WOWO

["Strassberg, Dan (Cahners)" <ednstrassberg@cahners.com>]

Now that WOWO has received the license to cover for its downsized 9800W
nighttime operation, the station has filed to increase night power to
15000W. The proposal involves removing the east tower of the present
three-tower night array (same towers that were used for the former 50 kW
night operation) and constructing two new towers well to the south of the
remaining pair. The setup would be close to a parallelogram, but the spacing
between the two new towers would be less than that between the existing
pair. Like the old towers, the new ones would be half wave. Besides
increasing the RMS field from 1144 mV/m to 1503 mV/m, the proposal
significantly alters the night pattern. Instead of having main lobes more of
less to the north and south (as in the present pattern), WOWO's radiation
maxima would be to the northeast and southeast, surrounding a null to the
east to protect WLIB. Coverage of much of the COL would be significantly
improved--perhaps even enough to give WOWO a listenable signal in Fort Wayne
at night once again. The proposed pattern suggests that the new owners of
co-channel WGKA Atlanta (Salem Communications) and possibly the owners of
KOOO Dallas (Infinity/CBS) might be paying for the upgrade. This change
would significantly reduce interference to WGKA, making it much more
practical for the station, which is currently a daytimer, to operate full
time.

Note that WOWO's nighttime RMS field would go from 1144 mV/m@1 km to 1503
mV/m, which, on paper is equivalent to an increase from the current 9800W to
16.9 kW, not 15 kW. However, the 1503 number is probably much more realistic
than the 1144 number. It appears that 1144 is the number that corresponds to
the minimum RMS field strength of a Class A AM (which WOWO used to be)
operating with 9800W. No doubt, this number was used to show, on paper, low
enough interference to WLIB that WLIB's "interference-free" nighttime
service could be shown to cover 80% of the land area of New York city,
without requiring WOWO to use an even more restrictive night pattern. Such a
pattern might have prevented WOWO from (on paper) delivering the requisite
nighttime signal to Fort Wayne. From what I've heard, WOWO's night signal in
much of fort Wayne is indeed far from interference-free on many nights. 

Dan Strassberg, Senior Technical Editor, EDN Magazine, 275 Washington St,
Newton, MA 02458-1630, USA
1-617-558-4205, Fax 1-617-928-4205, ALTERNATE Fax 1-617-558-4470,
ednstrassberg@cahners.com, http://www.ednaccess.com