Now official, Celts to 98.5

[Bob Nelson]

OK, coverage..I sit corrected! Thanks.
Anyone remember the old magazine Radio
Waves that was out in late 70s? (They even
published an article about ratings hype by 17-year-old me). They had
coverage maps, just approximate-guess ones and I've seen brochures for
clients by stations showing their approximate signal coverage. Also some
maps show up on sites for outlets like Vermont Public Radio, with
approximate coverage areas for their 'News' and Classical networks.


On Friday, September 27, 2013, Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com> wrote:
> On 9/27/2013 2:07 PM, Bob Nelson wrote:
>>
>> That's true, WFPB 1170 Orleans is a daytimer with a pretty weird pattern
as
>> seen in the illustration on radio-locator.
>
> Oy. Bob, you're killing me. :)
>
> WFPB does not have a "pretty weird pattern." Radio-Locator doesn't show
patterns. As has been explained here and elsewhere more times than I can
count, R-L shows an approximation of *coverage*, which is determined by the
combination of the pattern radiated by the station and the effect that
ground (and in this case water) conductivity has on the transmission of
that radiated signal.
>
> If you want to see what a station's radiated *pattern* actually looks
like, go to FCCInfo.com. When you do that for WFPB's day signal, you'll see
a very, very simple two-tower cardioid pattern with the null at about 300
degrees and the bulk of the signal aimed south and east. I assume that when
the Orleans station was designed, the only protection it had to provide was
toward 1150 in Boston, and that's exactly where the null goes.
>
> Like any other station located immediately adjacent to a large body of
salt water, WFPB's *coverage* (unlike its pattern) is indeed goofy-looking.
But that's true even of stations with non-directional "patterns": take a
look at R-L's "coverage" map of WBUR 1240 and you can see where the signal
goes over salt water as opposed to over the non-conductive sandbar of Cape
Cod itself. Other similar effects can be seen on the non-DA signals of
WJDA, WESX and WMVX.
>
>