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Re: [IRCA] CBS FM HD antenna tower Portland Oregon (OT)
Paul Walker said:
Woah, $1million for an Antenna? Im no engineer, but that seems very very
steep to me. $1 mil is probably for the entire HD conversion for all 5
stations.
//////
$1 million does not surprise me at all Paul. A lot of stations spend far
more than that on new antenna projects. He is probably talking about the
entire antenna project - not just the antenna itself. He mentioned a
tower with an elevator in it. And you must consider all of the ancillary
equipment. And there may even be a structure included in that price.
Antenna projects can be very expensive.
When a couple of suburban FM stations decided to back door into the
Denver market a couple years ago they built a 2,000 foot tower on the
very rural prairie 45 miles east of Denver. In order to secure approval
from the county commissioners to build the tower they had to also agree
to fund construction of a new control tower for the Front Range Airport
which is 30 miles away from the antenna tower. It is the tallest control
tower in the US. What do you think that antenna project cost?
When my current employer built the new transmitter site for KCKK-AM,
which is on county wildland property, they had to also agree to fund
construction of a new office and maintenance garage facility for the
county highway department. That antenna project cost about $3 million.
When my employer moved 105.5 into the northeast CO market they bought a
historic former AT&T Long Lines microwave relay site on top of Buckhorn
Mountain west of Fort Collins for the antenna facility. This was
originally one of the relay stations on AT&Ts first transcontinental
microwave system. It is at 8,300 feet above sea level. This is a huge
two-story facility that was built during the cold war era. It was
hardened against bomb blasts and had decontamination shower facilities
at the entrances. It held living quarters and mess hall facilities for
an entourage of resident technicians. It contained a fully operational
backup generator powered by a diesel locomotive engine. And it had one
of those huge 4-leg towers next to it that was typical of the microwave
relay towers of the era. The line of site coverage from here is amazing.
With binoculars on a clear day you can see well into WY and incredibly
far out onto the eastern CO plains. I'm estimating that the facility has
about 20,000 square feet of floor space. Our equipment probably occupies
about 2% of the structure. Another very expensive antenna project. BTW
there is some interesting historic information and photos of this
facility from 1955 and 1975 at
http://long-lines.net/places-routes/Buckhorn-Mtn/index.html.
Patrick Griffith, CBT CBNT CRO
Westminster CO
http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/
http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/
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