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WJDA application forFM translator

A post on this board in Feb said

WMEX 1510 has applied for 101.1 FM in Weymouth.
WJDA 1300 in Quincy has applied for 100.1 FM in Quincy.

So that says JDA is aiming for 100.1

WMEX still needs to get back on.
 
raccoonradio said:
A post on this board in Feb said

WMEX 1510 has applied for 101.1 FM in Weymouth.
WJDA 1300 in Quincy has applied for 100.1 FM in Quincy.

So that says JDA is aiming for 100.1

WMEX still needs to get back on.
Click to expand...

I don't think WMEX would have much of a chance getting a translator until Ed Perry gets the AM on the air, or is at least close to it.
 
I don't know for sure if WMEX (or whatever calls) 1510 somehow got an extension of the STA when Perry got it (someone told me but don't know for sure!) but if not there are about 59 days for them to return to the air (deadline 6/30) and yes indeed unless the AM gets back on, forget about the FM translator.
 
raccoonradio said:
I don't know for sure if WMEX (or whatever calls) 1510 somehow got an extension of the STA when Perry got it (someone told me but don't know for sure!) but if not there are about 59 days for them to return to the air (deadline 6/30) and yes indeed unless the AM gets back on, forget about the FM translator.
Click to expand...

Today Ed Perry applied for the translator for WMEX:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...t=25&appn=101781687&formid=349&fac_num=202403

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101781687&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1

This is definitely for 101.1. The technical doc shows WMEX (AM) still located in Waltham on a map, and refers to it as having 50000 watts ERP in a chart. There are 2 nulls for this - NW and SW.
 
channel99 said:
Today Ed Perry applied for the translator for WMEX:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...t=25&appn=101781687&formid=349&fac_num=202403

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS....jsp?appn=101781687&qnum=5110©num=1&exhcnum=1

This is definitely for 101.1. The technical doc shows WMEX (AM) still located in Waltham on a map, and refers to it as having 50000 watts ERP in a chart. There are 2 nulls for this - NW and SW.
Click to expand...

Yes, this translator for what was WMEX is for 101.1, and the one for WJDA is 100.1.

From Weymouth this may come in weakly over the water to coastal Boston and the North Shore, but it will be mainly a coastal South Shore signal. Whether we'll hear the accompanying 1510 AM in Boston will depend on the location and power of the transmitter.

Looks like the southwest null may be to protect Ed's other co-channel translator application for 101.1 in Brockton, proposed to translate 1460 which is now listed as WATD (AM).
 
raccoonradio said:
"Prepared by Dennis Jackson".Isn't or wasn't he owner of WMEX-LP in NH?
Click to expand...

I don’t think Dennis is an owner of WMEX-LP, but he was also involved there as an engineering consultant and was the voice of the voice-tracked mid-day DJ. I believe WMEX-LP is owned by Gary James, a former PD of WMEX, Boston in its mid-‘80s “Oldies 1150” incarnation, and a partner there in NH.

Dennis was also involved with the former full-power WMEX-FM 106.5 in NH and may have co-owned that with Gary.

Dennis also briefly had the WMEX call letters on a couple of stations that he owned elsewhere, I think the one in Plattsburgh, NY serving an area of the Champlain Valley in northwestern Vermont, and one on Martha’s Vineyard that became the current WMVY.
 
Btw, Scott Fybush responded to my Facebook post about this.He said it wasn’t surprising that they were getting back on but this is just a procedure to keep it going…a weak signal from South Shore that will avoid deletion and in 6 months we could be going through this again.

A revived WMEX, like a revived KQV I would say, would put out a directional, weak signal. The call letters, if Perry gets permission, will please some oldtimers who remember the glory days but may not mean much to most people.Daly XXL did bring them back, though.He will be able to put the FM translator on if a CP is granted and has a 3 year window to build it out.That too is a directional signal and will have to null to the NW and SW and in fact will have to avoid the 101.1 FM translator he wants for the 1460 in Brockton
 
raccoonradio said:
A revived WMEX, like a revived KQV I would say, would put out a directional, weak signal.
Click to expand...

It's not clear whether the AM will be directional especially if it goes on from a temporary low power antenna site at first. Unlike a directional FM antenna where the pattern is determined by the shapes of the elements on the one antenna, a directional AM site requires at least two towers and is expensive and time consuming to build and test. He may put the AM on the air with a temporary single whip antenna (like WZBR in Dedham uses) just to get it on the air at first. While not directional, it would have to be weak in wattage all around so that it wouldn't send too much power in the directions it can not legally go. If he starts the new 1510 out that way, then he may build a directional multi-tower site for it later on to maximize the signal in the directions it can legally go.
 
Right it would need to protect other stations for the AM, while the FM translator also would have to protect some other stations.We see that with WJIB's 101.3--head west from the Cambridge site and it soon gives way to the WMRC translator--and translators for WUBG on 105.3 and WROL on 100.3

I think WMEX had different patterns for day, night, and Critical Hours.
I notice Radio-Locator has two signal patterns for WILD 1090, Daytime and Critical Hours. Radio-Locator defines it as this:

"The two hours immediately after sunrise and the two hours directly before sunset are referred to as "Critical Hours".
AM radio signals travel farther at night due to ionization of the Earth's atmosphere. To prevent interference with other stations far away, many AM stations have to either sign off the air, reduce their transmitter power, or change their antenna patterns at night. Some AM radio stations also have to change their power or antenna patterns during these "Critical Hours" because of changes in the atmosphere at those times as well."
 
raccoonradio said:
I think WMEX had different patterns for day, night, and Critical Hours.
I notice Radio-Locator has two signal patterns for WILD 1090, Daytime and Critical Hours.
Click to expand...

WILD is non-directional with just one tower, so their listed pattern changes are actually just changes in output wattage. WMEX was directional with four towers and had three graphically different patterns, all with the same wattage (50 kW) going in the prime direction (mainly east).

WILD also has a third "pattern", broadcasting at low power (maybe under 100 watts?) for a half-hour after sunset (after the "critical hours" pattern) under a "post-sunset authorization" (PSSA). PSSA's don't appear to be listed in Radio-Locator.
 
Last edited:
Eli Polonsky said:
It's not clear whether the AM will be directional especially if it goes on from a temporary low power antenna site at first. Unlike a directional FM antenna where the pattern is determined by the shapes of the elements on the one antenna, a directional AM site requires at least two towers and is expensive and time consuming to build and test. He may put the AM on the air with a temporary single whip antenna (like WZBR in Dedham uses) just to get it on the air at first. While not directional, it would have to be weak in wattage all around so that it wouldn't send too much power in the directions it can not legally go. If he starts the new 1510 out that way, then he may build a directional multi-tower site for it later on to maximize the signal in the directions it can legally go.
Click to expand...

He probably could use any (legal) transmitter around 100 - 250 watts he can find that can be put on 1510, feed it to a longwire, add audio - maybe WATD-FM audio, and apply for special temporary authority to get it on the air before the license runs out. Then, as you say, he can build the rest out piece by piece, maybe concentrating on the translator first.
 
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