Re: WQEW (was Re: let's be civil...)

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

At 01:02 PM 4/24/98 -0400, you wrote:

>  On a technical note, why does WQEW suffer from such phasing? It sounds
>like shortwave! It is worst on tiny transistor radios, but is practically
>non-existant on "All American 5" tube sets. (Another reason why I listen to
>WQEW is that my vintage GE Musaphonic [how ironic - an AM only radio with
>"music" mentioned in it's model name!] can't receive any other music station). 
>
I've wondered the same thing and don't really know the answer. I can only
speculate, and I'm not sure the speculation makes sense. WBBR is much more
fade free than WQEW and three of the four towers that WBBR uses in its night
array are shorter (in terms of wavelength) than WQEW's towers. (Actually, I
think three out of four of WBBR's towers are shorter than WQEW's towers
period.) I've always wondered if the problem isn't that we're a bit too
close to New York. The short distance makes the critical angles for
reflections from the ionosphere rather high. I think reflections at grazing
angles, such as those involved at distances of, say, 350 miles or more, are
less subject to fades than reflections at distances of 200 miles or less. I
also wonder whether the lousy soil conductivity surrounding the WQEW TX in
Queens isn't involved in the problem. That part of my theory says that the
poor soil conductivity forces a higher ratio of skywave to groundware, just
as shorter towers would. I don't think I could find a broadcast consulting
anywhere who would buy that idea, but it still makes sense to me.

Also, as you may know, the City of New York is digging a sewer tunnel within
a few hundred feet of one or two of WQEW's towers. This has raised hell with
the ground system and screwed up the patterns. The work will continue for a
few more years. I'm sure that the sewer project just exacerbates the soil
conductivity problems. Meanwhile, all of the other New York area AMs, save
for WFAN and WCBS, are in the Jersey Meadowlands with their dynamite soil
conductivity. WFAN and WCBS diplex from a site on an island just east of the
Bronx in Long Island sound. I keep thinking that WBBR does so well here
because the good soil conductivity provides a good "launching pad" for the
signal. I've always believed that a good groundwave and a good skywave go
hand in hand, but several consulting engineers pooh-pooh that idea. I can't
imagine what the engineers for (then) WQXR were thinking when the station
applied for 50 kW DA (in the early 60s, I believe). That was the time for a
move to Jersey, and they blew it. The signal favors the east at night (and
an arc of over 180 degrees to the north by day), so a Meadowlands site would
have been ideal.

Another problem, I think, is Spanish language WRHC Coral Gables FL, which
seems to still be running 50 kW ND late at night. WRHC is no longer _way_
off frequency as it used to be. Nevertheless, the beat note can be awful.
It's at about 2 Hz. I haven't noticed it this month until after about 10:30
PM (Bakersfield CA sunset--more or less) and it usually continues until
after 6:00 AM (New York sunrise--more or less). Those times roughly coincide
with WQEW's pattern changes. Since WQEW's night pattern sends a lot more
signal to the south than the day pattern does, I wonder if WRHC hasn't taken
to running high power as a means of retaliation. Sometimes, during those
hours, when WQEW isn't modulating, I definitely hear Spanish in the background. 

- -------------------------------
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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