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WKOX-AM 50K?

L

Laurence Glavin

Guest
This morning (Friday), I was scanning the AM dial with my radio that displays relative signal strength, and WKOX-AM 1200 was reading way above the usual number. I tuned in to a couple of ordinary radios in my house, and the volume level was right up there with other strong signals. Later, when I got into my car and tuned to 1200 (I still have a pushbutton from the Progressive Talk days), WKOX was quite audible while I was still in my garage. Thus, I assume that the station is broadcasting from its new transmitter site at Sawmill Brook Parkway in Newton. It will be interesting to see if it goes back to Framingham at night. From what I've read, I can expect very little if any signal strtength boost when WRCA-AM 1330 and WUNR-AM 1600 go to their new facilities there if they haven't already.
 
I thought I heard "this summer" or "August" was when they planned the tower move/power boost. Yes it could be that maybe they would run the night signal from Framingham, if allowed. Radio-locator.com said the current
signal was directional nighttime only while the new one would be directional with two diff. patterns.

WNSH btw is still off and I have no idea when they'll be back on with their 30k signal; WPEP still audible
on 1570 and I'm guessing right when WNSH plans to power up again, the word goes that WPEP
gets turned off.
 
may have just been a test, and had this been an actual emergency you would have been instructed where
to tune in your area for...oops. May have been a test ;)
 
raccoonradio said:
may have just been a test, and had this been an actual emergency you would have been instructed where
to tune in your area for...oops. May have been a test ;)
Click to expand...

I can't say that I can prove that WKOX has not been broadcasting from Newton; it's possible that they have been off and on. However, I can say that whenever I've made a concerted effort to hear the improved signal, it has not sounded at all different from the old Framingham signal, which means I'm 99% sure that, when I listened, what I heard was the Framingham signal. Almost surely, when WKOX does get the Newton signal on the air, it won't start out at 50 kW. The FCC generally requires testing at power lower than that specified in the CP. 1/4 of the CP power is common; when the array is tuned up, 1/4 power will produce 1/2 of the full-power signal in all directions. Because the towers in Newton are shorter than those in Framingham, the day signal at 12.5 kW--on an RMS basis--would actually be quite a bit weaker than the 10-kW Framingham day signal. However, the new day signal is directional, which will make it stronger to the east and 750 Sawmill Brook is 12.4 miles east of 100 Mt Wayte Ave, so if you live in the vicinity of the new site, the signal will definitely be stronger--even at 12.5 kW. The first reports of high power came from Methuen, however. Using WNNW as a proxy for Methuen, it looks as if, at a listening point at the the WNNW site, WKOX running 1/4 power and day pattern from Newton would be neither much stronger nor much weaker than it is from its old Framingham facilities. WNNW is about equidistant from 100 Mt Wayte and 750 Sawmill, is due north of 750 Sawmill, and is much more north than east of 100 Mt Wayte. So I am questioning the credibility of the first report of improved reception in Methuen.

The other issue is can someone give us a report on whether the old WUNR towers are still in the air? Until those towers come down, I doubt that any tweaking of the new patterns would be going on. It would be a waste of time and effort. Those old towers would distort the patterns so much that the measurements would be meaningless. If the old towers are still up, it doesn't mean that WKOX couldn't be doing some over-the-air testing from the new ones, but it does mean that the engineers would not yet be adjusting the patterns.
 
I made the trek to 750 Sawmill Brook Parkway Saturday afternoon, and yes, the two tall towers currently used by WUNR-1600 are still there...and a brand-new transmitter building (not the trailer that replaced the blockhouse) has been built. It's possible that the 1200 transmitter is in there and they've tried it out sporadically.
 
The "brand-new" transmitter building is the old blockhouse. The city wouldn't let them tear it down or expand it. Just a new paint job and, I believe, a new roof.
 
The old blockhouse was refurbed extensively...they torn it out to the walls (and took down the roof) and redid it almost from scratch. It may technically be the "old" building but it's pretty much new at this point.

One thing to keep in mind, the new WKOX transmitter was (supposedly) going to be IBOC-enabled from the start...so as soon as you hear HD Radio on 1200, you'll know they're on the air for-real from Newton. :)
 
webcastboy said:
One thing to keep in mind, the new WKOX transmitter was (supposedly) going to be IBOC-enabled from the start...so as soon as you hear HD Radio on 1200, you'll know they're on the air for-real from Newton. :)
Click to expand...

Anyone know if WRCA is going to be running HD? It seems silly for a brokered station, but Beasley seems to be pretty devoted to the technology, and considering that 1330 is getting an entirely new site it would seem to be a no-brainer.
 
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