telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (06/23/89)
Indiana Bell service in the northeast section of Hammond, IN has gone to hell, but the telco says its not their fault, and they are trying to work with the people involved to correct the problem. For instance, consider the case of Steve Gescheidler, a resident of north Hammond, living just a few blocks from the Illinois/Indiana state line: he shares a party line with Jesus. When he picks up his telephone, a voice will often be on the wire reading from Ephesians, or bellowing at him to repent before he Burns In Hell forever. Sometimes the voice is trying to sell him spiritually enlightening audio tapes -- Visa and MasterCard accepted, of course. His neighbor around the corner, Judy Maruszczak, has a heavenly instrument also: When she tries to make a phone call, it will often times be drowned out by hand-clapping gospel music. Her VCR also likes to preach to her. The Hammond legal firm of Efron and Efron owns a pious dictaphone machine. When the secretary is in the midst of transcribing legalese, threats of fire and brimstone suddenly are heard on the tape. In addition, their phone system is electronic, and when they put calls on hold, as often as not a few seconds later the hold is broken and the call is lost. Several times per day the phone will ring, and no one is on the line at all. Linda Reynolds, another resident in the area said her television, her VCR and her cordless phone all began urging her down the righteous path last fall. She said sometimes at night the cordless phone begins ringing by itself, and going off hook for no reason, tying up their wire-line. Nine year old Tommy Kotul learned how to find salvation while he was trying to play 'Sports Baseball', an Atari game cartridge. He also said that one day in school, a choir started singing hymns over the school's public address system, which is in the form of speakerphones connected to the intercom phone on each teacher's desk. Although the sanctified interference shows up in the damndedest ways, on all sorts of electronic gizmos, it invariably is on the phone lines of the good (and presumably by now, God-fearing) residents of North Hammond, an Indiana community which straddles the Illinois state line with the communities of Burnham and Calumet City, Illinois to the south and west, and Chicago at it's northwest tip on the state line. So people began asking Indiana Bell, "what the heck is this, anyway?"... WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc....that's what it is.... this religious station, operating at 92.3 on the dial, licensed in Hammond, IN, with transmitter facilities in Burnham, IL is the culprit. Operating with an antenna height of 500 feet, and 50,000 watts of radiated power, the folks at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. are literally *saturating* a two mile area around the northern end of the Indiana/Illinois state line, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Gescheidler lives about four blocks from WYCA's transmitter. He first began noticing the sanctified interference last fall, and it became louder and louder as the months went on, always on his end. "It seems like when I am in the middle of an important conversation, some preacher always comes on and tells me I'm going to Hell," he said, adding that the phone lines had already gone to hell, and no one seemed to give a damn about it. After complaining several times to Indiana Bell, Gescheidler and his neighbors complained to the Federal Communications Commission, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission, and finally to the radio station itself. No one, he realized, least of all the radio station, was willing to take any responsibility for the problem. WYCA isn't breaking any broadcasting rules according to Paul Gomell, an FCC Chicago office technician whose duties include periodic examination of WYCA's equipment. "The home equipment is probably not adequately filtered," he said. "The problem has nothing to do with Indiana Bell's equipment," said Delores Steur-Wagner, Indiana Bell's community affairs manager for Hammond. "If there are complaints, they should go to the FCC." Chris Alexander, Dallas-based Vice President-Engineering for WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters parent corporation said, "The signal is so strong, you expect this kind of interference in devices that are not well-shielded. We try to advise people as best we can, and we have worked closely with Indiana Bell and Illinois Bell to resolve complaints." In November, 1986, the station raised its antenna to 500 feet from 400 feet, and increased its power from 30,000 to 50,000 watts, Alexander said. "We made these changes only after receiving permission to do so from the Federal Communications Commission." Alexander said that this change in power and antenna height created a so-called 'blanketing area' -- an area of about 1.7 miles in any direction of the transmitter and antenna -- where the signal is so strong and so permeating, it is literally everywhere, in everything. "Indeed this is the case," said one neighbor five blocks from the site. "I have gone for early morning walks in the open field where the antenna is constructed. In the crisp, early morning air, you can almost feel the signal; smell that ozone; sense the corona." Alexander said, "We operate completely within the law. We observe all FCC regulations at all times." He noted that one condition for the change in antenna height and power output being granted by the Commission was that WYCA was ordered to assume responsibility for correcting certain types of radio interference in an area 1.7 miles in any direction of the station for a period of *one year* afterward. Alexander said during that time they worked closely with the telcos involved and "....anyone who complained about interference was given free of charge the filtering devices they needed...some of our people helped install them....just what the FCC said we had to do, we did it, in the geographic area required, for the length of time required...." Alexander noted one of the first complaints about the increased power came when prosecutors in a federal drug trial in Hammond tried to play wiretap evidence for the jury: instead, the tape recorder offered up hymns and homilies. Paul