WGBH dismissal, and an array sizing question.

[Peter Murray <pete@partnercomm.com>]

Looks like all that discussion a bit ago regarding WGBH changing their 
HAAT/power/location is moot:

MA  BPED-20000303ACI	WGBH  70510	WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION		
		    P	89.7 MHZ	BOSTON, MA				

Minor change in licensed facilities.
21 kW ERP, 323 meters HAAT, 42 18 37 NL, 71 14 14 WL.										
Application dismissed 8/28/2002.

Good thing, too - from what I could calculate, indeed it would have been a 
great deal less signal than what they have now.

If the big problem is terrain shadowing Back Bay, why don't they put in a 
booster? Is the concern there that too many receivers don't have the 
capture ratio to deal with the two same-frequency signals, especially 
where they're close in strength?

Oh - and a re-query to the (more advanced than I) engineers on the list.  
What is the downside of higher-gain arrays in FM broadcasting? Obviously,
the savings on the electric bill is an upside, but what do you give up?  
I've visited sites with 10-bay Shively arrays, and yet I don't typically
see that - usually 3 to 6 bay arrays are what I'll see.  Does that more
sharply focused (towards the horizon) signal produced more marked
shadowing when terrain gets in the way?

Thanks much for any info.

Peter Murray (N3IXY)
Pittsburgh, PA