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What happened to WYPL?

R

radiosaur

I tuned in for WMC-TVs news this evening at 5. Nothing. I tried again about 9:30 PM and they were still off, or at least too weak to hear up Millington way.
 
WYPL has had water issues at the transmitter site these last few days. They hope to be back on the air late this Friday afternoon, but it may be later. There's been flooding at their site and that'sthe cause.
 
Got a status report this morning and it's all bad. They, obviously, were unable to get back on the air Friday afternoon and now they're calling volunteers to cancel readings for the first part of the week coming up. Their engineer has reported 1,400 feet of reflected power on the tower, indicating real moisture problems in the line, though I'm no engineer. They need a tower climbing crew to check on it and repair. The nearest crew is in Kentucky, apparently, and it sounds to me like midweek or later if things go well.

Sounds like they could use some executive decision help from the mayor's ex-bodyguard, er, CEO.
 
Apparently their engineer isn't an engineer either if he is reporting "1,400 feet of reflected power on the tower"

Rent a 100w a transmitter and a coathanger, for cying out loud. There is NO reason to be off the air for a week.
 
radiosaur said:
Apparently their engineer isn't an engineer either if he is reporting "1,400 feet of reflected power on the tower"

Rent a 100w a transmitter and a coathanger, for cying out loud. There is NO reason to be off the air for a week.
Click to expand...

Depends on what burned. If it's only line then you still have to get it and a tower crew which can take some time. If it's also the antenna it takes a while to get a new one made. Sure they could rent a temp antenna and throw up some line to feed it, but there's also the money issue. I'm a little surprised they haven't gotten something temporary done at their old site on Union, but that may be foobarred as well. There's enough spare gear around town that with a few phone calls they should be able to get something cooking until the main can be brought back. I don't know the various Memphis operations very well but surely someone has an aux antenna with a freq agile transmitter. That and a Zephyr could get them running for sure.
 
When there is a will, there is a way.

A length of 1/2 inch hardline, a homemade J-Pole, and an exciter at the Midtown site, and you at least have SOMETHING. 'Could be back on the air in half a day. Maybe a little longer if there is a long line at Home Depot when you're buying the copper pipe for the antenna.

Heck. I could do it.

DE
 
DeadElvis said:
When there is a will, there is a way.

A length of 1/2 inch hardline, a homemade J-Pole, and an exciter at the Midtown site, and you at least have SOMETHING. 'Could be back on the air in half a day. Maybe a little longer if there is a long line at Home Depot when you're buying the copper pipe for the antenna.

Heck. I could do it.

DE
Click to expand...


Exactly. I for one would have that frequency agile transmitter next door where the 101.1 standby antenna used to be. So what if it doesn't match exactly? If that wasn't usable, I'd be on the roof of the main library with DE's aforementioned j-pole.

NO excuse.
 
Well, another Friday and another week gone by without WYPL on the air. Latest word is...don't come to work Monday either. It's hoped next week will see some progress. Perhaps the mayor might volunteer to make one of his fireside chats through that damp transmission line. That oughtta dry it out, but he's a busy man, I hear.

This is one of those concrete examples that defines the difference between gummint run and private sector run endeavors.

'Course if some of you engineer types would like to volunteer some help to the public sector in its time of need, it might be accepted.

Just a thought.
 
Bottom line, literally and figuratively, is if it was costing money to be off the air, repairs would happen much quicker. In this case, it's in essence saving money, so n-o h-u-r-r-y.
 
robgrayson said:
Bottom line, literally and figuratively, is if it was costing money to be off the air, repairs would happen much quicker. In this case, it's in essence saving money, so n-o h-u-r-r-y.
Click to expand...


Ture...and one wonders when they get the (much lower) electrric bill for the tramsitter site might it be off the air for an "extended" period.....?

Seriously... I never understood the rationale behind moving to that tower 35 miles away. It didn't make THAT much difference in coverage in the metro...now for the cows in Arkansas...
 
Tynosaur said:
'Course if some of you engineer types would like to volunteer some help to the public sector in its time of need, it might be accepted.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Help them how? They need line, connectors and climbers. If they were going to do something temporary to get back on they would have done it by now. It's not like there's a bunch of bored engineers with nothing else to do hanging out at Neil's sippin' cocktails.
 
Neil's? Jeez! Why not Alex's at the very least?
 
Well, the tumult and shouting has died...WYPL is back on the air. Now if we can just do something for the hard of hearing on radio.
 
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