Follow-up To Fybush.com Reference To Waterlogged FM's

[Scott Fybush]

WODS also has a separate antenna and is presumably operating at full power. 
The master antenna is actually the highest antenna in current use on the 
tower, being located on the mast portion above the top of the tower proper. 
WBUR's antenna is at the top of the tower itself, below the mast, and WODS' 
main and backup antennas are below that.

The issue is not the antenna itself, apparently, but the feedline that runs 
up the tower. Any shutdowns or switching to auxiliary antennas being done 
by WODS and WBUR would be to allow climbers to work on the portions of the 
tower near their antennas.

At 07:41 PM 10/17/2005 -0400, Dan Strassberg wrote:
>According to the Radio-Info board, what failed was not WCRB's transmitter
>but the master antenna on the FM 128 tower. The antenna is not the property
>of any of the stations that use it, but of American Tower Systems, which
>owns the tower. The master antenna is used by all of the FMs that transmit
>from the tower except for WBUR, which is directional and therefore must have
>a separate antenna. According to NERW, WBUR's brand-new antenna is at the
>very top of the tower. I think there is an auxiliary antenna on the tower,
>which WCRB--at least--is using, but I gather the antenna is not suited to
>delivering full-power signals. Because the coverage of FM-stereo signals is
>much less than that of mono signals, it may not be worthwhile for the
>stations to transmit in stereo from the auxiliary antenna. Some of the
>stations apparently have auxiliary facilities elsewhere. I think I read that
>WBMX is operating from the Pru, where it is presumably able to run at or
>near full power. I gather that WCRB has no such facilities, so they must
>wait for the master antenna to be replaced, which is not something that can
>necessarily be done all that quickly. If a new antenna is required, it will
>take a while; it's not a stock item; it has to be built. Also, today was the
>first day of reasonable weather since the storm knocked out the master
>antenna. Moreover, even today, it was reasonably windy. Work on a tall tower
>is done at the pleasure of the weather. Are you volunteering to climb the
>1200' tower in 45-mph winds?
>
>--
>Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@att.net
>eFax 707-215-6367
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Laurence Glavin" <lglavin@lycos.com>
>To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
>Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 7:06 PM
>Subject: Follow-up To Fybush.com Reference To Waterlogged FM's
>
>
> > If you've read this week's NERW, you know that FM stations transmitting
> > from the Route 128 tower on Chestnut Street, Newton suffered technical
>problems
> > last weekend.  The Boston board of radio-info.com specified
>non-operational
> > stereo broadcasts on WBMS 98.5 and WCRB 102.5.  As of 7:00 pm Monday,
> > only WCRB is still broadcasting in monaural sound (its programming in
> > one-dimensional anyway).  I wonder if this means they don't have a backup
> > transmitter to use.  This means its most popular program, last Saturday's
> > Boston Symphony Orchestra broadcast was not in stereo.  Yikes...they have
> > five days to fix the problem before it happens again!
> >
> > --
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