Re: WADN

[ehenness@natick-amed02.army.mil]

I said:
>Does anyone care to tackle why my car AM radio seems to suffer from 'front 
>end overload' from WPZE in most of that area, or 1430 or 1090 (depending 
on 
>how close to those antennas I am)?  

And Dan Strassberg explains the phenomenon on AM quite well.

>It absolutely does happen on AM, and different radios are susceptible to
>different degrees. 

Okay, then, I've had some less-sensitive radios than this one in the past.  
The one in question is quite good for AM DXing, day or night.  The overload 
is relatively minor, in that it occurs within a very close proximity of an 
antenna and never obliterates the station listened to (though I have not 
tried listening to a weak station close in frequency to an antenna I'm 
passing, as in Mr. Strassberg's example of WADN blasted by WNFT's signal on 
route 2).

I *have* driven down Medford's Commercial Street, which, now that it goes 
all the way through, literally passes right behind the 590 antennas, and 
the overload does not worsen on WRKO's signal, which is the closest Boston 
AM to 590.  I'll have to try listening to WPRO or WPNW as I pass by.

>As to the situation around Wellington Circle, you aren't talking about
>WPZE--that's the station on 1260 with TX on the Quincy-Milton line. You're
>talking about WEZE (590). 

Ack!  Ever since the sale, I've confused the two.  You're right.  

>I'm not surprised that WEZE doesn't splatter as much as the
>other two stations, but the way your radio behaves is probably also a
>function of the station's frequency. Moreover, you need to learn to
>distinguish between splatter (which is the station's fault) and lack of
>selectivity and immunity to front-end overload (which are the radio's
>fault).

I'm well aware of the difference, although it appears I totally muddled the 
two in my original message.  But in some cases, the end result for a 
listener is the same.  If the filters had not been installed at WNFT, WADN 
would have been obliterated from splatter (and probably sooner than it is 
now when you approach the antenna).  

I'll leave for another time discussion of which of the three stations in 
Medford is the most likely to get into the telephones of those who live 
pretty much equidistant from all three antennas...  

Ed Hennessy

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