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KFI: Building the "top hat" for new tower.

davideduardo

davideduardo

Moderator/Administrator
Staff member
Here is the construction of the "top hat" for the new KFI tower. This replaced the tower which fell after a plane hit it in 2004.

1762560519323.png

The station was unable to get approval for a tower as tall as the "old" one, so they used this crown on the top to increase the electrical height. This is one way to "top load" a tower, the most common one being to use the top guy wires as radiators for part of their length.

Here is a very thorough analysis of the incident from AOPA:

www.aopa.org

Collision with tower severs wing, kills two

It’s critical that we understand the environment in which we’ll be flying—especially in the airport vicinity, where the aircraft is low and the distractions are many.
www.aopa.org
 
davideduardo said:
Here is the construction of the "top hat" for the new KFI tower. This replaced the tower which fell after a plane hit it in 2004.

View attachment 10801

The station was unable to get approval for a tower as tall as the "old" one, so they used this crown on the top to increase the electrical height. This is one way to "top load" a tower, the most common one being to use the top guy wires as radiators for part of their length.

Here is a very thorough analysis of the incident from AOPA:

www.aopa.org

Collision with tower severs wing, kills two

It’s critical that we understand the environment in which we’ll be flying—especially in the airport vicinity, where the aircraft is low and the distractions are many.
www.aopa.org
Click to expand...
I wish I had the steady leg nerves to do that. Nice story. Also, is KFI the only station that talks out of its hat?
 
One consultant called the top hat creative math to keep from having to downgrade the night protection due to the shorter tower being less efficient. End up having to reduce power to "protect" other 640 and adjacent stations like the Chicago stations had to do.
 
Loverofradio said:
But we keep being told that IHeart knows the future isn’t with upkeep for towers and transmitter sites, but in streaming. I wonder how much this cost
Click to expand...
This was more than a decade and a half ago, and KFI still, today, is among the highest billers in LA.

And I don't think that iHeart is lax in maintaining its towers and transmitters. They have done things like consolidate engineering in different geographical areas, but part of that is due to the vastly improved reliability of equipment. And towers have to be maintained due to FAA and other safety requirements (many are no longer owned by the stations that use them, also),
 
930 WPAT / 1430 WNSW / (temporarily) 1560 WFME in NJ:

wpat7.jpg
 


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