WCOP (was ABC in Boston)

[markwa1ion@aol.com]

950 with 5 kW out of Lexington at night would make sense since it could 
be beamed southeasterly directly at downtown missing all the co-channel 
stations (WPEN-PA, WIBX-NY, deactivated Canadians such as NS, etc.).

The daytime ND out of Saugus should be retained: it is very efficient.  
Day operation out of Lexington would have to be directional to protect 
Fitchburg 960 and Webster 940 from what could otherwise be greater 
adjacent channel interference compared to the present.  This would 
actually reduce WROL's effectiveness over much of the coverage area: by 
the time you get out Route 2 to Concord and Acton, the 950 signal would 
be weaker than it is now (thanks to the required null at WFGL).  It is 
unlikely that the day signal that WROL now produces on the North Shore, 
South Shore, and Cape Cod with 5 kW in Saugus could even be replicated 
with 50 kW out of Lexington.  Even if the same groundwave could be 
established, there would be more skywave self-interference at early 
morning and late afternoon drivetimes since the skip from 50 kW would 
more easily compete with an overland groundwave signal than skip from 5 
kW competes with an overwater groundwave at the same distance.

Short story: leave the day set-up alone but do investigate 5 kW 
directional at night aimed into a tight window bounded by Revere Beach 
on the north and the Braintree split (or the 24 &128 junction) on the 
south.

As far as 1150 goes, I don't think much can be done to jack up power 
there unless 1170 Orleans is bought and taken dark (or used as an 1150 
relay?).  Southeast is where the signal has to be beamed; other 
directions can be heavily suppressed and you're still gaining coverage 
especially inside Boston office, factory, and apartment buildings that 
may now have (at best) spotty reception with the 5 kW signal.  All the 
other stations on and around 1150 can be protected, even Norfolk 1170 
(south) and 1160 Maine / 1140 NS / 1150 defunct NB (northeast).  
Stations more westerly such as Concord 1120, NY 1130, and the 
co-channels (Middletown CT, Utica NY, Wilmington DE, inland Canadians) 
should be easy enough to protect with a bit of null tightening in the 
existing pattern and aided a bit by the general inefficiency of the 
site in those directions thanks to Prospect Hill, Bear Hill, Annursnac 
Hill, and Zion Hill hemming in things along an arc from southwest to 
northwest.

What would be a fly in the ointment would be if the Providence area 
station goes on 1140.  It would likely, at one channel away, be more a 
problem than Norfolk in basically the same direction and closer (but 
two channels away).  Norfolk is a peanut whistle that Salem could buy 
out and take dark (or use to relay 1150) but the prospective RI station 
is likely to be better funded and intended to be in for the long haul 
since it will cover a substantially larger population that either of 
the two 1170 MA semi-locals.

The 1510 site was mentioned.  Has any idea been given to something 
diplexing out of there?  It has a clearer shot down the Charles at 
Boston than the nearby Lexington site that has the south flank of 
Belmont Hill as a partial obstruction to hitting the zone from downtown 
Boston up Route 1 north into Chelsea and Revere.

I am surprised that the FM tower at the Lexington site is going unused 
when cell companies, wireless internet providers, governmental 
departments, educational institutions, hospitals, and large private 
companies such as Raytheon always seem to be clamoring for new towers 
to address their telecommunication infrastructure needs.  Maybe nearby 
Bear Hill off 128 in Waltham is already loaded up with enough stuff as 
to make the Lexington site less in demand.

Mark Connelly (WA1ION)

<<
WWDJ (I think those are the calls du jour) is a Class B AM. The
maximum for Class Bs is 50 kW. But an increase would be difficult.
First, the Canadians, though dark, must be protected as if they were
still there. Closer to home, there is an 1150 in Middletown CT and
there are 1170s in Norfolk and Orleans MA and Vernon CT. There is also
an 1120 in Concord MA and an 1180 in Hope Valley RI. I rather doubt
whether much could be done at the present site and anything that
required adding or moving towers at that site would almost certainly
be out of the question. The site is, after all, in snooty, NIMBY
Lexington and abuts almost as snooty and probably just as NIMBY
Belmont. Remember also that 1470 uses the same towers as WWDJ. Before
Salem returned its CP that would have added 5-kW night service for
WROL from its existing Saugus site (because of WROL's high NIF, the
increase from 90W ND-N to 5 kW
DA-N would have added scarcely any population within the NIF contour),
I speculated about a nighttime diplex of WROL and what is now (I
think) WWDJ. The stations that require nighttime protection on 950 and
1150 are in pretty much the same places and 1150 would have made out a
little better than 950 because of a significantly lower NIF. But
realistically, a more interesting question to speculate about is the
possibility of a 950/1150/1470 nighttime triplex from the Lexington
site. From the Lexington site, 950's entire NIF would fall over land
allowing service to actual people, rather than fish. The problem with
triplexes is that they are very expensive and tricky to pull off.
Also, the presence of the 50 kW 1510 only about a mile away causes
some hellish intermodulation and reradiation problems. To top it off,
neither Salem, the primary lessee, nor Multicultural, the secondary
lessee, owns the Lexington site. It is owned by American Tower
Systems. AFAIK, ATS also owns the buildings and all of the towers (the
three self-supporting AM towers and the lone, currently unused, FM
tower).

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367
>>