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Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

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Deleted User 14896

Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by Deleted User 14896 » Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:12 pm

This article is mainly about lightning protection. Starts out talking about a lightning strike at Crawford Broadcasting here in Detroit. Just figured some may find it interesting.

https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and- ... 6567CA9E2A



k8jd
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by k8jd » Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:22 pm

A very good article about a local vintage FM facility !



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WOHO
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by WOHO » Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:24 am

What tower is Cris talking about? I found it amazing that they rebuilt that old FM transmitter after it took a hit like that?



Deleted User 15506

Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by Deleted User 15506 » Thu Mar 04, 2021 9:50 pm

I wasn’t aware of a lightning strike at WMUZ. I bet it was an act of God.



k8jd
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by k8jd » Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:21 pm

WOHO wrote:
Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:24 am
What tower is Cris talking about? I found it amazing that they rebuilt that old FM transmitter after it took a hit like that?
There are three towers on that site now, originally was a 300 ft , then they went to a 500 ft right next to it and then a shorter one for a UHF LPTV antenna., It's on the west side of Detroit near Evergreen and Jefferies freeway.

When I worked at a AM/FM in the suburbs of Chicago , on the all night shift, our AM Xmtr BLEW UP and went off-air. I got the spare up and running and switched over in about 10 minutes. (not automatic) Was quite an experience but not a lightning hit. the old Gates 1 KW used TV sweep tubes as a modulation predriver, the tubes were mounted horizontally and it was common for the grids to sag and short out eventually. The replacement subassembly used 807 tubes (oldies but reliable) and the chief had one on hand.
We fixed it up he next night with the spare on air.
Chief engr was proud of the new kid getting back on-air



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SolarMax
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by SolarMax » Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:57 pm

k8jd wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:21 pm
There are three towers on that site now, originally was a 300 ft , then they went to a 500 ft right next to it and then a shorter one for a UHF LPTV antenna., It's on the west side of Detroit near Evergreen and Jefferies freeway.
I rarely see any reference to this site, "Radio Place," just off Capitol Ave. Its history goes back to the 1940s, where (so I was told) the first tower on the site was for WDET-FM, a startup owned by the United Auto Workers union. WMUZ either located to that tower or one of the other two sticks. The LPTV may be WHPS (ch 15. Don't know who's on the third tower, could be cellular or LMR. Corrections and updates would be appreciated.



k8jd
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by k8jd » Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:57 am

:roll: Been a few decades since my last visit there, they told me it would cost too much to take down the original 300 ft tower so it just sits there.
When they got relicensed to 500 ft they had to reduce ERP from 115 kW to 50 kW, (probably fewer bays of antenna elements) maybe the same coverage of Square miles ?
There are pros and cons, height Vs ERP.
Back when I was a kid, I made up some graphs with different heights and ERPs to see what differences were there. I think the low ant and higher ERP fades on a slower curve toward the horizon ?? Been a while :shock:



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TC Talks
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by TC Talks » Sun Mar 07, 2021 10:47 am

I was running overnight at wwpz in Petoskey back in the 1980s. At that time the tower was right next to the farmhouse we operated out of.

The tower had a large lightning arrestor ball at the bottom however it had been damaged in a previous strike and never replaced.

We would get big storms in August (still do). When the lightning struck I was in the bathroom surrounded by porcelain. The transmitter room smelled like smoldering. The strike blew out light bulbs although I don't know if that's from bolt or the noise. The am board was fried and I can't tell you everything else as I was just a meager reel to reel swapper at the time.

It wasn't a very important station and since Dell Reynolds was our engineer, he had plenty of other sites to keep him busy while we waited on parts. I think it took over a month to get back on the air.


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WOHO
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Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by WOHO » Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:07 am

TC Talks wrote: "...The tower had a large lightning arrestor ball at the bottom however it had been damaged in a previous strike and never replaced...."
Nothing worse than damaged Johnny Balls! (or your modulation runs so hot that peaks jump across the mis-adjusted johnny balls on a humid day)



Deleted User 15506

Re: Crawford Broadcasting Lightning Strike

Post by Deleted User 15506 » Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:29 am

WOHO wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:07 am
TC Talks wrote: "...The tower had a large lightning arrestor ball at the bottom however it had been damaged in a previous strike and never replaced...."
Nothing worse than damaged Johnny Balls! (or your modulation runs so hot that peaks jump across the mis-adjusted johnny balls on a humid day)
:rollin :rollin :rollin



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