[GreenKeys] 'CFH' Transmitters..?

[Richard Knoppow]

    AM broadcasting in North America at least has been deregulated to 
death. Part of the idea was to make room for more stations but obviously 
most can't make enough money to make business sense. Nearly all stations 
now operate 24/7 and in Los Angeles many can't be heard clearly in 
Orange County fifty miles away because of co-channel interference which 
appears as slow fading. In the recent past three stations have 
co-located their transmitters because the original sites were worth more 
money as land than the whole station was worth. The latest is KABC, the 
ABC O/O who moved from their long time site near Culver City to another 
site not too far away. There was some loss of coverage but the FCC 
allowed some increase in power. There is a company who specializes in 
this using a mathematical method called the method of moments to 
calculate the necessary networks to obtain the necessary directional 
patterns regardless of the tower arrangement.
     The real reason no one is listening to AM is that there is nothing 
to listen to.
     I am another BTW who misses the CBC on short wave and, of course, 
the BBC. CBC in Sackville was extremely strong here and also did some 
relaying for the BBC. Another BTW, I think I was in my late teens before 
finding out that the song I learned as "My Country Tis of Thee" was 
actually "God Save The Queen/King".

On 7/26/2017 11:40 AM, Kenneth Gartland wrote:
> Hi Duncan and all!
> 
> I believe CFH is gone now...
> Apparently not been active for a year or more...
> 
> Your referrence, (Duncan), to the CBC antenna farm
> brings back a lot of memories...
> 
> Back in the day when I first worked as a Teletype
> trainee in Saint John, NB, I routinely passed this
> immense antenna​ installation every trip back to
> Nova Scotia, where I was still living...
> 
> I always marvelled at the complexity of this place
> where they operated the CBC's international short
> wave service...
> 
> They had antennas for every short wave band in use
> at the time...
> 
> There was also a very large shortwave monitoring
> station located in this complex...
> 
> It was an ideal location for good propagation
> to the sky, plus excellent grounding due to extensive
> marsh lands...
> 
> Sadly, it closed down a few years back (To save costs?)...
> Canada has joined the ranks of countries with no
> international broadcasters...
> 
>   I enjoyed Jeff's comments on his "Powerhouse" local
> AM station running on the graveyard frequency​ (1430khz)
> low power output...
> 
> Our local AM station CFAB, operated on 1450khz with,
> wait for it, 250 watts daytime, 100 watts nite...
> 
> After 9pm on any nite, it cud not be heard beyond
> about three miles, due to interference from other
> low power stations using this graveyard frequency...
> 
> This station is still on the air, but runs an incredible
> 1,000 watts, day and night 24hr operation
> 
> As late as 1965, it wud shut down at midnight after
> playing "God save the Queen"...A few seconds later,
> the carrier wud be dropped, and then I cud DX
> this channel...
> 
> Usually, I am more Teletype oriented, but thot some
> of you mite have enjoyed reading this!
> 
> Tks for listening, I'll drop my carrier now!
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Ken
> VE3-HMQ
> i-Telex 61663
> 


-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL