As soon as the steal ground copper wiring is replaced at our transmitter the thieves are back for more. It is a growing problem for all of us. The quality of security videos are too poor to reveal much, and the fact that copper has no identifying factor makes things even tougher for police. How do we stop the cooper thieves? Share your stories of how you deal with the problem.
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Copper Thieves - A Constant Problem At Transmitters
- Thread starter shreveville
- Start date
One of the New York major AMs once used #3 barbed wire instead of copper for their ground, with good results. It was written up in one of the trades, perhaps BM/E. The stuff is so cheap, it isn't worth stealing. Maybe one of the Old Poots from the Northeast remembers that setup.
WOR, at the old location in the swamp. Since the radials couldn't really be buried in the mushy ground, they were easily pulled up and stolen. Not so with barbed wire. Of course, they had to run out new wire every so often as the old stuff rusted away.
We built a ground system using insulated #12 wire some 15 years ago. Still in place and working, although the site is patrolled by unfriendly cows
!
At the time we were able to buy the insulated #12 at prices well below bare #10. These were various odd colored tag ends of reels from an electric supply company. Back then, the multicolored #12 was used to make up long control leads for coal mining equipment; the supply house didn't have a ready market for the odd lengths of wire otherwise.
The copper thieves don't like insulated wire because they have to burn the insulation off in order to get the bare copper the scrap metal folks want.
We built a ground system using insulated #12 wire some 15 years ago. Still in place and working, although the site is patrolled by unfriendly cows
!At the time we were able to buy the insulated #12 at prices well below bare #10. These were various odd colored tag ends of reels from an electric supply company. Back then, the multicolored #12 was used to make up long control leads for coal mining equipment; the supply house didn't have a ready market for the odd lengths of wire otherwise.
The copper thieves don't like insulated wire because they have to burn the insulation off in order to get the bare copper the scrap metal folks want.
"Paint" copper strap and ground screens with rubber roof coating. Get it under the strap so it sticks to the floor/wall/structure.
Paint coax & cables to match building and tower color (supposed to do that on the tower anyway). Stencil an identifying mark on coax.
Put a good fence around the site. Not to keep thieves out, but to keep the buffalo herd in. I've read that works really good.
Paint coax & cables to match building and tower color (supposed to do that on the tower anyway). Stencil an identifying mark on coax.
Put a good fence around the site. Not to keep thieves out, but to keep the buffalo herd in. I've read that works really good.
R
RolfTaylor
Guest
How about using copper weld (that is a trademark of one company). This stuff is hard to cut, which will slow them down a bit. They won't be able to sell it, or if they do, they won't be welcome at that scrap yard again.
And it turns out they have strips too:
http://www.dynasty.com/copperweld/
And it turns out they have strips too:
http://www.dynasty.com/copperweld/
R
RolfTaylor
Guest
littlejohn said:
Electrified razor wire and a shotgun might work out pretty well too. Sorry, but I just don't have a whole lot of sympathy for a person who is jonesing and stealing. I've seen what it looks like too many times - and it's worse once they have gotten clean for a few years and go back to it.
RolfTaylor said:
Isn't CopperWeld copper-plated steel wire? It must be both stronger and less expensive than solid copper wire of the same diameter. At radio frequencies (even AM frequencies), even if the plating is only a few thousandths of an inch thick, the skin effect ought to make it just about as good a conductor as solid copper of the same diameter. I don't know whether the thieves would find the steel enough more difficult to cut through that the Copperweld would significantly slow down their dirty work, but presumably, a scrap-metal dealer would pay enough less for CopperWeld than for solid copper that, after the thieves figured out what they were dealing with, they would not come back. Of course, that might not have any effect on the next group of thieves to visit your site. Sounds as if the perfect stuff would be copper-plated barbed steel wire. Unfortunately, since the demand for it would be small, it would probably be prohibitively expensive. But scrap dealers still might not pay much for it because the only market would be other AM stations!
R
RolfTaylor
Guest
After skiming through the Copperweld site I found the is a section specifically about theft here:
http://www.fushicopperweld.com/fcw/index.php/bimetallic/therf-deterence
The even have signs that state this product is not recyclable.
I know the stuff the Telco's used to use for drop wires is remarkably hard to cut or bend.
If you could get hi tensile steel with the copper coating this will certainly slow them down.
In any case, I think if it gets to the point where more and more stations are using this, or tar, or whatever else maybe these weasels will go back to stealing plumbing and leave stations alone.
Cheers
Rolf Taylor
http://www.fushicopperweld.com/fcw/index.php/bimetallic/therf-deterence
The even have signs that state this product is not recyclable.
I know the stuff the Telco's used to use for drop wires is remarkably hard to cut or bend.
If you could get hi tensile steel with the copper coating this will certainly slow them down.
In any case, I think if it gets to the point where more and more stations are using this, or tar, or whatever else maybe these weasels will go back to stealing plumbing and leave stations alone.
Cheers
Rolf Taylor
In Indiana we have all scrap dealers looking for stolen copper and other materials. if you do business with any of the dealers you have to be registered.
We had a site trashed a few times. Cross cut the fence with wire cutters then cut everything you can get in a few minutes. We have seen this MANY places.
In Shelbyville Indiana a woman saw a man coming out of a field looking out of place. She called Police. They found a man and his friend with a bunch of copper parts and a receipt from a Bloomington re cycler. Fence was cross cut like the other site and copper was cut to what they could reach from the ground.
TOWER OWNER BEWARE : They were unemployed tower climbers familiar with the site.
We had a site trashed a few times. Cross cut the fence with wire cutters then cut everything you can get in a few minutes. We have seen this MANY places.
In Shelbyville Indiana a woman saw a man coming out of a field looking out of place. She called Police. They found a man and his friend with a bunch of copper parts and a receipt from a Bloomington re cycler. Fence was cross cut like the other site and copper was cut to what they could reach from the ground.
TOWER OWNER BEWARE : They were unemployed tower climbers familiar with the site.
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