99X Translator At 93.7 Isn't Broadcasting 99X

Almost a week ago, I was going up & down the dial, and I was listening to the W229AG translator at 93.7 FM in Sandy Plains on top of Sweat Mountain. It's supposed to be broadcasting the simulcast of 99X because Cumulus bought it from Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID. Apparently, the translator isn't broadcasting 99X. Instead, it's broadcasting 90.7 NewLife FM WMVV in Griffin. I don't know why. NewLife.fm doesn't even mention that they own the translator. Neither does the translator info page at Radio-Locator. Thought I'd throw that info along. For anyone who lives around the Dallas-Hiram-Powder Springs area, would someone please listen to the W221CG translator at 92.1 FM to hear what it's broadcasting? Once you know, you are welcome to post below in this thread. For anyone else, you're welcome to post your comments as well. Thank you.

93.7 will soon be the FM home of
680 the Fan.

Is it more cost effective to use a translator and simulcast rather than going with more power? I've seen a few stations do that up in the NE...or can they even use the same call letters on different frequencies?

agentUrge said:

Is it more cost effective to use a translator and simulcast rather than going with more power? I've seen a few stations do that up in the NE...or can they even use the same call letters on different frequencies?

Click to expand...

"More power" is easier said than done. Assuming this translator starts simuling 680 The Fan...

Here is what WCNN's coverage area looks like in the daytime:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Not bad--and an FCC-max 50kW. A slight null to the NE protects another station on 680 in NC (Hi Art!)

But, at night:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCNN&service=AM&status=L&hours=N
Yuck! Down to 10kW of power and a hard null to the NE to protect that NC station. In the process, Gwinnett, Forsyth, and even parts of Cobb get terrible coverage.

Now, let's look at that translator:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=W229AG&service=FX&status=L&hours=U
Now you've picked back up all of Cobb, most of Gwinnett except Chateau Elan, and most of Forsyth, since FM stations run the same power 24 hours a day. Plus, on FM, you get no interference from out of town stations at night, plus the other benefits of FM (like higher fidelity and reduced RFI).

Now, about the call letters. You can't use the same calls on different frequencies. Hence, FM stations are suffixed with "-FM" as part of their official calls when they share calls with an AM station. Obviously, this prevents two FM stations from using the same calls, period. Some FM simul pairs use similar pairs of calls--two that come to mind are the old Y106-Y104 pair (WYAY and WYAI), and the Viva 105.7/105.1 pair (WWVA and WVWA).

Furthermore, translators have to use special calls-W(or K)xxxAA, where xxx is the "channel number" of the FM frequency (88.1=201, 88.3=202, etc.), and AA is a sequential alpha code starting AA, AB, AC...AZ, BA, BB, and so on to ZZ.

WCNN to me has amazing coverage in the day., but typical with all of the bigger AM stations they always have to power down or change patterns to protect much smaller market stations??? Who really cares, but why does 640 have to go so low, can they be at least 5 or 10 k at night>???

According to Radio-Locator, 93.7 is on the same tower on Shepherds Lane as 99.7 and not on Sweat Mountain.

BRENT said:

WCNN to me has amazing coverage in the day., but typical with all of the bigger AM stations they always have to power down or change patterns to protect much smaller market stations??? Who really cares, but why does 640 have to go so low, can they be at least 5 or 10 k at night>???

Click to expand...

640 is a clear channel. There is CBN, a Canadian class A clear, (or whatever they call them in the Great White North), and a Cuban station, on 640. KFI out of LA is also a class A clear on 640 but is far enough away to not be an issue.

The Cuban station is not really the issue for WGST; there are also two stations in Florida on 640, WVLG and WMEN. WMEN (Boca Raton) has a CP for 50k day/25k night, and STA for 50k night. WMEN gets to broadcast using these powerful (but very tight) directional signals at night because of interference from Cuba. WVLG is near the northern terminus of the Florida Pike and is only about 800-900W, but they get that power 24 hours a day.

The fact that they have to protect signals to the north AND the south makes it hard if not impossible to go directional. The obvious solution to protect CBN and KFI, go west/north/northwest of town and throw a directional signal southeasterly, is stymied by the two Florida stations.