Gomell of the FCC noted that they have received complaints about the station relating to answering machines, speed-dialing equipment, cordless phones, cheapie phones, hold buttons, Touch-Tone service, and VCR's. These appurtenances and others -- like the preaching Atari game -- lend to the appearance that God is everywhere, at least in Hammond. One Indiana Bell service representative spoke, on the condition that she could remain nameless, saying that the telco had handled over 130 WYCA- related problems in the past year, but Bell spokeswoman Steur-Wagner said the company does not keep track of such things and she had no way of confirming this report. The next step to reduce the interference -- with no guarentees that it will completely end -- is to have all the interior phone wire shielded in steel casings, said Tim Timmons, Indiana Bell's regional maintainence manager for northern Indiana, "...plus of course have good filtering where the phone lines come into the building..." "What a deal!", said Gescheidler. He recently priced the job at $300 per phone from an independent contractor. "Indiana Bell said *maybe* they could do it a little cheaper for us...but they say it is not their obligation to resolve the problem any further." He mentioned that, "...one day some guy from WYCA came here with a phone man; they had some cheapie looking filter they plugged in...it didn't seem to do any good." Although the parent corporation of WYCA in Dallas may have good public relations, the neighborhood says local staff at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. isn't at all concerned any longer. "They have heard so many complaints I guess they quit listening to them any longer," said a neighbor. "When I called one day -- one day when it seemed like they were much louder than usual -- and asked them in a nice way couldn't they modulate their signal a little better, a lady there told me I was being blasphemous. She told me it was anti-religious to complain. She said I should be thankful that I was able to hear the Word of God, and she hoped I would someday realize I would Burn In Hell without accepting Jesus as my Savior. That's the last time I bothered calling *them* to complain. Now the FCC and Indiana Bell say *they* can't do any more either?" No madame, they cannot. As Chris Alexander, VP-Engineering has explained time and again when asked, the Corporation follows all FCC rules at all times. "We ALWAYS do exactly what the government tells us to do," he said. And Indiana Bell brings the wire to the drop by your house. They say the line is as clean as it can be at that point. You do the rest. An old folk-prayer says, "My Lord....nothing is going to happen that You and I can't handle together. Amen." But one can have too much togetherness, as the residents of North Hammond will attest. Said Steve Gescheidler, "On the radio, they are praying for me. Meanwhile, I am praying for a phone line I can talk on without being disrupted by the choir and the organist." Radio Station WYCA-FM Studios and Executive Offices 6336 Calumet Avenue Hammond, IN 46301 92.3 on FM dial throughout northern Illinois and northern Indiana.
goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) (06/23/89)
That's a great story, but either it's a put-on, or the facts don't sound
quite right. (Marvelous writing, though. Is our moderator a journalist
by trade?)
Had WYCA been an AM station, then it would have been perfectly
believable. Indeed, "blanketing" by AM transmitters is a common
problem. I grew up about 3 miles from the WABC-AM transmitter (which is
in Lodi, NJ) whose 50kw 770 kHz signal had a habit of getting into
everything, including the phone. People who live within blanket zones
routinely pick up transmissions on everything from telephones to dental
fillings. It's the "crystal set" phenomenon: Any nonlinear element
will rectify the signal, "detecting" AM transmissions, whose transmitted
power varies (in the time domain) in accordance with the modulation.
In fact, I'm guilty of it myself. I have my ham radio antenna strung in
the attic, and when I use a mere 100 watts of single-sideband on the HF
shortwave bands, our telephone is clobbered. Of course, the antenna
comes within 15 feet of the inside phone wire. (Sticking a "split bead"
ferrite inductor on the phone wire didn't solve it, but may help a
little; you can buy them at Radio Shack.)
But an FM station? Not so fast. FM transmitters maintain a constant
amplitude, so if you "detect" them with a simple rectifier, you won't
get anything but perhaps a steady DC voltage. (It'll light a
fluorescent tube, though, if you're close enough.) Telephones won't
detect FM the way they detect AM. I've noticed a faint hum on phone
lines caused by FM blanketing, but not the actual modulation.
Perhaps WYCA is on AM too. In any case, raising the FM tower would
actually lessen blanketing, since the "pancake" pattern of an FM antenna
points very little signal downwards.
fred (k1io)
[Moderator's Note: Well.....:).....I have been 'guilty of it' myself a few
times with CB radios and the like. The story was NOT a put-on. And I quite
agree with your assessment that FM signals should not operate in the manner
described in the story.
In fact, people in North Hammond have used your same argument with the FCC:
to wit, if WYCA is running so legally all the time, how *possibly* could
their signal be so all pervasive, heard everywhere including via my gold
fillings, etc. The answer has never been forthcoming.
WYCA does *not* have an AM operation. They are strictly FM, and have been
since they first went on the air about thirty years ago. I can recall as
far back as the middle seventies people complaining about abuse of the
airwaves by WYCA. The [Hammond Times] remarked on it occassionally a number
of years ago, when the station was in its early days, and sharing studio
space with WJOB, an independent AM station at 1230 kc in Hammond.
This is a group of people, who in their early days, when FM receivers were
not as common as they are now, told their listeners -- and I quote -- "if
you don't have an FM radio, you can *still* listen to us: just turn on
your television set and tune it as far above Channel 6 as you can; you will
probably hear us." In those days they routinely splattered all over their
frequency neighbors and could have cared less.
