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W2ZE
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« on: February 03, 2011, 10:28:11 AM » |
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Todd, KA1KAQ
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« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2011, 10:35:27 AM » |
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Cool site, Mike. Amazing to see such an intricate structure still standing. Certainly on par with the Marconi towers at South Wellfleet and elsewhere, though far more interesting.
You coming to FrostFest?
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known as The Voice of Vermont in a previous life
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WD8BIL
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« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2011, 10:41:00 AM » |
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I wonder what my neighbors would say ifn I built one out of scrap pallet wood?
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K1JJ
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"Let's go kayaking, Tommy!" - Yaz
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« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2011, 11:51:55 AM » |
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Geezz.. 387', all wood! Self-supporting to boot. The Germans are such great engineers. Beautiful tower.
T
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Use an "AM Courtesy Filter" to limit transmit audio bandwidth +-4.5 KHz, +-6.0 KHz or +-8.0 KHz when needed. Easily done in DSP.
Wise Words : "I'm as old as I've ever been... and I'm as young as I'll ever be."
There's nothing like an old dog.
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KC4ALF
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« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2011, 11:52:32 AM » |
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Wow!!
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Steve - K4HX
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« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2011, 12:00:30 PM » |
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Pity the fool that has to paint water sealant on that thing!
Very pretty though. On another computer, I have some pix of a wooden tower from the 30s (IIRC). I will post those tomorrow.
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K5WLF
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« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2011, 12:42:11 PM » |
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That's a neat tower. I always marvel at giant wood structures, since I'm one of those folks that has trouble building anything out of wood except a fire. Metal's fine, I can do good with that, but not with wood. Probably due in part to the fact that I have better tools for metal than I do for wood.
The Modesto Radio Museum site brought back a lot of memories. I lived 80 miles east of Modesto for about 20 years and listened to KLOC, 920 AM almost from the day it went on the air. I knew quite a few of the folks mentioned on the museum site and it was a nice trip down memory lane.
ldb
K5WLF
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k4kyv
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Don
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« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2011, 12:49:16 PM » |
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I didn't follow the statement that they didn't use iron screws or nails because they would have absorbed RF, but use fasteners made of ore instead. What kind of ore?
I remember sometime back in the 80's they finally tore down the wooden roller coaster at the Nashville fairgrounds. Roger, N4IBF was given some of the wooden cross members from it that he was going to use for some house repair project. The first one can be seen in photos dating back to 1927, but I believe it was rebuilt in 1965 after a fire had destroyed the original one. I looked over the pieces; they had been fastened with nails, some of which were still in the boards and were rusty, and you could see wood rot that had set in around the nail holes. Hopefully they did use nuts and bolts on the heavier load-bearing timbers. Long before they dismantled it I had thought to myself no way would I ever get on that thing. It was said to be creaky; that was supposed to be part of the thrill of riding it. When it was torn down, it was reported that termite infestations were found.
There are wooden railway trestles still in use that carry freight trains every day. Like the trestles, it looks like the tower is preserved with creosote. The creosote treated electric utility pole here at the house was put in service sometime in the 30s when electricity first came to the area. A few years ago the power co. sent a team over the area to inspect all the older poles; ours was found to still be sound so they didn't replace it.
In recent decades they have stopped using creosote preservative on utility poles, supposedly because of some toxicity alleged to be associated with creosote. Now, wooden poles are preserved with some kind of olive drab green stuff, probably copper naphthenate, and I would almost be willing to bet that it doesn't work as well. I wonder if the 20-year remaining life expectancy of the tower is because EU regulations (the same ones that have banned lead solder and incandescent lamp bulbs) now prohibit the preservative they used in the past.
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Don, K4KYV AMI#5 Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM... Never got off AM in the first place.- - - This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout. http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak |
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W2VW
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« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2011, 01:37:50 PM » |
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I didn't see any no smoking signs on there.
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w1vtp
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« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2011, 04:03:56 PM » |
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Pity the fool that has to paint water sealant on that thing!
<snip>
Why pity? Job security. Get finished at the top and start from the bottom again  |
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W1RKW
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« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2011, 06:03:38 PM » |
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Awesome structure.
Weren't Major Armstrongs towers wooden? Maybe not as tall but wooden nonetheless.
