WMEX 1510 Boston

[channel99]

The FCC today approved Ed Perry’s plan to return WATD-AM to the air:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101795732&formid=911&fac_num=19631


ADDRESS: 586 MANLEY STREET, WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA

DISTANCE TO PRESENTLY LICENSED SITE: 0.497 KM
DISTANCE TO CONSTRUCTION PERMIT SITE: 0.345 KM

TRANSMITTER POWER OUTPUT: 1.000 KW
ANTENNA TYPE: DIPOLE
LENGTH: 168 FEET - 1/4 WAVELENGTH
DIPOLE HEIGHT ABOVE GROUND LEVEL: 30 FEET APPROXIMATELY
OPERATING TIME: DAYTIME ONLY

OTHER ANTENNA SYSTEM DETAILS:

A BARN WILL HOUSE THE TRANSMITTER. ONE END OF THE ANTENNA WIRE WILL BE ATTACHED TO THE BARN VIA A ROPE AT APPROXIMATELY 30 FEET AGL. WE'LL INSTALL A POST APPROXIMATELY 30 FEET HIGH ROUGHLY 200 FEET FROM THE BARN. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO SEPARATE THE RADIATING PORTIONS OF THE ANTENNA WIRE 24 FEET FROM THE BARN AND 8 FEET FROM THE SUPPORT POLE. APPROPRIATE RF HAZARD WARNING SIGNAGE WILL BE POSTED ON THE FENCE.

 

[semoochie]

The FCC today approved Ed Perry’s plan to return WATD-AM to the air:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101795732&formid=911&fac_num=19631


ADDRESS: 586 MANLEY STREET, WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA

DISTANCE TO PRESENTLY LICENSED SITE: 0.497 KM
DISTANCE TO CONSTRUCTION PERMIT SITE: 0.345 KM

TRANSMITTER POWER OUTPUT: 1.000 KW
ANTENNA TYPE: DIPOLE
LENGTH: 168 FEET - 1/4 WAVELENGTH
DIPOLE HEIGHT ABOVE GROUND LEVEL: 30 FEET APPROXIMATELY
OPERATING TIME: DAYTIME ONLY

OTHER ANTENNA SYSTEM DETAILS:

A BARN WILL HOUSE THE TRANSMITTER. ONE END OF THE ANTENNA WIRE WILL BE ATTACHED TO THE BARN VIA A ROPE AT APPROXIMATELY 30 FEET AGL. WE'LL INSTALL A POST APPROXIMATELY 30 FEET HIGH ROUGHLY 200 FEET FROM THE BARN. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO SEPARATE THE RADIATING PORTIONS OF THE ANTENNA WIRE 24 FEET FROM THE BARN AND 8 FEET FROM THE SUPPORT POLE. APPROPRIATE RF HAZARD WARNING SIGNAGE WILL BE POSTED ON THE FENCE.

How much horsepower is that?

 

[Deleted User]

what a joke.

all this for a translator that will NEVER be profitable.

a wire antenna between a barn and a telephone pole?

How is that going to work in an ice storm?

How about birds on the wire screwing up the VSWR?

1460 should have been allowed to die a quiet death

 

[raccoonradio]

WMEX 1510 off, or dead air, past few days

 

[davideduardo]

what a joke.

all this for a translator that will NEVER be profitable.

a wire antenna between a barn and a telephone pole?

How is that going to work in an ice storm?

How about birds on the wire screwing up the VSWR?

1460 should have been allowed to die a quiet death

Long-wire and inverted "L" antennae have been used for as long as radio has been in existence. While we learned towards the end of the 20's that vertical radiators were more efficient and did not exhibit unwanted directional characteristics, there is nothing wrong with wires; they are just not as good.

Through the 70's, lots of stations in most underdeveloped countries used wire antennas strung between two posts or two metal support structures.

I've bought a couple of such stations, and, while I always put them on towers immediately, none of them did horribly with the wire antenna they had. And birds have little or no effect on medium wave signals; if properly strung, they are even less susceptible to ice damage than ordinary power lines.

 

[nowradioguy]

Long-wire and inverted "L" antennae have been used for as long as radio has been in existence. While we learned towards the end of the 20's that vertical radiators were more efficient and did not exhibit unwanted directional characteristics, there is nothing wrong with wires; they are just not as good.

Through the 70's, lots of stations in most underdeveloped countries used wire antennas strung between two posts or two metal support structures.

I've bought a couple of such stations, and, while I always put them on towers immediately, none of them did horribly with the wire antenna they had. And birds have little or no effect on medium wave signals; if properly strung, they are even less susceptible to ice damage than ordinary power lines.

And let's not forget this is only an "emergency antenna", erected to meet a deadline so the station's license isn't lost. If I read the document in the link correctly, a vertical radiator is under construction, but won't be ready by the critical date.

 

[Deleted User]

And let's not forget this is only an "emergency antenna", erected to meet a deadline so the station's license isn't lost. If I read the document in the link correctly, a vertical radiator is under construction, but won't be ready by the critical date.

