[BC] Re: Engineering Advice

[Glen Kippel]

 On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 8:09 AM, Mike McCarthy <Towers at mre.com> wrote:

> The conditions and results can and will vary by location, terrain, and a
> host of other factors which are generally unique to a site. So spacing is a
> factor to be considered.
>
> -----------

Yes, absolutely!  As I have said here before, there is just too much at
stake to use a "one size fits all" approach to the number of bays, beam
tilt, null-fill and all the other parameters involved in an FM antenna
installation.  For instance, on our sites here on Edom Hill north of Palm
Springs, I see no reason to blast any power down the side of the hill (OK --
it's 1600 feet high so you easterners would call it a "mountain") and have
it ricochet off out of phase with the main lobe.  I didn't worry about such
trifles at sites in the flat San Joaquin Valley.  Although I will do some
preliminary calculations, I wouldn't proceed without having them vetted by
someone from Hammett & Edison, Hatfield & Dawson or similar consulting
engineering firm.  That's money well invested.

Of course, "one size fits all" approaches to programming don't work well
either, as most of us here know also.