Posted on 04/17/2012 8:08:03 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
Journalists walk on the 450-meter (1,476 feet)-high observation deck of the Tokyo Sky Tree during a press preview in Tokyo Tuesday, April 17, 2012. The world's tallest freestanding broadcast structure that stands 634-meter (2,080 feet) will open to the public in May. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
In my early years, I did ECM kind of stuff enlisted and DOD(in NM, go figure). But that was long before I became a cook.
/johnny
You guessed it. But work got done. Chief engineer knew and was present.
KLRN San Antonio?
Devil’s backbone, Canyon Lake?
I suppose there are a few other Channel 9s in Texas but I know the Canyon Lake tower had a wide area coverage repeater at one time on 147.75/.15, if I recall.
I’m not certain you want to reveal which tower, though.
Ah, so.
My friends with the Cactus Net would pipe the up and down link conversations for the Shuttle Missions from JPL to the network when it was idle. Was a lot of fun to listen to.
I remember setting in a Mexican Restaurant in Deming, NM with my handi-talkie setting on the table and listening to that chatter. Even in NM where this was pretty commonplace, it caused a little distracted attention. hee hee hee
Loved it. Those were good times.
Miss that group.
Channel 9 in OKC not TX
And we did. I was on a short list of folks invited by the widow of one Elmer to pick through his gear and bid on it.
I expect I'll leave my gear to some kid that actually knows code.
It's the great cycle.
/johnny
Just added go my list of quick things to do before I dye/die LOL
Not sure the ham repeater is still on that tower. Heard when the ice storm almost took it down that they did a house cleaning to reduce the load on the tower and the Hams got booted.
Most broadcast companies have learned over the years how valuable good techs are when the chips are down.
We had that kind of experience in NM where I lived. An Albequerque station put a translator system on a site we had our repeater on and they booted us. But they soon found that it was a long way from Albequerque to Silver City and we could drive across town and get them back on the air. They put us up in a nice rack cabinet, furnished power and AC and were happy to have our assistance. Total tone change.
That’s pretty funny LOL
There are quiet a few of us on FR, aren’t there.
Added to my list
Standard lapse rate is 2 degrees Celsius per 1000 feet. You generally notice the wind chill more than the actual temperature change.
On of the worst days of my good friend’s life came a couple of decades ago. He had technical supervison of a nationwide group of TV stations, and a new tower was being built for a couple of them in Texas (not Houston, by the way).
He was a cautious type and had left standing orders for the tower workers not to go up on the tower under construction on windy days.
But on this particular day, they did so anyway.
The tower itself was nearly complete, but the erecting jig—called a ginpole—needed to be moved up one more level. This is a tricky operation because there is a short period where you have this 60-foot long pole weighing several tons in a potentially unstable configuration before the workers on the tower can muscle it into its new position and bolt it into place.
Well, Murphy took over that day. The gin pole bacame unstable, possibly due to the winch operator on the ground not stopping the winch on time and letting the pole rise too high to be properly stabilized by the workers on the tower. Because of the wind, it got out of hand (literally) and came loose from the hoisting cable. On the way down, it took out some of the tower guys so the tower came down.
Several people lost their lives, including all that were on the tower.
Naturally, the survivors’ lawyers went after the TV station group as well as the tower erection company. But the TV group’s lawyers were excellent; they built a solid defense alleging negligence on the part of the erection company’s workers, and won the case.
Just the same, my friend had nightmares about it for long afterward. And, on the strong advice of counsel, he would never again employ that tower company or its successors.
BTW, I learned that little fact as a cook, my last enlistment when I wound up on a short TDY at 8000ft ASL and tried to bake bread.
/johnny
/johnny
And since the FCC stopped demanding minimum levels of transmitter performance, many stations don't give enough of a s*** to hire competent technical help anyway.
Loudness, man, loudness! What else is there to care about?
YEP.
Did you go to the second ball or just the first. The problem once you are up inside is the pollution in Shanghai is so bad you dont have a great view.
Since this was in Tokyo, I think bro Charles was referring to several of them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.