The Fascinating Anatomy of Radio Towers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2024
- Scratching the surface of towers and tower markings.
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I am a former ROHN engineer and have designed guyed towers up to 1000’. The guyed tower is the most complicated structure I know of. To analyze a guyed tower, you first have to analyze it for the gravity loads and the guy loads. These gravity loads shorten the tower and slack the guys. Then you have to take those results and apply the wind and/or ice loads. This analysis is done with custom software. We once had GT Strudl come and interview us on how we modeled the guy wires. Guy wires creep as loads are applied and the guys do not return to their original length when unloaded.
You’ve made me consider aspects I never even thought of before. For me, I was more of a user of the tower, rather than understanding the intricacies of the tower structure. This is why we hire experts in this field who understand these aspects. Thank you for the insight!
@@TheBroadcastEngineer There are many very interesting attributes about towers you might never notice. Like on an AM tower ROHN would design a 3’ cap. This is higher than the normal 6” cap on non AM towers. Why? Tall grass sometimes grows next to the tower and the morning dew from the grass can short the tower to ground and also create a fire hazard.
Climbing, Towers are supposed to have either a climbing ladder or step bolts. Fall arrest devices (safety climb) are added to conform to OSHA and require a safety harness that fits the tower safety climb. Only the safety climb manufacturer’s harness will work with the manufacturer’s safety climb. A safety climb is a small cable positioned over the ladder that the climber clips into and prevent falls. A high liability item.
Large 2000’ towers have elevators. 2000’ is the hight limit for towers in the USA because of the FAA rules.
I climb towers all across America for a living and on a windy day (20-40mph) climbing guy towers are absolutely terrifying and the fact that towers are just bones there's no shielding from the wind, on occasion I've actually had to stop climbing and just hold on for dear life!!
Back in the 90s, I used to work on towers, SST, Guyed, and mono poles. ROHN towers were my favorite towers to work on. And yes, there is more to a guyed tower than people realize.
Trucker here based in Birmingham AL. Many years ago I used to haul many Rohn shelters built in Bessemer AL. Most were cell site and fiber optic regen sites set from Cali to Texas to New England. Sometimes I had to get the gen sets for 3-4 locations. That was not fun
All extremely interesting and informative. During the 1980s I worked at a TV station, and I knew the engineers. Some of what you covered, I already knew from being around them. One night during storm season, our local power grid took a hit and knocked out the power for the lights on the tower. The chief engineer was there because it was a pretty bad storm, and he notified the FAA immediately. Tower height was (still is) 1,602 ft. Things were resolved with no incidents after it was over. They took me up the tower in the small elevator one time, I wish I'd had my camera with me. Elevator topped out at 1,492 ft. Later, they showed me a complete diagram of the tower with everything mounted on it; station equipment, lights, color banding lengths, other companies' lights...literally everything. I had no idea. I was impressed. Towers never look as big in size from a distance as they really are. Triangle shaped with a 8 or 10 ft spread between the legs (it's been so many years) with a small two-man 'box' for the elevator in the middle.
Now, as a licensed amateur radio operator (yes, I'm a ham), our towers are not nearly as massive or complex as broadcast towers, but there are similarities on a smaller scale. But even when we need to do tower work, the most important factor is SAFETY. Not only for the climber, but also for the ground crew. I will share this video to our local ham clubs' Facebook pages.
CQ CQ. My extra class expired many years ago. 45 years ago. I still remember Morse Code, enough so that I do it to passing road signs. When valid I only worked CW. Call sign was .- - -... ....- .- -. - -. - -. -.
When I was growing up in the Detroit area in the 1960s, there was an FM station in Oak Park, WLDM (Lincoln Broadcasting), that very much had a homebrew feel to it. For example, when they started broadcasting in stereo, they bolted a couple of stereo faders to their mono broadcast console for the turntables. Advertisements were played on mono Ampex reel-to-reel tape decks, and the microphones were all mono.
They had a freestanding tower; it looked kind of like the Eiffel Tower (and had no safety fence around it). To hoist stuff up the tower, they had a hook hanging from a big ball (probably a weight to make sure the hook came down easily when empty). The cable went up to a pulley at the top of the tower, down to a pulley anchored to the ground, and over to an old pickup truck that had had one of its rear wheels replaced with a large spool for the cable. I never saw the setup in use; I am really hoping that the did not hoist people that way. Eventually they got bought out by a large radio chain, who tore out all the homebrew stuff and replaced it with "best practices" engineering.
