Abandoned transmitter Oatland Island, Near Savannah, Georgia

[ka4koe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCEelN6XcE&feature=youtu.be

From friend Lyndy ND4XE.

[M1ECY]

Bagh, Why can't I find this sort of stuff in the UK?

Such a sad waste.

[N0WEK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCEelN6XcE&feature=youtu.be

From friend Lyndy ND4XE.

https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&channel=np&ie=UTF-8&q=Oatland+Island+Wildlife+Center+of+Savannah&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Oatland+Island&cid=12055131803854154654&ei=TrDBUqu3Eom6oQTOjIFI&ved=0CKQBEPwSMAo

[W7TFO]

I spy a couple big RCA AM rigs, a Potomac antenna monitor, an ITC triple-deck cart machine among other things.

Pretty good pickings for a scrounger.

There might be some really good 'bulletproof' mod iron left there...

73DG

[W3RSW]

Is this it ?    (North end of island.)

https://www.google.com/mapmaker?ll=32.059897,-81.01478&spn=0.002289,0.002154&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6&q=Oatland+Island+Wildlife+Center+of+Savannah&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=relatedproducts_maps&utm_source=mapseditbutton_normal

[ka4koe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnw9IrxwHo0

another vid from Lyndy ND4XE and Big Mac.

[nq5t]

I've driven past that place hundreds of times without knowing it was there.  I have family in Savannah and on Wilmington and Tybee.  Never realized there was a transmitter site out there.

Next trip!! ..

[flintstone mop]

Could someone be breaking the law by loading up the stuff in a moving van?? 24 foot cargo truck?
To us it looks like abandoned and forgotten. AM station?? At the base of the antenna would be some nice tuner parts. Directional would be more tuner parts.
There won't be many more months before the weather and dampness and mice will start taking its toll on those goodies.
There's a lot of goodies in that building!!!
Fred

[VE3AJM]

Probably some nice mod iron in there. Thought I saw a Belar mod monitor.

Al VE3AJM

[Opcom]

A shame to let it rot. Probably some good parts and stuff. I'd get permission and do a haul, and see about the old capacitors too. I could spend 2-3 days in there. maybe more.

Look at all the cartridge tapes.  sound effects. I have a nice cart machine inherited from a deceased tech. May he RIP. worked as a CB tech days and a local station tech nights. Not the BC engineer, but recordings and the small audio repairs stuff.

Came with it some carts with very odd things on them, a few very suggestive. I think it was his personal one for when he had company of the romantic kind. Jim, or Jimbo as was the guy's name, in Dallas, Texas.

Might be nice to set it up for 10 minute interval station ID rule. just saying, whomever gets it ought take the carts, for fun. archive the material.

[W3LSN]

Looks like that station was functional through the 80's.  The Klymaxx album was released in 1984. I saw an old Ampro triple deck cart machine of which my station bought serial #1 around 1980.  I also saw a Kintronics isocoupler laying on its side, a couple of vintage RCA transmitters, and the Potomac antenna monitor. It's a shame to see the place rot like that, but I suspect many more AM stations will be in the same condition in a few years

73,
Jim
WA2AJM/3

[ka4koe]

Yes, that's the spot. The old building Lyndy and Mac (both local radio/broadcasting personalities and hams) were in (studio, 2nd vid) is demolished. You can see its outline to the NE of the transmitter building in the sat foto.

Mac has keys and they were given permission to visit, so it wasn't a breaking/entering situation.

Mac's call is KE4RUG and Lyndy's is ND4XE.

PAN

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

The studio tour is eerily similar to the way we found the old WGAI studios on Lovers Lane in Elizabeth City, NC back in 2005. Pulled a nice RA-1000 out of there which had been converted for AM stereo by Motorola. The studio hadn't been used in a while, plenty of water damage, ceiling tiles down or hanging, and yes - one monitor still live in one of the studios, playing the daily programming. The towers were out back and somehow the signal was still being pumped through the old building. It was more than a little creepy, and sad.

