WSPY 1480 OFF THE AIR TODAY

[w9wi]

I like the idea of the shortened verticals for low power AMs. I also like the idea of letting stations with translators sign off their AM signals and only operate the translator. Many stations that have translators are only promoting their FM frequencies and probably most of their listeners are on FM, so what is the purpose for keeping the AM on the air when nobody is listening to it and it's just cluttering up the band?

I think you have to take what steps you can to limit the extent to which speculators buy up cheap AM stations & use them as a route to commercial LPFM. Maybe, you leave the AM on the books but waive the minimum operating schedule for the AM side, so the translator(s) have to stay within the hypothetical AM coverage & can't move into the nearest large market.

But really, yes, in most of these cases there's little point in leaving the AM on once there's a translator.

On the other hand, there is a definite need for small signal AMs where there are no FM frequencies available. At lower power levels (e.g., 100W or less), these stations would not pose that much of a threat of skywave interference at night. The amount of additional high-angle radiation from a shortened monopole is not that much greater than from a 1/4-wave monopole. Radiation patterns can be found in antenna textbooks. Some (limited) information is available in the ARRL Antenna Handbook. The ARRL Antenna Compendium series has a lot of good information, and I particularly like the Low-Band DXing handbook by John DeVoldere.

Good point about ON4UN's book, which I actually have but haven't cracked open in way too long...

To be honest I'm not convinced, about skywave from less-than-100-watt stations not being a significant issue. I mean, if it was just one small station it'd probably not be a big deal. With a few dozen of them it's a different story.

Unfortunately, really there will never be enough spectrum for every place that could use a station to have one. To be honest I suspect most of the places that wouldn't be served due to lack of low-power FM frequencies also don't generate enough economic activity to support a locally-operated station. I would have no objection to WGN's coverage area in Kansas being infringed by a small local station providing local service to Stockton. On the other hand, if that little station in Stockton, Kansas can't afford enough staff to do anything but carry national programs off the satellite... well, the people of Stockton would be just as well off hearing the same programs on KFAB.

I don't necessarily buy the idea that it's a good idea to shut down all of the low power AM stations and just have a few higher powered stations left. This leaves very little opportunity for programming diversity and many small communities that could have a radio voice are denied that voice. Consider the example of Kovas Communications which bought out three small town stations and shut them down so they could increase the power of their Evanston station on 1590. Those three communities lost their local radio service, which was replaced by a foreign language time-brokered station that provides only a very weak signal in those outlying areas (Harvard, East Chicago, and Aurora) and that more than likely is of no interest to listeners there anyway. In my opinion, it is a travesty that FCC rules permit things like this to happen.

I should say, just to be clear I'm not suggesting we forcibly close down any small AMs against their will. I think we shouldn't have licensed daytimers in the first place, but once someone has gone to the trouble to create and maintain one for a few decades, we really can't take it away from them.

I think what bothers me is when I see a small station being propped up with national programming that could be just as easily found on any number of other stations in the same area. These stations aren't serving their local public; they are making it more difficult for other stations to serve *their* publics. Maybe if we can tip the scales -- provide some incentive for those who are thinking about hanging it up to do so -- we can clear up the band for the survivors, without driving out the Howard Millers who are still interested & still serving.

 

[jjschim]

I can see the point that Harvard should have stayed on the air, but Aurora (1580) and Chicago heights (1600) do have other AM signals licensed to those cities.

 

[secondchoice]

To be honest I'm not convinced, about skywave from less-than-100-watt stations not being a significant issue. I mean, if it was just one small station it'd probably not be a big deal. With a few dozen of them it's a different story.

100 Watts can go far if it is not crushed at night. WHUB Cookeville TN was 100 watts pre WW2 and they had sponsors and listeners in Arkansas.

 

[Ultimajock]

100 Watts can go far if it is not crushed at night. WHUB Cookeville TN was 100 watts pre WW2 and they had sponsors and listeners in Arkansas.

...though that was in the days of much better recievers than the cheapo Chinese junk that's peddled nowadays...

 

[audioguy]

I got out to the western suburbs over the weekend to find that WSPY is back on, although the signal is extremely weak. Even weaker than it had been for the past few months. It comes in like a Part 15 station. I really enjoy "America's Best Music". I am wondering if anyone streams this format online? How are they going to solve their antenna problem? They can't go on running 150 watts to a longwire forever.

 

[w9wi]

100 Watts can go far if it is not crushed at night. WHUB Cookeville TN was 100 watts pre WW2 and they had sponsors and listeners in Arkansas.

