WMRO Dark?

[lash]

I've been told that WMRO in Gallitin is now dark? Can anyone confirm this?

 

[romer979fm]

I heard them on-air Thursday afternoon...signal was very hard
to hear (Lebanon Road west of Briley)...but there's lots of noise there.
"Magic 1560" is still there.

 

[scottwmro]

I've been told that WMRO in Gallitin is now dark? Can anyone confirm this?

From the Horse's Mouth, the man who owns WMRO, Magic 1560:

WMRO has been on and off this week. I had "copper robbers" steel the main coax cable that fed from the building from the tower. I replaced it with some RG-8 cable temporary and tried to operate it at 250 watts. I must say for local Gallatin coverage, not bad. The temporary RG-8 will be repalaced with the "Heavy Duty" Andrew 7/8ths Cable, the good stuff. Actually, today is friday and I've completed putting in the cable, but tuning will need to be done to run at 1 KW, and I'm not going to do it in the rain (HA!)

I also have unipole wires that will need to be replaced as soon as I can get my tower climbers up here, they have scheduling conflits and I can't get the two guy together at the same time.

Also to all you damn brokers, stop calling me NOW! Just because someone (concerned about me) wanted to know why my station was dark for a few days doesn't mean for you to ring my cell phone off the hook. Gee, I can't get eat my dinner or watch TV at night because of the silly broker calls!

This station IS NOT FOR SALE, and I'll turn the license in to the commission before I deal with any broker to sell it. In other words, leave me alone and mind your own business. I'm tired of having to come to this silly message board to explain what I'm doing. The only thing I am selling is one acre of ground that is adjacent to the station's property that I don't need or want, and actually, my real estate agent has already sold it for me. It's an empty lot and I hate cutting grass!

ON A HAPPY NOTE:
Oh by the way, Chris Lash, thanks for the call the other day and checking in, were doing great and having fun! Got a website up now too! Looks Cool, tell ya about it later.

Scott Bailey
WMRO Radio, Magic 1560
Gallatin, TN

 

[lash]

Thanks Scott! Glad everything is ok! Brokers? I have my station listed. Anyone that wants to buy a rock solid station south of Nashville can flood my email box.

We are for sale!

Thanks,

Chris Lash
930 The Farm
Waynesboro, TN
www.am930.net

 

[scottwmro]

Since you now own a FM in Charlotte, I would pack up and move there! I grew up here in Gallatin, Leslie and I just bought a newly built home, so we won't be going anywhere. I get opportunities to buy stations all the time, but I have no interest in owning more than one station.

I'm shocked that Phillip Chambers hasn't called you yet. Like Lacy told me, he has this tendancy to jump at the station owner when he has the slightest idea maybe a station is almost dark, or going up for sale.

I've just about got WMRO, Magic 1560 back to normal on the tech side. I've had to fight the weather just to get out to the tower and finish up. Still work to do, but I am making progress, thanks to Turbo, Dale Howard & Gary Brown.

We've dropped Dial Global due to them playing "off the wall" stuff on the weekends. Programming on thier BAC format is inconsistant, and I have a major problem with them playing AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" or any AC/DC song. I'm a christian and I will not allow that band on this station. Ever since they promoted Gary Thompson and allowed this new PD to program the BAC Format, the music is all out of wack!

Chris, check out this site: www.magic1560.com

You'll see what's up on my end!

Have a good time in Charlotte, SC


Scott Bailey
WMRO-AM, Magic 1560
Gallatin, TN
"Today's Best Hits"
magic1560.com

"Here To Stay"!

 

[w9wi]

I've just about got WMRO, Magic 1560 back to normal on the tech side. I've had to fight the weather just to get out to the tower and finish up. Still work to do, but I am making progress, thanks to Turbo, Dale Howard & Gary Brown.

(say hi to Dale for us over at channel 4, he's missed!)

I'm surprised copper theft isn't a bigger problem for radio (and TV) stations than it is.

I wonder if there'd be any point to a well marked "RF exposure warning" light adjacent to the coax?

(power it from the 120v AC line so it stays on after sunset)

Then again, given the crooks who've been fried trying to steal wire from operating utility substations, probably not...

 

[SuperQ]

I wonder if there'd be any point to a well marked "RF exposure warning" light adjacent to the coax?

A station in Knoxville did even better. People kept breaking windows in their transmitter building, shooting out tower lights etc. so they put signs on the building that said something to the effect of

WARNING EXPOSURE TO RADIO ENERGY CAN CAUSE STERILITY, IMPOTENCE AND LOSS OF SEX DRIVE.

All problems stopped. Apparently vandals aren't afraid of going to jail or getting electrocuted, but there are some roads they don't wish to explore.

 

[yorkie9]

I'm tired of having to come to this silly message board to explain what I'm doing.

Then don't. If it wasn't for this group, I'd have no idea WMRO was even on the air.

