Posted by Jeremy Andrews on April 26, 2013 at 03:04:06:
In Reply to: Re: Re: WISN off air posted by jigga on April 25, 2013 at 20:02:59:
The problem I have here was the fact that this was posted around 4 in the afternoon. That isn't sign off time for this area.
When I was maybe 12 I used to sit outside and listen for all the pattern changes. I was a geek then too.
WTMJ simply dropped carrier and came back up when it would do it's power drop and pattern change. I wouldn't notice any difference afterwards. The first time I heard it happen was during a Packers game, I figured it was just a short transmitter problem. The whole power drop last about a second. Off...On.
WISN, having 9 towers and a very highly directional signal at night seemed a little more complicated. It would drop (I'd hear other stations mixing in), come back up for a few seconds with a fainter signal, drop again, and come back up with the night power.
WEMP (now WSSP) changed pattern in a similar fashion to WTMJ. Just off and right back on.
I'm about 14 miles from the WTMJ site. It's just north of the Kenosha/Racine County border in Union Grove. At night, there's 3 areas it nulls. SW, SE, NE, NW. Depending on what part of town I'm on, the station can sometimes sound distorted like it's hitting the skywave. In reality it's just halfway between it's null and regular coverage.
WISN is more complicated at night. Their tower site is in Racine County, just a little further north from the WTMJ site. They have if I'm not mistaken 3 other 1130s they have to protect.
There's a sharp null to the east to protect Detroit. People in Racine often complain about not being able to hear WISN at night.
For Kenosha, the null sort of "lets go" and allows the station to be listenable here at night, with plenty of interference from the other stations.
It also has an even sharper null NW to protect Minneapolis. A large part of Waukesha County probably can't even get the station at night. There's also a less extreme SW null to protect Louisiana.
WOKY has several nulls protecting other 920s. I remember when they had transmitter damage from a storm in 1998, they were running on a ND pattern. I was able to get the signal here just fine. But after they fixed it, the directional pattern went back to normal. There's a sharp null which basically makes it seem like the station signed off the air in Kenosha at night. It's a very distinct null too. I can map it out.
For anybody familiar with Kenosha, the null starts at I-94 and by the time you hit 32 (Green Bay Road) it's completely gone. The null lets loose once you hit downtown Kenosha near Lake Michigan and you're able to hear it a little better.
In western and central Kenosha County (Paddock Lake) you can get the signal for WOKY almost perfect.
I haven't tried it much in Racine, but it's a tad better there, mostly because it's a little closer. However, it's still hard.
When skywave conditions are a little clearer, you can make out WOKY here at night, but that's rare. A Canadian AM and the AM in Indiana they are protecting pretty much own the frequency at night.