nmoore6676 said:
Almost all FM antennae are copper as is the transmission line, which is worth much more than the antenna.
The only aluminum FM elements I have seen were in the 60's outside the US; I even built one out of door frame and plumbing parts for an FM I owned. Never have I seen one made of stainless steel.
Towers, short ones, may be made of aluminum, galvanized tubing or bar steel, or stainless steel. Stainless is expensive, and since the tower will generallyhave to be painted anyway, overkill.
Actually, David, in my career in radio, cable TV, and as a former Ham Radio operator, towers are hardly ever made of aluminum as aluminum of sufficient tensile strength would be very expensive. Towers and support poles are almost always steel or galvanized steel. Some towers designed to not require painting may be stainless or for areas where corrosion is a severe problem.
In my entry which you quoted I was referring to the actual antenna, but from the satellite shot it does appear that there are tower segments there. They would almost certainly be steel if they were supporting the original “T” antenna system. Scrap buyers do buy steel but it doesn't sell as high as copper. What thieves do take from radio sites are the copper ground systems and coaxial cable. Several radio stations have had this problem in the last couple of years. Also telephone and power companies are victims and as a result aluminum is being used more for high tension lines. Aluminum doesn’t work for telephone lines well enough to justify using it because it oxidizes and would result in noisy connections at junctions and splices.
