L
Les
Guest
KICY (am), Nome, Alaska is off the air after a morning fire
gutted a building at their transmitter site.
The station (religious) runs 50-kW ND much of the day but
goes directional (3 towers) toward Russia during late night
hours.
The site is 2.5 miles from Nome on the Nome-Council Road
along the shore of Norton Sound (Bering Sea). The area
is shrouded in smoke from inland forest fires with visibility
measured in feet and all air transport cut off. There is NO
OTHER transport into/out of Nome except for 4-5 barges a year
from Seattle.
KICY put up all new buildings on the site about 5-years ago
and installed two well-used second-hand towers to augment
the single Magnum tower (259 feet) that replaced on ancient
tower hit by a plane in 1995. The transmitter building
was unstable (on tundra) and was replaced this year. The
Harris 50-kW transmitter was moved into newest building
just two weeks ago, leaving the phasing equipment, ATU,
and pass/reject filter in the building which burned today.
It appears the transmitter shut down properly when the
transmission line burned through but, there being no dummy
load available, that won't be known until it can be
fired up.
When I arrived at KNOM this morning I noted reflected power,
normally 272 Watts, was down to 48 Watts, indicating KICY
was off the air. I also noted a remote reading that looked
odd, so heaed for the am site, just a half-mile east of
KICY. Fire equipment passed me on the road, none of us
moving more than 30-MPH due to the near zero visibility.
The fire was discovered by KICY GM Dennis Weidler who
went to the site to pick up some equipment for repair and
found flames shooting through the roof. He used a phone
in another building to call the fire department. There
was nobody in the burning building which was essentially
destroyed.
Cause of the fire is not known and may never be as the
destruction near the start-point is complete. It WAS
in the corner of the building where the phasing/ATU was
located.
KICY's contract engineer, who flies over from Anchorage
(90-minutes in a 737) had left his home for a 3-week
vacation last night. I'm the only engineer in Nome and
the closest assistance is another retiree in Anchorage
who can't get here because of the smoke. Dennis will be
in touch with his consultants for a temporary design and
we'll try to cobble up something out of KNOM's big
inventory of used vacuum caps and inductors. At least
enough get maybe 10 kW on the air in a day or two;
probably longer.
Meanwhile, KNOM has offered to run KICY's more critical
programming for the remote villages....
This is like radio used to be in the old days. One station
has a problem and the neighbors pitch in.
Wish us well....we're all safe!
Meanwhile, KNOM has offered to run KICY's more critical
programming for the remote villages....
<P ID="signature">______________
God save us from those who would save us from ourselves! P-l-e-a-s-e!!!!!</P>
gutted a building at their transmitter site.
The station (religious) runs 50-kW ND much of the day but
goes directional (3 towers) toward Russia during late night
hours.
The site is 2.5 miles from Nome on the Nome-Council Road
along the shore of Norton Sound (Bering Sea). The area
is shrouded in smoke from inland forest fires with visibility
measured in feet and all air transport cut off. There is NO
OTHER transport into/out of Nome except for 4-5 barges a year
from Seattle.
KICY put up all new buildings on the site about 5-years ago
and installed two well-used second-hand towers to augment
the single Magnum tower (259 feet) that replaced on ancient
tower hit by a plane in 1995. The transmitter building
was unstable (on tundra) and was replaced this year. The
Harris 50-kW transmitter was moved into newest building
just two weeks ago, leaving the phasing equipment, ATU,
and pass/reject filter in the building which burned today.
It appears the transmitter shut down properly when the
transmission line burned through but, there being no dummy
load available, that won't be known until it can be
fired up.
When I arrived at KNOM this morning I noted reflected power,
normally 272 Watts, was down to 48 Watts, indicating KICY
was off the air. I also noted a remote reading that looked
odd, so heaed for the am site, just a half-mile east of
KICY. Fire equipment passed me on the road, none of us
moving more than 30-MPH due to the near zero visibility.
The fire was discovered by KICY GM Dennis Weidler who
went to the site to pick up some equipment for repair and
found flames shooting through the roof. He used a phone
in another building to call the fire department. There
was nobody in the burning building which was essentially
destroyed.
Cause of the fire is not known and may never be as the
destruction near the start-point is complete. It WAS
in the corner of the building where the phasing/ATU was
located.
KICY's contract engineer, who flies over from Anchorage
(90-minutes in a 737) had left his home for a 3-week
vacation last night. I'm the only engineer in Nome and
the closest assistance is another retiree in Anchorage
who can't get here because of the smoke. Dennis will be
in touch with his consultants for a temporary design and
we'll try to cobble up something out of KNOM's big
inventory of used vacuum caps and inductors. At least
enough get maybe 10 kW on the air in a day or two;
probably longer.
Meanwhile, KNOM has offered to run KICY's more critical
programming for the remote villages....
This is like radio used to be in the old days. One station
has a problem and the neighbors pitch in.
Wish us well....we're all safe!
Meanwhile, KNOM has offered to run KICY's more critical
programming for the remote villages....
<P ID="signature">______________
God save us from those who would save us from ourselves! P-l-e-a-s-e!!!!!</P>