...though that was in the days of much better recievers than the cheapo Chinese junk that's peddled nowadays...

And, IMHO far more important, in those days there were fewer than 20% as many AM stations as there are today.

 

[jjschim]

I think WNAM Neenah, Wisconsin streams the America's Best Music format.

 

[audioguy]

Thanks! I will give WNAM a listen!

 

[radiotower40]

WDEA in Maine streams it live as well as Jones College's AM 1220(I forgot the call letters. They are in Jacksonville Florida. Their non-com FM is an easy listening station which is nice treat now and then. AM 1220 is on the tune in app. I haven't listened to the FM in some time, I think they are on tune in also.

I'm glad to hear that WSPY is back on the air we are heading there for Mother's Day. We always listen when out that way.

A question now about the topic of allowing small AM stations to air with small towers and low power, I should have said this in the beginning, for clarity. What was on my mind was something like a TIS type of setup. Something like a very short antenna on top of a wooden pole or the white flexible "wip"style pole with the 4 arm "cap" on it. The majority are in the x band and some on 530 AM.

Don't these type of setups have a design that keeps the radiaton beamed down to avoid interferring with skywave? I seem to remember hearing that.
Those are not bad signals by day, night isn't so great, yet quite a few in the X band get out well. There was a TIS station run by Hammond, Indiana that ran noaa weather radio 24 hours a day. I easily picked this station most days 12 miles away. This station has been off for a couple years now, likely because by law they are not supposed to just hook them up to noaa radio and let run with no station ID or community information. I found it very usefull, I tuned in most days to get the full weather run down.

One time I was really shocked when I heard IDOT's 530 which is just west of downtown, coming in down south of I 80 until a 530 from Manteno, took over the airwaves. Of course this was when Chicago had a major snow storm which didn't hit south of the city. I was still shocked as that has got be like 30 or 40 miles?

Would this setup work for a small town if they changed the law to allow for commercials and music?

 

[radioboy]

Nashville,

Your idea is very close to the one I suggested to Commissioner Pai. Keeping the power levels at those levels also keeps the overhead down.

Allowing commercials on them would be more difficult, as that opens up those (ugh) spectrum auctions. But allowing *real* programming on such a station could be useful for small towns without enough of a business base to support a full power station.

 

[w9wi]

Don't these type of setups have a design that keeps the radiaton beamed down to avoid interferring with skywave? I seem to remember hearing that.
...
Would this setup work for a small town if they changed the law to allow for commercials and music?

No, really they have the same type of shortened antenna proposed earlier in this thread for regularly-licensed stations.

When the AM band got expanded from 1600 to 1700, the FCC licensed a few of these "TIS" stations for this band before they got around to authorizing any "real" stations. There were two 40-watt stations at the DFW Airport, one on 1640 for departures & the other on 1680 for arrivals. (or the other way around)

They were fully intelligible on a car radio in Nashville.

_________________________________________________

Some small towns *do* use stations like this for local government information -- council meetings, what to do in an emergency, etc.. It is however non-commercial service.

 

[Jay Walker]

Don't these type of setups have a design that keeps the radiaton beamed down to avoid interferring with skywave? I seem to remember hearing that.
...
Would this setup work for a small town if they changed the law to allow for commercials and music?

No, really they have the same type of shortened antenna proposed earlier in this thread for regularly-licensed stations.

When the AM band got expanded from 1600 to 1700, the FCC licensed a few of these "TIS" stations for this band before they got around to authorizing any "real" stations. There were two 40-watt stations at the DFW Airport, one on 1640 for departures & the other on 1680 for arrivals. (or the other way around)

They were fully intelligible on a car radio in Nashville.

_________________________________________________

Some small towns *do* use stations like this for local government information -- council meetings, what to do in an emergency, etc.. It is however non-commercial service.

Low Power AM (LPAM) has the potential to cause additional skywave interference even when operating with a less than 1/10 wavelength radiator and low power levels of under 100w. The previously mentioned low power 60 watt TIS stations at DFW International have been confirmed "heard" trans-Pacific in Australia as well as the central US..

According to the FCC listing, the stations at DFW International, WPLR660 use 60 watts of carrier with an antenna of 15m or 49.5 feet. A 50 foot antenna at this frequency is basically an air-cooled dummy-load. The radiation efficiency is very poor.

 

[CADXER]

There were two 40-watt stations at the DFW Airport, one on 1640 for departures & the other on 1680 for arrivals. (or the other way around)

When those two DWF stations first came on the air back in 1997 they were very easy DX catch here in the Chicago area. The 1640 kHz station usualy battled it out with KXBT out of Vallejo, California.