WPEN-AM IBOC Off

[DG02816]

Doubt it. I think the 43 kW signal will give better coverage in So. Jersey.

 

[amfmsw]

sure is dave, i was checking the new signal last evening after dinner. just using a 1969 rca victor transistor am/fm portable, nothing fancy (my 'the lights are out' radio). 990 was good, but 950 was pretty impressive and interference free.

 

[JerseyShor]

WPEN was doing field measurements on the power increase two weeks ago. They will likely apply for a license to cover this week.

Took a bit longer than you thought but it appears that the application for a license to cover was tendered for filing on June 6--the day that the CP would have expired had the application for license not been tendered for filing. The app for a license was accepted for filing by the FCC eleven days later, on 6/17. Lord knows how long it will take the Commission to actually act on the the application and not just shuffle it from one pile of paper to another. The next move should be the grant of the license to cover, but I don't know how much of a sure thing that is. However, if I'm not mistaken, with the application accepted for filing, WPEN may be eligible for program-test authority. If so, all of you folks down in Center City and points east can provide reception reports and speculate on whether you can really hear the difference between 25 kW-D and 43 kW-D.

Well here on Long Beach Island (Beach Haven / Ship Bottom / etc.) 950 is screaming in clear as a bell, even better than KYW (and far better than 97.5!).

I dare to say that 950 is coming in stronger than "local" WOBM-AM!

Even driving around - there is almost no power-line noise at all! You could undoubtedly be lying on the beach with a $10 radio and still pull in a crystal clear 950am!

 

[qtpieislit]

Radio-Locator.com aparently has not updated the signal upgrade.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Radio-Locator.com aparently has not updated the signal upgrade.

If you look up the WPEN CP for 43 kW-D at CDBS, you will find in it a map that compares the 43 kW contours with the 25 kW contours. You can also look up the polar plots of the 25 and 43 kW D patterns. There is, of course essentially no change in the radiation to the west, which has changed only minimally from the days of 5 kW ND-D. Has to be that way to protect WHYL. To the east, the 43-kW pattern is quite similar to the 25-kW pattern but the radiation dead ahead of the new pattern is about 37% greater than that with the old pattern. Since there is essentially no change to the west, you would expect the signal to the east to have increased more than in the ratio of the powers and when you take the square of the field-intensity ratio, it has done just that. However, when you look at the contour plots, the area added inside the 0.5 mV/m contour appears quite small. However, one would hope that the improvement would bring in enough revenue to pay for the upgrade.

950 is kind of the poster child for the Rio Treaty--a regional channel with two honest-to-God 50 kW stationjs (KJR and WWJ) and one almost 50 kW station by day and close to a 25 kW station at night (WPEN). (Because the towers at the night site are more efficient than those at the day site, the 21 kW night pattern has the same RMS inverse-distance field @ 1 km as the old 25 kW day pattern.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Is WPEN (AM) doing anything on air to promote the new higher daytime power? Maybe something like a station break with "Now with more power... 950 AM, WPEN Philadelphia <followed by a slogan/positioner, something like ESPN sports for the Delaware Valley>. Or would a positioner that called the station ESPN sports for the Delaware Valley step on the bragging rights of 1040 in Flemington NJ.

 

[DG02816]

Dan,
I don't think a positioner touting the higher power would step on WNJE 1040 at all, as they're a straight simulcast
of WEPN 1050.

 

[phils07]

My reception of 950 in Coatesville is still complete static.

 

[rtetro]

My reception of 950 in Coatesville is still complete static.

Most of the upgraded signal is headed toward New Jersey. Here in Lansdale their field strength is about what it was at 25kw.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Most of the upgraded signal is headed toward New Jersey. Here in Lansdale their field strength is about what it was at 25kw.

And that, in turn, is almost exactly what it was at 5 kW ND in all areas west of the transmitter site (or to be more precise, in all areas in an arc centered at 294 degrees true and extending from from ~225 degrees true to ~0 degrees true).