 

[scottwmro]

I've just about got WMRO, Magic 1560 back to normal on the tech side. I've had to fight the weather just to get out to the tower and finish up. Still work to do, but I am making progress, thanks to Turbo, Dale Howard & Gary Brown.

(say hi to Dale for us over at channel 4, he's missed!)

I'm surprised copper theft isn't a bigger problem for radio (and TV) stations than it is.

I wonder if there'd be any point to a well marked "RF exposure warning" light adjacent to the coax?

(power it from the 120v AC line so it stays on after sunset)

Then again, given the crooks who've been fried trying to steal wire from operating utility substations, probably not...

Hi Doug,

Knowing the surroundings of my station, I bet you could guess who stole the copper and coax! I can also tell you that NES has had problems like this at quite a few of thier substations as well. They got into the "White Bridge Road Substation" sometime back and really rob the substation of copper and parts from O.C. Breakers.
Kevin Kidd was mentioning a few weeks ago that the price of copper has dropped, but I don't think it has dropped enough to keep a the "desperate" away from radio and utility sites that rely on it.
We have taken field readings on WMRO. It's not real good in all directions but to the east. In the back of my lot are some RR Track that CSX uses. Dale and I agree that the power from the unipole is amplified by the RR tracks.
I look at it this way, I'm doing real well with no salespeople, just me and Lelsie, (my wife) doing the work. We don't make any sales outside our 5 mv/m, (which is within the city limits of town) and even if I was licensed at 250 watts, I'm sort of convinced I would do o.k. I see 250 watts is really 1/2 of 1 KW, if measured in field strength, half of 282 mv/m is 141 mv/m, with a typical 90 degree tower and a full ground system in tact.
Besides,with all the man made electrical noise on AM these days, IMHO....AM is about useless to the public, as the static is annoying to the typical listener, and I'm not a big fan of IBOC either, but it appears I'm going to have to live with it.
Chris Romer was mentioning all the static on my channel when he listens to my station. Where he was at was way outside our 5 mv/m and, yes even at full power under typical conditions, I can't be heard very good out there off Briley Pk. The signal is too weak and too much noise from TVA and NES lines.
Dale will tell you if can get my hands on some "DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE" signs, I would put them up, but to someone on crack, I guess it would do any good. I'll tell Dale you said Hi. In the meantime, I'm having fun just plugging away at it.

See Ya,
Scott

 

[w9wi]

Knowing the surroundings of my station, I bet you could guess who stole the copper and coax! I can also tell you that NES has had problems like this at quite a few of thier substations as well. They got into the "White Bridge Road Substation" sometime back and really rob the substation of copper and parts from O.C. Breakers.

I heard they hit NES but didn't hear where.

I've cycled down there. (the trailhead to the Richland Park Greenway is there) I get a kick out of the decorative designs on the fence and the pavement. On the fence, they even managed to get 3-phase right!

Kevin Kidd was mentioning a few weeks ago that the price of copper has dropped, but I don't think it has dropped enough to keep a the "desperate" away from radio and utility sites that rely on it.

I suspect there's a rather large amount of "inertia" in the process, before the crackheads learn that ripping off radio stations & church air conditioners isn't going to get them that next fix anymore...

We have taken field readings on WMRO. It's not real good in all directions but to the east. In the back of my lot are some RR Track that CSX uses. Dale and I agree that the power from the unipole is amplified by the RR tracks.

Back home in Madison, Wis. there's a place where the railroad to Oregon, Wis. crosses the freeway. If your car radio is tuned to a Chicago AM station (~120mi.) when you drive across, its signal will increase about 20dB for about five seconds.

Even in Wisconsin, the ground conductivity of a railroad track beats the heck out of the ground conductivity of ground

(remember: ground in Wisconsin actually has conductivity, unlike the solid rock that passes for ground around here!)

I look at it this way, I'm doing real well with no salespeople, just me and Lelsie, (my wife) doing the work. We don't make any sales outside our 5 mv/m, (which is within the city limits of town) and even if I was licensed at 250 watts, I'm sort of convinced I would do o.k. I see 250 watts is really 1/2 of 1 KW, if measured in field strength, half of 282 mv/m is 141 mv/m, with a typical 90 degree tower and a full ground system in tact.
Besides,with all the man made electrical noise on AM these days, IMHO....AM is about useless to the public, as the static is annoying to the typical listener, and I'm not a big fan of IBOC either, but it appears I'm going to have to live with it.
Chris Romer was mentioning all the static on my channel when he listens to my station. Where he was at was way outside our 5 mv/m and, yes even at full power under typical conditions, I can't be heard very good out there off Briley Pk. The signal is too weak and too much noise from TVA and NES lines.

Yeah, Part 15, what Part 15??!

I suppose KXEL could make what night power you have more or less useless & make a mess of sunrise & sunset, but I'm not so sure there are any other stations within 20KHz of your frequency that are likely to go digital *and* are close enough to Gallatin for it to be a problem.

I'd be a LOT more worried if I was WHIN or WYXE.