My buddy Patrick Griffith was an expert at all things radio. He wrote a book on all of this and AM radio towers. He knew every radio tower West of the Misssissippi. He was based in Denver and worked as a Firefighters/EMT. Miss that guy alot. RIP
‘Used to climb towers for a living. Mostly AT&T cellular work but I’ve relamped FM & AM towers as well. Sometimes I do miss it. Most of the time I don’t!
Having dealt with NOTAMs, they are easy to do but easy to overlook and/or forget.
After that phone call from the FCC I never overlooked it again. Lots of post it notes and calendar reminders. 😁
Taking things off the NOTAMs is important. As a pilot, it is just another distraction to remember. Thanks for remembering to remove them.
Not all AM transmitter towers are the transmitting antenne themselves. The shortwave broadcast transmitters use towers with wire antennas hung up between them. Giving them even some kind of directional working, to aim the signal to a certain area of the world. However these AM broadcast shortwave stations are declining in numbers. The shortwave (and medium wave) transmitter site here in the Netherlands at Zeewolde, 43 km east of Amsterdam was used by several broadcast stations, but is now used by the military.
What they need now is a DJ monitor, that sounds an alarm when the DJ falls asleep.
We have a gentle alarm in our NOC, but if they ignore that for too long a loud piezo beeper kicks on.
Can't remember the last time we had jocks. All server based playout including intros and patter. Sigh.
I remember watching a movie from a couple of years back called Fall about two women who climb a 2000' broadcast tower and get stranded on top of it. Stuff of nightmares.
I hate to be that guy, but there was a lot wrong with that movie.
I had to help get a guy off our 1100 footer. He was about 800 feet up, realized he was really out of his element. Two firefighters came up after two of us went up and tethered him to the tower. Firefighters took him down 50 feet at a time. When he got on the ground he got a different kind of tether. Looked like shiny metal bracelets.
Great timing. Sunday I took a drive to the transmitter site of an AM station I used to run. Phased array, AM 5KW day 1KW night. I was reminising about the time I spent maintaining it and the associated equipment. Before modern air navigation systems were introduced we were the station used to navigate cross country and to the local airport. Fun memories.
That sounds like a very interesting story!
@trbowlin, glad you mentioned broadcst AM towers as radio navigation aids. Although not commonly used by pilots today because VHF and satellite nav are the current standard, many (usually older) aircraft are still equipped with ADF or Automatic Direction Finding equipment that is basically a type of AM radio receiver with directional sensing and a panel-mounted display with a dial type compass indicator and a rotating pointer needle that indicates relative bearing to station, analogous to signal strength. In the early days of aviation a pilot or navigator sensed direction to an AM broadcast station manually by rotating a steerable loop antenna below the aircraft, looking for peak signal at a selected frequency. This was called 'DF.' Tune, identify station by call letters or other info ("...and the weather in Ft. Wayne is...) then simply rotate the antenna and listen for highest volume over the speaker or earphones, or observed a signal-strength meter or small oscilloscope tube for indication of peak reception. To this day a small part of the Khz band of the frequency spectrum is still dedicated to omnidirectional broadcast beacons and directional marker beacons used by the FAA for air navigation and as position markers on certain terminal-area flight procedures. Their exact locations and broadcast frequencies are noted on aeronautical charts. Normally they are modulated to emit a three-letter Morse identifier which is repeated at regular time intervals and heard onboard the aircraft to verify station ID, but some can also carry voice. Commercial AM broadcast towers are a useful form of navigation aid and in most ADF-equipped aircraft you can also listen for entertainment and general information. FAA radiobeacons are adjacent to commercial AM on the spectrum and have lower frequencies.
Interesting. I wondered about grounding towers, as I've observed sparks upon disconnecting coaxial connector when it's windy, obviously static. I would imagine that one of those sticks would aquire quite a charge, setting RF aside! I would like to see a video on directional arrays, suppression to protect orher stations, and the like. I realize that might not be an easy subject to cover in one video... All the Best! 73 DE W8LV BILL
Ungrounded towers can develop a pretty good static charge. Even Series fed towers - ever see/hear St. Elmo's Fire?
