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WOOF AM 560 The Ball Dothan
- Thread starter Louis_009
- Start date
The signal is not as good as it was years ago. The "ground system" is over
60 years old and has deteriorated somewhat. Also the electrical interference level
from other devices has increased significantly. Shrinking the listenable area.
It will not help your listening in Tallahassee, but I will mention WOOF AM added a translator
that is 250 watts @ 256 meters that has a pretty good signal. Especially in vehicle.
A new ground system (expensive) is not in the current budget, as local area coverage is still good
and the addition of the translator augments the listenership.
Michael Holderfield
CE WOOF INC
60 years old and has deteriorated somewhat. Also the electrical interference level
from other devices has increased significantly. Shrinking the listenable area.
It will not help your listening in Tallahassee, but I will mention WOOF AM added a translator
that is 250 watts @ 256 meters that has a pretty good signal. Especially in vehicle.
A new ground system (expensive) is not in the current budget, as local area coverage is still good
and the addition of the translator augments the listenership.
Michael Holderfield
CE WOOF INC
poledo said:WOOF AM has a really big signal... for the south.
Correction then:
WOOF probably has the best daytime AM signal in the Wiregrass. It reaches three states!! Whooo!
I notice the singal is not that great as before. Im from Crawfordville, Florida. I hope WOOF AM gets a new tower to reach better areas but yes I know its cost money and stuff. Best of luck.
Alan I do remeber when WSTT AM 730 Thomasville used to have there old tower before they brought a new tower to make the singal clearly and stornger.
Alan I do remeber when WSTT AM 730 Thomasville used to have there old tower before they brought a new tower to make the singal clearly and stornger.
When I was growing up in Atmore many years ago (1957-62) WOOF 560 was listenable there during the day. I once had a promotional piece from WOOF touting the station as the "42nd most powerful station in the Nation." I'm not sure what the basis was for making that claim, but I would be interested iin hearing it."
The claim was based upon daytime land area coverage and not power output.
As you may be aware, propagation on the lower AM frequencies is much much better
than the the higher frequencies. Take WOOF for instance. 5000 watts at 560 kHz
will have a bigger .5 mV/m daytime contour than say station WXYZ on 1600 kHz at 50,000 watts.
In 1947, when this claim was first made, the area within WOOF's .5 mV/m daytime contour
was the 42nd largest of all stations on the air at the time.
Hope this helps.
As you may be aware, propagation on the lower AM frequencies is much much better
than the the higher frequencies. Take WOOF for instance. 5000 watts at 560 kHz
will have a bigger .5 mV/m daytime contour than say station WXYZ on 1600 kHz at 50,000 watts.
In 1947, when this claim was first made, the area within WOOF's .5 mV/m daytime contour
was the 42nd largest of all stations on the air at the time.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for your reply; yes I'm quite familiar with the superior coverage advantage enjoyed by AM stations at the low end of the dial. Another factor which should be mentioned: ground conductivity.
In my part of Alabama (coastal) we have very poor conductivity zones (1 and 2, on a scale of 30). The coverage area of WOOF (southeast Ala) shows as 4 and 8, which is good, but nothing compared to some places like the Dakotas which enjoy a 30. I used to have a publication put out by Duncan's American Radio which ranked the nation's AMs by coverage. One tabulation showed the top stations in terms of geographical area; another showed the top stations in terms of population covered. I believe 0.5 mv/m was the standard. Of course, a coastal station would be at a disadvantage because close to 50% of its signal goes out into open water. I seem to remember that 50 kw 820 AM in Dallas/Fort Worth had the largest geographic coverage area and 570 AM in South Dakota was one of the top ones, even tho it was 5 kw instead of 50 kw...because it was in a high conductivity area. Of course, a DA-D station might be at a disadvantage also.
As for population coverage, 640 AM in Los Angeles and 660 AM in NYC covered more population, even though much of their signal goes out over the ocean.
To come up with this more recent tabulation, someone had to do some extensive research. I was just surprised to see that someone at WOOF 60 years ago did an exhaustive study to determine that the station's signal area, in square miles, ranked #42. I would be interested in seeing the other 41 listings...
