The Midnight Effect - Who-How?
You have high end equipment designed in a way to make it seemingly impervious to power line fluctuations. You add expensive conditioners and/or power line regenerators just to be safe.
You sit and listen to your system for a few hours and everything sounds great. Then, from nowhere, like someone flicked a switch…. the sound opens up… becomes more natural, more focused… the soundstage suddenly blooms and becomes more dimensional, more depth and more space around instruments. WTF just happened? The only clue is the clock on the wall and the empty wine flagon next to your chair.
I’m long past questioning whether the phenomenon is real. To what extent it exists depends on certain variables, but it exists. But how? I live in the boondocks, there’s no industry or commerce that suddenly shuts down at 23:00 every night.
Do others experience this? Do you have an explanation? Perhaps even some empirical data?
Is it just the booze?
That is completely false. In fact, broadcasters are required to maintain xmitter output to within 90 to 105 percent of authorized power output at all times. There are some AM stations that are required to reduce power at night, and of course there are still some "daytimers" on the AM band. |
That’s true, although there aren’t many daytimers left anymore. What I was correcting was your previous claim that radio stations are required "to reduce power from 2 hours before local sunset to 2 hours after local sunrise." As I noted, FM stations remain at full power. Any station - AM or FM - actually needs special authorization to operate below licensed power.
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You are misreading the FCC. In the U.S., broadcast radio stations operate at authorized power output at all times although, as noted, some AM stations have lower authorized power at night and others ("daytimers") sign off at night. (There is such a thing as "pre-sunrise authorization" that some stations obtain.) FCC regs call for the transmitter to be within 90 percent to 105 percent of authorized power output at all times. Special authorization is required otherwise and stations can be fined for failing to follow the reg. @kijanki I believe the text you're referring to is used to calculate power (so as to avoid interference) during the licensing/permitting process. Once power (which is really ERP) is authorized, no further adjustments are allowed without application. |
Yes, and it doesn’t stop there. Some AM stations may also be required to change the antenna "pattern" so as to prevent interference (it’s called "protection") with other stations. If it’s a particularly directional pattern, it’s possible that has a greater negative net result on the signal than the reduced power. |