He also refers to being zapped by a tower receiving RF energy from nearby RF sources, like other towers in a multi tower array. Before working on a tower in a directional array, you need to detune/ground the one on which you are working. This includes feedlines and tuning components. Never leave home without your Jesus stick and ground strap.
Good video. I worked in two-way communications for years. I still learn stuff!
Excellent and very informative. Thank you.
I once soldered on a live AM tower, on purpose. Granted it was a shunt fed tower, and it was only doing like 1kW.
I noticed Magnum Towers in Sacto is still in business. I built a number of TV stations with them in the 80's. Proper tall tower site operation takes a lot of management and money. Mt Sutro, was my favorite.
Fascinating topic. Thank you
Very interesting. Very well presented.
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
Wow 8 hundred thousand feet tower. That's huge.
Thanks for the great video tho. I don't know why but towers that are higher than a certain amount scare me. I can be mikes away and just looking at them they freak me out
1) Electrocution implies death. Shocked implies being in the path of the electrical current.
2) Not all AM towers are insulated, thereby "series fed". Grounded AM towers are "Shunt Fed". They are excited by a sloping line up to a certain point on the tower. They are relatively safe to touch, but as you say, you should not be there in the first place unless you are an authorized professional with an official reason to be there.
3) Towers are by regulation enclosed with a safety fence for a good reason. If you think you need to be inside the fence, most likely you don't Consult the tower owner or operator and explain your needs. That's a good way to get shocked, burned, have things fall on you or even encounter fast moving articles made of lead.
-- 62 year Consulting Engineer, Broadcast engineer, tower climber. Retired, Denks Gott.
So glad you said guy lines instead of guide lines like so many people do. I've been a subcriber for a long time. I like to learn things from people who know what there're talking about.
Or like the automatic transcription put? 😂
Got into a pissing match with a keyboard warrior once. He will go to his grave convinced they are guide wires. You cannot each he who will not learn, alas.
Worked at an electric company and it was frustrating that the orange red marking paint would fade and need repainting every 10 years. Bad enough to do it once but worse over and over. There was a color chart to see if it had faded.
Thank you for posting. I am retired from radio after a 48 year career. This is good info for the public in general who otherwise would not be aware of the dangers associated with these sites. Standing under guy wires can even be a hazard where melting ice or in some cases hardware can fall off causing serious injury or death.
Yes, I forgot to mention the ice off the guy lines. I’m finding a lot of people are coming from the IT world being thrust into the broadcast engineer world. There isn’t usually an ice danger fixing someone’s printer.
And in cold conditions, ice falling from towers can be fatal. Ice from our 2000 footer carried almost a mile away.
Thank you, I learned something today being an AM radio junkie for 60 years I did not know the entire tower is charged. That is amazing.
Interesting. Thanks
In college I remember a large FM broadcast tower that fell across the street from my dorm. One moment it was standing up, then, it was gone! Someone had cut a guy wire and caused its collapse.
Yikes! There are those people who just want to watch the world burn. And towers collapse.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer It was the KANU tower in Lawrence, KS. I think it was in late 1982 when the incident happened.
Damn, your audio is great. Thank you.
Some towers are both AM and FM. The FM antenna will be mounted at or near the top.
The Tower !!! The Tower !!! Rapunzel Rapunzel we're going to the tower !!!
@15:28 ...are these ground balls also known as Corona balls....I'm waiting for Alex Baldwin to tell us about his "Schwedde Balls" from SNL
😂
In the 90s a small tornado hit cedar rapids Iowa and felled a 400 foot guy tower across the parking lot and back of the building where they made universal gym equipment. 15 cars were flattened and 2 people were killed. We had to go and move the mangled tower to a nearby field and put up a new one. Start to finish 6 days.
Nice Job thank you for your hard work 😅
We used to climb those in my youth. The ATT long lines had tons of microwave antennas in horns or "drums" That if you stood of in front too long you would get a head ache any candy in your pocket melted and the fun part of having you nose and ears bleed and one time my friends eyes bleed, but not really any pain. .
And that is why we have radiation exposure limits now.
Have you experienced any side affects of doing that when you got older?
Like coming down with cancer.
Nope. Non ionizing radiation.
