Will WRCA move to the WUNR site?

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

The only application that WRCA has so far filed for the WUNR site is for
night operation. That now-outdated application (outdated because it does not
conform to the arrangement of towers that WKOX and WUNR are proposing)
proposed a change in COL from Waltham to Watertown, with night operation at
17 kW from the WUNR site but a continuation of the existing 5 kW day
operation from 750 South St in Waltham. After looking at WUNR's application,
it dawned on me that WRCA might have only one thing to gain from also moving
its day operation to Saw Mill Brook Parkway in Newton--not having to pay
rent for two transmitter sites. WRCA's daytime problem is WJDA, which, from
its site in S Braintree, must deliver at least 25 mV/m to the water's edge
in Dorchester, South Boston, and maybe even downtown Boston. WRCA has to
protect WJDA's 25 mV/m contour--which, at many points, must extend westward
for at least a mile from the shoreline.

Because WRCA's existing 300' top-loaded towers are so efficient, obtaining
an equivalent RMS field from the proposed 200' towers at the WUNR site would
require 10 kW or thereabouts. However, any daytime power higher than that
might be impossible--especially using a pattern that resembles the one WUNR
is proposing. On the other hand, there would be five towers at the WUNR
site, and the consulting engineers might find a way to use that towers
create a pattern that protects WJDA to the east, WARL to the southwest, and
WDER to the northeast. The project does look like a challenge for an
antenna-system designer, though.