> > ...WDDZ-550 is off due to flooding. It'll be off at least
> Where is the transmitter? I was driving around the
> Cumberland area today & had to take some detours due to
> flooding. From the road the old 550 WGNG building on John
> Street looked somewhat submerged unless it was an optical
> illusion.
The transmitter, at last report, was in the cement block building
near the towers right at the John Street Bridge on the Cumberland
side of the river.
This is not the first time it has happened. Just a few days ago
I found an old photo of several of us rowing to the building in
a small boat. That would have been sometime in the 1960's.
At that time the flooding was predicted to last a week or more.
I braced a 2x4 across a window behind the transmitter, linked up
some insulators, and ran a #10 bare copper wire out. An
adventurous young sales guy took a C-clamp and modified it by
removing the swivel at the end of the screw and grinding it to
a point. Then he climbed as high as he was comfortable and
screwed the point into the tower leg, hauling first a string,
then a light rope, then the #10 wire up and securing it to the
clamp. We were able to load it at about 150 Watts but not 500.
The old RCA transmitters were not at all unhappy. With it in
place we contacted the FCC which immediately authorized non-
directional operation days for the duration of the flood.
The tuning houses, at that time, were of wood on tall stilts,
higher than the base insulators. The water did get into the
tuning houses but not high enough to reach any of the components.
If anybody is willing to volunteer a website, I can find the photo
(probably), scan it into an e-mail and get it to you. If you
don't wanna post your e-mail, contact me at the address in my
profile.
Dunno if the projected duration of this flood would warrant Craig
doing anything like this. If you're out there, Craig, and think
you want to toy with it, I'd suggest using the RCA backup rather
than risk the newer solid state transmitter. After all, it worked
once!
PS....
I just found the photo, it was March, 1968. Call letters at the time
were WXTR.
<P ID="signature">______________
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! (if any)
--Friedrich Nietzsch</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">
Edited by Les on 10/17/05 05:42 PM.</FONT></P>