Same reasons we wouldn't test/turn on aircraft weather radar on the ground, when anyone was in front of the aircraft.
I recognize the two towers at the beginning of the video. They are 20ish miles north northwest of Denver International Airport. Towers can actually be difficult to see from the air, they can blend in with the ground under certain lighting conditions.
Yep! Ended up being a really nice day.
You have to be carful with the county road to access those towers as it can get quite muddy as I discovered. I stopped by there once (from road) when in town, and was heading up to Berthoud to visit my brother and had always seen these towers from I-25 nearby. One of them is KDEN-TV and the other is a KKSE-FM "Altitude Sports" Coordinates of KDEN tower 40°05'57.0"N 104°54'03.2"W at 1243' above ground. Nearly all Denver metro stations are on Lookout Mountain near Golden.
@marcusdamberger That Lookout Mountain TV site is amazing!
Yeah, I have no illusions that my Subaru would do all that great in mud.
Very interesting information for a lay man.
I live over the big pond in the UK.
Near my locality is a Tv/radio mast called Winter Hill just outside of a small town called Egerton.
There is also a aircraft crash site a few hundred yards away.
The aircraft did not strike the mast but I believe it was bad weather that caused the incident.
You learn something every day.
Thanks for the great video 👍
I lived in the UK for about 5 years, first in Manchester, and then up near Blackburn. Winter Hill was an impressive transmitter tower to see, it was huge.
Thanks Marcus, and as well that often towers also carry lots of other services on them, so climbing them more than a foot above the ground also requires that the other co users also are notified, and that they also safe their equipment. especially true for climbers, but even you could be just on the base connecting a new cable to your side, and the RF is not the greatest thing to have.
I’ve never had an RF burn, but have seen some people who have. I’d prefer to refrain from experiencing that.
When I was in electronics school back in the 80's I learned that TV broadcast was done through a port-hole from a tube. I also learned that CB radios don't have much power on their antenna when under broadcast but no voice. Start speaking and the wave peaks around 400V. That'll brighten your day!
At the previous job, the old main antenna’s “tower” was actually the antenna for on old TV station.
Close caption made it read guidelines and not guy lines hahahaha
Ha! I didn’t go though the transcript. I forget to check that sometimes.
Why isn't it "guide" lines?
@@rudolphguarnacci197 Why is there nothing loving or joyous about a "lovejoy?"
@@whuffer5103
I give up, why?
4ôúř Eié Dothé Thinqué tis from ye days of Olè Whencé French und Dutch Windjammers did use such Ropes to stabilise Thiné main Mast
And then there are the _ham_ radio towers.
I didn't realize that AM radio towers were that dangerous! Good to know!
I do have a question, though. The RF energy being transmitted at a radio station, can it have negative affects on the human body when one is very close to them while they are operational? For both AM and FM. I know microwave transmitters have the capacity to cook a body like our home microwaves do for our food when one is in direct line with the antenna, but I am curious if that is possible at AM or FM frequencies.
It’s all about wavelength and resonant frequencies with body parts. At AM frequencies not really an issue. FM frequencies will cause heating effects on some smaller body parts.
This is a hotly debated issue. It's called the effects of non-ionizing radiation on human tissue. Non-ionizing radiation is basically radio waves versus ionizing radiation like X-Rays, and radiation emitted by radioactive material. There is some evidence that children living under high tension power lines have a greater likelihood of developing leukemia than those that don't. Yet the people that work on those power lines seem not to be affected. Microwaves are kind of on the dividing line between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. Some people think holding your cell-phone close to your body, especially your head may make you at higher risk for certain forms of cancer. Some people are really concerned about 5G cellular, since those towers have to be much closer to the user than the older technology. Now, having said this for every study that says there are these negative effects, there is another that says no, it's perfectly safe. Marcus is right, do not ever touch an AM broadcast tower, ever. I've drawn electrical arcs off the guy wires at an FM tower just running a screw driver over it. It could have been from static electricity and the place was pretty hot with RF. There were two FM stations on tower, and the NOAA Weather Radio Station, but it's only 250 watts. I've been messing with RF since I was a kid, I'm a grandfather now. I do maintenance on some Ham repeaters. These are located in areas where there are broadcast transmitters, cell phone systems, and other transmitters. I've been very close to a TV transmit antenna, and had my face inches from our own 120 W VHF transmit antenna. I developed cataracts when I was only 40. Did this behavior have something to do with that? I don't know. My doctors think they see some changes in my optic nerves, however my distance vision is still very good. So, they keep poking and prodding at me, but still no definite answers. I do know this for certain, the FCC and the EPA are now making us answer questions about RF safety on the Ham tests, and we are supposed to do an RF safety evaluation on our stations. Even though the highest power level we can run is 1500 watts PEP. Most of us on our VHF and UHF stations seldom exceed 50 watts if that much. Pretty tame compared to broadcast transmitters. We once asked the engineer at a 50 KW AM station, what happens if you touch the tower while standing on the ground. His answer was, "you will disappear in a pink puff of smoke." Something like that happened to a would be copper thief at another AM transmitter site.
