FM 99.7 has no signal at all. Started between 11:30pm and 12-midnight Sunday night. It's now 2:40am Monday. Any details on what's going on?
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Q100 OFF THE AIR.....
- Thread starter electroboy73
- Start date
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InSearchOfGear
Guest
electroboy73 said:
It's called 'transmitter maintenence".
jabba17 said:
You're correct they had a backup on the 17 tower, which was formerly the main site. I don't know whether it's been taken down, but I know they were planning to move the aux to the same tower as Channel 69 off I-20 near Boulevard.
InSearchOfGear said:
Damn, people still do that? I just thought they let it run until it broke!! :
jabba17 said:
Does anyone know when they are going to take down the old Channel 17 tower? I heard it was suppose to be done by October of last year...
I
InSearchOfGear
Guest
notalkallstatic said:
Why is it coming down? In bad shape or replacing with something taller on the site?
InSearchOfGear said:
The tower no longer has any purpose since analog TV is gone, and WPCH-TV's digital transmitter is elsewhere. Also, Comcast, which now owns that property, wants it down.
I think Comcast - or actually one of its predecessor sompanies - had as a condition of the ground lease to Turner the right to require removal of the tower if the station ceased to telecast from it for a set time. They probably have requested it be removed, that's a valuable piece fo property with the feds across the street. It is going to be a poisonously expensive proposition to remove it. Its construction is such that the pieces have to either be cut apart or the fasteners (drive bolts) driven back out of their holes with a LARGE hammer. In that location, it can't just be pulled over and cut apart.
Here is the backstory as I understand it:littlejohn said:
1) The property and facility was originally owned by Storer Broadcasting, the back-in-the-day owner of WAGA-TV (Channel 5). The transmitter facility and original tower (the current tower is not original) was Channel 5's.
2) When WAGA moves out to Briarcliff, Storer leases the old WAGA facility to Channel 17 (not sure if Turner was in the picture at this point).
3) At some point, the property is given to Storer Cable (somewhat odd; like Cox, they can't own an ATL cable company because they own a local TV station).
4) Storer gets bought by Gillett which gets bought by New World which gets bought by Rupert Murdoch, WAGA's current owner. Along the way, Storer Cable ends up in the hands of Comcast.
The question is, who is obliged to remove the tower? Comcast as the property owner or Time Warner as the lessee? If the latter, if I were TW, I'd give Comcast some cable systems in exchange for not having to fool with that tower.
With regard to 99.7 and the penchant for unattended operation you got to wonder. What happens if something quits and there's no operator there to reset/restart/call for help/whatever? 'If a tree falls and nobody hears..'
Usually there is a “on call” person or service. Many transmitters have a “remote” control box in the rack. It has a “robot” voice and calls a phone number if something is out of limit, you can correct the problem with the phone keypad on some models. IIRC these “boxes” will turn off the Xmitter if there is an extended amount of silence. (FCC requirement for unattended operation) Many PC automation systems have a “back door” internet connection which really comes in handy during bad weather if you can’t drive to the station.
secondchoice said:
Close. The dial up remote controls will call predefined numbers if a programmed tolerance is met or exceeded. For example, I have mine programmed to call me if the power output falls below 50%, the inside temperature is above 90 or the rise and fall on the tower lights indicating current does not "rise" for an extended amount of time.
There is nothing in the FCC rules that say a station must go off the air due to extended dead air. I think you may be confusing that with a malfunction of the transmitter operating parameters. In general, the licensee must correct any malfunction which could cause interference or turn the transmitter off within 3 hours of the malfunction. Some malfunctions, must be corrected within 3 minutes. Examples of situations requiring termination within 3 minutes are operations posing a threat to life or property, or that is likely to significantly disrupt operations of other stations such as spurious emissions or operations at variance from the authorized radiation pattern. This rule applies to whether the station is operating unattended or now.
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/noonehome.html
You are required to do a legal ID once a hour as close to the top of the hour as possible. So you can NOT have extended periods of dead air UNLESS you provide a legal every hour.
taylorengineer said:
Possibly. However, nothing in the FCC rules stipulate you shut down the transmitter for lack of programming.
In fact, one could read Sec. 73.1201 that you ID at the start and end of programming. You can technically end your programming, not turn off the transmitter and still be legal under the Station Identification rules.
Bengalsfan said:
I meant to say, 'end your programming run a legal ID, not turn off the transmitter and still be legal.
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