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WEZE 590 is off the air!

Could be off the air for a little work. I believe it's past 12am where you are at. That's usually when AM stations that need to work on the transmitter or antenna system do that kind of work.
 
Or could be just maintenance work to prevent a failure. Cleaning out the cobwebs at the tower base. Most station prefer to go off the air after 12am to do maintenance work on parts that are normally energized during normal operation. It doesn't mean there was a failure.

For all we know they are working on there generator transfer switch as preventative maintenance.
They are directional. Maybe the pattern was drifting and they need to replace a capacitor or inductor before it totally failed and took them off the air during daytime hours where they can bill more.

Since they are off the air after 12am I think it's safe to say they are preforming some type of work to make them more reliable when they are playing billable spots between 6am and 6pm.
 
blackgold said:
Oh, I see. Maybe there's been some failure in transmission or something.
Click to expand...
Maintenance of the Antenna Tuning Unit (ATU), coax, antenna switches between transmitters and internal electrical wiring may often require a silent period. Engineers and management prefer Sunday morning as there is little audience.

This is stuff that can't be done while on the air, as few AMs have auxiliary sites or auxiliary towers. Keep in mind that in AM the tower is the antenna; in FM the antenna is just some "tubing" mounted at the top of the tower.

Even adjusting the spark gap at the bottom of the tower on most AM stations requires going off the air.
 
It's also possible that they may have needed to repaint the towers to comply with FAA regulations if the paint had significantly faded. Stations go off the air during overnight times for that, or go to an auxiliary or backup site, but WEZE may not have one.
 
Eli Polonsky said:
It's also possible that they may have needed to repaint the towers to comply with FAA regulations if the paint had significantly faded. Stations go off the air during overnight times for that, or go to an auxiliary or backup site, but WEZE may not have one.
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I don't know any tower crews that paint at night. Do you?

FM towers can mostly be painted with the station on the air, often with reduced power. Only the section where the antenna is mounted requires off-air, but can be cone with the auxiliary antenna many FM stations in big markets have.

AMs can be painted with the station on the air. Directionals can switch towers, if so designed. I've seen many towers painted while running low power or with a momentary "off" so the painter can climb on the tower. Lots of regulations involved.
 
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