Re: Super FMs

["Dan Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>]

There are several very high power FMs, a couple of which have with
moderately high antennas, in places such as Grand Rapids MI or thereabouts.
There was, and maybe still is, an FM with very high ERP from a very low
antenna in Houston TX. The antenna was a multi-bay job (my guess, at least
eight bays) side-mounted on the tower of a Class IV AM (on 1230, I think)
very near downtown Houston (at one point, the AM calls were KNUZ, I think).
In the picture I saw, the Houston skyline (the near side of it, anyhow)
looked to be no more than a mile away, and the antenna was much lower than
many of the tall buildings. Whether all that ERP was sufficient to get the
signal through the skyscrapers and out to the suburbs on the other side, I
don't know. And whether the signal was listenable on the same side of the
skyline as the Tx is also a good question because the reflections from  the
skyscapers must have created wicked multi-path.

Closer to home, although WHOM's ERP is, if I recall, only about 40 kW, the
HAAT is something like 3700'. The combination of ERP and HAAT makes the
power normalized to 2000' AAT (the maximum HAAT without power reduction for
full Class C FMs) substantially higher than the current maximum of 100 kW at
2000' (or maybe it's now 100 kW at 600m, which is a little less than 2000').
In any event, WHOM's facilities are grandfathered. The highest ERP in the US
normalized to 2000' belongs to KPFA in Los Angeles. If KPFA's Tx (on Mt
Wilson, I believe) wasn't so close to the Pacific Ocean, KPFA would have the
greatest coverage area of any US FM, but because Mt Washington is much
farther from the Atlantic than Mt Wilson is from the Pacific, and coverage
of open water doesn't count, WHOM gets the honors for greatest coverage
area. KPFA serves much more population than does WHOM, however.
--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205, eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Keith Fornal <kfornal@loa.com>
To: 'Cooper Fox' <fox893@yahoo.com>; <bri@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 2:30 PM
Subject: RE: Super FMs


> I did a quick search in my trusty Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook and
> found WSLQ 99.1 FM with an ERP of 200kW from a HAAT of 1,985 ft. in
> Roanoke, VA.  I also found WRVQ 94.5 FM with an ERP of 200kW and a HAAT
> of 455 ft. in Richmond, VA.  Both of those markets also have a few 100kW
> stations.
>
> Keith Fornal
> Treasurer
> Dutch Island Lighthouse Society
> www.dutchislandlighthouse.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> [mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org] On Behalf Of Cooper
> Fox
> Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2002 1:27 PM
> To: bri@bostonradio.org
> Subject: Super FMs
>
> I had an engineer friend who claimed that there used
> to be "super FMs" that were licensed for upwards of
> 200 Kilowatts.  According to him they were place in
> backwater areas like the middle of the
> appelachians(sp??).  Anyone else ever heard of these?