AM 1550

[secondchoice]

I have a question about 1550.  I realize that there a some ownership issues, but why doesn’t somebody buy and up grade the signal?  There is nothing north of them on 1550 for a couple of hundred miles.  I think their COL was Smyrna so moving the COL is possible.  If someone found a city on the north side of 285 and put the nulls to protect Huntsville and possibly Augusta, they could have a better daytime signal than WGST.  I think 1550 is a Canadian Channel at night but I understand that a lot of AM stations up there are getting FM’s for their AM license, so sometime in the future this station could be a “powerhouse”.   Someone could lease farmland, and should use freestanding towers.   I personally have seen what a bush hog does to guy wires.  If you use quarter wave sticks you might not even have to light the towers.   I know it isn’t as easy as just starting a tread, but WSB needs a little completion just to keep the AM band viable in Atlanta.   If you could cover Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett  24 / 7 this could be a big-time deal. Three of the top eight stations in Chicago are AMs.  There is lots of FM completion.  The FMs go far with no mountains and very tall buildings for their antennas.  If you program correctly there is money to be made in AM.  I suggest CBS could pull this off with its All News Format could give WSB a jolt.  Sorry but WGST would be toast!   How many millions would a “completive” AM signal in the #7 market be worth?

[Firebird]

An upgrade would be impossible with Georgia stations in Vienna, Augusta, Huntsville, along with a few in Tennessee, North & South Carolina, and Florida cities also on 1550.  WLOR in Huntsville is a 50,000 watt daytime station.  There are approximately 60 other stations in the USA on 1550.

[BRENT]

This signal sounds like a 100 watter, why can't they a least cover the central city better?

[jabba17]

I've suggested someone going north or NW of the metro area and throwing a directional signal south/eastward.  Problem is, in many cases there are a lot of Florida stations that have to be protected--it's easy to throw up a signal and crowd the dial when you have water on two sides.

I looked at that with WGST and there are TWO 640s in Florida alone.

Does anyone know the status of the move of the 680 signal in NC that requires WCNN to put in the hard null to the NE?

[RoddyFreeman]

I've suggested someone going north or NW of the metro area and throwing a directional signal south/eastward.  Problem is, in many cases there are a lot of Florida stations that have to be protected--it's easy to throw up a signal and crowd the dial when you have water on two sides.

I looked at that with WGST and there are TWO 640s in Florida alone.

Does anyone know the status of the move of the 680 signal in NC that requires WCNN to put in the hard null to the NE?

What move are you talking about?  The station is WPTF in Raleigh, which is 50,000 watts, non-directional day and directional (to the southeast) at night.  I haven't heard of any move.

[taylorengineer]

He's talking about 680 in Sylva, N.C. - that's Art Sutton's station. Maybe Art will see this and give an update - I think it is moving to a lower dial position and increasing to 4300 watts - I think it's going to 540 Khz.
It will be a huge Western Carolina signal and may possibly clear the way for 680 in Atlanta to go ND daytime.
But it is only mildly directional anyway - it won't be noticeable to anyone but it will simplify the Atlanta operation somewhat. There's still that critical night pattern with 8 towers.......

[beachguy3b]

Not to mention high on the dial like 1550 is, even at 50kw it wouldn't have an impressive signal, with ground conductivity so wretched in the area,

[jabba17]

He's talking about 680 in Sylva, N.C. - that's Art Sutton's station. Maybe Art will see this and give an update - I think it is moving to a lower dial position and increasing to 4300 watts - I think it's going to 540 Khz.
It will be a huge Western Carolina signal and may possibly clear the way for 680 in Atlanta to go ND daytime.
But it is only mildly directional anyway - it won't be noticeable to anyone but it will simplify the Atlanta operation somewhat. There's still that critical night pattern with 8 towers.......

I was actually referring to WCNN's night signal.  You are right, the day signal isn't that directional.

[secondchoice]

An upgrade would be impossible with Georgia stations in Vienna, Augusta, Huntsville, along with a few in Tennessee, North & South Carolina, and Florida cities also on 1550.  WLOR in Huntsville is a 50,000 watt daytime station.  There are approximately 60 other stations in the USA on 1550.

I know it has been done in the past with WFLI Lookout Mt. (Chattanooga) http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WFLI&service=AM&status=L&hours=D and WAPI Birmingham AL http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WAPI&service=AM&status=L&hours=D on 1070 which has a much better ground wave.  I Know WFLI was on the air in the early seventies before deregulation back when the FCC still cared about AM interference. 

[taylorengineer]

This signal sounds like a 100 watter, why can't they a least cover the central city better?

1550 probably doesn't put much more than a couple hundred watts towards downtown.