From: st901316@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (Scott Fybush)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.noncomm
Subject: Re: WEVO redux
Date: 6 Apr 92 19:15:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Apr6.191520.13843
Reply-To: st901316@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
Distribution: na
Organization: Brandeis University

In article <iLwLiB1w165w@tosspot.sv.com>,
 lee@tosspot.sv.com (Lee Reynolds) writes:

>A day or two ago I posted -
>
[complaints about WEVO-FM, Concord NH deleted]

>....well, I asked someone from WEVO and got this answer - 
>
>The transmitter isn't near the coast, it's near Concord, NH (slightly to
>the west of the center of the state).
>
>The reason they have trouble serving the area is topography (a fairly
>mountainous state) and a transmitting facility which is practically
>in a gully - before they raised the mast by 100', it was possible to
>lose the signal driving around in *Concord*.
>
>The frequency allocation (200 kHz below a powerful PBS station which is
                                                    ^^^
                                                    Uh-uh.  First of
all, there ain't no such thing as "PBS" on the radio.  PBS is TV only.
Public radio is something else entirely.  Some public radio stations, such
as WGBH-FM (89.7) in Boston, are co-owned with PBS TV stations.  Most
aren't.  There are a number of public radio networks.  The largest,
National Public Radio, is funded in part by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, which also funds PBS in part.  But that wasn't what I came
here to talk about today.  In fact, the station 200 kHz _below_ WEVO's
89.1 frequency is not public radio at all.  I assume you're talking
about WERS (88.9) in Boston.  WERS is owned and operated by Emerson
College.  It has no connection to the public broadcasting system.  It's
also not all that powerful.  More on that later...

>70 miles away) is "It was a loophole in the FCC rules - we couldn't get
>on that chanel if we applied nowadays!"
>
Like hell they couldn't.  Let's look at that situation again.  Here
are the relevant bits of technical info:

Call     City        Freq        Power(watts) Ant.height(m above avg.terrain)
WERS     Boston MA   88.9 MHz    4000         186
WEVO     Concord NH  89.1 MHz    50000        116

Bruce Elving's _FM Atlas_ lists WERS' primary coverage radius as 34 km;
WEVO's as 47 km.  The distance between Concord and Boston is about 110 km.
There should ideally be no overlap of primary signals.  Two similar examples
should help to prove the point:

WKXL-FM  Concord NH  102.3 MHz   3000         87
WCRB-FM  Waltham MA  102.5 MHz   15000        280
...
WJYY     Concord NH  105.5 MHz   1550         139
WVBF     Framingham MA 105.7 MHz 8500         349

The primary coverage radii for each pair are: WKXL-FM 22 km, WCRB 52 km;
WJYY 24 km, WVBF 52 km.  In neither of these cases is there significant
overlap.  The problem, I guess, is twofold: WERS enjoys a very clear 
channel at 88.9.  As a result, they seem to have a stronger signal
to the west and south than perhaps they really do.  Also, people in
the WERS-WEVO fringe want to listen to both stations.  Once you get
south of Manchester, I don't think many people really want to listen
to WKXL or WJYY.  What I'm getting at is, this all works under FCC rules.
I don't think it's perfect (I don't know why WEVO couldn't have been
at 88.3 or 89.3 instead), but it does work.  WERS receives no interfence
within its 34 km contour; WEVO none within 47 km.  That leaves the
problem of the rest of New Hampshire, much of which is more than 47 km
south of Concord...

>They do have a whole bunch of repeaters scattered around (serving Keene
>and Nashua) but coverage, alas, is very spotty.
>
Indeed they do.  The Keene one is listed in _FM Atlas_ as 90.1 FM.  My
recollection of a visit to Keene in January suggests that it's actually
on 90.5.  The Nashua one is W212AF on 90.3 FM.  In an earlier post, Lee
mentioned that it had moved from 88.1, suggesting perhaps that it had
done so to protect WMBR, 88.1 from MIT in Cambridge MA.  Actually, that
had nothing to do with it.  WMBR runs 360 watts at 87 meters, giving
primary coverage of only 14 km.  That means other stations can squeeze
in there, like WJCF(FM) 88.3 in Nashua.  This station was granted a
construction permit in 1987.  When it signs on with a religious format,
it will use 200 watts at 22 meters, serving an 8-km radius.  The WEVO
translator had to move because of the WJCF construction permit being
granted.  As for the fact that on 90.3 it blocks out WZBC at Boston
College in Newton MA, that's unavoidable.  WZBC runs 1000 watts at 67
meters, yielding only a 15 km radius.  Outside that, it's not protected
from interference.  Sorry.

The good news is that WEVO is stepping up service improvements.  They
now hold a construction permit for a full-power outlet in Hanover,
serving the Hanover-White River Junction VT area.  I think that station
will be on 91.3, but I'm not sure.  Perhaps they'll be able to
add a few more translators as well.  One serving the Portsmouth-Durham-
Dover-Rochester area might help things out there.  And the saving grace
of it all is, with a decent antenna one can get WBUR 90.9 and WGBH 89.7
out of Boston all across the southern part of the state, WMEA 90.1 
Portland ME in the eastern part of the state, and several of the Vermont
Public Radio outlets to the west.  There's always something to listen
to.

In general, I do agree with Lee's comments.  WEVO does have some technical
problems which need correction.  I think on the whole, though, they're
doing the best they can with the situation.

Disclaimer: I'm not employed by any of the stations mentioned above.
I listen to some of them regularly.  I work near New Hampshire at an
AM station which doesn't interfere much with anybody.  I can get WEVO
and WERS there.  The station doesn't care what I think about either of
them.  In fact, nobody there even knows I have an internet account. :)

Scott Fybush -- ST901316@pip.cc.brandeis.edu