What do the Cedar Hill Sticks do at Night

[Jonas Newschaffer]

I saw a thread of somebody asking what the towers near Houston do at night, so I thought I'd ask the same question with the Cedar Hill Towers, my all time favorite antenna farm. So, I would like to know if all the towers have red lights at night, or do some of them use white strobes at night. I know some are painted orange and white indicating that they use red lights, and the ones that are not painted use white strobes in the daytime, but what I'm not certain is if those towers change from white to red at night, or if they continue using white strobes through the night.

 

[mic_check]

The red lights on the towers are there so planes dont hit them flying into the metro at night. It's an FAA regulation. Other then that, the towers just broadcast audio. What a stupid thread.

 

[CHR_FAN_TX]

Exactly... Same exact reason that every water tower has a red light at the top..

 

[milton77]

Back in the 1970s, KKDA-FM used a disco ball as one their tower lights.

 

[Mediafrog+]

The red lights on the towers are there so planes dont hit them flying into the metro at night. It's an FAA regulation. Other then that, the towers just broadcast audio. What a stupid thread.

The original poster was just asking about red beacons vs. strobes. I think everyone knows what broadcast towers "do."

 

[radi0avenger]

I believe all the Cedar Hill towers are SUPPOSED to flash red at night. Some kind of city ordinance or something. Occasionally when the lighting system messes up, the "failsafe" is white strobes at "nighttime" intensity - being much less bright than the daytime strobe level. But they're all SUPPOSED to be red at night.

If a tower is painted, it doesn't need daytime strobes. If it's not painted, FAA requires strobes during the day. Paint or no paint, they all have to light up at night. Somehow.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

I know some are painted orange and white indicating that they use red lights, and the ones that are not painted use white strobes in the daytime, but what I'm not certain is if those towers change from white to red at night, or if they continue using white strobes through the night.

Most of the older towers are painted red and white and use the flashing red beacons at night. Some of the newer towers use the white strobes 24 hours a day.

One of those newer towers (June 2000) is Richland South, at 2133 Tar Road (check it out on Google Maps). It's furthest south, near the Ellis County line, of the major Cedar Hill sticks hosting a large number of the DTV facilities and serving as a backup for many of the FMs.

Another strobe-lit tower is the tallest (1731' AGL) and newest (July 2004) of the bunch at 501 S. Potter Street. CBS has KRLD-FM, KJKK and KMVK at that site. Off the of my head, the KXTX/KXAS tower at 1200 West Beltline is another strobed tower. Completed in August 1997, it was the replacement for the original tower that collapsed in October 1996, killing three and arguably spelled the end of all-news KEWS.

 

[Kent]

If a tower is painted, it doesn't need daytime strobes. If it's not painted, FAA requires strobes during the day. Paint or no paint, they all have to light up at night. Somehow.

Close, but not quite. I believe a tower has to be lit if it's 200 ft. tall or more. I don't know about the veracity of it, but I was once told the story of an AM station around Dallas actually sending someone up to the top to cut off six inches from its tower so it wouldn't have to light up! Also, towers less than 200 ft. tall don't have to have an FAA tower registration. I also understand there are some exemptions for the lighting requirement for clusters of towers, like AM directional arrays, so not all towers in the cluster have to be lit.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

The original poster was just asking about red beacons vs. strobes. I think everyone knows what broadcast towers "do."

Well, I now know of one person who probably isn't going to order Scott Fybush's 2012 tower calendar.

 

[radi0avenger]

Close, but not quite. I believe a tower has to be lit if it's 200 ft. tall or more. I don't know about the veracity of it, but I was once told the story of an AM station around Dallas actually sending someone up to the top to cut off six inches from its tower so it wouldn't have to light up! Also, towers less than 200 ft. tall don't have to have an FAA tower registration. I also understand there are some exemptions for the lighting requirement for clusters of towers, like AM directional arrays, so not all towers in the cluster have to be lit.

If it's over 200 feet it has to be registered with the FAA. Whether it's strobed or painted is up to the tower owner. But it has to have some kind of markings, either paint or strobes. And it must either strobe in night mode, or have red lights at night. Anything under 200 feet, unless its within a certain proximity to an airport, doesn't need to be lit or registered. One example of this is the broadcast tower in Keene that KJRN broadcasts from. It stands approx 183 feet tall, and they did engineer it so they wouldn't have to light/mark it.

