• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

2 PENNSYLVANIA STATIONS KNOCKED OFF THE AIR BY GUNSHOTS TO TRANSMISSION LINE

gregg75

gregg75

Scranton TV stations can't catch a break, can they?

- Trip
 
tripinva said:
Scranton TV stations can't catch a break, can they?

- Trip
Click to expand...

Hey...are you writing tomorrow's NERW headline for me? ;)

Say this for Scranton TV: there's no other market I can think of where the stations are as cooperative about getting each other back on the air in times of crisis.

Is WNEP still hosting WVIA on its old RF 50 (49?) facility, or has WVIA gone back to 41?
 
So far as I know, WVIA is still on 49.

- Trip
 
KML-224 said:
Hmmmm! WNEP-TV (ABC) channel 16 isn't mentioned in that story at all! Ha ha!! :p
Click to expand...

Surprising since WNEP is the "KING" of television in that area. I'm surprise they didn't interview anyone from WNEP just for the hell of it. (Never like WNEP anyways...)

I will admit that I got a good chuckle out of this article.
 
I am curious though, how thick is the average transmission line? Is it really that easy to get damaged?
Also, is it the line from the transmitter to the tower, or is it the line that runs up the tower to the antenna?
 
notalkallstatic said:
I am curious though, how thick is the average transmission line? Is it really that easy to get damaged?
Click to expand...

For the kind of line in question here, probably about 1/8".
 
You wouldn't have to puncture it. Just a bad "ding" would make it unusable (due to high SWR).
 
TV transmission line is typically 1 5/8'' in diameter, and either hard-line or flexible depending on the application. The interior has either plastic standoffs or foam material to keep the inner and outer conductors from touching (thereby altering life as we know it) ;) . The standoff type is typically filled with nitrogen gas to keep moisture out of the line.

A bullet to either type would not necessarily shut a station down immediately, unless both outer and inner conductors were severed. The trouble happens when the hole allows the nitrogen to escape and rainwater to enter the transmission line. That water will find the lowest point in the line, and build up there until it connects inner and outer conductors...then >>>>POOF<<<<<.

Later . . .
 
We are in the middle of deer season here. This could just be the result of a really bad stray shot.
 
(the 1/8" figure I gave was for the thickness of the outer conductor. The overall diameter of the entire line is quite a bit larger -- often around 3-1/2" for VHF and on the order of 6" for UHF at full-power stations.)

I would suggest a bullet rolling around between the inner & outer conductors (and/or the metal it knocked out of the outer conductor) could do a pretty good job of promoting an arc, which would shut things down pretty quickly.

And then there's what Ken said, about "dings" and SWR.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom