[BC] And Portland, too: 50kw KPNW 1120 Off The Air - FIRE!

[towers at mre.com]

Clogged filters, etc. I suspect there is more to the story the PD isn't
mentioning. There might not be any AC at the TX site at all.  Portland is
pretty temperate. Depending on the make/model of the main, it's entirely
possible the site is NOT air conditioned and the main is a cast away MW50
or a 317. A ventilation blower could have failed.

The bottom line is this station (I say station...not engineer) FAILED
their listeners by not providing the resources needed to remain on the air
and are blaming the equipment when it should be short sighted managers
accepting the blame for what is likely a poor/badly designed system the
engineer was forced into building.

I also find the part about the engineer working non-stop for 48 hours
discouraging.  Why did't the engineer call in some assistance on such a
major breakdown?  Was he not allowed to seek help?  This reeks of cutting
off one's nose to save their face.

I find the RCA "transformer catching fire" statement highly suspicious.
Transformers don't simply burn up/overheat. Something else is going on
which precipitated the catastrophic loss of two TX's.

Again, when all the off-air issues are settled, this will likely indicate
a station management created/induced problem.  Not one generated by the
engineer who might have been effectively barred from doing good
maintenance practices by management dictate to cut costs at all levels.

MM

> Milton R. Holladay Jr. wrote:
>> Sooo, what kind of xmtr do they have ?   Odd that they didb't
>> say..................
>
> The press release was from a PD. What did you expect? He did mention it
> was too HOT for the equipment from that one could speculate that the
> underling cause may have been a cooling failure.
>
> Did I mention it's time to wash those condenser coils? (actually it was
> that time a few months ago here)
>
> Alan Alsobrook CSRE AMD CBNT
> St. Augustine Fl. 32086 904-829-8885
> aalso at Bellsouth.net
>