Re: Re: V-Soft Anomalies

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

I have no problem with phasing on 590 at my house, nor, back before Salem
bought the station and it carried programs that I could actually stand to
listen to, did I notice a problem with reception in Arlington. Of course,
even though, in three weeks, I will have lived in Arlington for 39 years, I
can't claim to have been everywhere in town (with my car radio on and tuned
to 590)--far from it.

Years ago there was a spot on Concord Ave just east of the stone railroad
bridge in Belmont Center where there was bad phasing on 590. The problem was
quite consistent. There was a similar problem on Wyman St in Waltham, just
inside of 128 and just north of Totten Pond Rd (which, back then, may still
have been known as Winter St). I found on a map that a line drawn from the
transmitter site just west of Wellington Circle through either the Belmont
or Waltham spots also passed through the other of the two spots. In other
words, the three spots were in a straight line. I assumed that this was a
null, and it may have been. Now I know that, by pattern symmetry, there
ought to be a similar line that probably passes through Woburn and
Winchester. I never tried to find it though. Back then, I had no idea that
the two towers were on a due east-west line. Armed with that information, I
would have had a clue about where to search for the symmetrical null.

However, in the meantime, the phasing spots in Belmont and Waltham have
disappeared. There have been many changes to the facilities over the years.
Something like 20 years ago (I think CBS may still have owned the station
back then), the old self-supporting towers were replaced with guyed towers
and I imagine that the ground system was also replaced. Any number of small
changes could have taken care of the problem. I guess it's even possible
that differences between the radio in the car I had in the 60s and those in
the cars I've had since were what made the problem disappear.

--
Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
eFax 707-215-6367

----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Glavin <lglavin@lycos.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 4:55 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: V-Soft Anomalies


> >DATE: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 23:19:13
> >From: "Dan Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net>
> >To: "Laurence Glavin" <lglavin@lycos.com>
>
> >There can be considerable variations in signal >strength as you move
around a
> >Zip code. I suspect that the V-soft numbers are based >on the signal
strength
> >at each Zip code's population centroid, except for >Zip codes that are
listed
> >as PO Box only; the signal strengths for those are >probably for the post
> >office where the boxes are located.
>
> >The WEZE numbers are high everywhere I've looked, but >I consider them
> >believable, although I have not tried to do a sanity >check based on the
> >official soil-conductivity maps and the pattern. My >Zip, 02476, is
pretty
> >nearly due west of WEZE. WEZE's equivalent power to >the west is about
300W.
>
> >Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
> >eFax 707-215-6367
>
> This inspires a burst from my rapidly-declining memory bank:
> several years ago a friend of mine got married, and shortly
> thereafter moved to Ahlington.  AM 590 was WEEI then, a talk station
> with CBS news on the hour.  As I was driving to his housewarming,
> I had WEEI on and noticed it started to sound like a SW station
> as I neared his house.  Right in front, WEEI was almost inlistenable.  I
assume some kind of signal strength
> device might DISPLAY a usable signal, buy if John
> wanted to hear WEEI, he probably had to find a room that
> wasn't in the deepest null...I forgot to ask.
>
> Laurence Glavin
>
>
>
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