| AB - 400kHz - Allentown, PA |
AB - 'LEEHI'
AB is an outer-marker beacon for 'ABE', the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton regional airport. Conveniently, is is near the northern edge of a fairly large clear park area, Lehigh County Park, in suburban Allentown, near the corners of Parkway Rd. and Broadway; indeed close to Rt. 309, a main N/S drag through the city.
A fairly standard 'Southern Avionics' setup, AB gets out really, really well, presumably because its near-field isn't cluttered with power-lines, trees and houses, and it probably has a better-than-average ground system under it.
I visited AB and took these pictures the morning we were due to do some RF ingress testing on the test-bed BPL (Broadband over Power Line) system in nearby Emmaus; glad something good came of the day - BPL interference to HF radio really, really sucks. However, as far as BPL is concerned, just an eentsy-weentsy tiny bit of RF launched in the same street really, really sucks, too. (Later: And better yet, PP&L, the BPL operators have decided to drop the idea of BPL. Dancing in the streets! Or the park . . .)
Sadly and suspiciously as of late 2006, 'AB' seems to have fallen off the air, and for long enough for it to seem permanently.
Some other pictures:
© Steve Dove, W3EEE, 2003,4,5