The Broadcasters' Desktop Resource
Running At the Right Speed
Vinyl is making a comeback. There is interest in turntables of all kinds, from inexpensive to high-end. But, taking a look at this one on a shelf in the UK, you might need to think twice as to whether you would trust it to be a faithful reproducer.
Bringing a Beacon Down to Ground
It was not so long ago that someone took an ITC cart machine and made it into a curiosity desk lamp.
Recently, when a local tower changed the beacon to LEDs, Doug Groenhoff managed to get the previous beacon and converted it to a nice piece of yard art.
Doug explains: "I took the lamp sockets out and replaced [them] with standard flange mount sockets in the top and bottom. I put two regular household 60W equivalent lamps in it. (consumes 9W each). I moved it to my screened in porch for now. Those are a lot bigger than they look from the ground and it probably weighs 40-50 pounds or so. [I] haven't lit it up since. Don't want the neighbors to think I'm running a whorehouse."
Signs to Discourage Visitors
Danger! Keep out! is not always enough to get the attention of some who would enter a transmitter site. Here is a sign that Jack Davis found that kind of takes it to the next level!
Here is another, shared by Steve Young from
KHBS-DTV, Rogers, AR.
Dave Kline shares this one, from his station in Omaha. After removing a coax that went through the wall, and inserting some styrofoam, a racoon decided to build a nest, instead. It is not really easy to see, as Dave did not desire to hang around, but seeing the racoon's eyes was a bit jarring!
Don't You Wish?
If you have ever been given a new studio site to build, without anyone thinking about the need to STL links, you have had one of those "bad" days. Since many of them have only the slightest clue as to where the transmitter is, much less how it all works, the only solution may require two or three hops of RF, plus another link.
Occasionally you work hard and find a solution: locate a nice site with a clean STL shot ... and then foliage grows up in the aperture - even a new building! Now what?
Some have given up and just run an Internet STL, but others fight for other solutions - a different studio site, a link via another tower in the cluster, etc. Others go to daydreaming how to solve the problem. Don't you wish? Sometimes?
When the Wind is Really Strong
This picture comes from the SW, where a wind storm apparently came over the parapet and sheared off the pole holding a DB224 antenna. You can see the bottom element still on the pole, and the rest laying on the roof. The curious part is that the shear area does not look bent - just sheared off. Must have been some wind!
Staying Alert as Flu Season Runs
Brian Brashier of KCNP, Chickasaw Community Radio in Ada, OK, shares this picture to remind us that Flu Season continues, and keeping everyone safe and healthy takes proactive efforts.
While you should definitely be sure (by testing and checking) that you are using a non-destructive method, knocking down germs is a smart move.
Some more prophylactic ideas are located here.
Radio Station Up A Tree
Perhaps it was a zoning issue, perhaps it was trying to avoid the cost of a traditional tower, perhaps it was another reason, but this picture, shared by Clay Freinwald, is of an LPFM station in the Seattle market.
In any event, we are looking at a 2-Bay LPFM antenna hung high, about 100 feet up, in a tree. The antenna itself is visible, although you do have to look for it.
At the base, the antenna is fed by a transmitter at a church.
Putting a Cord to Good Use?
There is hardly a single broadcast shop that does not have a pile of AC cords under the bench. Over time, the pile of cords grows, waiting for some reason to be used. And, here it is, seen by Dave Dunsmoor on a windy night in the upper mid-West:
Curious PC Boards
It is tempting for any engineer to put a little "Easter Egg" on his PC boards. Sometimes it is his initials, sometimes a logo. Here is one that went the extra mile. If you have ever been to England, this PCB will look familiar:
Yes, it is a map of the London Underground! Even neater - it is a working circuit of a radio receiver.
There is an article about it and a high resolution shots here.
Do you have - or know of - and interesting PC Boards and their contents? Please share!
Hurricane Matthew Leaves Mark
Early October 2016 featured Hurricane Matthew - a strong, slow moving hurricane - that wrecked havoc from Florida to North Carolina and more as it hugged the East Coast, eventually coming ashore, but mostly flooding huge areas, killing electrical grids, and stimulating a lot of evacuations. At least 18 stations were knocked off the air during the storm.
Broadcasters felt it too, as evidenced by this picture of WZKT in Goldsboro, NC.
Allen Sherrill reports two of his three sites in Eastern North Carolina were flooded, with this station likely to dark for a while.
How did things go at your facility?
Engineer Inside
After all, they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
With that in mind, we have to give a lot of credit to John Antonuk, Broadcast Transmission Engineer for iHeart Radio in Fairbanks, AK.
Taking a cue from an earlier BDR logo, which featured your Editor inside a Continental 317 transmitter at KOMO on Vashon Island, Antonuk promptly secured a spot inside KOMO's standby RCA BTA-50F transmitter.