The 1190 night site of 12 antennas has one such exemption in that not all of it's towers have to be lit.

 

[Lancer]

There is also a longwave beacon atop one of the towers that alerts aircraft of the antenna farm - 17 nautical miles south of DFW.

 

[davideduardo]

I saw a thread of somebody asking what the towers near Houston do at night, so I thought I'd ask the same question with the Cedar Hill Towers, my all time favorite antenna farm. So, I would like to know if all the towers have red lights at night, or do some of them use white strobes at night. I know some are painted orange and white indicating that they use red lights, and the ones that are not painted use white strobes in the daytime, but what I'm not certain is if those towers change from white to red at night, or if they continue using white strobes through the night.

The FCC rules are condensed at http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/policy/dtv/lighting.html and there is reference to the applicable rules.

If the FAA requires marking, in some cases either strobe or paint/red lights may be employed. There is no reference to dual lighting (strobes by day, red beacon and side lights at night) and I know of no such case.

I believe that a tower under 200 feet generally does not require marking, but it might require lighting in certain locations. Similarly, lighting of all towers in a directional array may be not required upon FCC approval.

The FAA guidelines, including the item about some structures under 200 feet, is at www.faa.gov/about/office_org/.../towers/.../AC70_7460_1K.pdf

 

[dakareedog]

I saw a thread of somebody asking what the towers near Houston do at night, so I thought I'd ask the same question with the Cedar Hill Towers, my all time favorite antenna farm. So, I would like to know if all the towers have red lights at night, or do some of them use white strobes at night. I know some are painted orange and white indicating that they use red lights, and the ones that are not painted use white strobes in the daytime, but what I'm not certain is if those towers change from white to red at night, or if they continue using white strobes through the night.

The towers that are older, I think 5 of them, and have NOT been repainted in the last 10 years or so are using strobes. They repainted about 6 of the towers last year and those are not using strobes. They ALL are using incandescent red lighting at night. There have been malfunctions where occasionally a towers strobes will remain on at night, but that is the exception.

 

[salemjedi54]

I know some are painted orange and white indicating that they use red lights, and the ones that are not painted use white strobes in the daytime, but what I'm not certain is if those towers change from white to red at night, or if they continue using white strobes through the night.

Most of the older towers are painted red and white and use the flashing red beacons at night. Some of the newer towers use the white strobes 24 hours a day.

One of those newer towers (June 2000) is Richland South, at 2133 Tar Road (check it out on Google Maps). It's furthest south, near the Ellis County line, of the major Cedar Hill sticks hosting a large number of the DTV facilities and serving as a backup for many of the FMs.

Another strobe-lit tower is the tallest (1731' AGL) and newest (July 2004) of the bunch at 501 S. Potter Street. CBS has KRLD-FM, KJKK and KMVK at that site. Off the of my head, the KXTX/KXAS tower at 1200 West Beltline is another strobed tower. Completed in August 1997, it was the replacement for the original tower that collapsed in October 1996, killing three and arguably spelled the end of all-news KEWS.

It also basically killed KRBV(V100).

 

[Triple Fake Jerry]

I've seen strobes in normal nighttime mode suddenly start blinking in daytime mode for no reason — in other words, bright as hell at night. Is that because there's an aircraft in the vicinity and there's a warning system at the tower?

 

[radi0avenger]

No, tower lighting arrays have no knowledge of impending doom, or aircraft nearby. If they go from "night mode" to "day mode" that means the lighting system failed. Bigtime.

 

[Jubb05]

Flying into dfw 2 weeks ago while it was raining we were coming in from the south - looked out the window to see the top of the Cedar Hill towers poking out of the clouds. Very surreal, and quite a cool visual.

 

[jd]

There is also a longwave beacon atop one of the towers that alerts aircraft of the antenna farm - 17 nautical miles south of DFW.

I don't have any way to listen but I'll take the word of William Hepburn, whose latest listings show that XQH on 353kHz is inactive.

www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm

 

[Lancer]

That's interesting. It used to be CDI on 353 way back when. But I guess it has gone away. Hope everyone pays attention to their flight charts.

Here's an audio sample of that beacon I made a few years back that alerted pilots of the antenna farm.

http://www.lancesanders.com/wavs/cdi.wav