Let's wander around an old AT&T microwave site. As an exercise for viewers, I invite you to do your best to ignore the little spot of something that was on the lens the whole time.
When AT&T closed these sites, most of them were bought by companies like American Tower that planned to lease them to other users. Radio stations would be one of the potential users. In practice it isn't very common, as AT&T's towers were positioned for a specific line-of-sight route rather than a large viewshed (total area within line of sight in all directions). So they're often short and poorly positioned compared to what a radio broadcaster would want. These towers really were short too - much shorter than typical for radio broadcasters. The horn antennas these towers were built for were large and heavy and had to be installed by crane and then regularly maintained, so a shorter freestanding tower (always with a ladder and catwalks, sometimes with stairs!) was more practical than a taller guyed one.
I also write up a text/photo version of this video, which is better composed, on my cohost: cohost.org/jbcrawford/post/2552276-why-didn-t-i-make-th If you like to read, you'll probably like it.
Hi, very interesting video. I have just one question. Could these towers be used as a radio station? Have a wonderful day!
When AT&T closed these sites, most of them were bought by companies like American Tower that planned to lease them to other users. Radio stations would be one of the potential users. In practice it isn't very common, as AT&T's towers were positioned for a specific line-of-sight route rather than a large viewshed (total area within line of sight in all directions). So they're often short and poorly positioned compared to what a radio broadcaster would want.
These towers really were short too - much shorter than typical for radio broadcasters. The horn antennas these towers were built for were large and heavy and had to be installed by crane and then regularly maintained, so a shorter freestanding tower (always with a ladder and catwalks, sometimes with stairs!) was more practical than a taller guyed one.
I see, thanks for the reply. We don't have these in Central Europe. It's a very interesting project tho.
Have a wonderful day!
Simon
@@computersarebad
I also write up a text/photo version of this video, which is better composed, on my cohost: cohost.org/jbcrawford/post/2552276-why-didn-t-i-make-th
If you like to read, you'll probably like it.