Zach said:[David, I thought the Franklin was with KHTK... I guess they use something different? I could never figure out if it was all just good ground conductivity that got KFBK and KHTK out so well or antenna-related, too.
No, a Franklin is two half wave towers, one on top of the other and insulated and fed from the half way point. A Franklin on 650 would be about 1600 feet tall. KFBKs, even at 1530, are around 500 feet if I remember right.
The Franklin is amazingly better than even a 5/8 wave tower. Look at the field strength at 1 km for KFBK. Then compare with other 50 kw stations. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html
KHTK gets out due to frequency, the valley soil, and power. KFBK gets out due to the huge improvement the Franklin makes, plus the soil.