[BC] Day/night separated sites

[Wayne]

All pretty much true, Paul, I did the engineering for the upgrade to 50 KW 
and the current 500' tower.  At the time the tower height was limited due to 
the "Restricted Training Area," left over from WWII and Lee Field, just to 
the south of the Orange Park Site.

The Orange Park sit was not an indiscriminate choice, many months of field 
strength readings went into the choice for that site, which may have been 
the first use of the reciprocity theorem.

D. Wayne Woollard
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Christensen" <attorney at broadcast.net>
To: "Broadcast Radio Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 6:30 AM
Subject: Re: [BC] Day/night separated sites


>> WAPE was very popular with the kids all along the beaches even as far 
>> north
>> as Myrtle Beach, SC and Hilton Head.  I remember in the mid 60's all the
>> kids radios on the beach were blasting the Big Ape.  At sunset, it 
>> vanished.
>
> The 690 kHz WAPE (now WOKV) night pattern is still highly directional and 
> uses 6 towers in a 3-over-3 broadside array.  The pattern is so tight that 
> when one ventures just to the north or south of the Duval County lines, 
> the signal almost completely disappears.    When I was there in the 
> mid-'90s, we installed a Harris DX-10 and a Phasetek phasor cabinet. 
> Dave Gorman and team had done some great work for us and Al Warmus 
> conducted the proof.  A CP is now pending for 25KW DA status.  It needs 
> it.
>
> Shortly after the DX-10 installation, I recall having a show-down with 
> Prism's leadership team.  After the removal of the home-made 50KW 
> "Brennan" transmitter, we had inherited an abused Continental 317C1 for 
> WAPE that simply could not be counted on when we switched from the 
> six-tower Baldwin site to the 50KW ND day-time site in the early AM hours. 
> More often than not, we would switch to the Continental 316 aux during the 
> day as repairs were made to the 317.  The 317C1 was consuming vast 
> engineering resources in both time and operating expense.  The DX-50 was 
> installed during the spring of '95 after making a "no brainer" cost v. 
> benefit analysis and presenting it to Prism.
>
> The 50 KW Orange Park site currently suffers from low radiation efficiency 
> and I suspect that the ground system has been compromised over the years. 
> The site is still located on Route 17, on the shores of the St. Johns 
> River. The water at that section of the river is brackish - roughly half 
> salt, half fresh-water.  Moreover, the tower height is 125-degrees, and 
> just does not have the improved gain and vertical radiation profile that a 
> 190 degree radiator offers.  We had pushed for a tower upgrade in the 
> mid-'90s, but AM revenues could not justify the cap-x improvement.  Today, 
> it would be nearly impossible to upgrade for many reasons.
>
> There are endless stories of the former home-made 50 KW Brennen 
> transmitter. Anyone fortunate enough to have witnessed that transmitter in 
> operation will never forget it.  The water-cooled walk-in transmitter, 
> cooling ponds and pumping system certainly rivals the WLW transmitter site 
> in terms of its uniqueness.
>
> In its heyday, WAPE was quite the party station.  In the '60s, a swimming 
> pool and water slide occupied the front area of the studio property and 
> was eventually filled in due to the obvious liability issues.  I had never 
> confirmed this legend, but others before me indicated that at one time, 
> the outside pool extended into the inner station lobby.  The legend seems 
> incredible, but based on other mysterious designs of the 
> studio/transmitter building, the legend is certainly plausible.  I 
> wouldn't be surprised if Dave Hultsman was there when the cement was 
> poured.
>
> Paul
>
>
> ====================================
> Paul Christensen, CPBE, CBNT
> LAW OFFICE OF PAUL B. CHRISTENSEN, P.A.
> 3749 Southern Hills,  Jacksonville, Florida 32225
> Office: (904) 379-7802   Facsimile: (904) 212-0050
> pchristensen at ieee.org
>
>
>
>
>
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