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Bob
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Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
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W1ATR
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« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2011, 06:09:18 PM » |
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I wonder what my neighbors would say ifn I built one out of scrap pallet wood?
You won't even have to break them apart. Just keep stacking them and strapping them together. Some guys at the appropriate levels and it's all good. It'll look like a giant Jenga game. |
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Ed/KB1HYS
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« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2011, 06:32:36 PM » |
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Local station here in Manchester, AM-610 WGIR (I think) used a wooden tower, until a hurricane leveled it, and they replaced it with the Blau-knox (which IMHO are the cat's meow for looks in Commercial ants).
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73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
"I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
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N0WVA
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« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2011, 01:41:39 AM » |
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In recent decades they have stopped using creosote preservative on utility poles, supposedly because of some toxicity alleged to be associated with creosote. Now, wooden poles are preserved with some kind of olive drab green stuff, probably copper naphthenate, and I would almost be willing to bet that it doesn't work as well. I wonder if the 20-year remaining life expectancy of the tower is because EU regulations (the same ones that have banned lead solder and incandescent lamp bulbs) now prohibit the preservative they used in the past.
Whatever the green stuff is, it smells like melting plastic and makes me sick to my stomach. They put some poles in around here and the morning air is heavy with the smell of the chemical. |
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WBear2GCR
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Brrrr- it's cold in the shack! Fire up the BIG RIG
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« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2011, 02:19:13 AM » |
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Gotta be a mistranslation.
I suspect they meant "alloy" or else "brass"??
_-_-bear
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KD0HUX
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« Reply #15 on: February 04, 2011, 07:34:18 PM » |
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TERMITE HAVEN
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Mike/W8BAC
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« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2011, 07:49:54 PM » |
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I have a good friend at work that is Polish. He immigrate to the US in 1987. I asked him if he knew about this tower and his face lit up. Turns out that radio station and tower played a pivotal roll in Hitler's plan to invade Poland at the start of Germany's quest for European domination. More info here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliwice_Radio_TowerMike |
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DMOD
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« Reply #17 on: February 04, 2011, 09:57:49 PM » |
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Beautiful tower. "The medium wave transmitter is no longer workable, because the final stage is missing." Hmmm, maybe some ham is strapping on 160m over there in Poland with the finals? Phil - AC0OB |
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Steve - K4HX
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« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2011, 10:48:57 AM » |
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Sorry for the necro. I just ran acorss the photo. A ham, W9DNP built his own 100 foot wooden tower in 1935. Pity the fool that has to paint water sealant on that thing!
Very pretty though. On another computer, I have some pix of a wooden tower from the 30s (IIRC). I will post those tomorrow.
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WA1GFZ
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« Reply #19 on: February 23, 2011, 12:28:40 PM » |
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Hun, I need to climb the tower and drive all the nails back in after the big wind storm.
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k4kyv
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« Reply #20 on: February 23, 2011, 01:54:29 PM » |
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Don, K4KYV AMI#5 Licensed since 1959 and not happy to be back on AM... Never got off AM in the first place.- - - This message was typed using the DVORAK keyboard layout. http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak |
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KB5MD
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« Reply #21 on: February 23, 2011, 03:39:50 PM » |
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I wouldn't want to try building a tower with the crap that the lumber yards sell now days.
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Ed/KB1HYS
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« Reply #22 on: February 23, 2011, 10:15:00 PM » |
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I recall that he built that tower out of the lattice used behind the plaster in walls. It was made of some wood that was pretty tough. The corners were some other species, and the whole thing was very well constructed. I've looked at the lattice available in home cheapo... not on your life...
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73 de Ed/KB1HYS
Happiness is Hot Tubes, Cold 807's, and warm room filling AM Sound.
"I've spent three quarters of my life trying to figure out how to do a $50 job for $.50, the rest I spent trying to come up with the $0.50" - D. Gingery
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W2PFY
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« Reply #23 on: February 23, 2011, 11:09:37 PM » |
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The secrecy of my job prevents me from knowing what I am doing.
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WA9UDW
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« Reply #24 on: February 24, 2011, 11:52:03 AM » |
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Sorry for the necro.  What is "necro"? |
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