WHRB today put its new Nautel VS1 transmitter on the air into a nondirectional antenna at 90% of what will be its authorized power once Clear Channel's WSKX in York, Maine completes its signal upgrade. The WHRB signal should now be approximately 2 dB better on the North Shore than it was yesterday. Kudos to Rick Levy for all his hard work on the project.
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WHRB goes nondirectional
- Thread starter 4CX1000A
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Did WHRB replace their directional antenna with an omnidirectional antenna on the same pole on One Financial? Does anyone have any pictures during the change over?
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Laurence Glavin
Guest
I think it would have been simpler if WHRB and WFNX had traded frequencies when the latter was transmitting from Meffa but wanted to move to One Financial. WHRB owned the Murray St Meffa tower already, so it would have been so simple. I've posted on the Northern New England Board that I no longer get the WSKX-FM 95.3 signal from Mt (a hill really) Agamenticus, not that I miss it, at least for the past three weeks. Mike Fitzpatrick indicated that he believes it's running off its auxiliary antenna nearby, but not on the hill.
When I worked for WFNX back in 1988 this was offered to WHRB-and quickly declined by them. We were going to essentially give them 101.7 as operating in Medford and move 95.3 to Somerville. Since Lynn has WLYN, 101.7 could have been allotted to Cambridge and 95.3 to Somerville as a first service. 101.7 in Medford had a great wide area signal that completely filled in the 495 perimeter.
What I can't understand is why 97.7 doesn't move to 1 Financial Center and and change their COL to Somerville. They would have to put a null towards the Dover, New Hampshire 97.5, but could run a full 6 kW class A equivalent over Boston. In essence, their signal would be quite similar to what WHRB's has been up to now.
What I can't understand is why 97.7 doesn't move to 1 Financial Center and and change their COL to Somerville. They would have to put a null towards the Dover, New Hampshire 97.5, but could run a full 6 kW class A equivalent over Boston. In essence, their signal would be quite similar to what WHRB's has been up to now.
LA_Guy said:
The Medford tower was donated to Harvard in 1976 (by CBS, if I remember right) for WHRB's use, and the May/June WHRB Program Guide cover had a picture of the tower. However, the station could not afford what Harvard proposed to charge for rent, and eventually settled for an upgrade of its Harvard Square site.
In 1988, the memory of these events was fresh enough that when the Phoenix's offer came to our attention -- I was a recently elected member of WHRB's Board of Trustees -- some of us were concerned about the station's ability to pay rent. Others felt the Medford site was too remote to be reachable by the station's technical staff (most Harvard students do not have cars). Some of my colleagues were uncomfortable having Lynn as WHRB's community of license. And it was not clear that the Phoenix's offer was serious; I don't recall anything more than a phone call from WFNX's engineer to a friend of ours.
But 1988 was a long time ago, and I may be misremembering.
indystorm said:
WHRB had an old Collins; in fact, we had two of them. We ran an 830F into a single bay antenna, with an 830D as backup, from 1980 until 1995. I understand they came from KROQ in Los Angeles.
And from 1967 to 1980, WHRB ran a Gates FM-1H into a four-bay horizontally polarized antenna. That was the transmitter I cut my teeth on, and its one tube was, you guessed it, a 4CX1000A.
And have to vent the heat and pay the electric bill for it.
I'll fire up my Edsel now and drive down to the video store to rent one of those Betamax cassettes.
It's fine for a hobbyist or a backup, but I want a TX that I can remote control easily, has modern parts, is modular and can interface via IP.
All the Nautels I've had haven't had a damn thing go wrong with them. They just run.
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Laurence Glavin
Guest
I was in the Theater Distict of Boston, just around the corner from the building that is WHRB-FM's antenna site. From the street, it looks as though the antenna has been shifted around the mast facing north (Cambridge) with no directionalizing elements on it at all. Time for a new picture at Necrat. I assume Rochester, NY is already snowed in, so I doubt Scott Fybush will be able to photograph it for months.
