WATD coverage

[Eli Polonsky]

A few things to consider, besides terrain in Brookline, interference 
from (or being inside of) buildings, Prudential interference, etc...

Most quality car tuners are better than most home tuners. Only the 
best home stereo receivers equal most good car tuners for reception.

In Somerville I get WATD nicely in the car, and at home if I place 
my antenna properly, I get them in stereo quite well on my mid-1970's 
Marantz and Sansui analog receivers with only slight background hiss.
Those were excellent home tuners, better than many of todays digitals 
IMO.

However, my digital Akai receiver from the mid-80's will only get 
WATD clearly in mono. If I can even get the stereo light to come on 
at all, it's extremely noisy.

I use TV "rabbit ears" on my home stereos for indoor reception. I 
don't know what you're using for a home antenna, but I find basic
"rabbit ears" far better than the wire antennas that come with most 
home stereos, and also better than most of the expensive designer 
indoor antennas which are designed more for decor than for function.

I can pretty much forget about getting WATD on any portable home 
radios such as my Sony boombox, Walkmans, or my clock radio. Those 
poor quality tuners won't touch it, they get Prudential intermod all 
over the dial.

You can expect WATD to come in fairly well on the North Shore 
because it's over water. Though salt water doesn't really "conduct" 
FM like it does AM, it provides flat and open terrain for the signal.

Eli Polonsky


>I've written before about how I can get WATD on my car radio in Brookline 
>(with a few dropout 
>spots here and there), but can't get it on any of my home radios except my 
>livingroom stereo, and then not very well.
>
>I was particularly surprised Saturday, while driving to Swampscott, to see 
>just how far north the WATD signal reached, at least in my car.  
>
>That makes it all the more strange that I can't get them on my home 
>radios.