[BC] RE: Sat dishes vs snow

[SHAFFER, RANDY L]

Allen wrote -

>There are forced air de-icing systems available as well as clamped on
>electric element systems for just about any dish.  Other than money
>concerns why would a 24/7 organization not install one of these systems,
>especially on larger dishes (2.4m and up)?  I ask this not as a
>sarcastic comment but as a real question to help me better understand
>the operational side.  We install a few uplinks every year and we always
>install de-icing but these are generally big-budget ops.

Your answer is in the last line. 

With the original WLYH dishes, cost was the reason. We had people that could clean the dishes and the thought was that the OT would be less than the heater system over the expected life of the dishes. Of course we are way past that with the original dishes nearly 25 years old. So, in hind sight it probably would have been better to have bought the heaters. WHP bought the heaters with their system and that is what is still in use. Neither station has installed heaters on dishes bought after 1984.

I'm sure if we were off the air due to icing, then money would be found. But, I can understand why the powers that be wouldn't want to put money into a system that *may* be used only 3 months out of the year, esp. when capital money is tight and you have an endless list of other needed items. 

Randy Shaffer
WLYH-TV/WHP-TV
Clear Channel Television 
Harrisburg, PA 17110