Re: WXKS-AM & WJIB

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

I think the Allston backup has been on the air within the last six months. I 
forget the circumstances. For sure it was on the air for many hours on more 
than one occasion when the Hull towers were being re-guyed. That was only a 
couple or three years ago, IIRC. Mark Manuelian, WBZ's CE, sometimes reads this 
list and sometimes responds to postings, so perhaps he will provide specifics.

As for the soil conductivity in Hull being better than that in Allston, you 
sure got THAT right! Hull is virtually surrounded by salt water. More than 
likely, WBZ's ground system extends into the salt water along a goodly number 
of radials. WBZ's site has been acclaimed as the best major-market AM site in 
the US. Although that may be an overstatement, it sure ranks near the top.

OTOH, WBZ's Allston studio site was once upon a time the Tx site of WCOP (AM). 
That has to go back to the 30s, because I assume that WCOP moved to Lexington 
around 1940. 
--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367
> At 12:51 AM 6/10/2003, A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> >On 9 Jun 2003 at 13:32, Aaron Read wrote:
> >
> > > A better solution would be to try and diplex onto WBZ's tertiary backup
> > > tower in Lower Allston.
> >
> >"tertiary backup"???
> 
> "tertiary" is an adjective for "third".
> 
> Last time I talked to Bob Hess about it...say 6-8 months ago...he said they 
> have a primary transmitter system in Hull that is NOT stereo-enabled and 
> they're installing IBOC on.  Then there's a backup system, also in Hull, 
> that IS stereo but is not getting anything IBOC yet.   Otherwise the two 
> systems are identical in power, pattern, and capability.   As you might 
> imagine, the backup is rarely used....the primary is pretty reliable 
> (somewhat recent events notwithstanding).
> 
> The tower in Allston by their studios is a tertiary (third-level) backup 
> that's only 10,000 watts and I think the soil conductivity there isn't as 
> good as Hull, either (not sure - the Charles IS only 300ft away I suppose) 
> so overall the signal's nowhere near as good but it's better than no signal 
> at all should a natural disaster wipe out the primary/backup site in 
> Hull.   I don't know the last time the tertiary backup was fired up for 
> actual use (or for testing for that matter) but I'll bet it was 
> lo-o-o-o-o-ong time ago.  Our esteemed Mr. Fybush may know more about that.
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
> Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
> FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
> http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA
>