[BC] Is this the usual way a tower should be ?

[Mike McCarthy]

First thought... This site is old...and dilapidated.  Early 60's would be 
my guess and I would offer the site is only in marginal operational 
neglect. (As opposed to actual condition of the capital equipment which is 
extremely bad/potentially dangerous.)

Someone has been minding the store there as the weeds/growth inside the 
fence is controlled and the fence is in actually very good condition. It 
just needs a lock/chain.  I have seen MUCH MUCH worse. Grass around the 
fence appears to be controlled every so often and trimmed along the 
fence.  Again, not the worst I have seen...but it could be better.

Towers only need painting for corrosion control or if the FAA requires such 
for obstruction marking.  If the tower is below 200 ft. tall and some 
distance from an air field, the only other requirement for painting is rust 
prevention.  It's clear to me this tower is below 200 ft. just by the face 
size of the tower...12" and there are no signs of tower lights.  A waivered 
operation when the FAA raised the minimums to 200 ft.. A check of the 
license would confirm this conclusion.

I would agree the tower should be a bit higher off the ground than it 
is.  It's entirely possible the tower pier has sunk into the ground due to 
inadequate foundation support.  Not that uncommon with Wind Charger type 
tower installations in rural areas where the concept of pad/pier and soil 
analysis was met with a blank stare even in more refined urban areas. And 
especially so in the 50's/early 60's when this site appears to have been 
built.

I suspect the line is a repair/replacement of the original and the owner 
didn't want to dig into the ground system.  What was a temporary fix ended 
up being a permanent "repair".

Bottom line...the site simply needs some TLC short term. Except for the 
fact the entire system is probably well over 40 years old and in dire need 
of replacement/updating, it's not THAT bad.. Don't get me wrong, there is a 
lot bad with this site. It could be MUCH worse.  However, taking this in 
context, the site appears capable of being made legal from a FCC stand 
point rather quickly.

MM



At 04:17 PM 2/12/2007 -0700, Jim Tonne wrote

>Gents:
>
>I thought radio station gates were supposed to be
>closed and locked.  Are stretches of coax above
>ground the usual?  Isn't it customary to have the
>tower base above ground?  How often should a
>tower be painted?  I took some photos of a three-tower station in Oak 
>Ridge a couple of
>days ago and left shaking my head.  Posted at:
>http://tonnesoftware.com/radio/
>I thumbnailed them down to 500x375 pixels but
>they are still in the 50 kB size so dialup folks please beware.
>
>- JimT
>
>
>
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