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WWVA

secondchoice said:
TomT said:
Guyed. Self supporters look nice, but guyed towers might have survived the straight line winds that took down the old towers.

They were surveying this week.
Click to expand...
I have always heard that five eights wave length is a good practical physical height for AM towers if you can not afford a full wavelength tower.
Click to expand...
I've always heard that 5/8 wave towers give the maximum ground wave, with a full wave tower being less efficient (and more costly) than a full wave.
 
How is the tower replacement project going @ WWVA? I assume they will be guyed. Will they be the same height? This might be a chance to rework WWVA’s pattern using only two towers. I have always been fascinated by directional systems. The wildest one I ever saw was the “old” WFLI Lookout Mountain’s array right up against a mountain side. WFLI’s daytime power is 50KW and has to protect 1070 in Birmingham less than 140 miles away. WFLI use to have a water cooled transmitter. The station had a major overhaul after it went Gospel sometime in the 80’s. I had a friend who worked there in early 1970’s and he claimed that they had five or six towers including “passive” blockers. An engineer stayed in a trailer on site and it was a “1 %” critical pattern that required a 1st class license to sign the transmitter log. WFLI had the best signal of any Chattanooga AM during the day. WFLI’s and “The Big Ape” 690 in Jacksonville Florida histories were intertwined.
 
That would explain why all of a sudden they are barely audible in Pittsburgh.
They must have cranked down the juice while a crew is working nearby.
 
They are once again putting a nice signal into my part of Pittsburgh.
Far better at 25kW with no IBOC than 50 and buzzing.
 
I don't know if they are back to full power but they were coming in strong this morning here in East Tenn about 8am.
 
Just curious what the current status of WWVA is. Can still get a fairly decent daytime signal
in Pittsburgh. However, at night they are being absolutely blown away by a music station from
central Mexico. I am guessing that means they are not back to 100% yet.
 
The best thing about the WWVA towers being down is that they're no longer transmitting that miserable digital radio.
 
If the IBOC is MIA, let's hope it takes several years to restore the regular system.
 
The weather might be slowing them down, but they should have the towers back up by now. It is amazing how fast a cell tower can go up. These towers are taller but do not have the wind load and wiring at the top like a cellular antenna. My guess is the ATUs, phasing cabinet or something was damaged might have to be “custom” build.
 
I'm 30 miles south of Indianapolis and I can hear just enough of WWVA during the day to identify it. Danville,KY on 1170 is a little stronger here than WWVA. Usually WLBH from Mattoon,IL is the only thing I hear on 1170, but they have a habit of being off the air for days at a time, but they always turn it back on Saturday morning at 8:20AM, just in time for the only paid program they carry each week. WLBH is a joke, but good for DXers.
 
They've filed for extension of their temporary authority, here's the update in their app.:

"WE HAVE MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS AND THE NEW TOWERS HAVE BEEN ERECTED. WORK CONTINUES TO FINISH RECONSTRUCTING THE SAMPLE SYSTEM, MODIFY THE PHASING AND TUNING NETWORKS AND PERFORM A PROOF OF PERFORMANCE."

Warmer weather will help.
 
they are once again easily audible during the day in Pittsburgh, so I presume they
are done with them.
 
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