[78-L] Radio blues

[Thatcher Graham]

With all due respect to Mr. VBarr.  100 miles is off by about 70%. A 30 mile protected contour is closer to "normal" and there are many stations with much less due to short spaceing etc. You'd be lucky to get 100 miles over the open ocean even with a Class C FM license. That's why FM was initially maligned as a local service in the 1950s. 

-- 
Thatcher Graham
Senior Field Engineer
Mediaguide




DAVID BURNHAM wrote:
> WQXR went up the dial to 1560FM,  a 3 candlepower station which does not 
> reach my location a mere 25 miles from NYC ...
>
> Al Simmons
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> I'm rarely in NYC but surely you mean 1560AM.
>
> 740 AM did reach a huge area - I was once heading along the south shore of Lake 
> Superior from Sault Ste. Marie and I was able to listen to CBC 740, (this was in 
> the mid 60s).  I was surprised last year when, while driving between Alabama and 
> Mississippi I was able to listen to CFRB.  On the other hand, quite often in 
> much closer Parry Sound at night, WINZ in New York City, (which has the same 
> frequency as CFRB), obliterates the signal from CFRB.
>
> CBC obviously opted to convert Radio 1 in the Toronto area, (and other areas), 
> from AM to FM because of the improved audio quality.  When they first did it, 
> they were broadcasting in Stereo since a number of Radio 2 music shows, (Mostly 
> Music, Clyde Gilmour, Rick Philips etc.), were repeated on Radio 1.  However one 
> of the mis-guided VPs determined that stereo broadcasts don't have the same 
> coverage as mono broadcasts so the Stereo was dropped.  I tried to have him 
> re-think that reasoning since while I was travelling home from Kitchener one 
> night, I had no problem picking up Radio 2 in Stereo but couldn't get Radio 1 in 
> mono at all.  I think what happens is that when the signal gets weak, the stereo 
> sub-carrier is lost and the sound reverts to mono.  
>
> But someone, I think it was Mr. Barr, mentioned that FM signals have a coverage 
> of 100 miles, (160 kms);  I think that's rather generous.  FM signals travel 
> straight, like line of sight, so once you've gone about 50 miles, the curvature 
> of the earth masks the signal, (of course cable companies can build large towers 
> in high altitude locations to nab some of the space-bound signal).  In southern 
> Ontario, if you're driving up the 400, Toronto FM stations abruptly get garbled 
> shortly after you pass Barrie.
>
> db
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