This is another in a series of pictures that gives us a chance to look and think. What do you see here? No, this is not a one-bay antenna mounted over a two-bay. Look closely. Bays 2, 3, and 4 are missing, the victims of a rather bad ice storm; a lot of […]

This is another in a series of pictures that gives us a chance to look and think. What do you see here? When given the choice of power or height for FM antennas most stations and engineers normally, all things being equal, will want to have the antenna mounted as high on a […]

This is another in a series of pictures that gives us a chance to look and think. What do you see here? Whenever you stack lots of antennas and coax up a tower, there is always room for problems. Among the dangers to the hardware are the wind, ice, tower crew mis-step, snipers, […]

It is important for a good radio engineer to be able to size up a situation quickly and make corrections where necessary. This picture is shared with us from a translator site that will have to remain anonymous – our goal is not to embarrass someone, but to learn from the mistakes we […]

This is another in a series of pictures that gives us a chance to look and think. What do you see here? Unless specifically engineered and licensed for directional operation, FM licenses are assumed to be non-directional. However, as many engineers know, and others have found out, that is not always true. That […]

Transmitter site security is always important. Not only that any unexpected access is unwanted, but there are physical and RF concerns to be had. Imagine showing up at your transmitter site, and discover that there were four other radio stations suddenly in operation out of your transmitter building? One of our readers has […]

In a way, this title was a bit misleading, wasn’t it? After all, there was no real grounding going on in the picture.

Yes, the pipes were made of PVC, and measured to be without any conductivity. Hence there could be no real value to these alleged ground wires.

Other comments included: “… as useless as a screen door on a submarine,” “perhaps the local inspector demanded that they do it that way,”  and “maybe it was an IT person who did it.” (So far as we know, it was not an IT person.)

Perhaps this comment sums it up: “Grounding PVC pipe is curiously unsatisfying…”

This is another in a series of pictures that gives us a chance to look and think. What do you see here? Sometimes in the flurry of studio or transmitter site construction, we do more than necessary – adding an extra tie-wrap, screw, nail, hanger, nut, bolt, etc. – either to make sure […]

One of the more laborious chores at many stations is cutting the grass, especially at large directional arrays. Some stations use riding mowers, others hire contractors. And a few grow jungles. Then there are those places where the job is done sort of halfway … There are many reasons for cutting the grass. […]

Dave Dunsmoor submits this one…

What catches your eye on this one?

There are a couple of things that might appear out of the ordinary to your eye. What grabs your attention in this picture?

While you might see a few things, there is one key point from Mr. Dunsmoor, which appears on the next page. A few others that were submitted will be added.

Dave Dunsmoor comments:

What caught my eye, and struck me as odd was that the top section of the tower was white, with a smaller orange band just below. It was not until I got up close that I saw that the top white was ice, and not a mis-painted tower (the top has to be orange per FAA specs).

Other comments:

One person noted that two of the antenna bays were not covered with ice, and wondered if there was a problem with the heaters or perhaps the bays were overheating themselves. Another person noted the ice-pack itself and the lack of ice shield (which might actually be down lower on the tower). And, it was commented that at least one of the sidelights appears to be covered by the ice, too.