Re: WROL/WMUA

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

>>>NERW wrote:
>>  > Out west, UMass/Amherst student station WMUA (91.1 Amherst) could soon
>> > be getting out a bit better.  The station has been granted a tower
>> > height increase, from 8 meters above average terrain to 39 meters,
>> > albeit with a power drop from 1000 watts to 450 watts.  The new tower
>> > will be adjacent to the old one on campus.

>WMUA alumnus Joe Ross wrote:
>> Will the increase in height actually make up for the power reduction?
>> Their present signal gets out fairly well in the area. <snip>

>Scott Fybush wrote:
>The frequency is pretty clear on
>the Amherst side of the Berkshires, so I suspect the change won't
>hurt them too badly...

        IIRC, they have had to move because of the current rules on too
much RF too close to residences. The transmitter is in a utility room on
the top floor of a dormitory and the antenna is on the roof.

        My guess is that the new tower will help them overall, presuming
the 450 watts has been calculated correctly and is not too low. It's a very
hilly area, so more height should help. The new tower is 100 feet taller.
It should fill in bad spots within the coverage area and extend the
coverage north and south through the valley.

        The hills east of Amherst (Pelham, where the WFCR tower is, etc.)
and the Berkshires to the west are a major block against a signal like
this, whether the tower is 30 or 130 feet, so that won't change much. But
they might do better in Springfield, as there's also the Mount Tom/Mount
Holyoke ridge blocking them that way.  I "know" all about this because I
used to hang out with the real engineers :))

        Just $0.02 from an old WMUA guy. It's a helluva lot better than
when I started there with 10 watts from the tower on the roof of the
engineering building above the old studios that was something like 20 or 30
or 40 feet below average terrain.