Calls to their studio in those days got you an automatic reply: "We operate
in accordance with FCC regulations. Thank you for calling. Goodbye."
The trouble stopped around 1980 for several years while their antenna was
still in South Hammond in the lot behind their studio on Calumet Avenue.
They bought the Burnham, IL location in 1981-82 sometime, and still there
was no trouble. Once the FCC got off their case a couple years ago, all
of a sudden the complaints started coming in again.
You tell me. I know the people in North Hammond -- at least the ones who
hate WYCA -- would be eternally grateful if *someone* could convince the
FCC that there were problems. When I had my little pocket size transistor
radio out there, within maybe two blocks no matter *where* I tuned on the
dial all I got was WYCA. There is something wrong. Fred, maybe you can
intervene. I would *love* to see WYCA get their license yanked. PT]rsk@ncar.ucar.edu (Rich Kulawiec) (06/25/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0211m07@vector.dallas.tx.us> goldstein@delni.enet.dec. com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: >That's a great story, but either it's a put-on, or the facts don't sound >quite right. I can assure you that it's true. I lived in West Lafayette, Indiana for six years, and frequently drove through their (WYCA's) area of coverage on my way to Chicago. When using a cheap FM converter in the car, I could pick them up anywhere from 92 to 94 FM; when I later got a nicer FM radio (with pretty good selectivity) I *still* found them all over the dial. Their signal was strong enough that it overpowered WXRT-FM (93) halfway up the Dan Ryan on the south side of Chicago! Cheers, Rich [Moderator's Note: I know, I know! One simply has to *be here*, and listen to WYCA-FM to realize how extremely obnoxious they are. Their religion does *not* enter the discussion; but their disregard for, or very narrow compliance with FCC regs is the issue. PT]
mihalo@chinet.chi.il.us (William Mihalo) (06/26/89)
Since I live near this radio station, but far enough away not to be
affected by it, I thought I'd make some comments.
First, the areas that appear to be affected include North Hammond
and parts of the downtown area (there really isn't much left of
downtown Hammond) which includes the Hammond Times. Earlier this year
the Hammond Times published a series of articles criticizing a
fundamentalist Christian church with a number of things including
financial misconduct. It wouldn't surprise me if the interference
is aimed at the Hammond Times.
Second, the lack of interest on the part of the FCC in this area
doesn't surprise me. The Calumet Region, as this part of the state
is called, includes the Gary-Hammond-East Chicago area and the
surrounding suburbs. This part of Indiana is quite different politically
and economically from the rest of Indiana. The situation is analogous
to the Chicago/Downstate Illinois rift across the border. Consequently,
few people in downstate Indiana would seem concerned about such a problem.
Third, Indiana Bell has never expressed much interest in this part of the
state anyway. Illinois Bell ran the telephone company in Northwest Indiana
for years. In the 1970's the operation of the telephone circuits was turned
over to Indiana Bell, which has its headquarters in Indianapolis. Since
divestiture, Indiana Bell has a lock on telephone calls placed to nearby
communities (for example I live about a mile from Chicago) but must
use Indiana Bell and pay Indiana Bell's tariffs for phone calls that
terminate nearby. Alternate long distance carriers are blocked since they
can't kick in unless I make a phone call that exceeds a certain distance.
The end result of this is that its cheaper for me to call Columbus, Ohio
than it is to place a long distance phone call to Chicago. If you complain
to Indiana Bell about the problem they just laugh.
Finally, there is a Chicago rock radio station that has its frequency
near WYCA. Although I'm not affected by the blanketing that is going
on in North Hammond, I cannot tune in this particular station. If I try to
tune it in, I'll hear the station and WYCA at the same time.
These are just a few comments that might enlighten why this situation is
occurring. I don't anticipate a resolution of this problem for a
>long< time.
Bill Mihalo
uucp: att!chinet!mihalo
or
att!osu-cis!david!calumet!wem
[Moderator's Note: Your notes are generally correct. Hammond and Whiting
used to be *great* towns thirty years ago; but after Gary Works/US Steel and
three-quarters of Whiting Refinery/Amoco closed up shop, everything went
bust. There is no downtown Hammond anymore. Just boarded up storefronts.
All that is left downtown is the Hammond Times, the public business office
for Northern Indiana Public Service Company; and of course Jack Hyles' First
Baptist Church. The Hammond Times has been on his case for several years
regards financial misconduct in the same way the Charlotte (NC) Observer
kept hammering on Jimmy Bakker.
First Baptist (or at least Dr. Hyles) has some financial interest in WYCA,
but I don't know how much. You are correct about Indiana Bell. Illinois
Bell had the Hammond/Whiting/East Chicago exchanges for years, and they
were more than pleased to pull out and turn it over to Indiana Bell several
years ago when the area dried up financially. Is the 219-931/932/933 central
office still on Fayette Street, across the street from the Hammond Times?
Illinois Bell also had a business office there; that office was closed many
years ago. Indiana Bell took the territory over grudgingly; they did it
through some slight of hand with Illinois Bell; I never have figured out
why.