Lots of AM broadcast towers are also the supports for multiple unrelated and electrically isolated antennas.
Some are yes. But it’s more the exception than rule.
As an Extra Class HAM this stuff is cool…great job…if it paid more I definitely would have gone into broadcast engineering…I went to school back in the early 90s and worked on my doctorate in the mid 90s…but have and still am volunteering for our local public TV station …I use personally a large telescoping antenna (12 meters) because I’m mobile most of the time…
Against my best advice, my friend touched an energized one of the two WIP am towers at their tx site in NJ. We had to call an emergency squad from Westville to keep him alive. Fortunately he learned his lesson. I keep telling people to just stay away from these places! Look but just don't touch!
Worked ground level at many antenna sites. Been there during lightning. Is it safe or more dangerous to be in the vicinity of a well grounded tower. Versus the open field
That’s a good question. I would think a little safer because the lightning has a path to ground, but I’d still try to stay inside a building or shelter than at the base of the tower.
The FAA rules on tower paint don't specify color other than red. Most are painted aviation orange. Which looks red. If the tower is on a flight path and over 200 feet it must be painted and lit. The rule is 7 bands with red at bottom and top. The beacons,( flashing lights) must be red at night and white during the day. The non flashing lights in between the beacons are side marker lights. Beacons must be 200 feet apart.
I am a recent convert to DXing, mostly AM radio. I have begun to notice every tower I see on my truck route along coastal South Carolina. I never realized the complexity in a tower structure nor the challenges that must be overcome to maintain its integrity. How tall can a tower be erected without use of a sky crane helicopter?
I would guess that it would depend on the tower crew building the tower.
Very interesting,here in Ireland,the lights flash at night, theyre red, and the two other lights in between are red but steady
Yeah I didn’t cover that as in detail as I could. But yes top lights flash and others are steady.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer you covered it well it was very interesting, can you do a video sometime on what the power of the signal does i.e when they say the signal is 160kw or 5 kw, and what the advantage of height does, not only by being on a mountain top but the way national tv and radio tends to be at the top of a mast and the local station ( at least here in Ireland tends to have the radome or antenna nearer the bottom, that would be interesting ( i meant megawatts not kilowatts) 🫣
Thanks for the video I always wanted to build a radio tower maybe you could tell me some tips to build a model one I'm making a small model one so I know what it looks like in the future
That's cool! I unfortunately, don't have any tips for making a model version of one.
ok
I have a quesion and a suggestion.
How do AM stations change their daytime/nighttime patterns? I'm guessing that it's done with relays to specific radials.
I also watch another TH-camr, Jeff Geerling, He does a computer oriented channel, his father is, or was, the engineer for KMOX in St Louis. He had an interesting video of some of the KMOX radio transmitter equipment. Perhaps you could include him in an episode.
Directional AM stations have at least two towers. The output from the transmitter goes into a "phasor" that controls the amount of signal that goes to each tower and the phase between each. If you did any vector analysis in trig class, you will recall that different signals will add and subtract with time. This translates to more signal radiating in some directions and less in others. When a pattern change is done, relays do change between the controls for the daytime and nighttime pattern. Sometimes, even a tower or two are energized or de-energized depending on the need. I used to work at a four tower directional station but we only had one pattern. This was in the 70s and stations had to keep a first class licensed operation at the transmitter. There wasn't much else to do, so I manually calculated the patterning using the information from the phase monitor. I used an add, subtract, multiply, and divide calculator and a slide rule for the trig functions. It was necessary to calculate two patterns using two towers then use those figures to calculate the finial pattern. Signal strength was calculated at 10 degree increments. Imagine my surprise when I plotted the pattern and it came out reversed. I missed a sign somewhere. It was a good exercise, but I didn't do it over.
