WNSH to 50kw, WPEP goes away

[Dan Strassberg]

Based on the coverage maps, I think the FCC would approve this hair-brained
proposal. I don't think the overlap with a station on Long Island is likely
to be deemed material. And there appear to be no overlap issues with WNTN.
The salt-water path doesn't bring WNSH's signal far enough inland to produce
overlap of 5 mV/m contours with WNTN. HOWEVER, a few weeks back, there were
a couple of postings on this list about a fairly large group of Canadian AM
stations that the FCC or maybe Industrie Canada considers to be Class As.
One would surely think that the currently dark 1570 in Laval (Montreal)
could have and should have made it to this list, as the station had a
monster nighttime signal that was substantially interference free--at least
within Canada. Rumor has it that a CP has been granted to resurrect this
station (albeit with 10 kW-U using a two-tower array vs the late CKLM's
50-kW-U using three towers). Regardless of the power, if the Laval
allocation is considered to be a Class A, WNSH will have to throttle its CH
power WAY back, maybe all the way back to the current 500W. I guess that
would make the sunset pattern change a little less ridiculous, but it would
also substantially reduce WNSH's AM and PM drive-time power during much of
the year.

Then there's one more technical issue that, unless I missed something, the
engineers seem to have completely overlooked. Perhaps I missed something in
my quick read through the application, but unless those three towers were
built on truly outsized base insulators, the only way to put that much power
into towers designed to handle 1% of the proposed power is to short out the
insulators and install skirt-fed radiators (so-called Folded-Unipole
antennas). I could have missed it, but I saw no reference in the application
to WNSH's current use of Folded Unipoles or to conversion of the series-fed
top-loaded towers to skirt-fed radiators. If the plan really is to convert
series-fed towers to skirt-fed radiators, there may be an issue with
combining the top-loaded and skirt-fed constructions. I know of no station
that has done this, but that doesn't mean that there is no such station or
that the combination is infeasible. If the towers weren't designed with 50
kW in mind and they can't be converted to Folded Unipoles, then the towers
will most likely have to come down and be replaced with new ones. (Maybe,
however, the towers can be jacked up and larger base insulators inserted to
replace the existing ones. Replacement of base insulators under standing
towers is an operation that definitely IS occasionally performed. The
operation doesn't always succeed, though. I believe that's how WRCA lost a
tower a few years back. The rocky soil at the site certainly wouldn't make
the operation any easier.) Anyhow, if the towers must be replaced, even with
ones of the same height but with larger base insulators, I think a building
permit will be required. In that event, I can imagine the Beverly NIMBYs
mobilizing and tying up this proposal indefinitely, even if the FCC
approves.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 12:11 AM
Subject: WNSH to 50kw, WPEP goes away


> Going over FCC stuff for tomorrow's NERW tonight, and look what the "late"
> Keating Willcox has come up with for WNSH: he's asking the FCC to let him
> take WNSH to 50kw by day (85 whopping ND watts at night) in exchange for
> taking WPEP dark. Same three towers at Endicott College, and a pattern
that
> only the fish could love. Feast your eyes:
>
>
http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?
context=25&appn=100668225&formid=301&fac_num=22798
>
> Details in Monday's NERW...and I can't wait to see Dan Strassberg pick
this
> one apart!
>
> s
>