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Author Topic: What AM tower is this (Paul G. Thompson or anyone?) Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-01-2003 06:19 PM                     Just took som photos of a brand new AM tower in my city not far from where I live. It recently replaced the original tower which they had until this year, both guy supported. It is used by a local AM station KOLE 1340 for their remote auxilary transmitter. The station is actually locater in the neighboring city of Beaumont(?). It uses a Harris Allied or Harris Gates transmitter,dont know how many kilowatts-up to ten or more. At the base of the tower,there are four grounding straps leading to a horizontal buried grid,copper I believe,plus there are six vertical wires adjacent to the tower running up most of the full height of it. Will load more pics of the tower at a later time.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-01-2003 07:26 PM                     You stood right UNDER that antenna when it was transmitting?! You're supposed to wait until the power is turned off, Ya' Know! You're probably sterile now!  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 10-01-2003 08:42 PM                        For a brand new tower, there's sure a lot of vegetation around it! That copper strap jumpering the base insulator is grounding the tower itself. Those vertical lines you noticed are actually the radiating elements of the antenna. It's a folded unipole design. It's interesting that there isn't any tuning equipment in the picture (is there a "doghouse" nearby?). Otherwise, this doesn't look unusual at all. There are a LOT of these installations across the country. At 10kW or so, AM frequencies probably won't sterilize you anytime soon. I used to have to do daily tower current readings where the meter was mounted ON the tower. I had to climb a wooden (read: insulated) ladder to the "hot" part of the tower, where the shunt switch was. This thing ran 10kW, and I have 4 daughters to prove it didn't do anything to me!  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 10-01-2003 09:14 PM                        That'll make you sterile? COOOOOOL!!!!!! I don't want any kids and I don't want anyone nipping and cutting down there. Sounds like the perfect plan... plus it's free!  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-01-2003 09:15 PM                     There's not a doghouse nearby, just the building that the lines to the tower come out of. The bulding was used as a remote station,I don't know if it's still in there ,but the bathroom had the spark gap in it! The back of the transmitter protrudes through one wall of the bathroom & yes, all covers are on it.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-01-2003 09:37 PM                     The high power stuff can indeed sterilize you. When I was at WCFC TV in Chicago which had a true 100kw input to the bays the tower engineer always called us to lower our power to 1/3 normal (1.2 Million watts ERP with both visual and the single aural Klystrons functioning)so he could safely pass our radiators. He said at 1/3 power he could still feel his testicles get warm so he always went by quickly. This transmitter used 8" hard transmission line pressurized with nitrogen. I would say that you photos represent a pretty small transmitter site judging by the insulator at the base and the size of the heliax running into it. Its also a light weight tower as again the insulator is quite small in diameter and the load of the tower sits on it. Probably not more than 2500 watts. If it were larger than that there would be at least 3 inch transmission line instead of the Heliax. Generally, the larger the transmitter power the larger the insulator, and transmission line. Not necessarily a larger tower though. All new commercial AM, and FM transmitters are solid state all the way through and including the final amplifier stage. Most are modular so if a module or two fail all that happens is that the output power lowers a bit. You still stay on the air though. The best part of the solid state xmitters is the low power consumption. Some are so efficient as to not soak up any more power than the old AM modulator section of the transmitter it replaced. A good example was the MONTHLY power bill for the TTU-110 transmitter at WCFC. It usually topped 20,000 dollars. Mark P.S. Here is a large transmitter and tower. The tower at this station weighs 900,000 lbs!! The base inslator supports the entire weight of the tower..... http://hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 10-01-2003 10:56 PM                     Mark, BAH! Sure, his testicles got warm. So do the wrenches, coins, and other metal objects they have in their pockets do when they climb "hot towers." Most of the radio station engineers I know that have died was due to leukemia or some other form of cancer. There was a sailor that thought high-power energy blasted at the balls would sterilize him. He did that on a many occassions. Unfortunately, he was still capable of "doing it" and his faithful wife and him still had children. It takes more RF energy to sterilize a person than it does to kill them. I have been around many towers for years, working inside the fence areas. I still don't have any problems with that.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 10-01-2003 10:57 PM                        quote: This thing ran 10kW, and I have 4 daughters to prove it didn't do anything to me! No sons though, eh?  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 10-01-2003 11:02 PM                     Mathew, I don't have enough to go on by looking at the picture. What is the tower registration number? I'll look it up. However, if the tower is not exceeding "X" number of feet and they are not in a flight path or hazard to a local "White Knuckle Airlines" airport, they may not need a registration number.  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-02-2003 01:00 AM                        quote: For a brand new tower, there's sure a lot of vegetation around it! Don't things grow at ALL in Washington? That picture looks like the guys mowed it just last week, for the US coast on the Gulf of Mexico.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 10-02-2003 07:32 AM                     Can't tell for sure from the pictures, but think its a "folded unipole". This type of tower has skirt wires around it. The wires are connected to the tower at the top and are insulated at the bottom. The tower is actually grounded at the base and the RF is fed (through appropriate matching network) near the base across the skirt wires and ground. The ground system more than likely contains 120 radials of buried copper wire extending 1/4 wavelength out from the base.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-02-2003 08:33 AM                     Yea, but I doubt that you guys would still "function" very long after having passed a 100kw bay running at full power Mark  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 10-02-2003 08:36 AM                        quote: No sons though, eh? Yah... I thought one of you clowns would catch that! quote: Yea, but I doubt that you guys would still "function" very long after having passed a 100kw bay running at full power Mark, you may have a point. I used to get headaches working around the 100kW FM plants that had their studios at the transmitter, But I also spent a lot of years with AM, and that never bothered me. In that time, most engineers I knew weren't that concerned about the lower frequencies, either. Now... you'd probably be nuts to go anywhere near that WLW transmitter when it was at power... but that was probably more a practical matter...  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-02-2003 03:04 PM                     I'll obtain the tower registration number later today. It's on the fence & resembles a license plate.I have photos of the top of the tower & the bottom where the six wires are attached.  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-02-2003 06:24 PM                     OK,here's the tower registration number. It's 1232099.  |  IP: Logged

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