WRDZ 1300 To Resume Operations With An Emergency Antenna

[formerradio]

Newfangled AM BC Antenna Of The Day. Valcom.
The only Valcom whip antenna I personally saw was in Anaheim, CA.
It was across the street from Disneyland.
It was for one of those expanded band information stations that the city owned.
I was going to use one of these antennas for a class IV station we had.
The LL was being unreasonable and really wanted us gone.
With the station making almost zero money the move had to be inexpensive.
But we never found suitable land, so I never bought the antenna.
I don't know if they even make these any longer.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

WMBN 1340 Petoskey, MI has ordered a Valcom antenna recently. Don't know when it will be installed.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

WMBN 1340 Petoskey, MI has ordered a Valcom antenna recently. Don't know when it will be installed.

WRDB 1400 in reedsburg wi is using a valcom now after operating with a longwire for awhile

 

[KenoGuy]

WRDB 1400 in reedsburg wi is using a valcom now after operating with a longwire for awhile

Interesting. I know their tower came down a couple years ago, and just saw that they recently went back to full power. I'll have to check this out next time I'm in the area (I get up to Baraboo 3-4 times a year).

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Looks like a nice weekend project to get back onto 160 meters for the fall and winter season!

How long do you think it would take to build an antenna like this? You thought a weekend?

I'd like to see a kit that you could easily put up and take down, to use in an electrically quiet location for AM DX. The advantage of this is it being nondirectional, although directional would also have advantages. I'd like to see pictures of David's DX setups from way back. I think he said he had a setup with two loops electrically spaced and phased in NW Michigan.

 

[Radio Bob]

The FCC is apparently concerned about whether the efficiency is too high so as to extend the service contour beyond the 25% power nondirectional from a different location. I know of one in Michigan that had to submit the additional efficiency information before they approved it.

I've never seen anyone using the Valcom yet. I know it's been around for a while, because the late Ron Rackley tested it. For decent efficiency, it requires a standard ground radial system.

I think it is being used more in Canada near Valcom's home location. They are less concerned about minimum efficiency, and have quite a few Low Power AMs in rural areas. An odd aside, the CKLW Daytime efficiency is less than the Class II/Class B efficiency for 50000 watts under the international agreement. Not sure why that is.

I know of a station in Alabama which recently used one. Unfortunately that station just turned in it's license but not due to a coverage issue.

 

[davideduardo]

How long do you think it would take to build an antenna like this? You thought a weekend?

I'd like to see a kit that you could easily put up and take down, to use in an electrically quiet location for AM DX. The advantage of this is it being nondirectional, although directional would also have advantages. I'd like to see pictures of David's DX setups from way back. I think he said he had a setup with two loops electrically spaced and phased in NW Michigan.

I used a tunable and tiltable loop inside an all wood house built around 1895 and a roughly 500 foot long wire running north to south. The long wire could enhance the loop directionality by phasing.

 

[JoeU]

How long do you think it would take to build an antenna like this? You thought a weekend?

I'd like to see a kit that you could easily put up and take down, to use in an electrically quiet location for AM DX. The advantage of this is it being nondirectional, although directional would also have advantages. I'd like to see pictures of David's DX setups from way back. I think he said he had a setup with two loops electrically spaced and phased in NW Michigan.

Putting it up is not the issue, it's getting together all the pieces needed for the installation.

You can probably put together what you need with an aluminum push-up mast with an insulated base bracket, guy ring, 12AWG stranded wire for the top hat and use the same wire for the radials. Would need to drill and mount coax connector on the base mounting bracket. DX Engineering is a good source for most of this stuff.

 

[JoeU]

The Special Temporary Authorization (STA) for the short 20ft Vertical was granted by the FCC on 10-18-2024. Looks like it needs to be up and on the air by November 2, 2024 12:01AM.

The STA expires on April 16, 2025. The STA can be extended as follows:

Restoration of licensed facilities is complete and testing is underway

Substantial progress has been made during the most recent STA period toward restoration of licensed operation; or

No progress has been made during the most recent STA period for reasons clearly beyond the licensee's control, and the licensee has taken all possible steps to expeditiously resolve the problem.

See attached:

 

[tvnut]

Not on the air as of noon CT Thu 10/24/2024.

 

[Doctor_Technical]

I've never seen anyone using the Valcom yet.

