WATD coverage

[Sean Smyth]

Mr. Ross writes:
> I was particularly surprised Saturday, while driving to 
> Swampscott, to see just how far north 
> the WATD signal reached, at least in my car.  It disappeared 
> while I was in the new Central 
> Artery tunnel, and was spotty in the Callahan Tunnel, but it 
> was loud and clear all the way to 
> Swampscott.  Some day when I'm going still farther north, 
> I'll try and see just how far I'll need 
> to go before it starts to get hard to listen.
> 
> That makes it all the more strange that I can't get them on 
> my home radios.

Not strange at all. First, in Brookline you are heading toward WSRS (96.1)
-- not much closer, but closer nonetheless. Second, you could be
experiencing some overload off the Pru Tower (I do here in Southie, a good
2-3 miles away from the Pru), stuff a car radio is more selective about
tuning out. 

Third, the "as the crow flies" distance between Marshfield and Swampscott
(remember, they're not far across the water from each other) is not as much
as you might think.
Marshfield to Boston: 23 miles
Marshfield to Swampscott: 28 miles
Source: www.indo.com/distance (thanks to Mike Fitzpatrick for giving me this
link eons ago)