Re: [IRCA] CBS FM HD antenna tower Portland Oregon (OT)

["Paul B. Walker, Jr." <walkerbroadcasting@xxxxxxxxx>]

Very interesting.

Thanks for the information.

Paul



On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 1:48 PM, Patrick Griffith, N0NNK / WPE9HVW <
AM-DXer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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
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