@@michaeldaniels3639 thanks. Yes, I'm acquainted with a phased array antenna from my amateur radio hobby. I was unaware that AM stations use multiple phased towers. I was guessing that it was by using relays to activate / deactivate ground radials.
How TH-cam didn’t recommend this channel is beyond me. When a local cell tower was being built close to my house nearly 20 years ago, I’d go over at least once a week (I’m 39). I got to know some of the tower crew, and shed engineers. Sadly I never kept in touch much. But I still will stop at the tower if folks are working on it, and ones near by it too.
Most of the times, they’re willing to share what they’re doing. I know I was any time I had anyone ask what I was doing.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer They seemed to enjoy sharing their knowledge and experience with someone also interested in Radio Engineering. Nice to know they’re not the only ones. :)
We get pretty lonely on the road. Most of use travel a couple weeks straight at a time fixing towers all across the country!! Just don't catch me on the last day or two, way too exhausted to entertain or talk 😔 normally we climb at least once a day, sometimes 2 or 3!
@f1vet930 that’s a long stretch!
Question about what you said when using standard vehicle jump cables to ground the antenna…are you saying the balls you would hook one part of the cable to doesn’t hold electrical currents? And obviously do this when the transmitter is off. I had to rewatch that part a few times to understand it how to ground the tower. You said connect end of the cable to the tower itself then the ball. You had also talked about how a tower can also be a good receiving antenna and currents still be carried if that tower’s transmitter is off completely if I understood that correctly.
How is it that when connecting a jumper cable to a bare metal part on the bottom of the tower still couldn’t carry electrical currents and one not get electrocuted?
If you look at the balls, one is connected to the tower and one is connected to ground. You basically want to jumper those together without moving them. You're just grounding the tower. Yes, you want to have the transmitter off, otherwise, you could risk damaging the system.
I've subscribed
I might be doing some maintenance on an LP FM antenna. Is there any danger whatsoever in maintaining one of these?
It depends on where the antenna is located. If it’s on a tower more than a regular ladder or accessible from a bucket truck then I’d hire professionals. Just be sure the station is off before you get close or touch the antenna.
LP is just 100 watts But lock it out it can give you a nasty jolt our AAARRRGGGG one is 150 watts
I know that site really well ;-)
At 6:48, why did the red flashing obstruction light above your left shoulder stop flashing?
I’m thinking you’re meaning a bit later on when it’s dark. I couldn’t get the whole tower in frame. Those are the side markers.
Sorry, I meant at 8:48. I didn’t notice anything change aside from the flashing light disappearing.
There's no light above HIS left shoulder, but there is one above HIS right. Good grief!
The guys are there to transfer lateral movement into vertical. Think about a right angle triangle rotating and it becomes clear.
I worked somewhat near a series of tall transmission towers well fenced in without much built up around them. I had a coworker who grew up closer to them, and who said sadly that she’d watched one tower fall during the build. She reported seeing workers fall, apparently not tethered, not that it would matter at that moment… We also had railroad tracks by the worksite, and a switching yard was almost in the backyard of her family home. One day early in my employment at the job I commented upon the series of black painted rail tanks rolling by. My coworker asked if I knew what was in the tanks. I hadn’t read the white lettering, and stated that I didn’t know. “Anhydrous ammonia. That stuff will burn out your lungs if the tank leaks!” YIKES!!
Only decades(!) later, after thousands of those A.A. tank cars had creaked past the facility the employer instituted safety drills in the event of a rail accident; where to go, what to shut and shut off, who to call, etc.
One thing noted about the antenna guy-lines are the weights riding upon the lower limit of the cable before they terminate at the anchors! We have snow and ice here in winter. Obviously there is much wind at heights. Temperature contracts and expands material. I have long wondered how much “give & take” any particular guy line is subject to!!
Great episode!
@williesnyder2899, the guy wires are almost completely inelastic. They 'give' a bit under gravity and dynamic loads such as wind, ice accumulaton or seismic activity but, essentially, do not 'take' to return to original length or tension. From time to time they need to be retensioned properly to maintain the straightness, vertical alignment and overall structural integrity of the antenna system. Not unlike tuning a stringed musical instrument.
