Re: WNTN (was WPTR)

[mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>Daan Strassberg wrote:
<snip>
>As for Bob's [Bittner] claim that WILD could have gotten an authorization for
>low-power night service, I don't think so. WILD is well within WBAL's 0.5
>mV/m 50% skywave and WBAL is, of course, a US Class A AM. For US Class D AMs
>located east of a co-channel US Class A and within the Class A's 0.5 mV/m
>50% skywave, nighttime service is not permitted, although post-sunset
>authority up to approximately local sunset at the Class A is. WILD has, and
>uses, such a PSSA, but you will note that WILD does not have pre-sunrise
>authority, although that might be permitted--albeit with such low power as
>to be useless. Maybe Bob meant that WILD could have gotten a PSRA; the rules
>for PSRAs are somewhat looser than those for PSSAs.

        Since WBAL is DA toward Boston at night, the protection it is
supposed to get in this direction would be more than the nominal 750 miles
the FCC claims is the minimum rule of thumb now for Class A stations. That
leaves WILD with no chance for night power. I think that WILD's post-sunset
authority is for extremely low power, because it is so close to Baltimore.
I think that it's on the order of the micro-mini power of just a few watts
that jibguy referred to. And sunset at Baltimore is only 15 or 30 minutes
after Boston, depending on the month, IIRC, so it's a very limited PSSA
operation. But, of course, WILD makes up for it <g> by totally ignoring, as
far as I know, the requirement that it use 1 kW instead of 5 kW for
critical hours (the two hours before sunset and two hours after sunrise).

>The reason that WJIB is in a different situation and that WNTN could be is
>that, in their cases, the co-channel Class As are in Canada, and Class A
>stations no longer receive any protection outside of their national borders.
>This rule change anables US stations on foreign clear channels to operate
>full time.

        Wouldn't WNTN also have to protect the Hartford Disney station on
1550 (COL is Bloomfield) as well as, perhaps, other U.S. stations on 1550,
which would probably limit its night signal more than the limits needed to
protect CBE?