• 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

TORNADO WARNINGS

R

radiotower40

First I wanted to send my condolences to anyone impacted by the horrible storms last night. I am writing from Chicago and I have
friends in Jackson. I was listening to 650AM WSM and I wanted to compliment Eddie Stubbs and the station for stopping the music
for hours and letting the listeners know exactly when the warnings came out and exactly where the storms were heading. I was
listening strictly over the air on my car radio. Thanks Eddie and WSM for a job well done. I think this proves again why 50KW AM's
are still important.
 
I thought channel 2 did a splendid job covering these storm cells as they tracked across the state.
 
SwissVol said:
I thought channel 2 did a splendid job covering these storm cells as they tracked across the state.
Click to expand...

5 has the toys and they showed them off that night. In my opinion they blew everyone away. (No pun intended) I was going to watch young dude on 4 but if I took Romers advice I would have been wasted by 9. Felt sorry for the dude at 17. I have better radar on my computer.

Nock
 
WLAC went wall-to-wall during the Vols game and stay in continuous coverage until the initial wave of storms passed.

When the second wave of storms came through, 'LAC had wall-to-wall coverage a second time until the last warning for Rutherford county expired around 2:30am.

The other 'news' station in town did not have nearly as extensive coverage.
 
April 16 2008 will be the tenth anniversary of Nashville's tornado blitz. Coincidentally that was the same day Phil Valentine returned to the Nashville airwaves.
 
SwissVol said:
I thought channel 2 did a splendid job covering these storm cells as they tracked across the state.
Click to expand...
Sure did. I just moved back to town after being away for about 5 years. My first and only reaction when I got word (via text message) of the warnings was to turn to News 2. Lesa, Davis, and...Justin, was it?...did a great job...and clearly have the best tools. Hearing their voices through those tense moments made it seem like I never left. I also thought that Bob and Neil did a great job from the news side...capitalizing on News 2's "interactiveness"...putting people on the air and pictures, etc. I think it's an awesome touch that Neil can have the director call up his computer desktop to go to Google Earth and other websites.

Just two questions...

1) When is Google Earth going to want to start being paid for that kind of use?
2) Did anyone hear anything about and/or know what caused them (2) to go to air with "reports of a downed aircraft"? At that time, as I recall...they didn't know what was going on yet with the pipeline explosion in Hartsville...but if I remember correctly they said the plane crash report was in a different county (Wilson, I think).
 
AdamDouglas said:
1) When is Google Earth going to want to start being paid for that kind of use?
Click to expand...

IIRC, Google Earth offers a professional version for about $500...and that's what broadcast TV uses...
don't have a clue if extra usage fees are involved
 
I remember back in the 1998 tornado that ripped through the heart of Nashville and plowed into those older, historic neighborhoods of East Nashville. The storm ripped up homes and trees all the way to Cornelia airport and across the river into Opryland. Channel 2 with Lisa Patton, Davis Nolan and Neil Orne covered the storm pretty much the entire day. I never will forget when the stormed formed in the Kingston Springs area and tracked to the Centennial Park, Vanderbilt area and then moved over downtown. I remember Davis Nolan said: I hate to say this but this storm will track right into the heart of downtown about 3:20 PM or so. I flipped over to Nancy Van Camp and James Lewis all that day also. In my opinion, those two TV stations just did a hell of a job getting the news out that some killer type storms were coming in fast.
 
SwissVol said:
I remember back in the 1998 tornado that ripped through the heart of Nashville and plowed into those older, historic neighborhoods of East Nashville. The storm ripped up homes and trees all the way to Cornelia airport and across the river into Opryland. Channel 2 with Lisa Patton, Davis Nolan and Neil Orne covered the storm pretty much the entire day. I never will forget when the stormed formed in the Kingston Springs area and tracked to the Centennial Park, Vanderbilt area and then moved over downtown. I remember Davis Nolan said: I hate to say this but this storm will track right into the heart of downtown about 3:20 PM or so. I flipped over to Nancy Van Camp and James Lewis all that day also. In my opinion, those two TV stations just did a hell of a job getting the news out that some killer type storms were coming in fast.
Click to expand...

