WDRC-FM oddity

[David Tomm]

Gee, can I do that with W235AV in Tatnuck?  It comes in rough here in 
the 'Boros, but enough to block my reception of WHOM, which I used to 
tune into on occasion.  It makes no sense to have it on anyway, since 
the primary signal of WJMN at 94.5 serves most of the area just fine.  
Do you have to live in the translator's COL to file a complaint?

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"


On Nov 13, 2007, at 2:20 PM, Scott Fybush wrote:

> Laurence Glavin wrote:
>
>> A recent entry among the FCC applications on the Daily Digest was for 
>> a translator on 96.7 megahertz, W244CF COL Plymouth, MA.  That's one 
>> dial position down from
>> WTKK-FM, Boston.  It will operate with 10 watts with a directional 
>> antenna just east of route 3 on the Plymouth/Sagamore line.  Now the 
>> FCC directional data indicates that only one radial, zero degrees, 
>> which is due north, will get the full output,
>> 1.000, every other point is a fraction of that.  But the contour map 
>> shows the major
>> lobe pointed toward the northeast.  In any event, many people headed 
>> to the Cape tuned to WTKK may find themselves listening to a 
>> bible-thumping preacher for hire!
>
> The key here is in the "notes" field of the W244CF record:
>
> "Pattern and Field Values Include a 60.0° Clockwise Rotation"
>
> With that figured in, there's a deep null (0.138 of the 10-watt ERP) 
> at 310 degrees, right up toward WTKK.
>
> Here's the catch with tight drop-in translators like this: they may 
> work on paper, but they're bound by that pesky clause in the 
> translator rules that says a translator can't cause interference to 
> "actual reception" of a full-power station, without regard to that 
> station's protected contour.
>
> Greater Media knows exactly how that rule works...they managed to get 
> a 97.5 translator in Hazleton PA shut down a few months back because 
> it was interfering with fringe reception of their own WJJZ 97.5 
> Burlington NJ, about 80 miles away. All they need is one regular WTTK 
> listener in Plymouth to register a complaint about W244CF, when and if 
> it begins operation, and they can go to work.
>
> s
>
>