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WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

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Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#51

Post by jagged-chisel »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #8
phreenet wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how that much power would affect someone with metal fillings in their teeth.

Sounds like a short story I read as a kid ...

I recall that it had been written in the 1950s. My memory could be wrong. I read it some time in the early 1980s. Having aged a few decades since, and experiencing much comedy and fiction in that time, I have come to discover this must have been a common theme from whatever era it was written.

The details I recall from the story are: 1) boy gets a tooth filled with a new alloy. 2) Soon discovers he can tune into different radio stations but adjusting his jaw. 3) Proves this to his friends by telling them what's on which stations, which they verify by tuning the radio. 4) Looses the ability quickly (days, perhaps?) - can't recall if by re-visiting the dentist or some other reason.

I don't recall that the plot of Fat Men From Outer Space (remove all junk food) was involved - seems like it'd be a fairly large plot to miss, but I admit the human brain is a strange thing.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#53

Post by jhoechtl »

digitalsushi wrote: post #33
mmhsieh wrote: post #16

for national security it would be best to shut this puppy down because it is broadcasting our position to extraterresterial civilizations, not all of whom may be friendly.

We'd need to blast a radio signal at about 100 million watts for it to hit the closest star with the same strength that Voyager is sending to us right now. Something like 4 light years away. If we consider how quickly signal strength decays, it's pretty easy to picture just how quiet we are. Our loudest tv stations are like 5% of that. We think we're blasting a firehose off into space but we're spitting from a straw.

Would be true for omnidirectional transmission. Much much less for a directed transmission.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#54

Post by xhrpost »

gambiting wrote: post #29
bitexploder wrote: post #5

> People living near the transmitter site often got better reception than they wanted; some lights would not turn off until WLW engineers helped rewire houses. Gutters rattled loose from buildings. A neon hotel sign near the transmitter never went dark. Farmers reported hearing WLW through their barbed-wire fences. That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just…

Reminds me of this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9UO9tn4MpI Obviously don't do this. I would be concerned about standing this close as well, radio burns are super nasty.

Also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo9nGzIzSPw

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#56

Post by Udo »

donarb wrote: post #35
Udo wrote: post #13

> enough power to supply a town of one hundred thousand coursed through an 831-foot tower That would mean 5W per inhabitant. In 2020, this would barely be enough to charge a phone, and in 1934 that would have been a light bulb per 20 citizens.

The power input to the transmitter is much larger than the power coming out of it. All those tubes generates a lot of heat.

So let's say this is 10% efficient, that means 50W per citizen. Clearly, there is something I'm not getting. Do power companies really budget 50W per user? I mean it's possible but that seems very low to me.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#57

Post by hueving »

reaperducer wrote: post #22
bitexploder wrote: post #5

> People living near the transmitter site often got better reception than they wanted; some lights would not turn off until WLW engineers helped rewire houses. Gutters rattled loose from buildings. A neon hotel sign near the transmitter never went dark. Farmers reported hearing WLW through their barbed-wire fences. That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just…

That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just buzzing through the air. Still, quite a feat of engineering to think about. It's very common, and becoming more common. WLW was a special case because it put out so much power it affected homes a fair distance away. But even stations as low as 1,000 watts have to deal with this today. I worked at close to a dozen d…

>It's like when people build a house next to an airport, and then complain about all the damn airplane noise.

Not really. Buying near an airport requires explicit acknowledgement that you're doing it and that's why homeowners don't really have a leg to stand on when they complain to their local government. IIRC last time I looked at a home near a bunch of transmitters, there was no such disclosure required.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#58

Post by bitexploder »

jacquesm wrote: post #43
bitexploder wrote: post #5

> People living near the transmitter site often got better reception than they wanted; some lights would not turn off until WLW engineers helped rewire houses. Gutters rattled loose from buildings. A neon hotel sign near the transmitter never went dark. Farmers reported hearing WLW through their barbed-wire fences. That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just…

I've lit up full size neon tubes at ~150 meters with about a kilowatt into a highly directional antenna. Not the most efficient way of transferring power but quite a neat effect and wireless to boot.

Wireless power transmission and things like Tesla coils are basically magic to my brain. I "know" how they work, but seeing it happen is kind of amazing. Our little home made Tesla coil was one of our most popular gadgets we built. I should build a more reliable one... we live in a dry place now.

You would enjoy Styropyro if you haven't found his YT channel yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TgrtA2wKaM

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#59

Post by jcburns »

andrew_n wrote: post #49
viggity wrote: post #15

For point of reference, the max power allowed in the US is 50kW

I don’t believe this is correct; when I look up the details of transmitters, they’re often 100kW+, e.g., https://fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=62331 for an arbitrary example in Montana

FM power and AM power are different.

Re: WLW: America's 500,000 watt radio station (2015)

#60

Post by wahern »

hueving wrote: post #57
reaperducer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is pretty amazing. I wonder if there were any health impacts from that level of ambient power just buzzing through the air. Still, quite a feat of engineering to think about. It's very common, and becoming more common. WLW was a special case because it put out so much power it affected homes a fair distance away. But even stations as low as 1,000 watts have to deal with this today. I worked at close to a dozen d…

>It's like when people build a house next to an airport, and then complain about all the damn airplane noise. Not really. Buying near an airport requires explicit acknowledgement that you're doing it and that's why homeowners don't really have a leg to stand on when they complain to their local government. IIRC last time I looked at a home near a bunch of transmitters, there was no such disclosure required.

Oh, people complain about airport noise all the time. You even hear about it in the news: so-and-so investigating 10,000 complaints about noise. Interestingly (though in retrospect unsurprisingly), the vast majority of complaints come from a very small handful of squeaky wheels. For example, of 8,760 complaints about DCA, 1 home was responsible for 78% of them! Source: https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/dourado-airport-noise-...

Disclaimers notwithstanding, noise abatement requirements continue to become stricter and stricter across the U.S.

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