The Chicago Tribune has started breathing hard on WYCA, just as they have
been doing to the Reverend Doctor Hyles for about a year now. The FCC may
be forced to intervene and stop WYCA from jamming all the other stations
in the south suburban area. I don't think WYCA is acting purely out of spite
to the Hammond Times though; the station was pulling the same kind of stuff
in the early seventies as well. *Then* the FCC made them cool it. This time
the FCC has backed off for whatever reason.
Fred Goldstein, where are you? Wanna start a good fight with the FCC in
Chicago? I only wish you were here to hear it yourself, and become a
'true believer'! PT]desnoyer@apple.com (Peter Desnoyers) (06/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0211m07@vector.dallas.tx.us> goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: > Any nonlinear element > will rectify the signal, "detecting" AM transmissions, whose transmitted > power varies (in the time domain) in accordance with the modulation. > [...] > But an FM station? Not so fast. FM transmitters maintain a constant > amplitude, so if you "detect" them with a simple rectifier, you won't > get anything but perhaps a steady DC voltage. Not so fast again - to detect AM you only need a non-linear element; to detect FM you need a non-linear element combined with a frequency response that is not flat at the frequency being detected. Seeing as telephony equipment is designed for audio frequencies, it should have a pretty steep roll-off at 100MHz. The oxide on any connector will provide a small non-linearity, and the high field strength should make up for the huge inefficiencies involved. (I once had a poorly shielded turntable that would receive WBCN in Boston from an MIT dorm - I know it was BCN because it would come in clear enough that you could hear the DJ. One of the connectors from the turntable had broken, and I had screwed up the shielding when I replaced it. Of course, there's a world of difference between interfering with a magnetic pick-up signal at 10-20 mV into 47k ohms and interfering with a telephone signal of perhaps 500-1000 mV into 600 ohms.) Peter Desnoyers Apple ATG (408) 974-4469
denber.wbst@xerox.com (06/27/89)
"But an FM station? Not so fast. FM transmitters maintain a constant amplitude, so if you "detect" them with a simple rectifier, you won't get anything but perhaps a steady DC voltage. " Uh, this wouldn't perhaps be slope detection, would it? Although the amplitude of the signal is constant, if you tune your AM radio right to the edge of the FM signal, you can pick up the change in amplitude caused by the frequency deviation at that point as the carrier is modulated. I've heard FM transmitters on AM radios. It isn't pretty, but it works. "if you don't have an FM radio, you can *still* listen to us: just turn on your television set and tune it as far above Channel 6 as you can..." The channel 6 sound carrier is at 87.75 MHz., or right at the bottom edge of the commercial FM band in the U.S., so this isn't too surprising (back in the days when you could still "tune" a TV set). Oddly enough, we get the Voice of the Lord at home on our phones too, from a nearby 10 KW AM station. They have a great ploy when you call them - "Well, our telephones are right *next* to the antenna, and *we* don't have any problems." There's only one theing more annoying than RFI - that's "music on hold". Yech! Listening to music over the phone is like listening to, to, well, music over the phone. And someone else's choice of music at that. Like maybe I don't *like* the E-Z listening version of "Stairway to Heaven". Maybe I'm *already* listening to something else on the radio. Give me a break. - Michel KB2BQ
john@decwrl.dec.com (John Higdon) (06/27/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0211m07@vector.dallas.tx.us>, goldstein@delni.enet. dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) writes: > [description of FM station being heard in all kinds of devices] > But an FM station? Not so fast. FM transmitters maintain a constant > amplitude, so if you "detect" them with a simple rectifier, you won't > get anything but perhaps a steady DC voltage. (It'll light a > fluorescent tube, though, if you're close enough.) Telephones won't > detect FM the way they detect AM. I've noticed a faint hum on phone > lines caused by FM blanketing, but not the actual modulation. FM can easily be heard on non-FM receiving devices by one of two methods. The first is called "slope detection" and depends on the device doing the detecting to have a slight frequency dependent characterisic. As the frequency changes with modulation, so does the voltage produced by detection and voila! you have audio detection of the signal. A more common occurance involves "synchronous amplitude modulation". If an FM transmitter is not perfectly tuned, its output (amplitude) will vary with normal modulation. The FCC requires broadcasters to maintain this AM component at least 50 db below carrier level, but even at that, given sufficient signal you will easily hear the sermon. From what I've read here, these people might have more synchronous AM than the FCC allows. In any event, I have frequently had to exorcise FM-induced audio out of telephone lines. Not uncommon at all. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.uucp | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
heller@lewis.crd.ge.com (Aaron Heller) (06/28/89)