Does it really take over 3 years to get a radio station back on the air with a permanent antenna structure?

I can only imagine how long it will take to get WMEX up and running with a permanent facility

Marshfield Broadcasting paid a reported 165K for a worthless AM in Brockton, and 100K for the 1510 license, so north of a quarter million without counting any other expense. WATD FM is not a station that is flush with money, so if WATD FM is paying the freight on this train wreck how long does this fiasco go on

 

[Eli Polonsky]

WMEX 1510 off, or dead air, past few days

The carrier is on, no program audio. There’s the cyclical off and on hum that some people here have guessed may be a bad ground or poor shielding/isolation from the blinking tower lights. It’s there now in the daytime, but their lights may stay in operation during the day. It has been there since this facility came on the air this summer, though normally buried under program audio.

 

[TheBigA]

Does it really take over 3 years to get a radio station back on the air with a permanent antenna structure?

Funny...if you're a guy, you probably have lots of "projects" around your house that you want to do. It may take years, but you'll get around to it.

Unless it's owned by a big corporation with investors pushing you for a completion date, it gets done when it gets done.

 

[raccoonradio]

Eli--couldn't tell if it was an unmodulated carrier or no signal at all while checking car stereo in Beverly, but yes figured it was the former.Another 1510 under it.

 

[davideduardo]

Does it really take over 3 years to get a radio station back on the air with a permanent antenna structure?

I have seen cases where getting zoning and permits for a new transmitter site have taken nearly a decade. It is getting very hard to build structures of the height needed for AM stations.

 

[raccoonradio]

WMEX 1510 been off awhile, and by day here in Beverly I can faintly hear what is probably WRNJ in New Jersey.Some are saying the full launch of WMEX with music, news, sports won't be till spring.
For now Perry's company is working to get WATD 1410 back on by the mid Dec deadline.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

For now Perry's company is working to get WATD 1410 back on by the mid Dec deadline.

That's WATD 1460. 1410 was another Brockton station that was bought by Langer and moved to Dedham, now Urban formatted WZBR "The Bass of Boston".

 

[CTListener]

That's WATD 1460. 1410 was another Brockton station that was bought by Langer and moved to Dedham, now Urban formatted WZBR "The Bass of Boston".

I remember that Brockton 1410 as WOKW. It and WBET (1460) were locals during my early teen years in Sharon.

 

[raccoonradio]

Sorry for the typo--as I was typing it I thought "it's 1460 not 1410" but I wound up hitting the 1 key not the 6, and failed to double check!

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Actually I listened the other day. Now that the 98.1 FM translator is on, WZBR's slogan is no longer "The Bass of Boston", it's now "The New Urban Heat".

 

[channel99]

WMEX 1510 been off awhile, and by day here in Beverly I can faintly hear what is probably WRNJ in New Jersey.Some are saying the full launch of WMEX with music, news, sports won't be till spring.
For now Perry's company is working to get WATD 1410 back on by the mid Dec deadline.

WMEX will be off for a while. Ed Perry has filed for suspension of operations and to go silent temporarily, because of 1) loss of the internet connection which was the program source at the current site, 2) to move the transmitter to the WATD site in Brockton, and 3) to work with the landlord to get enough AC power there for a 10 KW transmitter:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101796187&formid=910&fac_num=12789

 

[CTListener]

WMEX will be off for a while. Ed Perry has filed for suspension of operations and to go silent temporarily, because of 1) loss of the internet connection which was the program source at the current site, 2) to move the transmitter to the WATD site in Brockton, and 3) to work with the landlord to get enough AC power there for a 10 KW transmitter:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...xt=25&appn=101796187&formid=910&fac_num=12789

How long before the FCC tires of all this, denies the request to go silent, and leaves Perry to figure out how to recoup his sunk costs? And what are the odds that if WMEX finally makes it to the air with its own programming that it won't be with oldies, local sports and local talent but with recorded dollar-a-holler programming?

 

[channel99]

How long before the FCC tires of all this, denies the request to go silent, and leaves Perry to figure out how to recoup his sunk costs? And what are the odds that if WMEX finally makes it to the air with its own programming that it won't be with oldies, local sports and local talent but with recorded dollar-a-holler programming?

As long as these changes meet the rules, there's really not much the FCC can do. But no doubt the comment "Another Ed Perry app!" can probably be heard there.

He does come up with some creative excuses... He got WMEX back on the air to cover the original one year of silence approaching and is assuming he will be able to keep it off for as much as another year now.

The internet access being down should be fixable with a phone call to the ISP, and a 10 KW transmitter uses about the power of a home electric range with the oven and all of the burners on...

When back on it will be no doubt be fed with whatever he wants on the FM translator...

 

[Eli Polonsky]

The internet access being down should be fixable with a phone call to the ISP...

Maybe it wasn't worth paying the ISP for that connection for now, for a low-power AM simulcast of WATD-FM. Assuming the WMEX transmitter will be moved to Brockton, he will not use that particular internet connection to Milton/Quincy again anyway.