[BC] Need STL

[Mike McCarthy]

Took out both amp's in a  J1000.  That's a hit.

Scott, when you get the ball gap repaired, I suggest you solder a piece of 
strap to the shaft of the ball gap to the main ground and then check the 
ground system as well.  In most cases where I've head of major damage, it 
was the result of the threads having corroded and/or the ground rod joints 
becoming resistive over time and no where for the energy to go other than 
into the ATU.

None of my AM sites relies on the threads to carry the energy.  And to 
date, none has experienced more than a blip when the tower is hit.

Before assuming the path is good, do a path study.  Even for 2 miles and 
known line of sight....trust me there....

I don't know who Windstream is, but in most states, there are tariffs for 
program loops with specified response time to repair down circuits which go 
back to the 30's.  It is possible they violated the tariff in your state by 
not responding until the next business day.  At which point, you do have a 
valid complaint to the state's utility commission.

Their response is more typical of them wanting to get rid of the circuit.

That said, order a 1000 series copper only alarm loop and then EQ a back-up 
circuit yourself for $30-50/mo.

MM

At 04:24 PM 3/5/2007 -0500, Scott Cason wrote
>Reliability!  The station took a direct lightning hit Thursday.  Blew
>one of the balls off of the ball gap at the base of the tower!  Took out
>the fuse in the processor and took out the amplifiers in the Nautel
>J1000 transmitter.  We didn't know it took out the phone loop amp until
>after I got the transmitter back up and going and there was no audio.
>Called Windstream's repair center and they said they didn't make it a
>"policy" to send out repair crews for things like this on the weekends.
>Needless to say, as soon as I can find a good, reliable STL pair,
>Windstream will NOT be getting the $250 a month we pay for this loop
>anymore.  The studio and transmitter are two miles apart.  I can put a
>wet noodle out the window and get a link.  It's a ND station.  Little
>class C on 1450 kc.
>
>Before I left, we plugged a CD player into the processor.  The Man in
>Black never sounded so good.  That's got me wondering about the
>"quality" of the loop we have, also.
>
>I'm still stunned over the response of the phone company about this.  I
>have several other stories about this particular Windstream office if
>anyone's interested.
>
>
>
>
>
> >>Why do you need to get off the loop?  Cost?  Reliability?
>
>If the loop is local (same CO end to end), it can't be more than
>$200/mo.  That's a LOT of months to pay for a complete STL system.  And
>many many more if the station is an AM DA and you need to mount the RX
>dish
>on one of the active towers..read..partial proof.
>
>Scott Cason
>LaGrange Communications
>www.lagrange-com.com
>(877)265-9773
>(502)213-0024
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales
>Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More!
>www.SystemsStore.com      Tel: 407-656-3719    Sales at SystemsStore.com