Fred R. Goldstein writes: >That's a great story, but either it's a put-on, or the facts don't sound >quite right. ... Had WYCA been an AM station, then it would have been >perfectly believable. ... But an FM station? Not so fast. FM >transmitters maintain a constant amplitude, so if you "detect" them with >a simple rectifier, you won't get anything but perhaps a steady DC >voltage. Actually it is possible for an FM station's signal to be AM'ed as well, if the transmitter is mis-aligned. I have seen it happen and I think the circumstances may lend some insight to what may be the problem with WYCA. About 12 years ago, I was chief engineer of my college's radio station (WRPI, Troy, NY, 91.5 MHz, 10,000 watts ERP, 470 ft. HAAT). We would get about 2 or 3 RFI complaints a year almost invariably from someone who lived within a mile or so of our transmitter. These could always be handled by properly orienting their antenna or installing an inexpensive tunable RF trap. According to FCC R&Rs, an FM station can measure its power output in either of two ways: The direct method -- a watt meter installed in the transmission line as it leaves the transmitter; or the indirect method -- multiplying the input power to the final amplifier by an efficiency factor. Even though we determined the power output by the direct method I would still calculate the efficiency factor to monitor the aging of the final amplifier tube. This was usually about 65 percent (i.e. 65 percent of the power going into the final amplifier was coming out of the transmitter as RF and 35 percent as heat). Once, while studying the FCC R&Rs, I noticed that they said that the efficiency factor for indirect power calculation was a number determined by the transmitter's manufacturer. I looked it up for our transmitter, at that time a Gates FM-5H, and the manual said 50 percent. This meant that if we switched to the indirect method and used Gates' efficiency factor of 50 percent we would be legally underestimating our power output and actually running at 13 kW ERP. The next morning before sign-on I went out to the transmitter installed our newest final amplifier tube and spent about an hour adjusting the tuning of the transmitter to the highest efficiency I could and achieved an efficiency of 78 percent. Add to that the fact that you are actually allowed to operate at up to 105 percent of licensed power output and you get 16.4 kW -- more than a 2dB increase in signal strength. I patted myself on the back for improving our reception in fringe areas and headed back for campus. Later that afternoon, I stopped by the station and was told by the station manager that we had received about a dozen RFI reports since we had signed on. People were getting us all over the FM band, on their telephones and TV sets (this is before the days of home VCRs and video games). I drove back out to the transmitter site and retuned it to the old settings and reset the (true) power output to 10kW. I called as many of the people complaining of RFI that I could reach and confirmed that things were back to normal. The following Saturday morning I fed a tone into the control room board and headed out to the transmitter with a spectrum analyzer and 100MHz 'scope to see what was actually going on that would cause all of this interference. I returned the transmitter settings to those of earlier in the week and hooked everything up. On the 'scope I saw that the signal was being AM'ed at about 20 percent modulation with the tone from the studio as well as another 1 MHz wave. The spectrum analyzer showed spurious emissions up and down the band at 1 MHz spacing. I realized that in tuning the final stage for such a high efficiency also caused it to have a very narrow peaked response instead of the broader and flatter response it was supposed to have. This caused the AM'ing. I also figured that some instability caused that 1 MHz oscillation. The symptoms described in the WYCA case sound very similar to those I observed here. It would seem that their signal could use some serious scrutiny with an oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer. This could all be done without their cooperation from any site near their transmitter. If the AM'ing is severe enough you can actually see the signal strength meter on a receiver move in time to the audio. Aaron Heller (heller@crd.ge.com uunet!crdgw1!heller 518-387-5542)
goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) (06/28/89)
I think Aaron Heller has it right. Of course, his mention of WRPI
brings back memories... I was chief engineer of WSPN in Saratoga Springs
when we got the FM license (10 watts at the time) in 1974, and we were
on 91.1, vs. 91.5 for WRPI. Now WRPI was the most-listened-to station
on our campus at the time, so I wasn't really happy about going only
400 kHz away, but our consulting engineer noted that WRPI's protected
zone (60 dB above 1 microwatt per meter, per FCC rules Part 1 if I
recall) ended about 3 miles from our tower (high-rise dorm), so we
could freely clobber them. Had WRPI been (legally) 2 dB stronger,
they'd have prevented us from fitting in!
The reason FM broadcasting sounds so good (hi-fi, relatively) is because
it has a wide bandwidth. A signal is nominally 150 kHz wide. At 92
MHz, that's about .16% of the bandwidth. If you tune the transmitter
sharply enough (as Aaron Heller tried), it'll indeed probably be a bit
out of tune by the edges of the channel, causing the FM to have an AM
component. It's slope-tuning itself. And that's of course a flagrant
violation of FCC technical standards. If, just as a hypothesis, the
engineering dept. decided that they "answered to a higher authority"
and wanted to "spread the word" without regard for the FCC, then they'd
indeed tune for "maximum smoke".