Dale will tell you if can get my hands on some "DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE" signs, I would put them up, but to someone on crack, I guess it would do any good. I'll tell Dale you said Hi. In the meantime, I'm having fun just plugging away at it.

In the end, if you're having fun, that's the point...

 

[Nashsound]

"Back home in Madison, Wis. there's a place where the railroad to Oregon, Wis. crosses the freeway. If your car radio is tuned to a Chicago AM station (~120mi.) when you drive across, its signal will increase about 20dB for about five seconds.

Even in Wisconsin, the ground conductivity of a railroad track beats the heck out of the ground conductivity of ground

(remember: ground in Wisconsin actually has conductivity, unlike the solid rock that passes for ground around here!)"
----------
I can second the railroad track story. In the late 1980's I was part owner of a station on 1340 in West Virginia. WV ground conductivity is worse than Tennessee ( about 2 mhos). There was a railroad crossing about 20 miles from the station. Even at night, when you couldn't hear the station otherwise because of the skywave, as you crossed the tracks, here came the station loud and clear.

 

[romer979fm]

It's probably urban legend...but I heard that one of the BC Norte
"border blasters" IIRC XEPRS 1090 ... actually tied their ground system
to railroad tracks in the 1960's. The story is they could be heard into Canada if you
were near the rails. "Mythbusters" anyone?
1090 does have a monster signal, tho... listened to them in the car just south
of Bakersfield on I-5 ("the five") in December '05 (Chargers game)

 

[w9wi]

It's probably urban legend...but I heard that one of the BC Norte
"border blasters" IIRC XEPRS 1090 ... actually tied their ground system
to railroad tracks in the 1960's. The story is they could be heard into Canada if you
were near the rails. "Mythbusters" anyone?
1090 does have a monster signal, tho... listened to them in the car just south
of Bakersfield on I-5 ("the five") in December '05 (Chargers game)

To some degree I suspect the mostly overwater path is responsible for the screaming signals of Tijuana stations in the LA and Santa Barbara areas. The "ground" conductivity of sea water is dramatically higher than that of any land. (the AM stations on Prince Edward Island 350 miles away were of near local quality in coastal areas just north of Boston on a car radio. Back when there *were* AM stations on Prince Edward Island.)

Railroad tracks aren't electrically continuous, because of the signaling. A single section could be as long as a few kilometers though, that'd make a pretty good start at a ground system!

 

[romer979fm]

Chris Romer was mentioning all the static on my channel when he listens to my station. Where he was at was way outside our 5 mv/m and, yes even at full power under typical conditions, I can't be heard very good out there off Briley Pk.

I was just checking while driving home (avoiding 40) on Lebanon Rd. Someone posted about the station
being dark...and I was checking before posting. I used to be able to hear it on 40 downtown all the way to
Percy Priest...but that was back when the WW1 oldies were carried (Brian Roberts...who did weekends and swing
on WW1 Oldies is a friend of mine...and I'd call and give him grief on the WW1 hotline)

 

[scottwmro]

Chris Romer was mentioning all the static on my channel when he listens to my station. Where he was at was way outside our 5 mv/m and, yes even at full power under typical conditions, I can't be heard very good out there off Briley Pk.

I was just checking while driving home (avoiding 40) on Lebanon Rd. Someone posted about the station
being dark...and I was checking before posting. I used to be able to hear it on 40 downtown all the way to
Percy Priest...but that was back when the WW1 oldies were carried (Brian Roberts...who did weekends and swing
on WW1 Oldies is a friend of mine...and I'd call and give him grief on the WW1 hotline)

Hi Chris,

Brian Roberts, great personallity! I would call him every now and then and we would chat. This was back when Westwood One/CBS had the formats and they had a good grip on that operation out in LA. Ric Santos is still PD and is a great guy. Believe it or not, I ready where Brian is now out of the radio biz selling cars!
I will be working with Dale Howard and Gary Brown to get the ground system back in shape. Gee, for you to be able to hear the station that well outside the 5 mv/m is really good. Hopefully, we'll get it back up to that level soon. You must have a decent car radio.
Do you recall the counterpoise ground around the towers at WNQM (old MAK-AM)? I often wonder if that increased the field strength? I think the counterpoise radials are still there. Jason Cooper is maintain that site now. Jason is a very young, but a bright & smart engineer.

Scott

 

[romer979fm]

Believe it or not, I ready where Brian is now out of the radio biz selling cars![/quote]

Brian is the fleet manager at the Bunnin Automotive Group in Oxnard: commutes from Canoga Park.
His last on-air gig was mornings with Ashley Paige at KMLT (Lite 92.7) in Thousand Oaks...I got to do a
few breaks on-air there with BR a few summers back. Brian got fed up when WW1 started cutting back hours, and
forced the jocks to voice track some of their shift at lower pay. BTW...he also worked at KRTH, KZLA, KODJ and
few other Los Angeles majors in the 70's-80s...plus a few in SF, too.
Seems to be doing very well at Bunnin...if you call them after-hours, he's the advertising voice on their phone system.
Just can't leave it alone...