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Just below Wilmington in my car 950 comes in great as does 97.5. At work near New Castle, DE, 950 is barely there- not listenable, but 97.5 comes in fairly well. At home a few miles outside the city of Wilmington 950 on my stereo that has an external AM antenna, not very well, but 97.5 comes in great. However, looking at the Radio Locator map it shows the pattern for 950 heading more towards South Jersey and away from Delaware. So WPEN's Delaware listeners will be listening on FM unless in their car then they have a choice during the day of AM or FM. At night 950 can't be heard here at all. It would appear that South Jersey listeners will get a choice of either AM or FM day or night per the Radio Locator map.

 

[DanStrassberg]

However, looking at the Radio Locator map it shows the pattern for 950 heading more towards South Jersey and away from Delaware. So WPEN's Delaware listeners will be listening on FM unless in their car then they have a choice during the day of AM or FM.

Has Radio-Locator picked up on the new daytime power? I looked a few days ago and I could find no sign of a new contour map. My experience up to that time had been that contour maps showing R-L's inaccurate estimates of modified coverage were available for AM CPs. I could not, umm, locate a CP map for WPEN, however. The shape of the 43-kW D pattern is quite similar to the shape of the 25-kW D pattern, although there is essentially no change to the west, which means that there is a little greater increase to the east than there would be if the same pattern were being used at 43 kW as was being used at 25 kW.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

So essentially the areas that now can get 950 will get it better.

 

[DanStrassberg]

So essentially the areas that now can get 950 will get it better.

Yes to the east. No difference to the west.

 

[cd637299]

Question from a non-Philadelphian:

When did WPEN upgrade from 5 kW in the day? I caught it oh-so-faintly in Bermuda in late June 2005. KYW & WNTP made it in better (but not by much); WPHT didn't make it at all (I think there was an image of a local AM on 1210 there); but WWJZ had the best signal.

Just wondering if I got the 5k signal or the 43k...

cd

 

[phils07]

Question from a non-Philadelphian:

When did WPEN upgrade from 5 kW in the day? I caught it oh-so-faintly in Bermuda in late June 2005. KYW & WNTP made it in better (but not by much); WPHT didn't make it at all (I think there was an image of a local AM on 1210 there); but WWJZ had the best signal.

Just wondering if I got the 5k signal or the 43k...

cd

They upgraded in 2005.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Question from a non-Philadelphian: When did WPEN upgrade from 5 kW in the day? I caught it oh-so-faintly in Bermuda in late June 2005. KYW & WNTP made it in better (but not by much); WPHT didn't make it at all (I think there was an image of a local AM on 1210 there); but WWJZ had the best signal. Just wondering if I got the 5k signal or the 43k... cd

Well, since the first daytime upgrade--to 25 kW DA-D--took place in 2005, the question is whether you caught the old 5 kW ND-D signal or the (now old) 25 kW ND-D signal. In 2005, you couldn't have caught the 43-kW signal; it hadn't even been applied for back then and it finally went on the air only within the past month or so.

 

[cd637299]

Question from a non-Philadelphian: When did WPEN upgrade from 5 kW in the day? I caught it oh-so-faintly in Bermuda in late June 2005. KYW & WNTP made it in better (but not by much); WPHT didn't make it at all (I think there was an image of a local AM on 1210 there); but WWJZ had the best signal. Just wondering if I got the 5k signal or the 43k... cd

Well, since the first daytime upgrade--to 25 kW DA-D--took place in 2005, the question is whether you caught the old 5 kW ND-D signal or the (now old) 25 kW ND-D signal. In 2005, you couldn't have caught the 43-kW signal; it hadn't even been applied for back then and it finally went on the air only within the past month or so.

Oh okay---it was June 28, 2005.....and boy did it take effort....oldies then IIRC--either that or standards.

I'm leaning to 5k, as I'm sure the 25k would send it straight to Bermuda better.

cd

 

[DanStrassberg]

Well, since the first daytime upgrade--to 25 kW DA-D--took place in 2005, the question is whether you caught the old 5 kW ND-D signal or the (now old) 25 kW ND-D signal. In 2005, you couldn't have caught the 43-kW signal; it hadn't even been applied for back then and it finally went on the air only within the past month or so.

Oops; typo! 25 kW ND-D signal is wrong; I meant 25 kW DA-D signal. Sorry.