BTW, under the terms of the Communications Act, licenses aren't permanent;
every renewal must be weighed equally against competing renewals for the
same frequency (i.e., applications for new construction specifying the
existing station's frequency). This caused two of Boston's big 3 network
TV stations to be reassigned! Flagrant violation of FCC standards could
weigh heavily in such an application, if somebody in Chicago wanted to
apply for a new station on 92.3...
fred
[disclaimer: opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission, etc.]cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB) (06/28/89)
Address Correction for WYCA Recent Telecom digest had 6336 Calumet Avenue, Hammond, IN 46301. Try 46324 zipcode. 46301 is for Beverly Shores, with PO in Porter County. [Moderator's Note: Thank you for the correction. PT]
gonzalez@bbn.com (06/30/89)
There used to be a radio station in West Orange, NJ that caused a similar problem. I don't remember their call sign, but they referred to their operation as "Inspirational Radio". They transmitted from one of the ridges of the Watchung mountain range, thus putting them well above nearby Newark and most of Manhattan. Car radios within several miles of the station would receive their broadcast, regardless of tuner setting. Several times a year, this same effect would occur even with fixed (home) radios at ranges of over 15 miles. This station operated on the FM band. We thought that their relative height and broadcast power were responsible for their intrusiion on neighboring allocations. Is it possible that radio stations operated by the chosen only operate legally when the FCC is around? -Jim.
bote@uunet.uu.net (John Boteler) (06/30/89)
I read the account of WYCA interference with interest, and then realized at the end of the article that we are talking about an FM station, not an AM station. Even with strong field strengths, it is difficult to demodulate an FM signal with just any old electronic device. More likely are the accounts of phones ringing and garage doors opening without Human intervention. Curiouser and curiouser.
dl@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (07/02/89)
> I read the account of WYCA interference with interest, and > then realized at the end of the article that we are talking > about an FM station, not an AM station. Now AM stations, that brings out the old WLW stories. WLW is the clear channel station in Cincinnati. Before the FCC cut them back to 50kw, they were rumored to run 500+. Farmers working on barbed wire fences heard them. (other farmers FELT them, when they grabbed the wire) Folks with metal roofs, too. Some poor folks with dental work were SURE they heard voices telling them to do things. Last I heard, WLW still has the old transmitter, just waiting for the rules to change again. -- Read my Lisp! No Gnu Faxes! {gatech!} wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM
thomas@cs.utexas.edu (Thomas Lapp) (07/07/89)
> Now AM stations, that brings out the old WLW stories. > WLW is the clear channel station in Cincinnati. Before > the FCC cut them back to 50kw, they were rumored to run > 500+. Farmers working on barbed wire fences heard them. I thought I saw somewhere that AM stations were limited to 50kW max in the US. I believe that shortwave stations are AM as well, and are permitted much higher powers. I would think that they would have the same effect near their multi-tower antennae. - tom ============================================================================== uucp: ...!udel!mvac23!thomas ! Internet: mvac23!thomas@udel.edu Location: Newark, DE, USA ! or mvac23%thomas@udel.edu ==============================================================================
johnw@gatech.edu (John Wheeler) (07/12/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0226m10@vector.dallas.tx.us> mvac23!thomas@udel.edu writes: > >I thought I saw somewhere that AM stations were limited to 50kW max in the >US. I believe that shortwave stations are AM as well, and are permitted >much higher powers. I would think that they would have the same effect >near their multi-tower antennae. That is true - but as I recall reading somewhere (Popular Communications magazine probably) there was a time when WLW was running 500kw...let's also not forget that in the mid-'70's, the FCC was contemplating allowing the 12 50kw clear-channelers to go to 750(!) kw...here in Atlanta, the 50,000 clear channel watts of WSB eminate from right in the middle of the parking lot at Northlake Festival Shopping Center. One of these days I swear I'm gonna take a florescent tube out there just to see if it glows...betcha it does! -- Turner John Wheeler E N T E R T A I N M E N T ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw Networks Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports
UCHUCK@unc.bitnet (Chuck Bennett (919)966-1134) (07/13/89)
> From: John Wheeler <techwood!johnw@gatech.edu> > Subject: Re: Praise the Lord and pass the RF filters > Date: 12 Jul 89 02:08:25 GMT > Reply-To: John Wheeler <techwood!johnw@gatech.edu> > Organization: Turner Entertainment Networks Library; Atlanta ... (deleted) > One of these days I swear I'm gonna take a florescent tube out there > just to see if it glows...betcha it does! > My father a Bell Labs, WECo, "Telephone Pioneer", etc., graduated from Ga. Tech in 1942 (I was born 5 months later). He tells a story about an apartment where he and my mother lived that was located VERY near WSB and that the lights never really went completely dark, even when switched off ;-). Chuck Bennett
johnw@gatech.edu (John Wheeler) (07/15/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0208m01@vector.dallas.tx.us> telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 208, message 1 of 3 > >In November, 1986, the station raised its antenna to 500 feet from 400 feet, >and increased its power from 30,000 to 50,000 watts, Alexander said. This is certainly not POWERFUL as far as FM'ers go, of course. FM simply CAN'T do these things...either it's an AM simulcast or one heck of a bad transmitter. -- Turner John Wheeler E N T E R T A I N M E N T ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw Networks Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports [Moderator's Note: See various technical messages over the past month which discussed this message in great detail, and the suspected problems. PT]
morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) (07/16/89)
