What will happen to 1160 once WMLB moves to 1690?
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WMLB "The Voice of the Arts in Atlanta" am1160
- Thread starter sduncan
- Start date
I decided to listen to WMLB today while driving around. I was not impressed with the signal quality. I live across from the tower farm on Cheshire Bridge Rd and drove up to Doraville and back. Lots of places where the signal fades and static that I normally get on the lower powered AM's. Looking at WMLB's pattern and the power of 50,000 they should not be having signal issues in my area of the city.
I
IFB64
Guest
WMLB-1160's site is actually in Cobb County-Austell if I recall correctly. WWAA-1690 is on Cheshire bridge rd. That might account for some of the dead areas you encountered.BarryATL said:
I know where the sites are. I am getting better signal on AM 590 with 5,000 watts than I am getting on 1160 with 50,000 watts. I know where 1690s tower along with the others across the street (680, 1190, 920, and 970). My point was that 1190's tower is very close to 590's tower (or co-located) with 50,000 watts and a directional pattern that is throwing most of the power to the east. 1190 should be booming.590 has only 5,000 watts (although at a lower frequency) but has a pattern throwing most of the power to the south east. 590 is better in the east side of Atlanta than 1190. Why the weakness in WMLB's signal around Chamblee, Doraville, and Druid Hills?
WMLB comes in Gwinnett Ctry. pretty good but does not cover metro Atlanta very well like it should. They do run shorter towers, under 200 feet. 1190 and 970 share the same tower just behind the 4 towers for WQXI 790 and beside 920. 680 towers are off Jimmy Carter Blvd. Spaulding Drive. 680 use to be on the 970 tower when it was a daytimer, (Ring Radio) when that tower went up and is still owned by the Dickie Boys.
680 booms into Roswell and it booms into Cumming. I'm sure they're nice folks and all, but I'm not into sports talk. 1160 has some interesting material on occasion, but it is hard to find, even when you're in a low-noise area. It just amazes me how fast 50kW can peter out. So now I know, from AMLOVER and BarryATl that they’re using 200ft towers and have a problem with directionality. What a shame to heat up a short tower with all of that energy, and not get much of return! I've always been a DX'er but I prefer to not have to behave like a DX'er just to get a local local 50kW station in broad daylight!I was driving along Spaulding one day, and saw the antenna farm. I play a little mind-exercise game where I gauge the frequency/station of towers by comparing at relative heights. (I know that the matching network can throw-off my guess!) And I couldn't get close enough to see what type of feed (base, or maybe shunt?) was driving the masts. But I like to know stuff like that.If anyone knows any details, please chime in.
amlover, thanks for reminding me about 680. I had forgotten the move they did when they were authorized for a night signal. When they were Ring Radio, 680 was a daytimer with 25,000 watts. If I remember correctly, they first brought up a night signal at the new site with the eight towers. After that, they applied for the 50,000 watts daytime. I remember as a teenager being bummed because I could not hear 680 at night.One of my favorite features of Ring Radio was the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. During the summer months they would play the show the last hour they were on the air. So, if sundown for them was 8:30 PM, then Mystery Theatre would start at 7:30.I looked up the tower locations. WMLB is located in Austell near Austell Road and Bankhead Hwy (Veterans Memorial Hwy). WDWD (590 AM) is located a couple of miles further out off of Clay Road. Is the engineer for WMLB on this board? He used to be. Does WMLB have a complete ground system or is it cut by the property lines? That sometimes makes a big difference in how a signal carries.
Engineering for WMLB is contracted out and they are not users on this board at present. As far as the ground system for WMLB for two of the 4 towers the system is above ground using wire radials due to a creek that runs through the tower site and they were not allowed to disturb the creek for a ground system in the ground.1160 is not the best example for a 50,000 watt directional station. Speaking of programing, the station went to hell after Music of Your Life was dropped. Who wants to hear dirt ctry. followed by opera, followed by outdated rock,followed by classical. And Classical on an AM! No thanks. Plus no news and no traffic. I love AM radio but it's a dying medium.
No. 1690 is on the expanded band. Stations on 1610 - 1700 currently can only have a max of 10,000 watts day and 1,000 watts night. 1690 has a good signal a few miles outside of I-285 and then starts to have the same problems we have been describing with 1160. 1690 has a superior night signal (compared to frequencies below 1610) because there are not as many stations on that frequency to interfere with it.BRENT said:
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