WKOX, WUNR, WRCA

[Deleted member 64531]

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but I haven't heard anything in awhile here or on Scott Fybush's website concerning the three upgrades taking place at the Newton tower site. I live in VA now, so I'm slightly out of touch.

Thank y'all kindly

 

[aaronread]

The facilities are mostly finished...last I heard the final roadblock was getting NStar to deliver a big enough AC power circuit at the site. Seems they couldn't believe a "house" needs more than 120VAC service. :

(those who don't know, one of the zoning requirements was that the transmitter building look exactly like a single family home, similar to all the other houses in the neighborhood)

 

[DanStrassberg]

The facilities are mostly finished...last I heard the final roadblock was getting NStar to deliver a big enough AC power circuit at the site.

Aaron: I can't say you heard wrong, but I wouldn't bet against your having done so. It's not like I've been listening intently to 1200, 1330, and 1600 for evidence of adjusting and proofing of the DAs. So if that's been going on, I could easily have missed it, but there's a good chance that I would have spotted SOMETHING and I've spotted nothing. WUNR is operating from the site. Nothing new about that; it has operated from the site for more than 60 years. However, the tall towers are long gone and I have no idea whether WUNR is running its CP pattern--perhaps at lower power than the CP specifies--or whether it's operating ND. I guess the old two-tower phasor could also have been lashed up to two of the new towers to produce some semblance of the old pattern. If WUNR were operating at full power with its CP pattern, the signal where I live would be about 10% LESS than it was with the old towers and pattern and 1/4 of the 20-kW CP power. That could be what I'm hearing, but I'm doubtful.

There seems to be nothing going on over the air relative to 1200 and 1330. However, a consulting engineer I know (AM DA expert) who, though not on the team that designed the site mods and upgrades, claims to be intimately familiar with the the details (he has business associates who are directly involved), told me recently that tweaking a high power, five-tower AM triplex is definitely NOT a straightforward job and to be patient because completing the work could take a long, long, time.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

WUNR is operating from the site. Nothing new about that; it has operated from the site for more than 60 years. However, the tall towers are long gone and I have no idea whether WUNR is running its CP pattern--perhaps at lower power than the CP specifies--or whether it's operating ND. I guess the old two-tower phasor could also have been lashed up to two of the new towers to produce some semblance of the old pattern. If WUNR were operating at full power with its CP pattern, the signal where I live would be about 10% LESS than it was with the old towers and pattern and 1/4 of the 20-kW CP power. That could be what I'm hearing, but I'm doubtful.

WUNR seems to be operating with a directional pattern, nulling to the west. I don't know if it's the (approximate) old pattern or a new one.