• 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

MT. WILSON FIRE THREAT?

Checking the FCC data base KVCR-TV is still on Box Spring Mt. in Riverside and KPXN seems to now be on Mt Harvard on the Wilson Ridge. I recall decades ago when KSCI and KDOC along with KHOF (now KPXN) were on Sunset Ridge. Living in Pomona at the time I could pick up KSCI with it's 5 million watts ERP crystal clear with only "screw posts" on the back of the set. I can see no reason for any L.A. station to use 690 as no AM stations are threatened by the fire, not to mention the fact it's signal has been degraded since the 1980's by increased electrical interference and it's transmitter move further south.
 
i don't think the insurance policies are for actual replacement cost. i suspect if the hill had to be rebuilt.. it would never be built like it is today.

all of the towers on wilson are free standing and do not have guy wires with the except of the old kcbs-tv 2 tower that is nearly 1000 feet. if that thing were to fall the wrong way i don't think it would hit anyone else.

usually what happens when these things go bad, is the coax melts or catches fire, which can often screw up the transmitter. the fire runs up the coax and seriously f's up the antenna. then if things really go badlly, you somehow get the building structure to catch fire and its a start over scenario with an existing tower.

my guess based on having done this for eternity... would be worst case you lose a couple of structures and antennas. the rest of it survives and this isn't too bad.

if it were to really go to sh*t, the heat from all of the fires converging together at the top would just start setting everything around it on fire that wasn't concrete or metal. in that case we probably have a pretty grand mess. probably less than a 1 percent chance of that.

in that case you hope for a surviving tower and some people down the hill with alot of backup equipment and some generators.
 
KUSC (91.5) announced over the air this morning that they have shut down their Mt. Wilson transmitter and are using their backup in the Hollywood Hills. You can tell which one they are using because HH has no HD.
 
Fieldtech1 said:
Im sure that most broadcasters are fully insured for replacement cost of their facilities, so if they dont rebuild them to spec that would raise questions with the insurance company.
Click to expand...

In this era of large broadcast companies, many will be self-insured for this kind of loss; it is cheaper to create a reserve for losses based on many operations than to pay for insurance from an outside company.

second, i think most stations could be back on fairly quick since the actual towers and antennas structures would likely be safe given their height and metal construction. All they would need is portable building and associated gear.
Click to expand...

The heat of the fires has been reported as anywhere from 800 to over 1000 degrees in the hottest spots. That is enough to change the characteristics of a tower and make it unsafe; the coax and the antenna would be a total loss. Of course, with the degree of clearing and fire retardant protection laid down, this intensity level would not be reached.

Finding replacement transmitters for 23 FMs is not going to be easy; these are not off the shelf items in these low inventory times. Of course, a used transmitter from another station in the same company could be brought in.
 
Robnoxious said:
This question is probably moot but I'll ask anyways. I don't have cable. I haven't for over 15 years. When Wilson gets obliterated what kind of turn around will it take time wise to get tv signals back on?
Click to expand...

The process will take some time if transmitters and the antennas are destroyed; with the HDTV conversion so recent, there are no used or surplus rigs sitting around and there is little inventory at manufacturers. So there would be a delay, On the other hand, rebuilds would be done for HDTV only, and likely much better and more efficient.
 
One thing to consider if everything is destroyed, Build a new super tower like Mt. Sutro in San Francisco, and all stations can share it.

The Wilson Observatory cam is down again, How close is the fire now?
 
CBS's Chief Engineer was on KNX this morning. Said at midnight they actually shut down all the "CBS" Mt Wilson transmitters and ran from the Auxiliary sites until 6 am to make sure they were ready.
 
is anyone else getting a rather unsettling alarm-like tone with the video feed from KTLA?
 
strangelove said:
is anyone else getting a rather unsettling alarm-like tone with the video feed from KTLA?
Click to expand...


Yes, very loud, it scared the cat.
 
Yes, scary sound... but, right now ktla is providing a very dramatic shot of all the towers.

Thanks for the link!!
 
It about blew me out of my chair. It sounds like the EAS pitching a fit. It's a rather fitting, if not frightening, soundtrack to what I'm watching from the safety of my home on the other side of the country. My god. I hope no one else gets hurt.
 
kenrayc said:
One thing to consider if everything is destroyed, Build a new super tower like Mt. Sutro in San Francisco, and all stations can share it.
Click to expand...

There is no need for single tower; Wilson is, itself a "Tower" as most of the towers are only high enough for the signal to clear the ridge.
 
The KTLA feed seems dead. I mean, it's giving me signal, but it's mostly black. Any chance the tower has burned?
 
Has CBS switched 101.1, 97.1, 94.7, etc. to the backups yet? Seems to me it would make sense to go ahead and start broadcasting from the backup site to make sure things aren't interrupted when the fire hits the tx sites.
 
henry said:
The KTLA feed seems dead. I mean, it's giving me signal, but it's mostly black. Any chance the tower has burned?
Click to expand...

No, not at all. In fact it's fairly clear around the immediate ridge where the towers sit.

It's just that the copter may have come down for refueling or possibly for the whole night. The picture disappears at times for that. It could also be that the copter is on its way to another location, such as the Yucaipa Fire.

As long as the power supply is intact, you'll get a picture from the Mt. Wilson Observatory, linked here (may have to refresh several times if it doesn't link right away due to heavy internet traffic to that webpage):

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop

Keep in mind it's a 2 dimensional image; some flames you may see could be on ridges from 1/2 mile to a few miles away from the towers.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom