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WQAM Wants Fiddy

According to the app, this is a "minor change." Minor? Really? Sheesh! Can they even go above 5000 watts on 560 under current regs, (even if it's directional straight down) ????
 
The regulations were changed in the 80's to allow Class B stations to go to 50 kilowatts, provided they protect all other allocations. And yes, it is considered a minor change. A major change would be going to 1650, or changing the city of license to Ojus.

I assume the nighttime interference free value of 8.2 mV/m is a function of Cuban interference. Most regional stations as old as WQAM have NIFs around 3-5 mV/m. WPEN, Philadelphia, for example, runs about 3.5 mV/m at night.

Looks as if this app will pull daytime service out of the lower Keys, as well as throw nulls over parts of the Fort Myers area and southern Highlands county. But NIF over almost every area of Broward and Miami-Dade counties (except maybe Homestead) is a good tradeoff. Seems very much like the upgrades of WFTL and WMEN. Surprised 790 would willingly help their competitor get more juice. ???
 
That's a far relocation. Going from an island off the Miami coast, and that salt water's a good signal booster, all the way into the Everglades off Tamiami Trail.
 
Whom does "Tiger Radio" protect, anyway? Maybe 570 Tampa in the day. I think they originally reduced power to protect WFIL at night, but plenty more stations have probably since come on board.

Stations have always shared transmitter facilities with the competition. Would have been funny if Salem on 1360 had shared the 940 (then Air America) facility.
 
WQAM was 1 kw until after WFIL can on, so they could not increasde at night only day. I have never figured out why WIOD has not moved up to the 940 array, it was allow a big power increase.
 
Is 'QAM still using the 'KAT stick? I was on Key Biscayne just last night and did not hear their distorted second harmonic blasting out on 1120. I notice they are no longer transmitting HD. Why would they need to, Power 96 HD3 gets out much better in all directions.
 
What does WFIL have to do with whether QAM is 1kw at night. At the time both stations were started, there was no protection for regional stations that far apart. It probably had more to do with Columbia SC or Beaumont Texas.
 
What does WFIL have to do with whether QAM is 1kw at night. At the time both stations were started, there was no protection for regional stations that far apart. It probably had more to do with Columbia SC or Beaumont Texas.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not when WQAM started (early 1920's), but not long after that the FRC/FCC started organizing things and assigning stations to frequencies. A station that puts out 1 kilowatt nondirectional at night can cause interference to local stations on 560 in the entire eastern half of the US and a good portion of Mexico and the Caribbean. So the feds plopped WFIL and WQAM both down on 560, gave them interference free coverage areas, and told each to respect the other's coverage area. WQAM was 1 kW nondirectional so it didn't have to protect Philadelphia -- unless it applied for a power increase. And yes, it has to protect Beaumont and Columbia as well in the new application -- although its original signal does not protect either city since WQAM predated both on 560. Columbia protects both Miami and Philadelphia since it's the junior partner of the east coast trio.
 
And would they only protect 570 in Tampa in the day?
And radiation toward Dothan, AL at night?
 
I think if the antenna system works as predicted this will be a good thing for WQAM. It is true that the signal level near downtown Miami will decrease, but that is going to happen with any practical 50 KW upgrade.

It looks like they will maintain southern coverage and significantly improve Broward and Palm Beach county coverage, which is excellent.

I think Beasley and their engineering consultants are being very smart.
 
I have finally worked up the courage to ask:
What do the letters in Fiddy mean?
 
Greg Strickland said:
Fiddy is a younger generation slang word for 50. Sometimes refers to rapper 50 Cent.
Click to expand...
Oooo, I get it!
I am sooo out of "it" ;)
 
Here we are, half a year later, and is it still on?
FCC.gov still does not show them directional.
 
I lived in WPB & FtL when the tower was behind the newspaper bldg. and was fascinated with QAM's signal strength. I knew being on the low end of the dial helped, but when I found out their tower was built in the intercoastal - with a ground system IN the salt water, I felt it wouldn't be wise to move it. I have 2 questions:
1. Why was the tower moved to Va. Key?
2. How did the move affect the signal (if any)?

(Looking at the maps, the 50kw upgrade is to make the signal stronger - definitely not to increase the coverage area.)
 
trusty said:
1. Why was the tower moved to Va. Key?
Click to expand...
Nothing was moved.
They are using a different stick.
Buildings which had sprouted up over the years were absorbing and reradiating their signal in all the wrong directions.
 
A building was constructed close enough to the historic tower (I mean the tower in the bay behind the Miami Herald building) to impair the radiation pattern of the station. WQAM moved to a tower on Virginia Key, diplexed with WKAT 1360. WQAM now has an application that proposes a directional pattern from the WAXY 790 site west of Miami.

I think the ground system in the bay thing is folklore. Nothing magical. It is true a salt water path extends coverage in that direction, but it does not turbo charge the signal in general, unless salt water extends in every direction.
My view is WQAM would have performed better with the tower on a 1,000 foot diameter island in the middle of the bay, with 360 ground radials on the island. My point is the salt water is an excellent propagation path, but not necessarily the best ground plane system.

But, salt water is a better ground plane than most ground systems in existence, and so a legend is born...

Also WQAM is on 560, and that trumps nearly everything.
 
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