that's why no one can hear them in and around NYC. How far does a 1 kw signal at the top of the dial at 1560 reach anyway, especially one from a suboptimal wire antenna with no ground system 15 miles out from the COL?
1 kw or less on a wire antenna was good enough for high-band AMs to cover the entire Quito, Ecuador, market when I had stations there in the 60's. In fact, they could all be heard as much as 30 to 50 km outside the city limits.
The signal obviously has the FM tower ground. While not a full set of radials, any tower has to be well grounded for lightning and static discharge protection, so not such a bad system.
Back to my ancient Ecuador reference: those 20 or so stations up above 1000 on the dial generally used a long-wire between two tall eucalyptus trunks and as a ground had several old car radiators buried under the topsoil. It worked just fine.
If WFME were on the air with a power of one kilowatt, then I would have been able to pick up their signal, albeit a poor one, in Lower Manhattan. This theory is based on my experience listening to distant one-kilowatt stations such as WCTC New Brunswick and the now-defunct WJDM Elizabeth.
Rather then guess and speculate, contact the engineer. tom Ray.. he's been pretty good about answering questions.
I'm not that eager to listen to that particular station, but thanks for the suggestion.
WFME *IS* on the air, a DX'er in Alexandria, VA is hearing it. And confirmed it to be Family Radio by matching it to their webstream and its the only 1560 Family Radio owns.
It is interesting that a listener in Virginia is picking it up, yet I have been unable to do so. It sounds like something curious is going on with the transmission.
Believe it or not getting the signal intermittently here in central Ontario Canada. Confirmed with the webstream and got the "hear the word family radio" line over the air. Had to think they were 12.5kW but if it's 1000 watts we must be having some pretty good conditions tonight. Currently WGLB is dominating but if I listen really closely I can pick up FR down below. They should fade in again at some point. Using Radiwow R-108 with its internal am antenna only.
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Its called.. your too far for groundwave but too close for skywave. Learn a thing or two before you question a stations operations with zero knowledge of which you speak
Radio waves do really weird things
Short longwire antennas do very strange things, including putting down skywave very close to the antenna. In any case, suburban DC is definitely in the skywave zone for a NYC /NE New Jersey signal on a near-shortwave channel.
When KFI was on the short old 1150 tower near Montecito Heights, there was skywave cancellation in Redlands, only about 55 miles away. Because the angle of radiation was not optimized for 640 kHz, the fringe coverage of KFI suffered for over a year.
Meanwhile, I doubt anyone is going to "hear the word" locally east of the Passaic River, never mind the Hudson.
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