Nat Geo Show

[genlock]

Good show on national geographic channel tonight.
It was about changing an antenna on a 2000 foot tv tower in south dakota.
The antenna was a stacked pylon type, channel 47 over a channel 46.
Top antenna was bad for some reason. I missed the first half of the show.
It showed some of the problems associated with big towers and heavy (11,000lb) antennas.
Very informative. Pylons are very reliable and I wish i had seen what was wrong with the thing.
Same type of gin pole was used on channel 33 tower during antenna swap there. Only 1020 ft tho.

[cgarison]

I am just thrilled I never performed an antenna change when I worked as a rigger. I scaled tanks of all types, hung from catwalks, and and rode crane cables/man baskets to the top of buildings in Philly. Those guys impress the hell out of me to be able to climb towers of that height and work in that wind. They have my respect.

[rfhertz]

Thanks for the heads up! I missed todays airing, but programmed my HD-DVR to record it Wednesday afternoon.

[David Paleg]

Good show on national geographic channel tonight.
It was about changing an antenna on a 2000 foot tv tower in south dakota.

If they had the tower on top of Mount Rushmore, it could look like Ray Walston in My Favorite Martian.

[herdgirl72]

Oh Yeah!!
We DVR'd it!!!

[Big Media]

I love the radio call when they drop a wrench... "Headache...Headache...Headache... South side." 10 seconds later..... thud.

It was a great show which gave me some good perspective. I am thankful to remain on the ground but I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to ride an elevator to the top of one of those behemoths.

[genlock]

Another danger is when they drop something down thru the tower.
It can bang up a lot of expensive stuff on the way down.
It can also break structural sections that compromise the
integrity of the tower. Then they can bounce out at any point and hit you.
The stacked pylon was popular to get thru the early DTV years.
Gives better omni performance than those side-mount things.
When someone watches the show, find out and tell me what went
wrong with the antenna.

[Cameron]

When someone watches the show, find out and tell me what went
wrong with the antenna.

I don't recall them saying - but with tower-crew schedules filling-up with the DTV switch, there's been a lot of analog antennas "failing" lately. It gets the full-power antenna at the top of the stick quicker.

[genlock]

This was the top antenna.
It was for the digital channel.
one megawatt erp.

[cgarison]

one megawatt erp.

Blowtorch is the only word coming to mind right now.

[sportsvoice]

I went looking to set this on my DVR, but it seems that Nat Geo isn't in my Dish package. Oh well, I don't feel like forking out for the next tier...

[Big Media]

It was a VSWR problem. The reflected power would intermittently go way up to dangerous levels. I am sure they (Dielectric or whoever) are testing it now to determine the problem. I'll bet it was damaged during shipment or hoisting.

[genlock]

The DTV had been on for 4 years.
Was the bad antenna a new one?
The DTV pylons are center fed.
That part is more than likely the problem.
Not much else to go wrong with them.
Dielectric will fix it and have it in refurb sale.
Cheap, at $100,000 or so.
The truck that brought the new one
will take the old one back.
Re-sellable, If the thing has a standard pattern.

[Cameron]

The V.O. said, "...it hadn't worked right since it was on the air.".

The nameplate on the antenna was "Dielectric". There's a shot of the nameplate as they are bolting it down.

The antennas were TFU-33EBT/VP-R06 for the channel 46 at 4,000 KW - elliptical pol.

A TFU-36GTH-R O4 was the channel 47 antenna - horizontal pol. They have a STA to do 1.4KW digital out of the ch. 47 antenna.

They've indicated to the FCC they are at full licensed DTV ERP on 47.

The station was KDLT - the NBC affiliate in Souix Falls, SD. Center of radiation - about 2,000 feet AGL. Yikes.

41 dBu DTV @ 75 miles from the tower - double yikes.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Great show. Caught it last night.
Thanks for the heads up.
I saw what happened to that watermelon they dropped.
Thoughts about hanging from a metal tower at 2000' AGL makes me butthole pucker.

[Ace Purple]

I tried to catch the Wednesday airing but missed it. Does anyone know if/when another re-airing is slated?

[Cameron]

I tried to catch the Wednesday airing but missed it. Does anyone know if/when another re-airing is slated?

World's Toughest Fixes - 2,000 Foot Tower

Next airing on NatGeo - Sunday December 28 @ 6:00pm.

[Arp2]

Thoughts about hanging from a metal tower at 2000' AGL makes me butthole pucker.

....and it makes me lust to stand there and take it all in.


Notice I said "stand"...."hanging off" might be a little troubling!


I love heights! Great show!

Surprised me, though, that they appeared to be doing all but the antenna replacement with the station cranking out the wattage.....

[Ace Purple]

World's Toughest Fixes - 2,000 Foot Tower
Next airing on NatGeo - Sunday December 28 @ 6:00pm.

Thanks for the info, Cameron!