WCXI at reduced power?

[Colonel Flagg]

WCXI is usually loud and clear here at Quarton & Telegraph, but not this morning. It can't overcome the noise floor enough to be listenable. Perhaps it didn't switch over to day mode at sunrise?

Sima Jr really needs to get it together with this station. I've been wondering, could IHM be PAYING to clear their lineup of syndicated yakkers on WCXI? Nothing would surprise me anymore, no matter how absurd it may be.

[windsorjoe]

WCXI is usually loud and clear here at Quarton & Telegraph, but not this morning. It can't overcome the noise floor enough to be listenable. Perhaps it didn't switch over to day mode at sunrise?

Sima Jr really needs to get it together with this station. I've been wondering, could IHM be PAYING to clear their lineup of syndicated yakkers on WCXI? Nothing would surprise me anymore, no matter how absurd it may be.

I saw your post and thought I would try it after work around 4:30. I would agree - could still hear it ok, but more staticky than normal.

Why can’t these guys hirer a Specs Howard co-op to man the station? They are sitting on a goldmine if they do it right.

[Kennelly Heaviside]

Could also be the reduction in conductivity with the hot weather.

I'm going to be doing some more measurements soon, but so far, not a single AM station in the Metro is exceeding M-3 predictions, and many are way below M-3 predictions, The noise floor is so high, that some of them can't be measured unless you can find an electrically quiet location. I don't think carrier reduction at low modulation is doing anyone that uses it any good. Just more noise in noisy areas.

As Quincy, ME might say, "AM didn't die, it was MURDERED!"

[innate-in-you]

Strange.
My wife and I went out to get craft supplies yesterday.
As she shopped, I did a sweep of the AM band in NW Toledo.

This was a good 4 hours before sunset.

To my surprise, many stations on the upper half of the band were interfering with other, fading in and out.

Though the band sounded more like late November than mid August, none of the signals were less than 400 miles away.

[MWmetalhead]

WCXI's signal sounds perfectly normal this morning.

[Colonel Flagg]

WCXI's signal sounds perfectly normal this morning.

Agreed.

Now, if they would only fix some of the program elements...

[Colonel Flagg]

WCXI's signal sounds perfectly normal this morning.

Agreed.

Now, if they would only fix some of the program elements...

[Kennelly Heaviside]

Over the weekend, I measured the WCXI 1160 Field Intensity at a location about 30 miles East in the Pattern Maximum. The result was 1.5 mV/m, corresponding to an actual conductivity of about 2 mS/m over the path, as opposed to the M-3 Map value of 8 mS/m.

I measured WCXI 1160 again a few minutes ago, with a Potomac FIM-41, FCC Surplus, Serial Number 1899, recently calibrated by the FCC Labs, before they decided to replace some of them with Potomac FIM-4100s.

Results:

Location: 29.5 miles ENE
Field Intensity: 1.35 mV/m

I am now very confident that if they had done actual conductivity radials and a traditional Proof of Performance, they could let the pattern nulls out, and increase power. The question is, from that location, do you really want to spend that much on your power bill? How much would be worth it? 20 kW with just two towers Daytime and a shallower null to the West? They must have the proofs somewhere from North Rd. in 1985, which would show the radials in that direction toward the new site. They'd have to do proofs from the new site. Same with the Proofs from when WPON did Proofs from Benstein and Loon Lake Rd. They might be able to use those. The FCC allows proofs from a few miles away to be used from what I heard. One WAAM application for 15 kW used the WJBK/WLQV Proofs from a mile away. According to DLR, the relatively new WGVU 1480 site was too far to use for the 20 kW WOOD 1300 APP. So it's somewhere in between, seems like 3 miles. Can't find the email that showed that information. They also did measurements of radials on the WYLL 1160 ground wave for a WCXI APP.

[Colonel Flagg]

Nothing but dead air on WCXI, all weekend.

[Colonel Flagg]

Monday morning, still nothing but a dead carrier. Why am I not surprised?

[Colonel Flagg]

WCXI was back on for a couple days, now back to dead air again. I would think, from Tower 14 in Southfield, that you could hit the Wixom transmitter site with a microwave STL, instead of using a flimsy internet connection.

Perhaps "Heavy Ken" can tell us whether or not that's possible.

[Kennelly Heaviside]

WCXI was back on for a couple days, now back to dead air again. I would think, from Tower 14 in Southfield, that you could hit the Wixom transmitter site with a microwave STL, instead of using a flimsy internet connection.

Perhaps "Heavy Ken" can tell us whether or not that's possible.

Due to the pandemic, many personalities are using home studios, and internet. Bob Dell's son uses one at WWTN. He has a lot of drop outs with Comcast internet. I keep emailing him to suggest he have Storm Cloud Media install a microwave STL. Or maybe they could ship Storm Clouds' Marti transmitter on 170.15 MHz that they used for the old Buick Open coverage down to Nashville, Johnny Cashville.

Thanks for the shout out, Mr. Lewis!

[SixPlusOne]

Thursday, September 2, 2021 - I am less than 4 miles from the WPON-WCXI transmitter site. With a signal strength meter included in my radio I detect not even a carrier today. WPON is loud and clear.

[Kennelly Heaviside]

I made a point to turn off several electronic noisemakers to measure WPON 1460 FI on the FIM-41. 30 miles ENE, it was 150 microvolts per meter. This is just a small fraction of the M-3 Map prediction. This is in the maximum of the major lobe.

[MWmetalhead]

Your experience is similar to my own.

I live probably 16 or 17 miles due east of their site. WPON's daytime reception stinks. Comes in fair-to-mediocre in the car (not great by any stretch); barely audible on most indoor receivers.

Reception does improve rapidly by the time one reaches Orchard Lake Rd.