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The Ice Storm Power Watch

PTBoardOp94

PTBoardOp94

Who's off the air right now due to the weather? Who is running on generator power?

I saw that WXIN is setting up its employees with lodging tonight and tomorrow near the studio. I suspect the other TV stations will do the same - or perhaps they'll send out live trucks tonight and set them up in communities around central Indiana to report tomorrow.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Who's off the air right now due to the weather? Who is running on generator power?

I saw that WXIN is setting up its employees with lodging tonight and tomorrow near the studio. I suspect the other TV stations will do the same - or perhaps they'll send out live trucks tonight and set them up in communities around central Indiana to report tomorrow.
Click to expand...

We're(emmis) putting our folks up at the Hilton across the street. We didn't spring for the Conrad however:( Got some old Fred Heckman reels cued up from 1978 and Bouncing Bill from the 67' Ice storm.
 
I'm hearing that WMGI/Terre Haute is off the air.
 
The Emmis stations were off for a little bit, but made it back to air. I think all the stations were off for an extended amount of time in Terre Haute. At one time early this morning, WTHI, WWVR, and WBOW were the only ones on the air. Most of the transmitters are west of town. Thats where the first power outage occurred...it's like tornado alley in the springtime!
 
here's hoping someone catches good footage of thunder/lightning with snow today!
 
For the record, WYGB 100.3 Edinburgh,IN was off from 6:55PM on 2/1 to 4:06PM 2/2. No power at the tower.
 
Did any Indy radio stations really cover the storm Tuesday night as people were losing power? Sounded like mostly syndicated time-shifted shows and normal voice-tracking at most. You needed a working tv to get any reaL-time info.
 
Not surprising at all. I figured at least one tower would come down with all the ice.
 
Seems that one of the WSVX towers (the middle one?) was replaced some time ago. They were all identical at one time, so whatever prompted replacement #1 has now reached #2. Wonder what year #3 will go? I recall inspecting the station about 12 years ago when REMC was buying it. Somehow the comment came up that most tower climbers were unwilling to climb 2 of the 3 towers.

Interesting that the guy in the studio wasn't even aware that it fell. Every directional antenna I've seen would have shut the transmitter down in a heartbeat if a tower fell. Surely even the busiest operator would have eventually noticed that the transmitter was off???
 
BobOnTheJob said:
Surely even the busiest operator would have eventually noticed that the transmitter was off???
Click to expand...

1. Perhaps the bored operator was monitoring the FM?

2. Nobody was really there at the time?

3. No SilentSense?
 
I recall tower 1 was farthest East. I don't see the poles between the building and the station that hold the marti and fm heliax.. I would have expected the rusted out tower by the river to die first. If the view was West to East then this was tower 1.

You did the inspection. Most towers come down accordion style. This is not so. Lots of vertical tower there. The story says the station stayed on. If this was tower 2 then the FM was off after it happened. The picture left a lot to be desired.

All Access and WXIN had better pictures, The tower that is in the flood area E of the levee wins. You see the trees along the river behind the tower and no studio bui8lding or other towers. Good thing it fell as it did. Didn't hit the tower next to it with the translator. I have a tower for sale.
 
ChiefEngineer said:
Most towers come down accordion style. This is not so. Lots of vertical tower there.
Click to expand...
That's the first thing I noticed. The ice distribution have something to do with that? Or perhaps the ice snapped a guy wire (or wires)? It looked like a small portion of it still stood. Maybe the outer guy anchor failed?? Here (15 miles south) the temps warmed up rapidly & melted almost all of the ice before the 50mph winds hit. My trees will be eternally grateful for that fact. Perhaps the ice didn't melt as well there?

Wonder if they could license it for 250 watts non-d day & a few watts at night? Now that they have the FM, that's about all they need.
 
I hopped on their Facebook page to see some more photos, and there's a beautiful old Collins 21E (20V's big brother) in the background of one of them. I wish they had some better pics of that beast.
 
>> Wonder if they could license it for 250 watts non-d day & a few watts at night?
>> Now that they have the FM, that's about all they need.


I wouldn't make that change.
WSVX is one of those rare AM stations on a US Clear Channel (An old class 1B clear) sandwiched between WKBW in Buffalo and KGA in Spokane.
Both WWKB and KGA are 50,000 watt Class A's, with nulls protecting each other resulting in a pretty good platform for WSVX. Even though they shoot their signal up/down State Road 9, they put a good signal into Columbus, day and night, and I've heard them west of US 31 near Franklin at night several times. Their night time signal is pretty durn good for 250 watts 38 miles from here (Columbus).
They get QSL cards from all over. When everything at their site is working properly, they have a really good coverage area... especially for a station with 1KW days/250 watts nights DA2.
WCSI would kill for that coverage.
 
Thye are one of a few that has protected night status. Anything below 250W is not protected.

Charlie suggested that he has seen such a thing when an entire set of guys fails at once. This was by the river.

The 21 E still runs, We pulled the MW-1 in favor of a Gates 1 years ago. The 21 E as a backup still runs I am told. Those were the days of non plastic real steel, chrome, picture windows, and radio that people considered a friend. Don't start me on the SX-1.
 
Chief,

I guess I hadn't thought about it 'til now, but how did a 1kw station end up with a 5kw transmitter? Was a power increase in mind at one point, or was it a case of a 5kw station in the area looking to unload an old transmitter at a great price?
 
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