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Old August 6th 08, 01:05 AM posted to alt.ham-radio,rec.radio.shortwave,rec.radio.amateur.policy,rec.antiques.radio+phono,rec.radio.amateur.antenna
Ed Cregger Ed Cregger is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Sep 2006
Posts: 236
Default The Strange True Story of a Radio Station's Transmitter in New York State


"javawizard" wrote in message
...
In the 1920's a radio station in Schenectady, NY built a powerful
transmitter. In those days before FCC regulations, not knowing just
how big to make a transmitter in order for the signal to be received
some distance away, the station set up to broadcast at 500,000 watts.
It requires about one watt to be received four blocks away. A cell
phone is three watts. This station broadcast at such tremendous power
that they could be heard around the world. People in New York didn't
even need radios. They could sometimes hear voices in their furnaces
and coming off chain-link fences. Light bulbs lit up in people's
houses even if they were switched off. - from www.clip-text.com


--------------

Can you imagine the cost of their electric bill?

I used to pick up AM radio stations in my head. The theory back then was
that it was due to dental work acting as a rectifier, etc.

I could tell you exactly which song was playing and where they were at in
the song. All one had to do was turn on a radio and I would be singing in
sync with it. The really weird part was that all I could hear was the music
and the time announcements.

This was in the late 50's and early 60's when I lived in Carneys Point, NJ.
The radio station that I heard the best was WAMS (1380kc) in Wilmington, DE.
The second best was WFIL in Philadelphia, PA. The latter I heard after WAMS
went off the air for the day.

Ed, NM2K