[BC] Signal Strength Question

[Mike McCarthy]

  I thought there was an AM aimed right at Key West with a 4 tower 
in-line array just NE of the island/NAS. Or is that Radio MARTI or a 
military array?

Miami has several 1800ft. towers designed for hurricanes. The majority 
of them have dual guying systems..built after Andrew.  Dual guying is 
where there are two complete sets of guys and anchorages, any 
combination of which is sufficient to hold the tower at rated wind.

Given the Keys are mostly sand with not a LOT of good rock/stable soil, 
I'm not sure anything taller than 350ft. is prudent short of DEEP 
embedding, an extremely robust guying system, and balanced load to 
minimize torsion in gusts.

MM

On 11/23/2010 10:13 PM, Tom Spencer wrote:
> I've been working with the folks who are programming one of the two AM
> stations on Key West - the one on 1500; 250 watts DA-1, a figure-8
> pattern along the length of the island, TX at the isthmus.  The other
> station is on 1600, ND, with 500 watts, and from the pattern, most of
> that 500 watts is being received by the fishies... (and yes, 1500 is
> using SPL :-P

> A full powered C is just
> over 70 miles to the 40 dBu curve.  And would you want a 300 meter /
> 1000 ft tower in the heart of hurricane country?  on an island?  I'm not
> sure even a B-K tower could handle the winds at that altitude; although
> there probably are some towers that tall near Miami or Tampa...