Always attach the ground side first!!!
I went back into the woods after they put a new tower up and i found a red Pyrex glass light cover laying in garbage that had been left around
Often times we do LED upgrade installs, normally the guys will toss the beacons/side markers off the tower to save time and energy. Some of the older incandescent stuff is pretty cool, I collect a lot of the stuff we decommission and re engineer with LEDs for home display/entertainment purposes!
@f1vet930 I came into possession of a side marker. It’s a cool little display piece.
Have you been following the missing tower at the Alabama radio station? Any thoughts about that?
I have! I’m actually recording a video today about it pulling together different sources. It’ll post tomorrow.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer look forward to it.
Who can a civilian call to report a tower light out? One of the local radio stations (FM) has the top light out. Middle is still flashing. I used antenna search to find an email address. I sent an email telling them. It's been over a month. Light is still out.
You can call the FCC and they’ll send some nastygrams to the station.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer I bet they know the light is out and just don’t want to hire a climber just to change a few bulbs. Most white lights come with multiple bulbs that will switch when one burns out. Flashing beacons are a special type of light, expensive. Red light are out of style. Some people have a nervous reaction to red light, strange but true.
I think the 15 day rule is no more. When I have needed to get a NOTAM, they have asked how long I want it for. My chief has us ask for 30 days. Anyway great info.
I think that’s what I thought when I had to get that one years ago, but I think the circular says 15 days. It’s been a few days since I read it.
What about Shortwave radio antennas?
What about shortwave antennas? Shortwave broadcasting isn’t very big in the United States, so I didn’t cover that.
@@TheBroadcastEngineer Its getting bigger again WRMI Legends on 5050 & 9455 kHz, WWV & WWVH 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 & 25 MHz, WWCR 3215 & 4840 kHz, WTWW, 5085 kHz & WBCQ 15420, 9330, 7490, 5110 kHz to name some as well as many overseas.
@@drsysop I'd imagine that since they pose the same danger to aircraft, that they also would fall under the same FAA regulation.
Who is responsible for lighting maintenance for silent stations?
If the tower owner has no money, how do the lights get changed?
The station ultimately is responsible, but the tower owner or trustee would also be responsible.
Towers aren't guyed. Masts are guyed.
I can guy anything.
@@markpell8979 If you ever designed a tower or a mast, or the foundation for you'd know they are very different.
@@DuaneKerzic Duane, you are quite correct at the hair-splitting level but for most people, even many in the associated 'tower industries,' the terms are often used interchangeably without harming the intended meaning. If you or I are looking at a specific upright structure used to broadcast and/or receive radio signals, we know what it is but we should also know what most others would call it. If we don't use the generally accepted term we are immediately recognized as nerds or geeks, which I'm ok with but I prefer to be understood at the common language level without having to translate a term I just used to the uninformed or uninitiated. So generally and practically, the common-usage distinction between a tower or mast is irrelevant or unimportant because both words are used to mean the same thing. And technically, any upright structures that 'tower' in height above local terrain and other structures can be guyed for additional support and/or stability, and often are. I definitely understand the technical differences between towers and masts, and I thank you for this opportunity for two well-informed people to have an interesting topical discussion. I think I gave you exactly what you were looking for- someone who would disagree with you at a friendly, sporting level even if the debating point is highly esoteric. Glad to be of service.
*DUH* 🤪
Kfi tower now short
WNPB -TV (Old WWVU-TV) Morgantown, WV Had a plane strike it's tower in the 1980's, I think. Light Twin, fog, pilot dead. Tower did not collapse, was rebuilt and life went on. 15 or 20 years later, BAM. Light twin,, fog, Pilot dead. tower did not fall. I think it is 700 foot Stainless G-5. Tower was rebuilt and it is still in use on DTV-33. TOUGH OLD TOWER.
Just an update: "NOTAM" was originally "Notice to Air MEN", but with the larger number of female pilots, and remote-controlled craft (i.e. drones) they have changed the definition. It is now: "Notice to Air Missions" Thanks, Marcus.
