[SBE] Broadcast Fax

[Mark Heller]

FX = FM Experimental

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 From: "Dan Rapak" <DanRapak at verizon.net>
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 12:39 AM
To: "SBE Broadcast Group" <sbe at sbe.org>
Subject: [SBE] Broadcast Fax

  Okay gang. Here's an oddball question. As you know, the FCC has had a 
practice of assigning a suffix to co-owned broadcast stations. WABC, 
WABC-FM, WABC-TV where the suffix is actually part of the official call 
sign.   Well, I was reading an article in Monitoring Times magazine about 
early efforts to transmit facsimile over broadcast radio stations. I was 
aware of this previously in that I grew up in the Philadelphia market and 
one of the stations engaged in this was WFIL-FM. While some stations 
experimenting with FAX transmissions used the main program channel, WFIL-FM 
actually used an SCA subcarrier.   In doing a little additional reading, I 
discovered that the fax operation at WFIL was repeatedly referred to as 
WFIL-FX. Here's a link to the July 10, 1942 issue of "Billboard" that 
briefly describes the operation and refers to it as WFIL-FX.   
http://books.google.com/books?id=ywwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=wfil+broadca
st+fax+receivers&source=bl&ots=6eODmi1AsI&sig=2OUI1lJGOmyxDmXCrQafjg_qe5U&hl
=en&ei=hXvlTa__OdGtgQf--qG1Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CF
oQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=wfil%20broadcast%20fax%20receivers&f=false    Here is 
a second link that also refers to "WFIL-FX." 
http://www.phillyradioarchives.com/philadelphia_radio_history_wioq.asp    
Finally, in case you're curious, here's a link to a photo of the FAX 
transmission facility at WFIL. http://www.ggninfo.com/WFIL-FAX.JPG     My 
question is, was "-FX" an officially assigned FCC suffix or was this simply 
a moniker used for marketing purposes?   Just curious, Dan Rapak - CPBE 

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