John Wheeler <techwood!johnw@gatech.edu> writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 232, message 12 of 12 >......here in Atlanta, the >50,000 clear channel watts of WSB eminate from right in the middle of >the parking lot at Northlake Festival Shopping Center. >One of these days I swear I'm gonna take a florescent tube out there >just to see if it glows...betcha it does! It will... One of my hobbies is amateur radio, and the home of 90% of Los Angeles' TV and FM stations is 8.5 miles (at a 35 degree up-angle(!)) from my house. Also the home of our autopatch repeater. If you plug the antenna cable (yes, the one going to the antenna) into a dummy load / power meter, you see over 20w coming down! Also the outside light over the building door is a 100w bulb, and shines at about 60w level - on a one turn loop of #12 wire - yes, for DC the socket is shorted. And the workers on the mountaintop (7 VHF TV stations, 6 UHF stations, and I'm not sure how many FM, but at least 12) use flourscent tubes as flashlights. To "turn them off" they are kept in mailing tubes... A friend of mine is the weekend engineer at a local spanish language 10kw AM operation that runs a directional pattern - 4 towers, 3 during the day, 3 at night (2 common). Don uses a flourscent tube to read the antenna current meters at the feed points. I'd be careful handling a tube around a 50kw station, you could get a nasty RF burn - and they take forever to heal (mine took over 5 times as long as a similar soldering iron burn I got a few years ago). US Snail: Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov P.O. Box 1130 Also: WA6ILQ Arcadia, Ca. 91006-1130 #Include disclaimer.standard | The opinions above probably do not even
amanda@uunet.uu.net (Amanda Walker) (07/19/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0240m09@vector.dallas.tx.us>, morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) writes: > you could get a nasty > RF burn - and they take forever to heal (mine took over 5 times as long as > a similar soldering iron burn I got a few years ago). RF burn is nasty--I first experienced it while helping a friend adjust the impedance matcher between his ham transceiver and the long-wire antenna we had just strung. Yow! Gave me a real visceral appreciation for how a microwave oven works :-). After that I made *him* key the transceiver while *I* adjusted the matcher... -- Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation -- amanda@intercon.uu.net | ...!uunet!intercon!amanda
telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (01/01/91)
[Moderator's Note: This article first appeared in TELECOM Digest on Thursday, June 22, 1989. (Volume 9, Issue 208). I thought newer readers would enjoy seeing it and older readers might enjoy a repeat as we end one year and start another. Since this was written, most of the problems have been corrected. PAT] Indiana Bell service in the northeast section of Hammond, IN has gone to hell, but the telco says its not their fault, and they are trying to work with the people involved to correct the problem. For instance, consider the case of Steve Gescheidler, a resident of north Hammond, living just a few blocks from the Illinois/Indiana state line: he shares a party line with Jesus. When he picks up his telephone, a voice will often be on the wire reading from Ephesians, or bellowing at him to repent before he Burns In Hell forever. Sometimes the voice is trying to sell him spiritually enlightening audio tapes -- Visa and MasterCard accepted, of course. His neighbor around the corner, Judy Maruszczak, has a heavenly instrument also: When she tries to make a phone call, it will often times be drowned out by hand-clapping gospel music. Her VCR also likes to preach to her. The Hammond legal firm of Efron and Efron owns a pious dictaphone machine. When the secretary is in the midst of transcribing legalese, threats of fire and brimstone suddenly are heard on the tape. In addition, their phone system is electronic, and when they put calls on hold, as often as not a few seconds later the hold is broken and the call is lost. Several times per day the phone will ring, and no one is on the line at all. Linda Reynolds, another resident in the area said her television, her VCR and her cordless phone all began urging her down the righteous path last fall. She said sometimes at night the cordless phone begins ringing by itself, and going off hook for no reason, tying up their wire-line. Nine year old Tommy Kotul learned how to find salvation while he was trying to play 'Sports Baseball', an Atari game cartridge. He also said that one day in school, a choir started singing hymns over the school's public address system, which is in the form of speakerphones connected to the intercom phone on each teacher's desk. Although the sanctified interference shows up in the damndedest ways, on all sorts of electronic gizmos, it invariably is on the phone lines of the good (and presumably by now, God-fearing) residents of North Hammond, an Indiana community which straddles the Illinois state line with the communities of Burnham and Calumet City, Illinois to the south and west, and Chicago at it's northwest tip on the state line. So people began asking Indiana Bell, "what the heck is this, anyway?"... WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. ... that's what it is ... this religious station, operating at 92.3 on the dial, licensed in Hammond, IN, with transmitter facilities in Burnham, IL is the culprit. Operating with an antenna height of 500 feet, and 50,000 watts of radiated power, the folks at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. are literally *saturating* a two mile area around the northern end of the Indiana/Illinois state line, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Gescheidler lives about four blocks from WYCA's transmitter. He first began noticing the sanctified interference last fall, and it became louder and louder as the months went on, always on his end. "It seems like when I am in the middle of an important conversation, some preacher always comes on and tells me I'm going to Hell," he said, adding that the phone lines had already gone to hell, and no one seemed to give a damn about it. After complaining several times to Indiana Bell, Gescheidler and his neighbors complained to the Federal Communications Commission, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission, and