Wandering out back revealed a storage area basically open to the elements with a ton of parts, including many from a disassembled RA-1000 they had bought from another station. Grabbed what I could, including a spare mod transformer, but had to leave a bunch of iron behind in the generator room along with a nice Detroit Diesel generator they used for backup power. The engineer, who is a member here, gave me permission to knock a hole through the cement block wall and haul it away. Unfortunately I'd left my 5 ton crane and battering ram at home. If only....!

The building has long since been bulldozed which was the imminent threat then. Like the one in this thread, you can still see the studio building outline from the sat view on Google, along with the two towers out back.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=WGAI&fb=1&gl=us&hq=wgai+Elizabeth+City&cid=2664802414222818598&ei=tNzCUtWcOPOmsQTS1IGwDQ&ved=0CH0Q_BIwCw

[flintstone mop]

Todd
Your picture is probably the only way (very labor intensive) to breakdown the RA 1000 or even RA 250 to something reasonable, without involving special handling or hiring a locksmith to move the assembled TX.
I really thought it was a cabinet within a cabinet.

http://michaelskeyslocksmith.com/we-move-all-sizes-of-safes/

I shipped the RA250 to Derb (SK) using a local locksmith. Arrived happily in one piece at his garage door. Nothing hurt or bent.
Bending or breaking anything on that Raytheon would take Superman to damage. Geesh!! overkill!!
Fred

[Steve - K4HX]

Nah. Two guys, some steel pipes and a lift gate truck could move either of those transmitters easily. I've moved a kW RCA box by myself.

[KB2WIG]

"I've moved a kW RCA box by myself."

Its all in knowing how and having a bit of time.


klc

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Nah. Two guys, some steel pipes and a lift gate truck could move either of those transmitters easily. I've moved a kW RCA box by myself.

Pipes are overrated.   Actually, for the transmitters in that station they'd pretty much be mandatory until you got the things out of the wall, at least. Those Egyptians knew what they were doing with their levers and fulcrums. It works.

Most times before loading they get the iron & tubes yanked at the very least and laid down for transport. While the cabinets are horizontal is the perfect time to add heavy duty casters. I was against this at first with my 300G but Tom/W2ILA (the 300G guru) talked me into it and I'm glad I listened. Once we stood it back up in the VT house and I got the sides and iron reinstalled, I could (and did) roll it from room to room by myself easily, even at 1380 lbs or whatever. If you think back to when we went to Sorryexcuse to pick up the 21E from Gary, it loaded upright easily thanks to casters and a lift gate.

When I moved south in 2008 the 300G got moved intact, with the help of a bucket loader at the storage facility. Wish I'd gotten photos. Down here I was able to easily roll it from one garage across the stone driveway to the other, with only the aid of some plywood to get over the rocks. Though in all honesty, we did use pipes when we picked it up out west.

Todd
Your picture is probably the only way (very labor intensive) to breakdown the RA 1000 or even RA 250 to something reasonable, without involving special handling or hiring a locksmith to move the assembled TX.
I really thought it was a cabinet within a cabinet.

http://michaelskeyslocksmith.com/we-move-all-sizes-of-safes/

I shipped the RA250 to Derb (SK) using a local locksmith. Arrived happily in one piece at his garage door. Nothing hurt or bent.
Bending or breaking anything on that Raytheon would take Superman to damage. Geesh!! overkill!!

Yup, they were easily the Rolls Royce of broadcast gear. Even better IMO than the Collins stuff, which is built awfully well. You're right - the design is pretty much a cabinet-in-a-cabinet, with the inside walls being used to hang all the components and sub assemblies. The thick outer cabinet provides the structure, appearance, and a place for a gazillion meters. Pretty sure Steve tore one of these down years ago, too. In my case, that was the only way it was leaving WGAI as I'd brought no demo equipment or a lift gate truck, just my dad's Harley trailer and the same Ford Ranger we went to Colorado and got the 300G with from Barry.

Though it looks tempting, big iron is not for the weak of heart, back, or mind. And it always looks smaller at the station than it does when you get it home, unless it's a multi-cabinet transmitter. Then it always looks huge.  

[W1DAN]

Sad to see.

I remember when some of this gear was new and hot.

Dan