WBIX night signal

[Dan Strassberg]

Despite all of the announcements WBIX has aired at various times over the
past few months related to daytime testing of the new night signal, I had
not heard--until yesterday (Monday, 6/21)--what sounded like a
weaker-than-normal signal. Yesterday, and again today, the signal has been
unmistakeably weaker--a LOT weaker. So, since the weather was so great
yesterday, I decided to travel out to Sewell St in Ashland to see what I
could see. My assumption is that for the last two days, WBIX has been
operating ND from Sewell St with a power of 500W or less. The purpose must
be to make detailed soil conductivity measurements, which will be necessary
to establish the performance of the directional array. I was not able to
enter the fenced-in area around the towers, although a nearby hillside
provided a good view within. Unlike most moden AM sites (and unlike the
setup at the site before the recent modifications), no separate fences
remain around the individual tower bases. Previously, there was a single
locked fence surrounding all five of the tower bases and an additional fence
around each tower base. I'm pretty sure that the large fence is either new
or upgraded, but the individual fences are now gone. There are multiple
padlocks on the gate into the fenced-in area, and the high chain-link fence
is topped with barbed wire. A large sign on each tower indicates the FAA
registration number and the numbers are plainly visible from outside the
fence. Multiple signs near the gate warn of the radiation hazard within the
fenced-in area. I guess it's better that the BRH has mandated that a hazard
exists where none actually does than to have it mandate that no hazard
exists where one actually does exist.

The work done at the site this past winter was extensive--much more
extensive than I imagined even after I saw the pictures that WBIX had posted
at its Web site. The small ATU buildings have been removed and a goup of
large (my guess: roughly 20' by 30' by 8') prefabricated steel buildings
have been added. One pair of these buildings has been added to the east of
the #1 (west) and #2 towers. Another pair has been added to the west of the
#4 and $5 (east) towers. The original Tx building is immediately to the west
of the base of the center (#3) tower. In the case of the #3 tower, the new
steel building in to the west of the old Tx building. The steel buildings,
with the possible exception of the one associated with the #3 tower, must
house the ATUs for both 1060 and 890. My guess is that the size was
determined when it was thought that both 1060 and 650 would move to the
Ashland site. The idea of moving 650 there was abandoned several years ago
because of the cost. I could get a good look at the base of only the #1
tower, but I could see only one feed. I had figured that each station would
have a separate ATU building at the base of each tower and that there would
be separate feeds for each station. Apparently, though, the 1060 and 890
signals are combined before being fed into a single feed for each tower.

Anyhow, I don't know how close WBIX is to actually firing up the DA during
daylight hours--let alone at night. In fact, there is no guarantee that the
new phasing equipment is even on-site yet, although the fact that 890 is
operating from the upgraded site probably indiates that the filtering
equipment (to separate the 1060 and 890 signals) has been installed. The FCC
will probably allow daytime testing of the full array with a power of around
1250W, which should make the signal in Boston a lot stronger than the ND
signal that has been in use for the past two days. The site LOOKS very good.
Quite neat. No litter from the construction and equipment installation lying
around. The towers are not rusty--as they had been years ago. The new
prefabricated buidings are too new to have any rust on them--yet. Of course,
good housekeeping doesn't guarantee in-spec performance from the array, but
bad housekeeping could make it harder to tweak the array and would certainly
send the wrong message to the FCC staff. In any event, all of that shiny new
construction did make for an interesting excursion yesterday.

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