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MT. WILSON FIRE THREAT?

I was watching the KABC webfeed around 5pm PT and they were having problems with the news conference. Then they switched to the copter and after a couple minutes of struggles the signal went to color bars (they were saying that they were having catastrophic problems with many of their STL's throughout the area). Is KABC still on-air on cable-sat or antenna in LA?
 
cceng said:
that audio on the KTLA chopper feed is telemetry....probably time code
Click to expand...

Either time code or nav-track data. Nav-track data sends the GPS coordinates of the chopper back to the studio via an audio channel, and the studio receive equipment calcluates based on it's location (the receive site's location), the direction of the chopper and automatically aims the receive antenna towards the chopper.
 
oaktree said:
Just wondering - at 7:25 p.m. PST,
Is the power off at the summit of Mt. Wilson?
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm#imagetop
Very dark, no CBS stick lights and no security lighting. Just wondering. seems pretty dark for no lights.
Click to expand...

They have lost their backup power earlier today (Mon. 8/31/09) but the main power line should still be working (as long as you get a refreshed pic with a recent timestamp from the Observatory Cam, then the power line's OK). But as for the Tower Lights, they were shining brightly last night. Some looked orange/yellow with the refraction, making it look like there were flames near the towers or just the illusion of them being close being as the pic is only 2 dimensional & most flames that actually were in the pic were actually on other ridges within a few miles. So it is odd that they're off this close to sunset...we'll see.

Another site for updates from the Observatory: http://www.mtwilson.edu/fire.php
If they lose power at the Observatory (cam pics no longer refresh), try this link: http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/fire.php

Update: 7:51PM PDT - Lights coming on on the CBS tower & some of the others around the base. Although they look orange, their just lights; it was a similar look last night.
 
Thank you for the info and the link.

I see from the blog that backup power has been lost to the mountain, but that the 15kv original still works for now. Interesting read, as no one seems to know just what is going on up there, in relation to fire, etc. on Mt. Wilson.

However, a paragraph at the top of the blog indicates that flames were "imminent" at the site, but how far up they would get was not determined, thanks to the work of aerial drops and hand crews clearing work. The site, the log reports, will continue to be subject to aerial drops as needed.

"Monday, 31 Aug 09, 5:30 pm PDT - ... we have lost the new backup power to the mountain. In anticipation of a possible loss of all power to the Observatory, where the MWO webserver is located, this update site will be relocated to http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/fire.php. If and when it goes dark, please make a note now to try the other URL if you are interested in keeping in touch with this situation from our perspective. In this event, the Towercam will also go dark. In the meantime, please keep coming to this site.

Monday, 31 Aug 09, 2:46 pm PDT - ... no updates as to the status of the fire in the Mount Wilson vicinity except that the USFS still considers that passage of fire across Mount Wilson is imminent and will be fought aerially rather than with ground personnel. Once the fire is through the area, they can assess the damage by air after the event before they can send in ground personnel. This roller coaster has taken a dip downward."
 
MT. WILSON SCANNER AUDIO STREAMS ANYWHERE?

Does anyone know of any links for live streaming Public Service / Fire / US Forest Service audio available from the fire area(s)?
Shoutcast? Live365 etc?

And on a personal note:
To the residents, engineers of the mountain transmission facilities, and of course the first responders who are putting it all on the line in the fire area(s) you are in our thoughts.

Our prayers and deepest sympathy to the families of the brave men whose lives were lost and to those whose homes were destroyed.

Jay Walker
Dallas Texas
 
Very well said, Jay. Nice thoughts and much appreciated from Dallas.
 
I'm checking out the cam now and things honestly look clearer than they have in days. I see no sign of flames. It appears as if the fire just died. But I'm certain this isn't the case. Looks a lot better than last night up there though.
 
Skynet74 said:
I'm checking out the cam now and things honestly look clearer than they have in days. I see no sign of flames. It appears as if the fire just died. But I'm certain this isn't the case. Looks a lot better than last night up there though.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm ... It looks worse to me. I'm seeing a lot of glowing reflected off the smoke. Can't blame that on the ridge behind.
 
What would actually happen to the xmitter? Melt or Collapse?
 
SpokkerJ said:
If you're having trouble seeing the Mount Wilson cam site, here is the 9:49PM image on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8579276@N05/3876470339/

Yeah, the orange glow suggests the flames are close.
Click to expand...

This link:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/images/towercam.jpg
is the direct one to the image itself. It works a bit better than the webpage link, except that you have to refresh it manually. I've found that if I open several browser tabs and enter that URL into all of them, at least one will usually snag it in a minute or two.

The glow and smoke on both sides of the image have been steadily increasing for the last half hour. It doesn't look good.

UPDATE - Here's 10:05 PM. Speaks for itself: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/narkspud/220513.jpg
 
Yeah, I've been using the URL that goes directly to the JPG, but it's still spotty. I also wanted to save some images to see how the situation is progressing.
 
Aside from additional dropouts on 11, which could be more to do with the antenna than the channel, OTA is still on here.
 
The grow on the right seems to be brighter than last night, the glow in the low left corner, isn't it a regular light or not?
 
This all too much reminds me of the fire that went over Mt. San Miguel about a couple years ago down in San Diego.  I watching the live news coverage online up here in the Seattle area (i'm originally from San Diego, so it kept my interest), when the fire went right through the transmitter sites there.  All but KPBS-FM/TV and low power KSDX-LP sustained damage, other than KNSD-TV's tower cam, which caught footage of the fire as it was rolling right through the site, and the lens cracked in the heat before it died.  All the other stations remained on the air as though nothing happened from what I read, albeit through backup generators.  This is much slower though.  The more rocky terrain of Mt. Wilson is probably what's keeping the flames at bay.
 
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