Alas, we’re all huMan. And dicking with the language isn’t going to change it. I always make certain to use correct terms, Women can be policemen, firemen, businessmen or airmen etc because they too are indeed human.
@@realvanman1 "dicking with the language isn’t going to change it." I suppose I agree that applying a dick to the language is hardly likely to change it in a more inclusive direction. But change it does. Policewoman and businesswoman have been in common use for at least a three decades, and the use in formal writing of "he" and "him" to represent any person has completely faded over the last 40 years.
Marcus, the FAA has recently changed the definition of NOTAM. It now stands for NOtice To Air Missions. I think it's about being politically correct.
Ah. Sounds about right. I didn’t notice that change on the circular. It’s been a few years since I’ve had to call those in.
I suppose that also makes sense now with the big push to register and license UAS pilots. The language was more missions than flights.
**THE GUYLINE BASES GO DOWN 6000 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH!!**
You are absolutely wrong, if they are beyond the fence and not suppose to be there regardless of what type of stick it is, go ahead and touch it....
Ha! It’s an electrifying experience. Things will pop! You will become excited by the sparks!
@sg17847, sorry but you are "absolutely" uninformed of the potential dangers of doing this. Even on an 'unernergized' tower or mast structure there can be built-up static charges with a surprising amount of power searching for a path to ground through the guy wires or any other available conductive connection. Don't be that connection.
Oh yeah, Towers. I love them. They are incredible structures.
I was a Top Broadcast Engineer for NBC-TV News. In, Washington DC. For 20 years. And we had our original tower. I think it was 850 feet? But then one day.
A crew arrived. And they would be assembling. A brand-new, bigger, better, taller, tower. That I think was about 1100 feet high.
It was an incredible thing. Watching these Steeple jacks. Build this incredible tower. These guys are Fearless. They are Unique. And they have No Life Insurance. Oh my God!
Their jobs are more than Death Defying. Especially when a breeze comes in. Holy crap!
But that tower went up. It instills. An incredible feeling of Accomplishment. And we did absolutely nothing. They did everything.
And while I was not a Transmitter, person, myself, per se. I was a Studio Engineer, mostly. I did pay a couple of visits To, our, AM, Transmitter Site. When, Darius. Told me to climb the, tower. What? Are you kidding me? He said no. And do not touch, the tower. When you are still on the ground. You'll die. Because it still on. Oh my God!
And he showed me. How you kind of had to, hop. Onto the structure. So you wouldn't get zapped. Holy crap!
I did not like climbing the tower. I saw no reason, to climb the tower. No light needed to be replaced. Darius, just wanted to make me, climb the tower. Ugh!
I liked, FM better. It was high fidelity. It was stereo. And it did not fade.
We had a 4 tower array for the letter a M, Station. And at that time. We were all New stock. But I was an, FM Engineer. Mostly. And I preferred the music over News Talk. Though that was also interesting. We had great talk show hosts. And I did learn a bit. Of what makes our Government. Better than most every other Government around the world. We are Unique.
But we have a Faction of Extremist, religious zealot crazies. That want to destroy our country. For their own ill-gotten gains. And to destroy the Rights, Freedoms and Liberties of Americans. THEY DON'T LIKE!
And so they have actually Declared War. Upon the USA. And upon the, American Citizens. There is no other way to define nor describe this, coups d'état. They are, Insurrectionists. Through and through. And they have to be dealt with. Partially. Severely. Painfully. And completely Shut Down.
These Homo sapiens are no longer Americans. Yet. They Demand, their rights! And hey. Insurrectionists, . Have No Rights, in the USA. So, I don't know what they are, shouting and protesting about? They are Insurrectionist. They are no longer Americans. They have given up their American Citizenship. By attacking innocent Americans.
So these moron idiots. Have made a Dreadful Mistake. A Mistake. That will mark their end. And we will end them.. It's necessary. They are wreaking havoc on everyone. They have no rights to do this. We have to take them out. They won't like it. Too bad. This is what happens to Stupids. And they want to be, Stupid. Because they don't want to be Woke.
And so I don't think we should put up with this anymore. We have to take Action. They won't like.
RemyRAD
Er, OK, that took a surprising turn...
The tower and it's anchors experience force not stress. Pilots fly by maps that indicates all obstructions to air navigation. NOTAM means NOTice To AirMen. Ron W4BIN