finally to the radio station itself. No one, he realized, least of all the radio station, was willing to take any responsibility for the problem. WYCA isn't breaking any broadcasting rules according to Paul Gomell, an FCC Chicago office technician whose duties include periodic examination of WYCA's equipment. "The home equipment is probably not adequately filtered," he said. "The problem has nothing to do with Indiana Bell's equipment," said Delores Steur-Wagner, Indiana Bell's community affairs manager for Hammond. "If there are complaints, they should go to the FCC." Chris Alexander, Dallas-based Vice President-Engineering for WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters' parent corporation said, "The signal is so strong, you expect this kind of interference in devices that are not well-shielded. We try to advise people as best we can, and we have worked closely with Indiana Bell and Illinois Bell to resolve complaints." In November, 1986, the station raised its antenna to 500 feet from 400 feet, and increased its power from 30,000 to 50,000 watts, Alexander said. "We made these changes only after receiving permission to do so from the Federal Communications Commission." Alexander said that this change in power and antenna height created a so-called 'blanketing area' -- an area of about 1.7 miles in any direction of the transmitter and antenna -- where the signal is so strong and so permeating, it is literally everywhere, in everything. "Indeed this is the case," said one neighbor five blocks from the site. "I have gone for early morning walks in the open field where the antenna is constructed. In the crisp, early morning air, you can almost feel the signal; smell that ozone; sense the corona." Alexander said, "We operate completely within the law. We observe all FCC regulations at all times." He noted that one condition for the change in antenna height and power output being granted by the Commission was that WYCA was ordered to assume responsibility for correcting certain types of radio interference in an area 1.7 miles in any direction of the station for a period of *one year* afterward. Alexander said during that time they worked closely with the telcos involved and "....anyone who complained about interference was given free of charge the filtering devices they needed ... some of our people helped install them ... just what the FCC said we had to do, we did it, in the geographic area required, for the length of time required...." Alexander noted one of the first complaints about the increased power came when prosecutors in a federal drug trial in Hammond tried to play wiretap evidence for the jury: instead, the tape recorder offered up hymns and homilies. Paul Gomell of the FCC noted that they have received complaints about the station relating to answering machines, speed-dialing equipment, cordless phones, cheapie phones, hold buttons, Touch-Tone service, and VCR's. These appurtenances and others -- like the preaching Atari game -- lend to the appearance that God is everywhere, at least in Hammond. One Indiana Bell service representative spoke, on the condition that she could remain nameless, saying that the telco had handled over 130 WYCA-related problems in the past year, but Bell spokeswoman Steur-Wagner said the company does not keep track of such things and she had no way of confirming this report. The next step to reduce the interference -- with no guarentees that it will completely end -- is to have all the interior phone wire shielded in steel casings, said Tim Timmons, Indiana Bell's regional maintainence manager for northern Indiana, "...plus of course have good filtering where the phone lines come into the building..." "What a deal!", said Gescheidler. He recently priced the job at $300 per phone from an independent contractor. "Indiana Bell said *maybe* they could do it a little cheaper for us ... but they say it is not their obligation to resolve the problem any further." He mentioned that, "...one day some guy from WYCA came here with a phone man; they had some cheapie looking filter they plugged in ... it didn't seem to do any good." Although the parent corporation of WYCA in Dallas may have good public relations, the neighborhood says local staff at WYCA-FM Christian Broadcasters, Inc. isn't at all concerned any longer. "They have heard so many complaints I guess they quit listening to them any longer," said a neighbor. "When I called one day -- one day when it seemed like they were much louder than usual -- and asked them in a nice way couldn't they modulate their signal a little better, a lady there told me I was being blasphemous. She told me it was anti-religious to complain. She said I should be thankful that I was able to hear the Word of God, and she hoped I would someday realize I would Burn In Hell without accepting Jesus as my Savior. That's the last time I bothered calling *them* to complain. Now the FCC and Indiana Bell say *they* can't do any more either?" No madame, they cannot. As Chris Alexander, VP-Engineering has explained time and again when asked, the Corporation follows all FCC rules at all times. "We ALWAYS do exactly what the government tells us to do," he said. And Indiana Bell brings the wire to the drop by your house. They say the line is as clean as it can be at that point. You do the rest. An old folk-prayer says, "My Lord ... nothing is going to happen that You and I can't handle together. Amen." But one can have too much togetherness, as the residents of North Hammond will attest. Said Steve Gescheidler, "On the radio, they are praying for me. Meanwhile, I am praying for a phone line I can talk on without being disrupted by the choir and the organist." Radio Station WYCA-FM Studios and Executive Offices 6336 Calumet Avenue Hammond, IN 46301 92.3 on FM dial throughout northern Illinois and northern Indiana. [Moderator's Note, appended 1/1/91: Shortly after this article appeared, tbe FCC instructed WYCA to intensify their efforts to resolve the problems of the Hammond residents. 'Better' RF filters were devised and technical help was given in their installation. For about a month, WYCA was required to announce over the air at intervals that assistance would be provided freely on request to anyone within a 1.7 mile radius of the transmitter experiencing problems. There have been no recent complaints, so I assume things are better now. PAT]