[BC] WTOP

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 07/09/2005 9:33:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
stanleybadams at yahoo.com writes:

 > Great station, poor signal

Come up here to CT, and listen at night... ain't nothing "poor" about it, up
this way!

I've seen it peak as high as 20mv/m (in winter) on the FIM! Average peaks are
usually around 10, but the signal seldom dips below a couple of mv,
especially in winter. Even now, it's perfectly listenable with a good 
signal. (I don't
have the FIM or I'd give you the mv reading.)

I live about 12 "air miles" from WFIF, within the main lobe, and I get the
station with 7mv here. WTOP frequently obliterates us in the winter mornings,
and again around sunset... even before we drop power. Once we go ftom 5K to 
500,
we're pretty much gone in this area. I have even heard WTOP's audio (faintly)
in the air monitor at WFIF at night, when we're off the air. Our air monitor
feed comes from the Mod Monitor, which is fed directly by the transmitter's RF
sample. (We're co-located. 3-tower DA, deep null toward WTOP.) That means
there's a fair amount of their signal coming back up the line!

I have been up & down the East Coast, ME to FL, and I have heard WTOP loud
and clear at night, everywhere. If there was a feasable, practical way to keep
that skywave *down*, WTOP would probably do a whole lot better in their local
area. After all, what do us New Englanders (or Floridians) care about traffic
on the Beltway?

Willie...