Re: WGY's relatively poor signal

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

Thr soil conductivity in the Adirondacks, the Catskills, 
Long Island, and most of New England is terrible, but 
the conductivity in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys is 
quite good. And portions of western New York where the 
terrain is not mountainous have very good soil 
conductivity.

I don't consider WGY's signal to be relatively poor. 
It's consistent with the soil conductivity around the TX 
site, which isn't bad (between 4 and 8 milliSiemens/m, 
if memory serves). In eastern Mass, the conductivity is 
generally between 1 and 2 mS/m, with the better values 
found near the coast. In northwestern CT and Long Island 
(particularly near the south shore), the number is 
around 0.5. According to the soil-conductivity map, 
that's about as bad as it gets anywhere.

In North Dakota and in the Los Angeles Basin, on the 
other hand, values between 30 and 40 mS/m are common.

The official value for salt water is 5 S/m--more than 
100 times as good as the best values on land and more 
2000 times the values on land around Boston. Hence the 
huge advantage in sites that allow the signal to reach 
populous areas via a salt-water path. The stations 
located near Wellington Circle have this advantage on 
the South Shore and Cape Cod. Same for WROL, WLYN, and 
WESX. Even though WRKO is well inland, it enjoys a 
similar advantage because its high power, low dial 
position, and favorable directional pattern keep its 
signal quite strong all the way to the water's edge, 
where the salt water takes over. WBZ, WJDA, and WMKI 
have such an advantage on the North Shore.

--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367

> Reason: poor ground conductivity.  There are maps of the US indicating ground 
> conductivity.  Stations like the "mighty KOMA of Oklahoma" and KVOO Tulsa 
> belt their signals all the way to the DATELINE.  KOMA drowns out the Pacific 
> Northwest signals in the mid-Pacific.  KFBK Sacramento is in an especially 
> good conductivity zone and has REGULAR listeners in Alaska and the Aleutians. 
>  It can also be picked up in Polynesia, but its signal to the south and east 
> is diminished by Baja.  East Coast stations are in very poor ground 
> conductivity zones and the inability to throw the signal out is the result.