In my part of Alabama (coastal) we have very poor conductivity zones (1 and 2, on a scale of 30). The coverage area of WOOF (southeast Ala) shows as 4 and 8, which is good, but nothing compared to some places like the Dakotas which enjoy a 30. I used to have a publication put out by Duncan's American Radio which ranked the nation's AMs by coverage. One tabulation showed the top stations in terms of geographical area; another showed the top stations in terms of population covered. I believe 0.5 mv/m was the standard. Of course, a coastal station would be at a disadvantage because close to 50% of its signal goes out into open water. I seem to remember that 50 kw 820 AM in Dallas/Fort Worth had the largest geographic coverage area and 570 AM in South Dakota was one of the top ones, even tho it was 5 kw instead of 50 kw...because it was in a high conductivity area. Of course, a DA-D station might be at a disadvantage also.
As for population coverage, 640 AM in Los Angeles and 660 AM in NYC covered more population, even though much of their signal goes out over the ocean.
To come up with this more recent tabulation, someone had to do some extensive research. I was just surprised to see that someone at WOOF 60 years ago did an exhaustive study to determine that the station's signal area, in square miles, ranked #42. I would be interested in seeing the other 41 listings...
J
JohnAllan
Guest
I have to back Mike up on the ground system. It is SO critical in the South. I will give a good example. I used to manage WWAA, Air Atlanta. This was a "move in" station on 1690. (You don't get much farther up the dial than that!). We spent MEGA BUCKS building the ground system. When finished, you could clearly pick the station up 60 miles away when on BACK UP transmitter at 1,000 watts. It BOOMED throughout north Georgia on the 10,000 watt main. The ground system makes ALL the difference. Contrast that, now I'm at WSB Atlanta. It's at 750, and has an aging ground system. The signal gets weaker by the day! You can pump 50,000 watts through it all you want, but the ground system makes it go.
The ground system itself isn't nearly as important as the ground conductivity. I engineered a station with only a 12' x 12' screen for a ground system for years. When ClearChannel bought the station they installed a ground system. You could hardly tell the difference on a field strength meter.
Dial position and ground conductivity are the two most important factors in AM radio signal propagation.
John.....you may recall that 1690's ground system was installed underneath a parking lot. It was hardly an optimal ground system. I would not describe the signal as "booming" either. I have trouble hearing it anywhere outside the Perimeter at full power. You can pick the signal up but the average listener would not put up with the noise. Certainly does not sound like a local station. It fell off the dial at 1000 watts.
WSB has had the same coverage issues for years. The difference today is all the consumer and industrial equipment we use which creates RF interference. Practically any device with a microprocessor will generate RF hash - it has diminished the usefulness of AM signals greatly. Another factor is co-channel interference and adjacent channel IBOC operation.
WOOF has a monster signal. Glad to see there is someone still paying attention to it.
Dial position and ground conductivity are the two most important factors in AM radio signal propagation.
John.....you may recall that 1690's ground system was installed underneath a parking lot. It was hardly an optimal ground system. I would not describe the signal as "booming" either. I have trouble hearing it anywhere outside the Perimeter at full power. You can pick the signal up but the average listener would not put up with the noise. Certainly does not sound like a local station. It fell off the dial at 1000 watts.
WSB has had the same coverage issues for years. The difference today is all the consumer and industrial equipment we use which creates RF interference. Practically any device with a microprocessor will generate RF hash - it has diminished the usefulness of AM signals greatly. Another factor is co-channel interference and adjacent channel IBOC operation.
WOOF has a monster signal. Glad to see there is someone still paying attention to it.
With poor ground conductivity or a poor ground system, if the signal does not reach far, where does the signal go? Into the earth? Into the sky? Or does it get backed up and return to the transmitter?
The singal is so/so around the north florida big bend area but not as storng as it is a few years ago. What about online streaming does WOOF AM 560 The Ball streaming? I have tune in radio app and its working but noting just dead air or sometimes its said cant find the stream. Can someone tell me if WOOF will be streaming again?
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