Channel 42 on Mt. Diablo, CA (was: Re: [BC] P.O.ed...)

[Alan Kline]

Well, after reading Jack's comments about this site, I dragged out and scanned some of
my photos taken there.  These were in 1987 or 1988, IIRC, when the site was still owned
by the original owner, the infamous KFCB-TV and I was a humble MCR op accompanying
the TX engineer to the site... The site was 4 or 5 years old then--I can only imagine
what another 17 or 18 years of exposure to that climate has done to it.

http://www.snugglebunny.us/KFCB-TX1.jpg is the "building", such as it is.  You can 
easily see the tiny size and the sliding door.

http://www.snugglebunny.us/KFCB-TX2.jpg is a closeup of the rig and doors.

http://www.snugglebunny.us/KFCB-TX3.jpg looks more or less northwest from the site toward
the town of Clayton (near the camera) and the city of Concord and Suisun Bay, beyond. The
studios were just south of the bay, near the main gate of Concord Naval Weapons Station.

http://www.snugglebunny.us/KFCB-TX4.jpg is looking pretty much due north, toward the cities
of Pittsburg and Antioch. I think I was trying to find my apartment in Pittsburg, without
success.

http://www.snugglebunny.us/KFCB-TX5.jpg looks down from the site at Marsh Creek Road, the
approach to the private road leading to the site.  If that looks like a sheer drop off from
the rocks in the foreground--it is!

I never really saw the inside of the TX building--as Jack says, it takes a skinny person to
get in there.  I didn't qualify then, and I sure wouldn't now! I don't know who built the 
site, but I do know that the entire station was an RCA turn-key operation, so they may have
arranged the installation.

The generator Jack mentions was, AFAIK, installed at the time of the original build--however,
it wasn't *connected to anything* until 2 or 3 years after the station went on the air--about
1986, I think--when a car rammed and broke a PG&E pole down on Marsh Creek Road, and we were
down, without power, for most of a Sunday morning and afternoon.  Best shift I ever spent on
MCR there--I could watch the Cubs on satellite without interruptions...  Needless to say,
the genny was finally connected within a day or two...

Jack--who was the owner when you were helping out there?  IIRC, the station has changed hands
at least twice since Ronn Haus mis-managed the place.  All of his chiefs had the patience of
saints--they had to, working for him.  (I think there were 4 chiefs in my 5 years there, not
counting the 6 months or so when Ronn tried to save money by declaring himself to be CE. Just
imagine Jimmy Swaggart as an engineer, and you get the idea...) I worked out my frustration by 
going to my other job, driving for the local transit authority, and running over traffic cones 
with buses...

ak

------ At 11:22 AM 1/25/2006 -0600, The Most Honourable Davis, Jack L. (KTXL) wrote: -------
>
>At one time channel 42 was owned by the same guy I worked for in Sacramento
>and we used to go over there and help them out. That transmitter was one of
>the ugliest installations I ever saw.  Imagine building an RCA 2 Klystron 55
>KW transmitter in a lawn shed!  There was a sliding door on the shed that
>covered the front of the transmitter.  When you stood in front of it you
>were actually outside.  We pulled one of the klystrons one time and it
>started to rain and the entire klystron and the magnet assembly got soaked.
>Imagine working on 23 KV DC outside in the rain! ...