Several people on the Boston Radio Interest e-mail list have reported that what they believe to be the WJDA tower in Quincy has gone down and that WJDA is off the air. Can anyone here confirm?
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WJDA 1300 tower down?
- Thread starter DanStrassberg
- Start date
Admittedly I'm on the North Shore not south but WJDA usually comes in. It wasn't on around 7 pm (still
pre-sunset) and I was picking up an ESPN station, prob from New Haven
pre-sunset) and I was picking up an ESPN station, prob from New Haven
>>WJDA (1300 Quincy) appears to have lost its tower to some combination of Irene's winds and flooding. Floods are common at WJDA's tower site along Rock Island Cove, long ago washing out the road that once led to the transmitter building. As of Sunday afternoon, WJDA was silent, and at least one NERW reader reported not being able to see the tower where it once stood.
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html
N
necrat123
Guest
WJDA's tower is in fact down. On a unrelated (non broadcast) list, Quincy fire was dispatched to a "100+ foot tower collapse" at Sea St & Palmer St. Only tower there is WJDA's. Quincy fire reported "tower is down, area is secure". (No damage to any property, which makes sense, the tower was way out in a marsh.)
carmen said:
Looks as if it was in pretty serious need of a a paint job at least. Maybe other maintenance too. If the info I found is correct, this tower was just barely taller than 200' (201.9'). If that's the correct height, unless there was a properly painted and illuminated taller tower nearby, the tower would have to be painted red and white and illuminated with flashing red beacons. However, maybe the FAA grants waivers that I am unaware of. Seems a little silly to quibble about 1.9' out of 200'. OTOH, if you make an exception for 201.9', at what height do you stop making exceptions? Anyhow, as far as I could tell from the pictures, it had been a long time since the tower was painted red and white--if it ever was painted red and white. Since it was in such close proximity to the ocean, corrosion could be a big problem and regular periodic maintenance would be important.
kc1ih said:
WUMB appears to be off the air. They don't use the same tower as WJDA. The WUMB antenna is mounted on a small tower on top of the old stone water tower on Forbes Hill near the Quincy rock quarries.
I'm hearing a weak signal with the WUMB programming on 91.9, I think it's from repeater WBPR, Worcester on Asnebumskit Hill in Paxton.
WVBF (1530 AM), Middleborough-Taunton is down because of power problems near the Middleborough transmitter site.
WUMB now reports on their website that the power has been out at their Boston (Quincy) transmitter site. It says that they tried using two borrowed generators, but both have stopped working. I thought I heard it on the air this morning, but it sounded as if the power was reduced.
Agree with LA Guy, that's the sickest steel I've seen in years. Wouldn't have taken a 100mph gust to take it down. Glad it was far enough out not to hit those expensive homes in the photos. What's next? Telephone poles and a dipole??
I'm not so sure it was the steel breaking, but rather, on that very-fine-for-AM site, such sites come with problems.... This is probably a case of over the years, constant tugging by wind, the anchors became lifted a bit in the ground, causing somewhat-sagging of the guy wires. Another cause could have been rusting or deterioration of the anchors in that salt marsh Without tight guy wires, the tower was destined to fall.
LA_Guy said:
Would a Valcom whip make sense for WJDA? Would Principle spring for the added cost--compared with the cost of a conventional tower? I have no actual experience with Valcoms, but you do, Dana. So I'm asking the man who owns one (so to speak). It seems to me that a Valcom would sidestep a lot of the maintenance issues of a conventional tower and might therefore pay for itself in time. Also, what is the cost premium for 94' compared with 74'? If the FCC allowed WJDA a small power increase to compensate for the lower efficiency of the 74-footer compared with that of both the 94-footer and WJDA's now-deceased 201.9' foot standard tower, there might be no need for the 94' Valcom. What would it take? 1200W? Could a Valcom run indefinitely at 1200W? The 94' model is a much rarer bird than the 74-footer, so I suspect that the cost premium could be appreciable.
The last that I heard they were considering using a whip like this, on a temporary basis...
until a more permanent tower can be put up on the site.
until a more permanent tower can be put up on the site.
I was out there the other day to take a look. The whole site was a victim of neglect. The paint has peeled off the tower and left the steel exposed. Naturally, salt air isn't the best place to have exposed steel. I'm sure the guys and anchors had something to do with it too. But the tower was in rough shape. A 94 foot Valcom might be a better solution since the element is encased in fiberglass.
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