Mass Highway Radio Question

[Aaron Read]

That Natick one is special, IIRC it's at the Natick Fire Dep't and it 
was part of some town administrator's grand idea of emergency 
communications for the Natick community.  As in, specifically for Natick 
- not surrounding towns.

The problem with that idea is that in an emergency, locals aren't going 
to tune to an unfamiliar frequency that usually just has a loop of 
marginally-useful information on it.  They're going to tune to WBZ, or 
maybe WBUR, WRKO or WTKK.  The only way that kind of hyper-local town 
radio works is if you give people a reason to tune into it every single 
day, so they know it's there.  That level of quality in the programming 
requires a lot of effort and is expensive.

I don't know if Natick is still trying to use 1630AM in that way; I 
haven't listened in years.  But for the first few months after it came 
on the air it was just your typical TIS loop of (often outdated) info 
about yard waste pickup days and planned road closures months in 
advance.  Yawn.

- Aaron

Bill wrote:
> Many of the ones, I have seen, have been mounted on Trailers
> that would typically containt the flashing arrows or Traffic Signs.
> 
> They have Solar Panels and can be placed in the median or in-between the
> ramps, such as the Rte-128/Rte-93 Clover ramps.
> 
> A typical annual location, that might already be in-place is Rte-90 at 
> Rte-495
> for the Boston Marathon.
> 
> 
> Licenses in Massachusetts are
> 
> Bedford 1.6400
> Brockton 1.6200
> Leominster 1.6200
> Natick 1.6300
> Plymouth 1.6200
> Sharon - 1.6300
> Mass Highway - Temp 530 Khz
> Mass Highway - Temp 1.7000
> 
> Mass Turnpike -  Auburn, Boston, E.Boston, Charlton,  Weston,  Westboro 
> 530 Khz
> 
> Mass Steamship - Falmouth 1.6100
> Mass Steamship - Hyannis 1.6100
> 
> Massport - Taxi Pool 1.6500
> 
> State of New Hampshire 530 khz
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Read" <readaaron@friedbagels.com>
> To: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>; <joe@joebrownphotos.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 1:35 PM
> Subject: RE: Mass Highway Radio Question
> 
> 
>> Joe, usually...but not always...the TIS/HAR (Traveler's Info 
>> System/Highway Advisory Radio) transmitters are physically mounted on 
>> the highway sign announcing the presence of a TIS/HAR transmitter.  
>> Look for a small metal box, usually about 1.5ft square, with a 6-10ft 
>> whip antenna coming out of the top.  That's usually the transmitter.
>>
>> Sometimes there's two boxes (a transmitter and an ATU/Antenna Tuning 
>> Unit) but usually it's just one.
>>
>> Often the quality of the audio does indeed stink; these units are IIRC 
>> limited to 10 watts ERP and the antennas are, as you might imagine, 
>> pretty low-efficiency.  There's often a decent ground connection via 
>> the steel frame of the roadsign but that's only going to help so 
>> much.  Toss in that the audio itself is usually fed via telephone, and 
>> not a good telephone (sometimes it's a cellphone) and there you go - 
>> crappy audio.
>>
>> For a long time there was an amusing setup on Rt.128 southbound, 
>> between the Rt.3 and MassPike exits (I don't remember exactly) where 
>> there was a new TIS roadsign and right behind it was a totally wrecked 
>> TIS roadsign that clearly still had a battered and beaten TIS 
>> transmitter attached to it.  The new sign did not appear to have a new 
>> transmitter, so I had to assume that the old one was still marginally 
>> functional.
>>
>> I don't think Massachusetts has any, but upstate NY and parts of VT 
>> have LPFM licenses for TIS/HAR purposes.  Those are different kettles 
>> of fish entirely as the antenna and transmitter are no different than 
>> any other LPFM, and may or may not (probably not) be mounted on the 
>> TIS/HAR announcement roadsign.
>>
>> -- 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>> Aaron Read     |  Finger Lakes Public Radio
>> readaaron@friedbagels.com   |  General Manager (WEOS & WHWS-LP)
>> Geneva, NY 14456     |  www.weos.org / www.whws.fm
>>
>>
>>
>> I am wondering where the transmitters are for the highway radio
>> channels? They are advertising it in Woburn along 128, but the signal
>> is really scratchy.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Joe Brown 
> 
> 

-- 

----------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron Read		    |  Finger Lakes Public Radio
readaaron@friedbagels.com   |  General Manager (WEOS & WHWS-LP)
Geneva, NY 14456	    |  www.weos.org / www.whws.fm