I found this on one of the guy wire anchor points for a 400-foot tower:
#2 solid copper wire burned open by a lightning strike
Had to be a pretty big hit to burn open a #2 wire. This is on one of six guy anchor points for the tower. The ground wire is U-bolted to each guy wire before the turnbuckle and then goes to ground. This was noted between the last guy wire and the ground rod.
It is important to find and fix these things, as the next lightning strike on this tower would have a less-than-ideal path to ground at the guy anchor points, forcing the current to flow through other parts of the transmitter site, possibly through the transmitter itself, to ground.
I generally try to do a brief inspection of towers, guy anchors, lighting, painting, and a general walk around the property twice a year. That helps prevent surprises like “Oh my goodness, the guy wires are rusting through,” or “Hey, did you know there is an illegal “hemp” farm on your property?” Well, no officer, I don’t know anything about that…
I read a very interesting article from John Anderson regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement’s use of media, specifically low-powered radio. Being a native New Yorker, the demonstrations are of some interest to me. To date, the demonstrators have placed a wide variety of grievances at the feet of “Wall Street,” some justly and some not. What I found interesting about it is this:
Last week, the Occupy Wall Street encampment established a microradio station at 107.1 FM. The station simulcasts the 24/7 live stream which provides coverage of life inside Zuccotti Park, as well as street-level reportage of daily protest actions in New York City’s financial district.
One of the reasons for this is the City’s ban on the use of amplified speakers and or public address systems. By using a micro radio station, persons in a crowd too far away to hear the orator can use a small FM radio or even their smartphones to listen to the speech. Another reason is the idea that large corporate media has been controlling the narrative for far too long, to the detriment of the average citizen.
Zuccotti Park is in lower Manhattan, about two blocks away from Wall Street itself. It is described as 33,000 square feet, which makes it about 3/4 of an acre. A part 15 FM radio station (47CFR 15.239) can easily cover this area and more. Even with the station limited to 250 µV field at 3 meters from the radiating element, generally thought to be 100 mW TPO, the reliable coverage area would be a radius of approximately 200 feet, depending on local interference. That makes the coverage area approximately 125,600 square feet or more. There are several other stations licensed to 107.1 in the greater NYC area; WXPK, WWZY are the closest and most likely to cause problems.
I am not sure how they are generating their live stream, but when listening to it for several hours over the weekend, I found it interesting and technically well done. They seem to be running circles around others, who are only grudgingly admitting that there might be something going on in some forty-odd cities across the US.
Micro Radio is a creative way to use the available technology and keep the public and protesters informed.
Back last February, it was reported that FEMA/Department of Homeland Security was mysteriously constructing prepackaged AM transmitter buildings at various PEP (Primary Entry Point) transmitter sites across the country as something call “Primary Entry Point Expansion.” These buildings contain a 5 KW Nautel AM transmitter, EAS gear, satellite equipment (the exact equipment list is undisclosed), and a backup generator all in a shielded (Faraday Cage), prefabricated building placed inside a fenced-in compound at the station’s transmitter site. The buildings are being put in place, but not connected to anything in the outside world. They are planning to have about 80 (the number keeps increasing) of these structures in place by when the project is completed in mid-2013.
FEMA/DHS IPAWS PEP expansion project
Why, inquiring minds want to know, would they do that?
The new buildings and equipment are, of course, not provided to the government for free. I would estimate each unit costs at least $200,000 based on the following:
A new solid-state 5 KW AM transmitter costs $50-55K
A new 35 KW generator costs $23K
A new, shielded communications structure costs $70-85K
Those prices are roughly what a private company might pay, the government procurement costs would be higher. Multiply by 80, which equals at least $16M, perhaps double that when project administration is considered. In the distant past, through something called the Broadcast Station Protection Program (BSPP), FEMA did provide generators, fuel tanks, transfer switches, and occasionally a bomb shelter to key EBS stations throughout the country. In the recent past, FEMA and the government, in general, have been reluctant to fund even mandated changes in the EAS system, first in 1997 when EAS was first implemented and again in 2011 when the CAP modifications were required. Why are they now spending at least $16M to provide EMP-hardened facilities forAM radio stations?
The rationale for this current wave of government spending, as reported in several industryperiodicals, is simply a matter of supplying in-depth backup facilities in accordance with Executive Order 13407. The design of the structure and manner of installation seems to indicate the primary concern of FEMA is some type of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). If an EMP were to happen and it took out the station’s main transmitters, these could be connected to the existing antenna system and switched on. They would provide emergency programming and interface directly with FEMA’s IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System).
The interesting thing about this is that there is a coincidence with the upswing of solar cycle 24. Back in 2008, likely when this project was likely first dreamed up, the predictions were for a great number of sunspots in this cycle. That has not happened and in fact, this cycle is now predicted to be the weakest solar cycle since 1823. Even weak sunspot cycles can create problems, but does that warrant supplying 80 backup transmitters, generators, fuel tanks, and buildings to various AM broadcasting stations throughout the country? Further, solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) are fairly slow-moving events, the sun is well monitored; alerts would be issued and precautions are taken.
One other thing to consider: HEMP (High altitude Electromagnetic Pulse from a nuclear air burst). AM transmitters are more robust when it comes to HEMP than FM transmitters. This is because of their modulation type and frequency of operation. A 5 KW AM transmitter can withstand RF voltages six or eight times its nameplate carrier rating. Tube-type transmitters are even more robust than solid state. The FM broadcast band falls right in the middle of the HEMP fast pulse frequency (72-225 MHz), which will likely resonate in the tuning circuits of the transmitter exposed to it and destroy all of the active devices. Not so with AM transmitters.
A HEMP event would cause catastrophic damage to the electrical grid across wide areas of the continent (see also; Starfish Prime). The voltages instantaneously induced on computer circuit boards and power supplies would be so high, they would likely burst into flames if they were close enough to the detonation. The same for almost all other electronic devices with circuit boards. It would set the country back one hundred or more years, technologically, causing massive disruptions in the food supply chain. Such an act would surely be met with massive nuclear retaliation by the US. The military has not only hardened all of its communications and command facilities, but they have also undergone rigorous EMP testing, finding and fixing design flaws. Thus, the US military’s capacity to wage war would continue undiminished after a HEMP event, a fact that all other members of the nuclear club are surely aware of.
