Transmitter Upgrade in the Works
Above (left): WESU’s coverage pattern prior to transmitter upgrade.
Above(right): WESU’s projected coverage pattern after transmitter upgrade.
With over 70 years of broadcasting under our belt, WESU 88.1, is poised to complete a major upgrade this summer. The FCC has granted WESU a license to increase our transmitting power from 1,000 Watts Effective Radiated Power (ERP) from an omni-directional antenna to a 6,000 Watt ERP directional antenna.
This ‘once in a generation’ opportunity will enable WESU to nearly double our terrestrial listening audience in CT and MA to well over one million potential listeners.
On May 5th we installed our new antenna and began broadcasting to our new directional pattern. We plan to increase our power in 2 phases.
We are no coordinating with our electrician to install new power lines sufficient for our 6,000 Watt transmitter. Once the lines are in place and we can submit our final FCC paperwork verifying our installation is up to spec and increase our power to 50% with our existing/current 3,500 Watt transmitter.
Upon FCC review and verification of our setup, we will be authorized to increase our power to the Full 6,000 Watts ERP. Once we have connected our new 6,000 Watt transmitter we can we will finally increase to our full power. We aim to have all of this work complete before then end of summer.
