WUNR/WKOX/WRCA construction

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Tue, 1 Jan 2008 12:24:00 -0500, "Dan.Strassberg" <dan.strassberg@att.net> said:

> Hi, Garrett: Is there room in the building for a) a  backup generator
> and b) auxiliary transmitters?

(a) No.

(b) Only if they can fit in the rack below the HD importer and antenna
controller.  As I mentioned, the BE AM-5E that WUNR is currently using
will remain as a backup.  Neither WRCA's old Harris DX-10 nor WKOX's
new BE AM-10A would fit in the building.

> If the answer to b) is "no," are the transmitters "self-sparing?"

BE's 4MX tranmsitters are modular in design.  The company claims that
most common faults will be isolated to a single module, which can be
taken out of service automatically, without disruption to the signal.

> WKOX's Framingham site may remain operational indefinitely, I
> suppose,

It can't, since 1200 can't city-grade Newton from Framingham.[1] I
don't think WKOX's NIF on the 1-kW rig even hits Newton.  Grady is
eager to get 1200 out of Mt. Wayte so he can put IBOC on 1060 (the
current combiner isn't broadband enough, but could be if 1200 were
removed).

-GAWollman

[1] I'm not sure if the FCC applies this rule to AMs, but for FMs at
least the protected contour of an auxiliary transmitter must be entirely
within the protected contour of the main transmitter.  That's why, for
example, all of the Seattle FM backups on Cougar are directional.