RE: WUMB/WMWM

["Mike Fitzpatrick" <fitzradio@map.com>]

Keep going....

WAAF in Worcester isn't licensed to have a directional antenna, but if you
look at it on Asnebumkit Hill in Paxton, its definitely a directional
antenna. In Hartford, Several of the Class B FM'ers are directional
(WKSS-WMRQ-WPKT-WHCN). The list goes on and on when you start to get into
it.

WMRQ uses a special kind of directional antenna located on WKSS's tower on
West Peak, in Meriden. It looks like these small "sticks" around the mast,
with both Horizontal and Vertical elements. Their pattern is a tri-lope,
with the lobes Northeast, SouthEast, and West. There are much smaller lobes
at East, Northwest, and Southwest. Their backup antenna is a single bay non
directional on the other hand.


> >An FM station with a directional pattern?  Isn't that rather odd in
> >itself?
>
> They are the exception rather than the rule, but they're not unheard of,
> especially here in the radio-crowded northeast.  There are quite a few
> FM directionals in the noncommercial band, including WMBR and WBUR, and
> all of the area class As on the traffic jam at 91.5 (WMFO, WMLN, WJUL,
> WBIM - WZLY and WSRB don't, but they're grandfathered class Ds).  On
> the commercial side, WROR has a directional antenna, as does WHRB,
> and WBOQ has a construction permit for one.
>
> -Shawn Mamros
> E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu
>