I keep checking on 648kHz- but so far-its just dead., But then-living up here may not hear anything anyway!

What was the usual power of the Big L transmitter?

Thanks for a rough idea of the time frame Alec. I suppose they will put a pic of the mast on the Caroline web site once it has been erected. I asked about the power Big L 1395 used because I was trying to work out whether 1Kw from Suffolk would compare with ? kW from Leystad. - as far as reaching this neck of the woods goes.

I tend to think I will hear something- but maybe not till after dark.

Re. Caroline: Overgrown ground still has to be cleared before construction of mast. Also, I beleive a more hefty 3 phase power supply has to be laid to the Tx. site. I would imagine they'll be on air by Aug 14th, but possibly not at full power with the permanent mast so coverage may be quite poor initially, but that's pure speculation.

Re. Big L: 20Kw when it returned to AM in 2006. 10Kw when it returned again in 2009.

Trouble is, you can't make direct comparrisons. So many factors, like distance, signal path, grounding, antenna efficiency, height and frequency. On 1395KHz, we had limited groundwave (Daytime) reach, but excellent skywave reach in the night, although many areas where groundwave and skywave intermingled, the reception was messy. 648KHz, being a much lower frequency, should get a far greater groundwave reach for much less power (all other things being equal), but there won't be that much skywave at night.

Also, because of the way AM works, double the power, doesn't mean double the coverage. As a rough rule, iirc, it's quadruple the power to double the coverage. Tbh. running 1395 @20Kw didn't give us a great deal more coverage over 10Kw. Note also, that these figures are power into the mast, from the Tx. Effective Radiated Power from the mast will be considerably less, depending on the efficiency of the antenna. Caroline will be allowed 1Kw ERP, so they'll need to feed considerably more into the mast to get that 1Kw out. No idea what Big L's ERP was, so again, difficult to compare.

I'm no expert in these things, but that's my understanding.

Perhaps, to give you a better idea, BBC Essex from Chelmsford on 765KHz @760W, I can pick up on the West Sussex coast, extreme anorak quality. About the same strength as Big L @10Kw daytime. However, the BBC mast may well be higher and more efficient that the one Caroline will use.

Hope that helps.

Quote: BigJohn wrote in post #4

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Thanks for a rough idea of the time frame Alec. I suppose they will put a pic of the mast on the Caroline web site once it has been erected. I asked about the power Big L 1395 used because I was trying to work out whether 1Kw from Suffolk would compare with ? kW from Leystad. - as far as reaching this neck of the woods goes.

I tend to think I will hear something- but maybe not till after dark.

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I doubt very much whether Ofcom would allow that. Also, the mast isn't rigged for AM. Would probably be better putting the effort into getting the permanent site up and running.

Yes-but wouldn't they have to get an Ofcom licence to do that- even on very low power?

Thanks for all the detailed info. Cookie. Much appreciated.

Has anyone actually visited the T/x site yet?

Quote: BigJohn wrote in post #11

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Yes-but wouldn't they have to get an Ofcom licence to do that- even on very low power?

Thanks for all the detailed info. Cookie. Much appreciated.

Has anyone actually visited the T/x site yet?

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If I lived remotely near- I don't think I could resist driving past 'the field'- maybe spotting some contractors doing a bit of work-taking a few photos etc etc.

Quote: BigJohn wrote in post #13

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If I lived remotely near- I don't think I could resist driving past 'the field'- maybe spotting some contractors doing a bit of work-taking a few photos etc etc.

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