Re: Tower lighting

[Scott D Fybush <fybush@world.std.com>]

So PJB is now running just four towers?

When I was there in 1996 (shouldn't every honeymoon include a
visit to a 500 kW MW station?), the shortwave installation was
gone -- antennas had recently been dismantled and the transmitter 
room was empty, awaiting conversion into a power plant.

The MW side was still running 500 kW, though, but with *five* 
towers -- and here's the thing:

Only the center (tallest) tower, which by Ron's description sounds 
like the one that's gone, was actually fed directly from the
transmitter.

The outer four towers, which at that time were arrayed in a sort of 
flattened parallelogram (from the road to the west, it looked like
a line of five in a row) running roughly N-S, were simply taken
in and out of phase as needed to attenuate the signal in 
undesirable directions -- or detuned altogether to create
an ND pattern.  But they had no direct RF connection to the
transmitter; it was all done passively.

[At least, I *think* that was the explanation, unless I'd had
one too many Amstels!]

I wonder if the current four are new, or if they simply rewired the 
old ones?

Hey Ron, Bob Bittner told me a few weeks back that there were now
six FMs on Bonaire.  When I visited there were just three (94.7,
101.1, 102.7) -- what's been added?

-s (no luck hearing WCCM here, either...)