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Laurence Glavin
Guest
Disregard modified mesage.
They're saying we may see a dusting at higher elevations here by the end of the week as well.
But, you know, we've got it pretty good here compared to a lot of the rest of the country. No flooding from brutal coastal storms. No hurricanes at all, in fact. No tornadoes to speak of. No punishing heat waves, just pleasant mid-80s in the summer months. No dust storms. No earthquakes. No tsunamis. Yeah, there's a fair amount of snow in the winter, but that's pretty predictable, and nothing that good road crews and a good set of snow tires can't get us through.
But, you know, we've got it pretty good here compared to a lot of the rest of the country. No flooding from brutal coastal storms. No hurricanes at all, in fact. No tornadoes to speak of. No punishing heat waves, just pleasant mid-80s in the summer months. No dust storms. No earthquakes. No tsunamis. Yeah, there's a fair amount of snow in the winter, but that's pretty predictable, and nothing that good road crews and a good set of snow tires can't get us through.
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Laurence Glavin
Guest
Scott Fybush said:
A lot of places that have these weather disasters you described are also places where religious fundamentalists are always prayin'. In fact, the northeast paht of the country is often criticized by these folks for being the region of the country where there is the least church-going. (Sorry about the tornado near Springfield.)
Laurence Glavin said:
I was in Santa Barbara in the late '70s (earthquake country--definitely, but tornado country??? no way; Santa Barbara is right ON the Pacific coast). When I got to my hotel, they had JUST had a tornado. So much for no tornadoes in coastal areas. There was a tornado in the town where I live (Arlington) during--I think--the second half of the 19th century. Supposed to have traveled along Pleasant St. Supposed to be too close to the ocean for tornadoes here. There was also an earthquake of significant proportions in New England in the late 18th century. I believe the epicenter was around Hanover NH--not sure which side of the Connecticut River. But the effects were felt in Boston and also in Montreal. I think there was even some damage to buildings in Boston. There really is no place that's immune to natural disasters.
Immune? No, of course not; Rochester is hardly "earthquake country," but if the New Madrid fault ever lets go, we could get shaken and stirred up here, and while I was out of town during the East Coast quake this summer, I'm told it was felt here.
But if you average out the likelihood of various natural disasters and nasty weather, we actually do pretty well up here. We just like to let the rest of the world think the weather's awful...keeps the roads less crowded and the real estate inexpensive.
(Sunny and low 50s here today, incidentally...)
But if you average out the likelihood of various natural disasters and nasty weather, we actually do pretty well up here. We just like to let the rest of the world think the weather's awful...keeps the roads less crowded and the real estate inexpensive.
(Sunny and low 50s here today, incidentally...)
Snow in Oct. isn't out of the question. I've seen snow on I-89 in NH on Col. Day weekend. Also one time I was in Franconia Notch and there were snow flurries in early June (also a couple yrs back, spent Mother's
Day wknd in Burl VT area--in high 30s on a Sun morning and some snow flurries)
Day wknd in Burl VT area--in high 30s on a Sun morning and some snow flurries)
Scott Fybush said:But if you average out the likelihood of various natural disasters and nasty weather, we actually do pretty well up here. We just like to let the rest of the world think the weather's awful...keeps the roads less crowded and the real estate inexpensive.
Forty-something years ago, during the heyday of Kodak and Xerox, the Rochester area was known for its very expensive residential real-estate. If industry ever makes a comeback in western New York, it could happen again. OTOH, Buffalo is an economic disaster area and so is Utica-Rome, so it would take something quite unusual to bring the glory days back to Rochester.
A couple of months ago, the New York Times Sunday Magazine ran a piece on a canoe trip on the old Erie Canal. There was a big picture of the now-abandoned Beechnut Foods plant in Canajoharie. Huge building. Sad to see it with all the windows either boarded up or broken. I remember taking the train from New York to visit my mom's family in Rochester when I was a kid. Train always stopped in Canjoharie in view of that factory. It was quite a bustling place in those days.
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