Toronto AMs

[fybush@world.std.com (Scott D Fybush)]

Leave it to Dan to provoke me to do this...

Here's my evaluation of the Toronto AM facilities, based on
fairly recent visits to the area - in some cases as recently
as last weekend - and extensive listening from all directions.

590 CJCL - These guys use a nine-tower array in Beamsville,
on the south shore of Lake Ontario.  Day and night they're
solid in Metro Toronto, but the DA-1 puts no signal at all
ANYWHERE else.  It's nearly unlistenable here in Rochester,
and goes out very rapidly as you head east or west of Toronto.

640 CHOG - The newest of the Toronto 50s, this one was built
in the mid-80s to replace 1320 Richmond Hill, up north of
Toronto.  They use an eight-tower array (two lines of four)
right along the QEW in Beamsville.  Their DA1 is almost an
exact match for CJCL's teardrop, but because 640's a much
quieter channel, they make it to Rochester a bit better.

680 CFTR - Back in 1979, Canada negotiated a deal with the US
to move Rochester daytimer WNYR (with 250 watts ND) off 680
to a new full-time facility on Canadian clear 990.  By doing
that, CFTR was able to give up its decade-old 13-tower array 
in Mississauga (just west of Toronto) and move to an eight tower
array on the south side of the lake in Grimsby.  (Before THAT,
680 was in St. Thomas, near London, as CHLO - later 1570 and
still later CFHK on 103.1).  From its new facility, 680
still has plenty of US stations to protect.  By day it's a
teardrop aimed straight at the heart of Toronto (with NOTHING
but water between the tx site and downtown) with a tiny lobe to
cover Hamilton as well to the west.  Night is similar but 
tighter.  The signal is great in Metro Toronto and all along the
lake, but it dies rapidly to the west towards Kitchener/Waterloo
and to the east into Buffalo and Rochester.

740 CBL - Location, location, location; the CBL site in Hornby,
northwest of Toronto, sits between railroad tracks and a high-tension
line.  It's a slightly noisy signal everywhere and gets creamed
along the streetcar lines downtown.  At night, though, this
and CJBC get out and out and out and out (or, being Canadian,
oot and oot and oot.)  As for CJBC, it sounds like it's modulating
at about 20%...not that either listener's likely to notice ;-)

770 WTOR - 5 kilowatts from three towers aimed entirely away from
the US and into Toronto, and it works.  Like a local downtown, even
if it is a daytimer.

900 CHML - I include this Hamilton station among the Toronto ones
because, ever since moving its transmitter to a new 8-tower site 
northwest of Hamilton, its beam to the southeast covers Metro
well in addition to blasting out over the entire Niagara peninsula.

1010 CFRB - Perhaps the most interesting of the Toronto AMs, with
an unusual group of six towers in Mississauga, on the north shore
of the lake west of Toronto.  By day, the 50 kilowatts of CFRB
squirt mostly to the northeast, but there are some secondary 
lobes aimed at Hamilton, the Niagara Peninsula, and Rochester,
where it's a near-local.  At night, it's a more conventional
lopsided figure 8, with most of the power going northeast into
Toronto, a smaller lobe to the southwest towards Hamilton, and
nulls to CBR Calgary and WINS New York.  Even so, CFRB is a much
better night signal than WINS here in Rochester.

1050 CHUM - Six towers in two lines of three, also on the north
shore of the lake a few km from CFRB.  By day the signal's a blob
pointing north; at night it's a teardrop aimed northeast into
Toronto and out into Hudson Bay.  It used to be a daytime
regular in Rochester, but the move of WYSL 1030 Avon to 1040 last
year squashed it under splatter.  At night WEVD usually beats
out CHUM under the WYSL hash.

1250 CHWO, 1320 CJMR - Licensed to Oakville and Mississauga, respectively,
these are regional facilities that cover Toronto's western suburbs
and not much more from their diplexed array in Oakville.  CJMR
used to be a daytimer on 1190 until taking over CHOG's old
frequency in the late 80s.

1430 CHKT - The second-newest Toronto 50, this one was built in the
1970s as CKFH.  It shares a tower farm with CHIN 1540 on Toronto
Island, in the lake just south of downtown (you can see the 
towers from the waterfront, in fact).  By day, five towers send
most of CHKT's signal north into the city (and it's not half bad)
with a little lobe over the lake that still doesn't really make 
it across.  At night, it's six towers and it's all northwest.  Back
when this was CJCL and the Blue Jays flagship, it was a
constant source of frustration to Jays fans on this side of
the lake (hi, Queen Donna...) to find that we couldn't hear the
games.  As an ethnic signal it works just fine.

1540 CHIN - The only one that's not 50/50.  By day, with just 
two towers, CHIN spreads its signal all along the north shore
of the lake (but not much to the south).  With 4 towers and 
30kw at night, CHIN sends a little lobe southwest into the
lake and a bigger lobe northeast into Toronto's east side -- but
completely misses many of the ethnic communities on the west side.
The CRTC recently gave CHIN a low power FM relay on 101.3 in
Etobicoke to help fix this (this is separate from CHIN-FM on 100.7,
which has different programming).  By far the worst of the
Toronto signals, and richly deserving of a new home on 1010 or
1050.

It's a wonderful land of multi-tower DAs up there; anyone thinking
of visiting should get in touch with me and I'll provide maps
and directions. 

- -s

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