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Increasing Ground Conductivity
- Thread starter WJEPPD
- Start date
Yeah, this has been a bizarre thread. You've got an AM tower on the highest ridge in the county. Instead of moving the tower to a nearby swamp you come up with the idea to turn your hilltop into a swap. Where are you planning on getting the water? The state of Georgia has officially been in a drought for about 20 years. There is a severe water shortage. They will NOT issue you a permit for a well to fill a pond and the 4 inch well supplying water to your studio/transmitter shack wont fill a pond. No way it'll ever happen. No engineering study needed to figure this one out.
So this topic for this station is dead. Is it feasible for some other station in another state? Probably not, swamp land is always going to be cheaper than dry land.
So this topic for this station is dead. Is it feasible for some other station in another state? Probably not, swamp land is always going to be cheaper than dry land.
poledo said:
No, there already is a well. First of all, if you read the previous post it said that the ponds would be filled by rainwater. There was a pond down the road from the station that went dry a few weeks back, but then tropical storm fay came along, and it is still over full. All we are doing is catching rain. Not propsing to make it a swamp by the way, although we already have a few stray alligators. As for the question about asking a Television engineer about ground conductivity, that is not what I said. I said that I noticed how their setup was configured with the water and all and then asked an engineer about it. Please don't twist my words
T
tveng
Guest
Just a clarification...the WCTV transmitter site is in Metcalfe, GA...not the tower north of Tallahassee, FL that has the sign. The actual WCTV transmitter site has NO ponds or water around it...just pine trees.
The site you are referring to has WVUP...channel 45 on it, and some cell and two-way stuff. Yes, it has a WCTV sign...they were planning to build a studio there before they bought the old FNC building in Tallahassee.
The pond there is for aesthetic purposes only...and has nothing to do with the ground system. It was left over from when WTXL had their studios in that location.
I think you're going down the wrong path trying to solve your signal issue with water...pay a qualified consulting engineer to evaluate your ground system and take some signal strength measurements before you try anything else. I'll be happy to recommend a few.
The site you are referring to has WVUP...channel 45 on it, and some cell and two-way stuff. Yes, it has a WCTV sign...they were planning to build a studio there before they bought the old FNC building in Tallahassee.
The pond there is for aesthetic purposes only...and has nothing to do with the ground system. It was left over from when WTXL had their studios in that location.
I think you're going down the wrong path trying to solve your signal issue with water...pay a qualified consulting engineer to evaluate your ground system and take some signal strength measurements before you try anything else. I'll be happy to recommend a few.
One thing which would greatly help your coverage - buy a transmitter and turn it on.
Buy a new 10,000 watt transmitter, with a new, modern audio processor, and it will work even better.
I should invoice you for the consulting fee......but you're a fun guy Woody. This ones for free.......
Buy a new 10,000 watt transmitter, with a new, modern audio processor, and it will work even better.
I should invoice you for the consulting fee......but you're a fun guy Woody. This ones for free.......
K
kyscott
Guest
WJEPPD said:
My thought is that engineer is either a fool or messing with you, Dude. Ground conductivity has no effect on VHF signals. It only effects SW, MW signals where the tower is part of the earth.
Increase your tower height by taking measurements and or file for higher power. Our tower is located in a DRA (drainage retention pond) our signal is the same when it's bone dry or has standing water around the tower. It is "fresh" water after all, not salt. Save your money, a tower move will run you $100,000 easily. I would put that in the bank for several translators to fill your coverage area. That all said, it's the ground conductivity between the tower and the receiver that's the problem, just be sure that you have the best "launch" possible with a good tower, ground system, transmitter, and audio processor.
Good Luck
Good Luck
K
kyscott
Guest
Greenie, you don't increase your tower height by taking measurements. Increasing tower height also increases tower efficiency which will allow you to decrease power. I have a station on 1350kc that was licensed for 5kW daytime. But since the tower is over 470 feet tall, we are able to run only 2200 watts and cover the same area. I also have a station on 1600kc that was licensed for 500 watts. It's tower is over 300 feet tall and it's now derated to 320 watts. It's like increasing the bays of an FM antenna.
BTW, if your pond was salt water, the ground conductivity around the tower would be better.
BTW, if your pond was salt water, the ground conductivity around the tower would be better.
K
kyscott
Guest
Good luck in South Georgia. You are gonna spend more money keeping the water salty than you bill at the radio station.
If you have water and you have land, I think it would be smarter to plant corn and apply for government farm subsidy checks than to invest more money in an daytime AM radio station out in the country.
If you have water but only a small parcel of land, you could also look into leasing your water source to a nearby farmer. Water in Georgia is just too valuable to waste on a radio engineering experiment.
If your tower site is too small to cultivate and people have farms nearby you may have an excellent site to raise honey bees because there wouldn't be any pesticide applications around the towers. It's possible that a nearby farmer be interested in leasing the rights to maintain hives under your antenna.
If your heart is set on experimenting with groundwave conductivity you should try to figure out how to get a grant for those salt water ponds. Valdosta State or Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College might have someone who would be interested in this and could join you in finding suitable grants and provide interns to do some of the work. I guess the easiest way to find out would be to contact the GMs for WPLH and WVVS, they would surely know the names of any people that might want to work on something like this.
Would the ponds be big enough to raise fish in? 25 to 50 acres should be big enough. There use to be some good grants available to build fish ponds in Georgia and the department of agriculture would provide your breeding stock for free.
You should talk to your county extension agent for ideas on how to make the most money with the land and it's resources. You might be able to figure out how the station could pay for itself and not have to depend on advertising revenue.
Since your station is out in the country and has no chance of serving Tallahassee with it's current facilities you should start off serving the locals. The counties in Georgia are all small so I assume your station will provide city grade coverage to more than one county. You should approach the extension agents in the local counties and offer them air time for a weekly (or daily) public affairs show on your station. If one of them bites, you would have a new friend to help you work the system. This would also produce a good reference for your reports to the FCC requesting permission to increase your coverage area.
If you have water but only a small parcel of land, you could also look into leasing your water source to a nearby farmer. Water in Georgia is just too valuable to waste on a radio engineering experiment.
If your tower site is too small to cultivate and people have farms nearby you may have an excellent site to raise honey bees because there wouldn't be any pesticide applications around the towers. It's possible that a nearby farmer be interested in leasing the rights to maintain hives under your antenna.
If your heart is set on experimenting with groundwave conductivity you should try to figure out how to get a grant for those salt water ponds. Valdosta State or Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College might have someone who would be interested in this and could join you in finding suitable grants and provide interns to do some of the work. I guess the easiest way to find out would be to contact the GMs for WPLH and WVVS, they would surely know the names of any people that might want to work on something like this.
Would the ponds be big enough to raise fish in? 25 to 50 acres should be big enough. There use to be some good grants available to build fish ponds in Georgia and the department of agriculture would provide your breeding stock for free.
You should talk to your county extension agent for ideas on how to make the most money with the land and it's resources. You might be able to figure out how the station could pay for itself and not have to depend on advertising revenue.
Since your station is out in the country and has no chance of serving Tallahassee with it's current facilities you should start off serving the locals. The counties in Georgia are all small so I assume your station will provide city grade coverage to more than one county. You should approach the extension agents in the local counties and offer them air time for a weekly (or daily) public affairs show on your station. If one of them bites, you would have a new friend to help you work the system. This would also produce a good reference for your reports to the FCC requesting permission to increase your coverage area.
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