This brings back memories. I worked as an engineering tech for a company who rolled out an IOT transmitter in the late 90s. I learned how to sweat copper plumbing up the 2" lines for the cooling system. I got to go out to Utah to do an installation outside of Ogden. Very cool.
Very interesting watch! I live way off in the fringe and love regularly watching WSAZ/WQCW, but here lately haven't been getting any signal. Hope everybody stays safe while working on that stuff, must be really daunting.
Yes while the backup transmitter & Antenna are operating, they do so under much less power and lower down on the side of the tower, so sadly a lot of OTA viewers down in Valleys, further away or on the backside of the antenna where the tower blocks the signal are without us! They are getting closer and closer to fixing the issue as they have found the final section that got burnt up at the Tippy top of the Antenna!
@@nintariplays5654 Ouch why did it have to be the top... In that case I have all the patience in the world. I'd love the signal to be fixed but it is not worth possibly losing human life over.
It’s on a thousand for stick. I road up a two thousand footer to the 1800 foot point where we hung our FM antenna. It was a pretty calm day and you could still feel the tower swaying in the breeze. I stayed on the work platform and felt pretty safe. Climbing on the outside, attaching gin poles and such is for the crazy folks who don’t get paid nearly enough.
Even in the winter when it was -20 F with the doors open, we had a temperature of 140 degrees and the transmitter shut down because we lost our A/C units
I’ve always thought ERP is a combination of transmitter power x antenna gain in the desired radiated direction. Not based on a transmitter produced wattage number that requires cooling?
Copper pipes and boxes are waveguides to carry the signal That is a huge amount of RF Radiation and you would not ever want to be near that if it was opened
Not quite. Those copper pipes are hardline coax. Internally there is a center conductor. Waveguide is open on the inside, and scaled for the frequency in use. For VHF TV channels Waveguide would be very large rectangles (WSAZ is on ch.3 60 - 66MHz) and would require WR-1500 0.49-0.74GHz 15.000ins x 7.5000ins
would be more cost effective to use the Same IOT for all the stations. Combine them at low power (200 Watts) before the IOT Tube. Just put the stations near each other like UHF 16, 18 and 20.
This brings back memories. I worked as an engineering tech for a company who rolled out an IOT transmitter in the late 90s. I learned how to sweat copper plumbing up the 2" lines for the cooling system. I got to go out to Utah to do an installation outside of Ogden. Very cool.
At HCJB a shortwave station in Ecuador had a swimming pool to cool their 1 MW transmitter.
It was interesting to see this. I grew up in Russell / Flatwoods, Kentucky area, and watched WSAZ until I left for college in 1973.
I watched WSAZ when I lived in Portsmouth during the early 1960s.
Lots of plumbing! Water and RF!
The elevator isn’t too bad. It’s the way the tower sways at the top that’s a little disconcerting.
Nice and clean transmitter buildings! Such an interesting tour, and thanks for the audio warning.
Very interesting watch! I live way off in the fringe and love regularly watching WSAZ/WQCW, but here lately haven't been getting any signal. Hope everybody stays safe while working on that stuff, must be really daunting.
Yes while the backup transmitter & Antenna are operating, they do so under much less power and lower down on the side of the tower, so sadly a lot of OTA viewers down in Valleys, further away or on the backside of the antenna where the tower blocks the signal are without us! They are getting closer and closer to fixing the issue as they have found the final section that got burnt up at the Tippy top of the Antenna!
@@nintariplays5654 Ouch why did it have to be the top... In that case I have all the patience in the world. I'd love the signal to be fixed but it is not worth possibly losing human life over.
Also the WOWK antenna and WVPB tower is nearby
It’s on a thousand for stick. I road up a two thousand footer to the 1800 foot point where we hung our FM antenna. It was a pretty calm day and you could still feel the tower swaying in the breeze. I stayed on the work platform and felt pretty safe. Climbing on the outside, attaching gin poles and such is for the crazy folks who don’t get paid nearly enough.
Very clean facility
It’s a baby uhf transmitter, super quite compared to a klystron based transmitter
Even in the winter when it was -20 F with the doors open, we had a temperature of 140 degrees and the transmitter shut down because we lost our A/C units
Almost enough cooling capacity for the rumored RTX 4090 ;)
I’ve always thought ERP is a combination of transmitter power x antenna gain in the desired radiated direction. Not based on a transmitter produced wattage number that requires cooling?
Basically true, but you must also figure in coax loss between the transmitter and antenna which can be considerable at UHF frequencies.
So its just like a big coaxial cable
Copper pipes and boxes are waveguides to carry the signal
That is a huge amount of RF Radiation and you would not ever want to be near that if it was opened
Not quite. Those copper pipes are hardline coax. Internally there is a center conductor. Waveguide is open on the inside, and scaled for the frequency in use. For VHF TV channels Waveguide would be very large rectangles (WSAZ is on ch.3 60 - 66MHz) and would require WR-1500 0.49-0.74GHz 15.000ins x 7.5000ins
Most Extreme Water cooling I a have seen was at IBCM site..
"IBCM" = International Baptist Church Ministry? I can only imagine the hot air they produce!
would be more cost effective to use the Same IOT for all the stations. Combine them at low power (200 Watts) before the IOT Tube. Just put the stations near each other like UHF 16, 18 and 20.
Are your amplifiers more like transmitters? Nice video!
What contractor installed all of this?
Do you happen to know the power output is both audio and video?
W-Sassy
The pop up noise sucks!!!!