Of course, one of the little secrets that younger engineers may not know is that the transmitters of the 40s and 50s had plenty of room to walk around inside ... although probably not while the HV was on!
Broadcast Pets
They say that for some reason a pet often reflects the personality - or even look - of their owner. Or visa versa.
At the least, some broadcast pets sport names that keep the theme.
As an example, take a careful look at Yagi.
... that is, Yagi Freinwald.
Got one to share? Please do.
CAUTION!
Clay Freinwald tells us "I’m used to contractors posting some caution signs that are required by regulators. In this case, the contractor did not just post a sign – He erected a banner to cover all the bases! Frankly I found this moderately funny.
A Hot Time At The RF Output
(May, 2016) Sometimes things happen inside the transmitter or the RF plumbing that can go unseen for a while, and then - oh boy! the alarms go off. Paul Easter was kind enough to share the results after apparently some "crud built up on the teflon insulator until it started to arc." This might be a reminder to look "just a bit further" when cleaning a transmitter and/or using an IR Thermometer to check the entire RF chain.
Studio Techniques of the Now Distant Past
(January 2016) For an interesting look at what radio was like in its first four decades, get one of the textbooks used in schools and colleges to teach young folks the business. It is hard to forget lines from those late 1960s textbooks noting that, in control rooms, "Two tables equipped with 33 1/3 and 78 r.p.m. speed settings are necessary. A 45 r.p.m. setting can also be useful at times." (italics are mine.)
Do you have a favorite quote from your school broadcast textbook? Mine, another one regarding studio operation I will never forget, is: "If the needle is slammed abruptly to the top of the dial, the action is called bending the needle." (emphasis from original text.)
I can only say that when Burt Weiner shared this picture, memories flooded back, and I almost lost the drink in my hand.
(Yes, this is not an audiometer. But the concept works, right? Sometimes, to tell a story, you need to bend things a bit!)
Perhaps, if you would like a better look, here is the original picture in full resolution. If you have some similar toys or promotional items - radio or TV - please share them here. And, if you'd like to chat with Jim about his collection, send him an email!
On Top of the City
LPFM to the Stars
What's wrong with this picture?
Submitted by Mike Vanhooser
There must be a good caption for this picture. What do you think?
Yes, we can see the fine print shows us this is not the FCC we all know and love. But, for a moment, might you might be tempted just a but, especially if you have just filed an application in DC and wanted it to be blessed?
In addition to his career in radio, Gary Peterson taught in High School.
However, do not think this is the only slide rule that he has.
The first picture we got is from Bob Groome of RF Specialties, showing off his CIE slide rule from Cleveland Institute of Electronics, the school started by Carl E Smith, the consultant and book writer.
"It has all the resonate, temperature and frequency scales on the reverse side which were very handy for DA and AM LTU work before calculators. Bought this from his school back in the early 70's to use while I worked at WERE, 1300 Cleveland."
You will not see this on Google Street View!
You will not see this on Google Street View!
Virtually no one in this town knows how to drive in the snow. At the height of the storm, visibility was almost nothing. Fortunately, except in the foothills, the snow did not accumulate on the streets. Still, for a once in a decade or two, it stayed on lawns (rock gardens out here!) over night.
All right ... go ahead, you guys from other parts, where you are dealing with a lot more of this stuff. So the world did not end. It just seemed like it did here during the white out!
Radiotelephone First Class
Remember the First Phone? Recently, while going through old files, Margie Wrye-Clement found her father's first First Phone, dated 1937. This is just three years after the FCC was created!
The real oldtimers will recall that in those days, you had to your "service record" signed when you left a position. A few unscrupulous operators tried to "jam" an engineer with a bad endorsement, but most of the time, it was an interesting record of service.
WEBO, Owego, NY took a higher approach - literally.
A Unique Product
This product was introduced in the mid-1960s to address a particular problem. Can you remember the product name and what unique ability it had?
The answer is at the bottom of this page.
WDIA Tower 1 on 5/5/11. No, it is not shunt fed.
And ... they expected almost three more feet of water after this picture, before the crest. How did it look at 47.75 feet? Oh my!
It looks like WDIA only got a couple of inches of water in the #1 ATU, probably enough to ruin the contactors but not much more. Most of the rest of the ATU's remained above the water but the station will not be able to be sure until the waters recede to allow access - which will take 3-5 weeks.
If that were not enough, the mosquitoes are having a good time this year.
Also in Memphis - KWAM ... on 5/6/11 with the river at 46 feet.
As the water made its 47.75 foot crest, water nearly took over.
Video: This tower was brought down on Friday 4/29/11, and the station was moved to another site, about a mile away, and returned to the air the next day, 4/30/11 under STA permission from the FCC.