Talk:KFRC

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KFRC

[edit] Blurb for DYK

Blurb for Did You Know feature of Wikipedia:

Did You Know

...the callsign of KFRC in San Francisco, California in the U.S. stood for "Known For Radio Clearness"? However, when the AM radio station signed on with 50 watts in 1924, it was heard as far away as New Zealand, far exceeding anyone's expectations.

[edit] KFRC

If it stands for "Known for Radio Clearness" then why is it so surprising the channel had such a wide reach? Using "however" seems a bit wrong in this context. Mgm|^(talk) 09:56, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 50 watts?

Along those lines, there seems to be something funny about the 50 Watts reaching New Zealand claim. 50 Watts would be barely enough to serve the city. Early powerful AM stations often had 50,000 or even 100,000 Watt outputs - and if atmospheric conditions were right I suppose these could reach New Zealand. But not 50 Watts. I'd check to see if maybe the number isn't off by 3 orders of magnitude (i.e., somebody dropped a "k" somewhere). Fawcett5 13:24, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Regarding 50 watts, I had the same reaction when I was writing the story. However, the mysteriously low number came from 2 sources, and was actually explained. The early signal was on 1230 AM, and is not the one they went into long-term use with on 610 AM. They also had a favorable location for the antenna. A big problem with AM is other signals, which may not have been as much of a problem back then.

Source 1: San Francisco "Bulletin", Tuesday, September 23, 1924: Section 2 Page 1:

"BULLETIN RADIO STATION OPENS TOMORROW; GLOBE FLIERS' CHIEF WILL DEDICATE KFRC."

(excerpt)

"The station itself is a new departure in broadcasting units. It is not a high powered station. It is rated as a 50 watt station, but of the Western Electric type, which guarantees a high degree of efficiency. Radio engineers and the Radioart Studios personnel determined on the low power, perfectly tuned unit as preferable to the high powered sets which cause interference. The Government at Washington is watching the work of KFRC with considerable interest in view of the coming conference as it is believed that such units will form a solution of the present broadcasting congestion." [1]

Source 2: THE HISTORY OF KFRC SAN FRANCISCO AND THE DON LEE NETWORKS Copyright John F. Schneider, 1997 Seattle, Washington

(excerpt)

"The transmitter itself was a fifty watt unit, the latest Western Electric design. The only other one like it was in St. Louis, where it was said to "pound into New York like a local. The relatively low-powered transmitter was said to be preferred by the station engineers because it would cause less interference and yet deliver almost equal signal strength because of its superior circuit design." [2]

I am posting all this to the article's TALK page, and will do some more research as well. Maybe we can learn more. Thanks. Vaoverland 16:18, Apr 15, 2005 (UTC)

A few thoughts. The frequency used at the time isn't too different from the 1.8Mhz amateur band, where global communications can and do take place, albeit that very good antenna systems are required. San Fransisco to New Zealand is mostly a sea path, so multi-hop ionospheric propagation, even at those frequencies, would probably stand a better chance than over a land path. Each time you double the power of a radio transmitter the received signal will increase by 3 decibels. That isn't a lot, and even a 10 times increase only gives round a 10 dB increase at the receiver. In practical terms that means that if a 50,000 watt transmitter was a good strong signal over a given path, a 50 watt transmitter might well be audible - signal to noise ratio is what matters with weak signal reception and in 1924 there were relatively few broadcasting stations and the general level of background noise from electrical appliances and industrial sources would be much lower than it is now. I've personally had amateur contacts between the UK and Australia on higher shortwave frequencies with a 5 watt transmitter - not comparing like with like, but an indication that a little power can go a long way. Overall it sounds quite likely that KFRC was heard in New Zealand.Thomsk 19:10, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)