We (ch. 4) have a number of 2m (6') satellite dishes on our roof. They're held in place with a metal frame and a bunch (bunch ~= 30) of concrete blocks. After that storm, one of our dishes stopped working. We went up on the roof - and found it was 30' from where we'd left it. (in perfect condition, but moved thirty feet...)

WTVF got some pretty dramatic video off their loading dock before they smartened up & closed the door & got away from there! We didn't do so well in that department because we all headed for the "basement" when the radar said the tornado was going to go right over the station...
 
w9wi said:
SwissVol said:
I remember back in the 1998 tornado that ripped through the heart of Nashville and plowed into those older, historic neighborhoods of East Nashville. The storm ripped up homes and trees all the way to Cornelia airport and across the river into Opryland. Channel 2 with Lisa Patton, Davis Nolan and Neil Orne covered the storm pretty much the entire day. I never will forget when the stormed formed in the Kingston Springs area and tracked to the Centennial Park, Vanderbilt area and then moved over downtown. I remember Davis Nolan said: I hate to say this but this storm will track right into the heart of downtown about 3:20 PM or so. I flipped over to Nancy Van Camp and James Lewis all that day also. In my opinion, those two TV stations just did a hell of a job getting the news out that some killer type storms were coming in fast.
Click to expand...

We (ch. 4) have a number of 2m (6') satellite dishes on our roof. They're held in place with a metal frame and a bunch (bunch ~= 30) of concrete blocks. After that storm, one of our dishes stopped working. We went up on the roof - and found it was 30' from where we'd left it. (in perfect condition, but moved thirty feet...)

WTVF got some pretty dramatic video off their loading dock before they smartened up & closed the door & got away from there! We didn't do so well in that department because we all headed for the "basement" when the radar said the tornado was going to go right over the station...
Click to expand...

I remember as the storm was moving ever so closer to downtown Nashville, channel 4 sent a camera man and a reporter out into the parking lot to get some video. I remember the camera man panning his cam upwards. The video clearly showed a swirling counter rotation of the clouds. No, the tornado had not touched down at that point, but it was clearing picking up steam and it was about to drop down. The camera caught the storm in the forming stages.

Yes Chanel 5's video out in their back parking lot was nothing short of awesome. Remember the terrified lady who burst into the channel 5 studios?
 
As of this morning 2/17, my station, WMRO-AM is back to normal. We took a deadly hit that "smoked" the Armstrong X-1000, 1 KW transmitter. It happen as the Tornado/T-Storm was going over Gallatin. The tornado didn't touch down in Gallatin, but hit on Highway 25 between Gallatin & Hartsville.

We were totaly off from around 8:30 Tuesday Night to Thursday Night around 7 PM, when my wife, Leslie and I managed to get the transmitter's power supply to work and we mannaged to get one module putting out only 3 watts. I was amazed what 3 watts will do during the day!

Anyhow, we purchased a BE AM1A Box to replace the Armstrong transmitter, installed it last night and back on in time for Sunday Preachers and Sunday Church Services. This has encouraged me to buy a used "back up" 250 watt, tube rig for stand by. :)

Scott
 
Is your Armstrong transmitter a total loss? As small as they are, might be worth sending it back if all else fails and then use it as your on-the-shelf unplugged disconnected stand-by. Old tube riggs don't like to be left off for a long time, not to use it is to abuse it.
w/
 
scottwmro said:
watts. I was amazed what 3 watts will do during the day!
Click to expand...

It *is* amazing what a little bit of power will do on a decently clear frequency.

ARRL DX contest this weekend. I entered in the "QRP" category - 5 watts power or less.

Contacted Alaska on 1821kHz. Yes, with five watts.

Admittedly:
- We were probably the only two stations on 1821kHz anywhere in the world at that time.
- My antenna (and especially my ground system) would never pass muster under Part 73. (I'm sure I've got a LOT more skywave per watt than any BC station...)
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom