Re: WMEX/WITS/WMRE

[dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net]

Well, Mark, you've always said that the technical stuff 
is not your forte. WNRB may well have applied to make 
changes to its antenna system. Several changes are now 
possible. But the likelihood that any change short of a 
decrease in power will materially decrease interference 
in the area near the TX is very small.

The departure of the 1510 station from New London makes 
it possible for WNRB to relax its day pattern quite a 
bit. Conceivably, the station could even go 
nondirectional during the day (but not during critical 
hours--the two hours immediately following local sunrise 
and preceding local sunset). CH protection to co-channel 
Class A WLAC Nashville will still be necessary. This 
change would reduce daytime interference to the north 
and east of the TX at the expense of increasing 
interference to the southwest. But it would have no 
effect at night. Another possibility is a modification 
to the day pattern--using the east and west towers 
instead of the east and south towers. This would squash 
the pattern and rotate it clockwise--significantly 
improving coverage of the south shore during the day. 
But any reduction in interference to the east during the 
day would be offset by an increase in interference to 
the west and south.

The night situation is more complex. Although CJRS in 
Sherbrooke is long gone, suggesting the possibility of a 
nice modification to the night pattern, it would be most 
unusual if WNRB were able to take advantage of CJRS's 
silence. Even though several dozen Canadian AMs have 
gone dark in the last few years, I know of only one 
instance during that time of the Canadians deleting an 
allocation. This was a long-unused 1490 allocation in 
Ontario that had prevented WOLF in Syracuse from 
changing to nondirectional operation. However, if the 
Canadians should undergo a sudden change of heart, it 
would be good news for WNRB. The night signal to the 
north could be increased significantly, but the increase 
in nighttime blanketing would only affect people who 
already live within the daytime blanket area. The change 
would reduce the night signal to the east. Since the 
signal to the east is stronger at night than it is 
during the day, some people who live east of the TX and 
are currently within the 1 V/m contour (which the FCC 
defines as the limit of blanketing), would no longer 
live within the "blanketed" area.

Finally, this application by WNRB might have been filed 
in preparation for an application by WKOX to move to the 
WNRB site. Given the apparent desire of WKOX's buyers to 
turn WKOX into a Boston signal, the WNRB site, despite 
its problems, is a logical place to move WKOX. Should 
WKOX, with 50 kW-U join WNRB at 411 Waverly Oaks Rd, the 
interference problems in the neighborhood would be 
severely compounded. 

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #336
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