I wonder about such things. I wonder who would walk a couple of miles, and climb over a chain link fence with some spray paint cans just to do this:
Spray Painted Graffiti, WICC transmitter building
Why are they not doing something else?
Graffiti WICC transmitter site, Bridgeport, CT
Can’t even read what it says, what does it say?
E135D? I’ve got my eye on you
On the roll-up door. What does that mean?
On an unrelated note, I wonder what Hurricane Irene thought of the Piping Plover nesting areas? Last year we were able to drive down the temporary road on the sandbar and deliver fuel, a new generator and remove stuff. This was an issue because the Piping Plovers nest on the ground in the sand dunes. Before we could use the road we were given a briefing by Connecticut Fish and Wildlife where we were told that destroying a nest would result in a $75,000 fine.
Long Beach, Connecticut
As this area was completely washed over by the Long Island sound, the answer is “Not much.”
The Nautel AMPFET series transmitters date from the early ’80s through early ’90s. They were Nautel’s first attempt at MF Broadcast transmitters and were quite successful. This particular transmitter was installed in early 1990 at WBEC in Pittsfield, MA:
Nautel AMPFET 1 AM broadcast transmitter
I believe Nautel got started making MW transmitters for Marine Radio stations, Aeronautical and Marine radio beacons, and similar equipment. Their early equipment is very rugged and designed for rough/continuous service. The early solid-state broadcast transmitters like the AMPFET were not hot pluggable but who cares, they almost never break. The design is simple, and efficient and it sounds good on the air.
Early transmitters were housed in racks that were much shorter. In later versions, the racks became larger to standardize the transmitter size with comparable units of the day. Inside this cabinet, there is a lot of empty space.
The design is modular, RF modules and power supplies can be removed from the transmitter for repair, unlike the Harris AM transmitter products of the same or later periods.
There later AM transmitter versions built on the AMPFET experience.
I was cleaning out the engineering room at WBEC in Pittsfield, MA today. The previous engineer, Ken Jones, passed away last July and we have been hired to do the engineering work. Part of that job is knowing where key information and parts are, thus the clean-up.
Whilst in the middle of that fun, I found a sheaf of papers consisting of this:
That is the classic engineering department bitch-o-gram, typed out on a typewriter. There were no fewer than eight memos to Ron (Stratton), who appears to be General Manager, from Don Coleman, the lowly engineer. Since WBEC was a directional AM station, the engineers had to walk out to the towers every day and take a set of base current readings to confirm that the antenna sample system was working properly. A rule is no longer in effect. Like many AM stations, WBEC is located in a low, swampy area. You will notice that this engineer had given the swamp a name and one wonders what the significance of that name is.
Back in the day of typewriters, sending off memos was no easy task. After the document was typed, a copier had to be found, copies made, and distributed to all parties. Oftentimes, distribution consisted of handing a copy directly to the person and waiting for a response. It was a way to put things in writing and to create a paper trail if needed in the future.
Here is another one:
In this memo, our hero references all of his previous memos on the same topic. Obviously, this engineer was very concerned about tower access and not breaking his or anyone else’s leg. I like the invitation for a walk out to the tower. The studios and general manager’s office are located at the WBEC transmitter site, so it would not have been a long walk.
These are fairly mundane, I can remember typing a few memos to the programming department on asbestos paper to keep them from bursting into flames. Ahhh, those were the days.
With special thanks to our sponsors, regular readers and those just dropping in for a look-see, I was able to buy a new SLR camera. It took several months to pool my blog earnings, I had to redeem several thousand Amex rewards points and scrape together a little bit of loose change from the sofa cushions and get this:
New Canon EOS Rebel T1i SLR camera
To date, I have been using the camera on my HTC Android phone. For the price, it has done yeoman’s work and is always handy. That being said, there have been several instances where I have been disappointed by a blurry or poorly lit picture. Several times, this has occurred at transmitter sites or other locations where I will not be likely to return, thus the chance of getting a better shot at a later date is low. Other times, I have missed first-time events; the first time turning a transmitter on, the first boot-up of a fancy console, etc.
Pictures, videos, and diagrams are a very important part of this blog. I decided that if this is going to be a semi-serious endeavor I need to get some better equipment and stop losing key shots to less-than-optimum equipment. The HTC Android is a smartphone, it does a good job as such. The camera and video recorder are a compromise at best.
With the new camera, I can get better close-ups, better low light, and generally improve the quality of the images in this blog. I am all about quality. I look forward to trying it out.