Enter 39.261145, -85.952350 into a map app of your choice. It's the north end of the Taylorsville (IN) Northbound Rest Area off I-65. There sits a Valcom, which I assume is/was used for a road advisory station. You can easily check it out with Street View, or walk right up to it if you are there. Cute as a bug, and I still can't understand why my boss wouldn't just let me take it home with me.

 

[radiofollower]

When the guy who installed it realized it was upside down:
View attachment 7850

And here was the GM's reaction when he found out

 

[davideduardo]

How long do you think it would take to build an antenna like this? You thought a weekend?

I'd like to see a kit that you could easily put up and take down, to use in an electrically quiet location for AM DX. The advantage of this is it being nondirectional, although directional would also have advantages. I'd like to see pictures of David's DX setups from way back. I think he said he had a setup with two loops electrically spaced and phased in NW Michigan.

I just had to interject this T-Shirt that carries your screen name:

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I just had to interject this T-Shirt that carries your screen name:

Actually, as I recall, it had more to do with the wave equation, and the probability function contours which supposedly explain just about everything. Funny how pictures representing probability of chemical structure and bond angles resemble directional antenna patterns. An overriding principle that explains the universe.

Just look at the pictures mainly.

https://science-blogs.ucoz.com/resources/notes/msc/theory/Aromaticity.pdf

 

[Yabadabado1]

Enter 39.261145, -85.952350 into a map app of your choice. It's the north end of the Taylorsville (IN) Northbound Rest Area off I-65. There sits a Valcom, which I assume is/was used for a road advisory station. You can easily check it out with Street View, or walk right up to it if you are there. Cute as a bug, and I still can't understand why my boss wouldn't just let me take it home with me.

I looked. Interesting. Even if it's being used for traffic info, it's still a radio station. I though the FCC requires it to have a fence around it to prevent unauthorized access [or there could be a Pitbull hiding in the wooded area just ready to come take a chomp out of anybody that wandered near it], a generator/battery to supply power in case of power interruption [but it's small enough, I guess it could be a battery in that box next to it]. I don't really know about the regulations anymore, I've been out of radio for so long and generally it was the powers-that-be that dealt with that stuff, not some lowly DJ. Or it could be owned by a local government's dept of highways and as I have dealt with various government agencies, it's usually one government agency telling another government agency "You can't tell ME what I have to do!"

 

[tvnut]

Tue 10/29/2024 at 4:30 p.m. CT and not a peep from 1300, located about five miles from here.

 

[JJSPC]

Tue 10/29/2024 at 4:30 p.m. CT and not a peep from 1300, located about five miles from here.

But yet they've filed with the FCC that they have resumed operations.

 

[sasha23]

But yet they've filed with the FCC that they have resumed operations.

IF WRDZ is really on the air, it must have the range of a excellent part15 setup, lol!

It's so lame that all they could come up with is a 20' pole. Just about anyone else could have come up with something better, say 50' at least!
They had no money for a real antenna, and yet apparently they wasted the filing fee for the STA!

I will be surprised if they make the deadline tomorrow...

hearing WOOD very clearly on my car radio from Grand Rapids, MI a little after 2pm this afternoon in Bartlett, IL and if WRDZ was at all on the air from 30 miles away, it was being buried by WOOD with their 20kW roughly 130 miles away.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

IF WRDZ is really on the air, it must have the range of a excellent part15 setup, lol!

It's so lame that all they could come up with is a 20' pole. Just about anyone else could have come up with something better, say 50' at least!
They had no money for a real antenna, and yet apparently they wasted the filing fee for the STA!

I will be surprised if they make the deadline tomorrow...

hearing WOOD very clearly on my car radio from Grand Rapids, MI a little after 2pm this afternoon in Bartlett, IL and if WRDZ was at all on the air from 30 miles away, it was being buried by WOOD with their 20kW roughly 130 miles away.

the difference between 20 and 50 feet at 1300khz wont make any difference. plus, theyre using an antenna manufactured en masse for this kinda purpose.

 

[sasha23]

the difference between 20 and 50 feet at 1300khz wont make any difference. plus, theyre using an antenna manufactured en masse for this kinda purpose.

I wonder if they tried to find a tall cell tower that they could run the wires alongside like what WCKG did with theirs. They do get out fairly good with their 190 watts! That’s IF they wanted to pay rent for using the cell tower…