Re: 620 AM / DX from Vt.

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

At 05:32 PM 5/30/97 +0000, you wrote:
>
>        In the day, we get the Newark, New Jersey, station (Spanish) on 620
>here, but it vanishes at night. However, the N.J. station has a C.P. to do
>something weird--reduce to 3 kw day and up to 7.6 kw night or something
>like that. So who knows what 620 will sound like at night pretty soon in
>these parts. Perhaps Mr. Strassberg knows about the ins-and-outs of this
>C.P.?
>
I checked the orientation of the towers in the NJ 620's proposed new array
at the FCC Web site. It's very difficult to follow the listing because the
station has had _so many_ CPs (only one of which--at most--will be built). I
guess the idea is to move the TX closer to New York. The current five-tower
setup in Springfield is way to the west of New York and beams on a
more-or-less due east-west line. The day and night patterns are very similar
with a (big surprise) main lobe to the east and very little radiation over
about 270 degrees. The new setup is much closer to New York and if memory
serves, slightly further south. The towers appear to be angled on a much
more northwest to southeast line (I can't recall if they are in line, but
I'm pretty sure there are still five; one of the CPs specified only four). I
think that the reduction in day power is necessary to protect WIP. The
current rules on first-adjacent-channel overlap are stricter than those that
were in force in 1947, when the old WVNJ went up, but I've been told that
any overlap that currently exists is grandfathered. Nevertheless, the lower
power must be necessary to avoid worsening the overlap. I think that if you
can only pick up the NJ 620 in New Haven during the day now, the same
situation will exist if and when they upgrade, although I would expect the
day signal in New Haven to deteriorate after the upgrade. I think that,
despite the higher power, the night signal is unlikely to improve at your QTH.

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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