The name of a song on Pink Floyd’s album, Meddle, released in 1971. The only lyrics in the song are drummer Nick Mason, who says “One of these days I am going to cut you into little pieces.” This was recorded at double speed with Mason speaking in falsetto, then played back at normal speed. Anyway, a good song from one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums.
And so it was for this Thales UHF TV transmitter. Installed in 2005 or so during the early transition to digital TV for PBS affiliate WNPI-DT.
Decommissioning a liquid cooled transmitter requires a few extra steps. First and foremost, as much as possible the antifreeze needs to be captured and collected for proper disposal. In this case, approximately 110 gallons (417 liters) of Dowtherm heat transfer fluid was drained into barrels.
Next, all of the RF modules and power supplies were removed from the transmitter. Both needed to be drained of HTF.
The outdoor heat exchanger presented a new problem:
It was attached to the concrete pad with hammer fixed anchors which needed to be ground off with a hand grinder.
It was a little bit chilly on a 10 F (-12 C) day, laying on the concrete pad, in the snow, under the heat exchanger with a hand grinder grinding the top of of eight little round bolts. After that was done, I managed to pry the legs loose and tip it slightly to get the rest of the HTF out into a bucket. I think the HE had about 15 gallons (57 liters) of HTF.
Next, all of the smaller sub assemblies were removed; the upper and lower RF module and power supply frames, the two control module frames, the rails that held the control modules, the AC power input and distribution frame and the controller frame and all the circuit boards. The RF module and power supply frames had HTF tubes and pipes that needed to be drained. The circuit boards are disposed of as E-waste.
The wiring harness was removed.
Finally, the stainless steel main cabinet frame was cut into manageable pieces with the battery powered sawzall (reciprocating saw) so that it could be carried out of the building.
All in all, it was a fun project.
Reading this post brings back memories of cold hands, mild frostbite and an utter lack of patience working on mechanical things in weather like that.
Is there any realistic secondary market for that transmitter or is it’s next mission in life to serve as the scrap steel they make new dishwashers out of?