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WGFY

Mike Sheridan

Mike Sheridan

WGFY has to be the worst AM signal ever. Where does that 5KW go? I was around I-485 and S. Tryon today and the signal was barely there. It was not listenable at all. This was during the day, I'd hate to see what the night coverage is like. I know they have no signal in Huntersville at night.

Has 1480 always been like this? This station needs some serious help. I have heard the ABC-Disney engineers did quite a bit of work on 1480 but whatever they did doesn't seem to have helped much.
 
Also umpteen metal fences and other re-radiation sources that have encroached on the site. When I was there in the late 70's/early 80's (the Jimmy Swaggart years) they replaced the radials, sampling loops and switches at each tower and STILL could not get the pattern to stay in parameters. The Disney engineers evidently threw up their hands and decided the only way to keep the pattern within its limits was to reduce daytime power. That's why this station is now licensed for 4400 watts daytime and 5000 watts nighttime.

Later . . . .
 
It might be time to build a new site someplace else. I know that would be expensive but WHVN with 1,000 watts has better coverage!
 
I'm not sure they could find another site. Frequency-wise, they are pretty hemmed-in. WRKB at 1460 to the Northeast, WGNC at 1450 to the West, and WGCD at 1490 to the South would prohibit movement in those directions.

Real estate values in what would otherwise be prime sites for their 4-tower array are probably prohibitive.

Later . . . .
 
How was their night time signal 30 years ago? With that pattern, and 5KW, figuring in the ERP it should have boomed all the way at the coast.
 
It did indeed blow smoke all the way to Myrtle Beach. The WAM-E folks (back in the country days) told me that when the Darlington race weekend came, they used to get tons of requests from folks down there for the race.

Later . . . .
 
TheStoker said:
How was their night time signal 30 years ago? With that pattern, and 5KW, figuring in the ERP it should have boomed all the way at the coast.
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I used to hear it in Myrtle Beach.

I remember when they came on the air with the Stardust format in 1994 I could barely hear them. WSTP in Salisbury pretty much kept them from being heard around here. It got better some years later (though the music had moved to FM) but I haven't tried it lately.
 
here it is in all its HD am glory...in other parts of charlotte it seems to be ok, but traveling on N I85 back towards greensboro..from about WT harris blvd to concord mills exit..the signal just goes from HD to nothing!!!!

http://www.zshare.net/audio/63303222ff6c5901/ <-- about 3mb but you can stream it, was traveling on N I85 from sugar creek exit towards concord mills at roughly 80 mph (its either that or get ran over...) the last 45 sec or so was not edited..it shows how quick that null comes and the signal is from full HD to nothing... the audio kept dropping out..it wasn't the radio's fault or a "HD" thing, it was something up with them, the audio drops while in analog and HD
 
mp3RadioGuy said:
One more thing... WGFY's analog audio sure is muddy and not loud at all.
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That's how your station sounds when your using a CBS Audimax & Volumax!
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I was thinking the same thing! I doubt they are using them, even they sounded better.

You really dated yourself, I haven't seen the audimax/volumax pair in any station in ages!

I wonder if anyone listens to 1480 anymore besides a sampling by us radio geeks?
 
I was thinking the same thing! I doubt they are using them, even they sounded better.
You really dated yourself, I haven't seen the audimax/volumax pair in any station in ages!
I wonder if anyone listens to 1480 anymore besides a sampling by us radio geeks?
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I always thought they sounded crappy. Thank God for the advent of multiband processing. You would think that Disney could spend a few bucks on an old Optimod 9100 off of Ebay. Hell, they could buy a new Omnia One, or a Vorsis for around $3K.

Unless maybe your right…they know that no one listening and just don’t give a damn.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
mp3RadioGuy said:
One more thing... WGFY's analog audio sure is muddy and not loud at all.
Click to expand...

That's how your station sounds when your using a CBS Audimax & Volumax!
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing! I doubt they are using them, even they sounded better.

You really dated yourself, I haven't seen the audimax/volumax pair in any station in ages!

I wonder if anyone listens to 1480 anymore besides a sampling by us radio geeks?
Click to expand...


I know of one radio station in eastern NC still using audimax/volumax gear
 
I know of one radio station in eastern NC still using audimax/volumax gear
Click to expand...

Maybe those CBS boxes are just sitting in the rack collecting dust or maybe there being used as the backup audio chain.
I can’t believe that some station in the year 2009 would actually use those things on the air!
 
def wasnt backup gear, it was all they had, I am for real, I have pictures to prove it.....I think they were still using them up until last year..recently their audio has gotten a lot cleaner and louder and looked like there was some type of basic compressor limiter in line last time I was down there. at one point they had a audimax and a NRSC filter with a brickwall limiter which sounded like crap....at some point the NRSC filter was taken out of line and the audimax was being used with a spare volumax they had
 
WGFY's signal does sound goofy, with it being so directional. I have gotten it a few times in Charleston, but very rarely, when my local 1480 drops down in power at night.

Compared to the other Charlotte AM's, they probably have the weakest signal. 1660 comes in all the time with their 1,000 watt night signal down in the Lowcountry, and during the winter, its 10,000 watt day signal is in most of the day. 610 comes in a lot, and WBT always comes in an hour or two before sunset.

If only they could increase the max AM power to 75,000 watts or 100,000 watts, and make new transmitters, these AMs would have great signals.
 
If it wasn't intentional by charlestondxman, it was a diabolical subplot by the subconscious zeitgeist of Disney to drive and control the conversation.
 
Maybe it's me, but WGFY always sounded like perfect letters for a pirate radio station. You know -- W-Go F... Yourself...
 
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