[BC] RE: Channel 42 on Mt. Diablo, CA

[Davis, Jack L. KTXL]

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:57:40 -0600
From: Alan Kline <akline at netins.net>
Subject: Channel 42 on Mt. Diablo, CA (was: Re: [BC] P.O.ed...)
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20060125235740.015582a0 at pop3.netins.net>
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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

I worked at KMAX-TV in Sacramento, and for several years Pappas Broadcasting
owned the station.  They still own channel 42 and have converted it to a
TV-Azteca affiliate for the Bay Area.  The Chief Engineer was Norm Wright;
he was really a great guy and always had a positive attitude.  He worked for
the station when Ron Haus owned it and came with the station when Pappas
purchased it.  He still works for Pappas but is now a regional guy out of
Visalia. 
The studio location was a HUGE building; actually it was 2 buildings in an
industrial park.  The actual stage area was across the parking lot from
master control.  This transmitter was on the North peak of Mt. Diablo and
was completely unimproved.  KOVR and the other stations are on the South
peak and that is a very accessible location.  There is a paved road and a
county park there.  This is where the American Tower site is and they have
lots of tenants.  The main tower went down in a storm a few years ago and
they have now cleaned it up and put new buildings around the new tower.  The
North Peak had 2 TV stations, 42 and 64 plus a few microwave repeaters that
belonged to Union 76 and Kaiser Hospitals.  Channel 64 is now owned by
Univision and is programmed out of the Sacramento studio.  Both 64 and 42
have located their DTV transmitters on the South peak so after the cut off
date there will not be any TV on the North side anymore.  
The two peaks are only 1.2 miles apart but it takes almost an hour and 15
minutes to drive it depending on traffic.  If you were in pretty good shape
I guess you could walk it but with the vertical component it would be a
pretty good workout especially for an old fat guy like me!
Several years ago the power failed up on the North peak and overnight it got
so cold the heat exchanger and the 2 klystrons froze.  It ruined both
klystrons and all 3 cores in the heat exchanger.  They were off the air for
a long time before they got everything going again.  The weather was so
different up there and very changeable.  One day we were up there and we
were above the fog and it was so warm we had to ditch our jackets, about
noon the cloud level raised and it got cold, by 2 PM it was raining and
about 4 PM it started to snow.  The snow never accumulated to any extent but
it sure could change!
The guy wires for the tower were actually anchored in the rock on the side
of the mountain.  They used a rock drill and one guy wire is three or four
times as long because it goes over the edge and is drilled almost
horizontally into the rock.  I have no idea how they got a drill down there
to do that!  They must have hung over the side on a scaffold to get at it.
The actual size of the top is very small and most sites are actually cut
into the sides and a down a bit from the actual peak.
The site was owned by a colorful guy named Knox LaRue and his son Robert
used to try and keep things up but the huggers really had a grip on it.  One
time Robert spent a couple of days up there with 90 pound bags of Portland
cement and a hoe.  He would mix the dry cement into the dust on the road and
when it rained it caused the dust to become a fairly decent surface to drive
on but unfortunately it did not last.  The traffic just caused it to
crumble.
The pictures pretty well show how the front of the transmitter was almost
outside.  If you wanted to access the visual cabinet you slid the doors to
the right and if you wanted the aural transmitter you slid them to the left.

One time I was working up in the ceiling on the diplexer and a rat about the
size of a Jack Russell Terrier strolled down the 6 1/8 inch transmission
line.  He looked at me as he passed and showed absolutely no sign of any
fear.  There was no place for me to go so I was glad that he went buy and
kept on trucking!
There are a couple of abandoned shelters up there that are pretty well
rotted away and most of the radio and all of the microwave users are gone.
I would suspect that after the TV analog shut down that site will cease to
exist.  I must say working up there generated a lot of material for bragging
rights but I don't think I want to do it again!  Given a choice I would most
likely go to an all night root canal place than have to go up there in the
rain!

Jack
K6YC