[BC] WTC replacement tower

[Mike McCarthy]

This where too-tall is a bad thing.  And multi-bay antennas at a too tall
location only makes things worse. One thing which Wills (Sears) tower
stations enjoy is a very small roof. One can be as close as a couple
blocks in all but the east direction (towards the lake) and see the FM
antenna on the west mast. WTC's FM's were so close to the roof deck of a
MUCH larger roof that the main lobe of the pattern was shielded to
everything within a mile of the site.

2000 ft. for a class B station is simply too tall. 1500ft, is a fairly
good balance using a single bay. But would require nearly 100KW or more in
TPO if on the ground. As is is, one Class B here needs 40K driving a 4 bay
1/2 wave up at 460 ft.

There was talk of a 2K ft. tower here too just west of downtown.  No one
wanted on unless they could be around 1200ft.  Plus the multipath downtown
would have been excruticating.

So...no, a 2K ft. tower in Zone 1A land is no good...rural or urban.

And with the FCC's looking closely at SFN for TV's the need for tall
towers of all TV forms might be history in 10 years.

MM

> Dick,
> I was living there at the time. There was more than one tall tower
> proposed. You're correct that one was proposed in NJ. There was also
> one proposed somewhere between the tip of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It
> was also suggested that the Alpine tower be raised by 500 ft. That
> one mobilized the neighborhood against it. After nearly 10 years it
> seems stations are happy with Empire and the Conde Nast (Durst)
> building as an alternate site in Times Square. I watched the Conde
> Nast building being built from my office window a block away at WOR.
> It was clear it would be a transmitting site when they started on the
> supporting structure on the roof. Friends tell me it may be as good a
> site as Empire.
>
> The WTC tower was a bad radio site. I was PD at WPIX-FM and we had
> terrible signal problems in Midtown and started making plans to
> return to Empire. They ultimately did. It was a great site for New
> Jersey. I was told our TV (CH 11) yearned for a better TV site. From
> the WTC stations had to shoot through seemingly endless acres of tall
> buildings.
>
> Rich
>
>