The case of the blown fuse, or rather the blown up fuse:
Blown 10 amp fuse on Harris SX5 PA board
F32 is blown into small bits and had to be vacuumed out of the bottom of the transmitter. The reason why is the pair of MOSFETs connected to that circuit were shorted. Of course, the reason for the shorting of MOSFETs needed to be investigated. What I found was on the underside of the PA board where the brass stand-off attacked the toroid combiner board, the nuts attaching the stand-off to the combiner board were loose and there was a big arc mark.
I tightened everything up and replaced the MOSFETS, marking them with a pen in case they short again, in which case the drive section needs to be closely examined.
The contracting company I work for takes care of 40-50 radio stations at any given time spanning from NYC and southern Connecticut up to the Canadian border. Stations or groups sign contracts and some go by the wayside on a fairly regular basis. All of this makes for the “Giant Box of Keys,” to be carried around in the work truck or whatever vehicle one is driving while on call.
Giant Box of Keys
The problem with the Giant Box of Keys is it never seems to be up to date. New stations or groups join and didn’t get added. Other stations fire employees and feel compelled to change the locks after doing so. Therefore, I have found the Giant Box of Keys to be a hit-or-miss proposition. In my former life as Director of Engineering for Pamal Broadcasting and Dame Media before that, I sought to simplify things as much as possible.
Master self-set combination lock
I found that replacing all keyed padlocks with self-set combo locks made life much easier. All of the tower fences, transmitter site fences, and road gates now had the same combination and could be changed to another combination easily if needed. That eliminated digging through drawers looking for tower fence keys and or long walks back to the transmitter building because I forgot the key or the key didn’t work. Taking that a step further, I began to replace the door locks with these:
Simplex 1041 combination door lock
Unfortunately, those door locks are a good deal more expensive than the padlocks, somewhere between $300-400 per copy. I only got a few done before the end came. An alternative to this is a key lock box:
Master key lock box
Of course, these are not foolproof either. Occasionally, some previous users will forget to put the key back in the box. I have also had one such box frozen under a lump of ice and once somebody swiped the whole box off of the wall with the aid of a sledgehammer or something.
There are some places where this approach will not work, such as high-security sites or leased sites where the landlord dictates the lock policy.
Still, whenever possible, using combo locks saves time and money in the long run. Rather than using precious engineering hours to make and distribute copies of keys, we can be more focused on doing real engineering work.
Just as the flood waters were rising and people in Vermont were struggling to escape their homes with merely the clothing on their backs:
…when I checked the CBS Evening News moments later, I watched in astonishment as the head of the National Hurricane Center, with a sweep of his hand toward Vermont, declared that the danger had passed. The storm was over, and overblown. The national media, focused on New York City, missed where Irene hit hardest. Vermont simply didn’t exist.
This is why radio, locally owned, locally run radio is vitally important. In the midst of the disaster, WDEV opened its phone lines to the listeners and received information about flooded roads, people needing to be rescued, evacuation centers, and a whole host of other things that kept the people informed and the potential death toll low. All of this while the power was out, the cable system disabled, the internet unavailable and battery-powered radios were people’s only information source.
I have driven by the WDEV AM site in Waterbury, VT several times. It sits back on a hillside off of US Route 2/I-89 with three, what look like Miliken self-supporting towers. It signed on in 1931 and has been owned by the Squier family since 1935. An FM signal was added in 1989. Stations like this are one of the reasons I still work in this business.
Creek overflows roadway, Ulster County, NY. Tropical Storm Irene, August 28, 2011
I read through the FCC’s Hurricane Irene information on which stations were off the air and when, I believe there are a few more to add to the list. Starting from South to North:
WNYC (820 KHz) (New York Public Radio) See WMCA below.
WMCA (570 KHz) (Salem Communications) went off when the fetid swamp known as the Meadowlands flooded, which is where their transmitter sites are located.
WFAF (106.3 MHz) Mount Kisco, (Cumulus Broadcasting) Loss of power, no backup power
WLNA (1420 KHz) Peekskill (Pamal Broadcasting) is another AM located in a fetid swamp, this time in Peekskill. It is likely this station will be off for several days.
WOSR (91.7 MHz) Middletown (Northeast Public Radio) reasons unknown.
WKIP (1450 KHz) Poughkeepsie (Clear Channel Broadcasting) transmitter room flooded with about 18 inches of water, water overtopped the base insulator and ATU.
WVKR (91.3 MHz) Poughkeepsie (Vassar College) no backup power, back on at 12:00 pm 8/29
WKXP (94.3 MHz) Kingston (Clear Channel Broadcasting) Loss of emergency generator when fan belt broke, restored four hours later.
WAMK (90.9 MHz) Kingston (North East Public Radio) Kingston transmitter site, which looks like it is located in a Revolutionary War relic, is noted for being unreliable. It goes off frequently and was off and on all day.
WFGB (89.7 MHz) Kingston (Sound of Life Radio) Located in the same building as WAMK, is an LP-1 station.
WKNY (1490 KHz) Kingston (Cumulus Broadcasting) antenna field flooded, back on the air by 9 am 8/29.
WYJB (95.5 MHz) Albany (Pamal Broadcasting) Generator voltage regulator failed, equipment was secured to prevent damage. Is an LP-1 station.
WZMR (104.9 MHz) Altamont (Pamal Broadcasting) Co-located with WYJB
WAJZ (96.3 MHz) Voorheesville) (Pamal Broadcasting) Co-located with WYJB
WROW (590 KHz) Albany (Pamal Broadcasting) STL passed through the WYJB transmitter site
WPTR (96.7 MHz) Clifton Park (Crawford Broadcasting) reasons unknown
WEQX (102.7 MHz) Manchester, VT (Northshire Broadcasting) loss of power
Most of these stations are now back on the air, however, several suffered much water damage due to flooding and will be off for a while. Lots and lots of roadways washed out, trees down, and power still out for tens of thousands of people, it’s a mess.
These stations that went off the area are but a small fraction of the radio stations that serve the Hudson Valley and upstate NY. Most of the large class B stations, and regional AM stations, which are also the LP-1 EAS stations, stayed on the air for the duration of the storm, as did all of the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards stations in the area.
Kudos to the DJs, meteorologists, news people, and field reporters for keeping us informed and safe.
