Have you seen my radio tower?

[W1RKW]

Thieves swipe 200 foot radio tower.  I thought I've seen it all. 
https://nypost.com/2024/02/07/news/radio-station-baffled-after-200-foot-radio-tower-disappears/

[WA2SQQ]

I saw this on the news this morning.

[AJ1G]

I just heard about this, not surprised it’s already been posted here.  I predict they will found along with some missing Deerfield Fairgronds pole pigs😁

Bob good to see a post from
You.still working? Can’t believe I’m closing in on 5 years retired this year.

[W1RKW]

Hi Chris,
Still kicking. hope all is well with you and yours.  Yes, still working. Over in New London now and I don't really like it. I miss the hustle and bustle across the river but I'll put up with it for a short while. I'm retiring in 8 months and looking forward to it.

[K8DI]

I think there’s more to this.

The AM in question has an FM translator, which they immediately asked the FCC if they could continue simulcasting on and were denied.  My bet is the AM was ignored, possibly (illegally) dark, and they ran the translator as if it was their only station….  There’s no way some thieves came there, emptied the building, cut down and then cut up the tower, overnight, with no one noticing.  It would take a large crew, involve portable lighting and flatbed semis, plasma cutters on noisy generators, a crane.  It fell, they left it, someone stole the scrap seems more plausible.

But now that it’s reported, the station is stuck with replacing it…and I’m kinda glad.  Ignored AM signals in favour of FM translators plague the industry and contribute to AM’s demise…even though we’re hams, there’s a bit of a kinship, and more than a few of us worked in broadcast or use broadcast equipment or parts.

Ever and always the cynic,
Ed

[N1BCG]

I think there’s more to this.

The AM in question has an FM translator, which they immediately asked the FCC if they could continue simulcasting on and were denied.

The F.C.C. would have denied their request since FM translators cannot operate when their AM station program source is off the air. However, it's not hard to file for a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to cover an emergency AM transmission system. I've done this. Even a Part 15 transmitter into a longwire would count initially. Interestingly, the commission doesn't like antennas supported by trees, even for an STA. Go figure.

The F.C.C. wants to have service to a licensed community continue, so I agree that there must be more to this story.

A similar tower disappearance occurred with WGCH here in Greenwich. We had already signed off from that site and the tower ownership was in dispute. Then one morning while stopped at a nearby intersection I was surprised to not be able to see the top of our tower over the trees.

Taking a detour to the transmitter site showed that the 150' steel lattice tower had been removed (without our knowledge or town permit) leaving only the cement base pedestals.

Reporting this discovery to the station owner was truly one of the strangest phone calls I have ever made.

[W1RKW]

Ed, you maybe  onto something.  Googling the location of that antenna shows it in somewhat of a remote/isolated area but interestingly to the north of that site is another tower that is untouched and somewhat isolated too.

[W3SLK]

As my friend Sai, N3KFI would say, "If you think your have seen it all today, wait until tomorrow!"

[KB2WIG]

Mo info.......   "They" took it all.


https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/wjlx-looks-to-rebuild-after-having-its-radio-tower-stolen


KLC

[KA3EKH]

Where having a criminal background or other forms of larceny may be a negative in most places in broadcast management its regarded as a plus.  There are some good broadcasters out there but there are a lot more crooks and con-men. A number of these hacks have gotten back into the AM world because the FCC will now allow you to file for a FM translator for your AM station.
Would not put it past those people to think that they can sell all the old AM stuff for scrap, tell the FCC someone stole it and save what ever they were paying for electric and rent on the land where the transmitter was located along with keeping the translators up and running. Years ago, they eliminated the requirements for translator to be feed off air and everyone now uses internet and codecs for feeding the translators because the audio is way better and in stereo.

[KD6VXI]

The clown has a GoFundMe going.

Has a listener base of zero yet yes raised iirc nearly 10k last I checked.  Just checked, it's over ten grand now.

You just can't make up the gullibikity of people to send their hard earned money away.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI

[W3SLK]

KD6VXI said:

The clown has a GoFundMe going.

Has a listener base of zero yet yes raised iirc nearly 10k last I checked.  Just checked, it's over ten grand now.

You just can't make up the gullibikity of people to send their hard earned money away.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI

A phool and their money are soon pharted!

[KA3EKH]

The story continues:

https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/skeptics-question-disappearance-of-alabama-radio-tower

Going to try to keep an open mind and think maybe because they did not monitor the station someone scraped all there junk some time ago and this is there latest story on why the FCC should allow them to keep there FM operation on the air but all my experience tells me different, in maybe thirty years of working in and around radio have known maybe a hand full of good people but have to think almost every other person that I have had dealt  with in small market radio was a con man, hack or crook.
Also note that they did not monitor there AM station, did not take readings or know if it was on the air or not, cant help but think this guy is a hack.
last ten or fifteen years in radio only worked for larger broadcasters where the checks dont bounce, TV somehow appears a bit better at least for now but lets see how that plays out. As thees technologies tend to become less and less relevant  it somehow happens that the low life comes in to try to make that last buck.

[W1RKW]

here's a recent youtube video of the transmitter/tower site. the site was abandoned years ago. I think someone will be going to jail and it won't be tower thieves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqIysr3o_vY

[W3SLK]

Sounds like a case of Karma in the making!

[KA3EKH]

He has raised almost twenty thousand so far on the Go Fund Me page, think I have to make up some bogus cause and start a go fund me account!