Emergency! The (AM) Transmitter keeps popping off the air and we can’t figure out why! YOU MUST HELP US!!1!!!
Really?
Some problems are easy to spot, difficult to fix
Well, with the ATU mounted about 1/4 inch away from the 90-degree, series-excited tower, I wonder why. It seemed to be especially problematic during rain, snow, and ice storms. When I asked how long this had been going on, I was told “About two years, ever since we put up the new tower!”
You don’t say.
We finally took care of this by moving the ATU back inside the shed after moving the transmitter to a different building. The funny thing is, this was installed by a guy who had a BSEE. I guess he must have been out sick the day they covered this in class.
I took a few shots during the boat ride back from the WICC transmitter site today. This has to be one of the more unique transmitter sites to access in the country. Most of the time, the boat ride takes about five to ten minutes, depending on other vessels in the channel. The dock at the island is in rough shape due to last month’s storm, but it is generally passable.
We are still working on repairing the damage from Sandy. Today was patching up the roof and troubleshooting the tower lights. The tower light wiring, junction boxes, and splices were all soaked by seawater, and there are several issues with malfunctioning side markers and beacon lights. We will be rewiring everything next week.
Departing Pleasure Beach Island, Bridgeport, CT
Shot over the stern looking at the two 1926 vintage Miliken towers. The square, self-supporting towers are nearly ninety years old, most of which was spent in a salt air environment, as such these towers are in excellent shape. They knew how to make things back then.
The Port Jefferson Ferry, Bridgeport Harbor, CT
The Ferry runs between Port Jefferson, NY (Long Island) and Bridgeport, CT carrying cars and pedestrians. There are no cars on this particular boat, so it must be out of service.
The pilot house on the Harbor Master boat
Looking into the pilot house of the Harbor Master boat. Looks a little crowded in there, I’ll just stay out on deck and enjoy the ride. Sometimes it is the small things.
Guess what caught fire this time? It’s this thing, which has become the newest piece in my burned-up shit collection:
BE FM30A IPA regulator board
If you give up and are totally flummoxed, this is the IPA power supply regulator for a BE FM35A transmitter. Here it is in better days when it was actually working. The IPAs are in pull-out drawers on the right side of the transmitter cabinet, below the FX-30 exciter.
BE FM35A transmitter, on air
Said transmitter is aging not so gracefully, as it turns 26 this year. There does seem to be a finite life to transmitting equipment, something that should be kept in mind when planning out next year’s capital expense budgets. Regardless of all that, this event naturally occurred the day after Thanksgiving.
The good news, and there is always good news, we have many spare IPA regulators and PA modules in the shop ready to go. Upon investigation, there were numerous other problems with this transmitter, which have been or will be addressed.
Apparently, somebody, over the long holiday weekend had a wee bit too much time on their hands. So much so that they decided ripping the doors off of the generator shed at the WGHQ transmitter site was a good idea. And so they did:
Generator shed doors ajar
That, and smash the light fixture.
The good news; thus satisfied with their bit of malfeasance, they left the generator and other contents of the building untouched. It could have been worse.
Perhaps the site could do with some security cameras?
Generator shed door repaired
The local carpenter was called and the door frame was replaced. Truth be told, the wood door frame was a bit past its prime anyway. Once the doors were remounted, I check out the generator and it starts and runs just fine.
Generator
It’s a cute little thing, 23 KW, 4 cylinder diesel engine.
