Broadcast Transmitter Site Visit

Drop in and see a big market AM/FM broadcast transmitter site. Full tour with Dan W7IVK (my cousin) who is a broadcast engineer here. A very informative tour including the tower sites. You will get a greater appreciation for the next time you tune in your car radio dial to your favorite station. I would like to thank Dan again for taking time to show me around his workplace and for the depth of knowledge he conveyed during.
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[@nassautrafficreportnewsser8469]

two things stood out immediately! how informative Dan is and how young he is, it was delightful to see both, I learned a lot really appreciated this tour.

[@philhoultby]

The most informative facility walk around I've seen. Thanks to Dan - he knows his stuff!

[@decibel_tastic2869]

Great stuff. Maybe Amazon are powering their lighting from coupled RF ? Love the vibrating ATU cabinet demoding the AM.

[@johnrieley1404]

Great commentary by the engineer. Thanks.

[@jumper123910]

What a fantastic video and youtube channel. I have already passed this onto another 3 people and plenty more to come. Dan is so proud, enthusiastic and knowledgeable of his site, This was a delight to watch. It won't be long before your subscriber count starts to skyrocket.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Why thank you. Just having fun with it not looking to make a buck thats for sure.

[@jimfischer4703]

Thank you so much! I think I’ve been waiting 30 years to see you this kind of look around.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Hope you enjoyed it!

[@georgenewman9025]

Great video! Thanks. I’ve been an RF engineer for 22 years now, and I learn something new every day. It’s the best job ever! I hate to see the art of tuning AM-DAs dying out as so many stations fall into disrepair, and eventual darkness as the revenue just isn’t there anymore. Most folks don’t realize that AM radio is Soooo much more involved than FM. Dan is keeping his stations in tip-top shape! Problem nowadays is finding someone young like him to be interested in a career in radio.

[@crankyoldcoot7212]

Thanks for the excellent tour and explanations of the equipment Dan. And thank you John for this excellent production. Cheers from Australia

[@mistermac56]

Thanks for posting the video. Excellent tour and Dan did a wonderful job. Great to see someone from the younger generation interested in the broadcast engineering field.

[@alcampbell]

Nothing perks me up like a transmitter site tour. Good job. KD6CFE was here.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

I like it but I would rather be on air personality. That is my wheelhouse.

[@bluhammer06]

Great stuff guys. I retired in 2019 after over 35 years as a communications engineer. We had 6 of our own radio sites and leased site space for over 30 sites nationwide. We had our own regional paging and two way radio networks plus a TV station in Miami Florida. Great career, many stories, and experiences. We even lost some systems on the World Trade Center on 911.

[@rexoliver7780]

Great to see a young person pursuing being a broadcast radioman! I am approaching retirement age-working at a govt short wave transmitter plant. Used to work commercial AM&FM. Also commercial analog VHF TV. Some of the apparatus shown here I have used. The 10kw AM I used to work at was tubed. Then the station went to 50kw. Used a Continental Electronics 317 tube transmitter. Now they have SS 50kw Harris transmitter-same model series as shown. The SW transmitters I run now are 100,250,and 500kw. A joke here is-50kw-that’s just a driver for the 250Kw transmitter power am stages.

[@Kinann]

Used for jamming or BC? In the 70's our boy scout troop camped at an old army ammunition plant, being a kid, I brought an AM/FM radio. When I turned on the FM, it was buzz saw jamming 88 - 108 across the entire band! 10.7 MHz FM IF is smack on the middle of the SW band! Didn't know at the time I was smack in the middle of a hidden jamming station. When a friend had a SW radio, I remember jamming being INCREDIBLY strong all over the SW band but never understood until much later what was going on. Years later got to tour the Bethany, OH VOA site before it was turned into a cornfield.

[@rexoliver7780]

@@Kinann I have heard jamming attempts on the broadcasts we do from the Greenville transmitter site-broadcasts to Cuba. The site runs many broadcasts at once to make jamming more difficult. So some of the program does get thru. The jammers run noises or broadcasts of their own in the same frequencies as the Marti broadcasts run from the Greenville NC plant.

[@Kinann]

@@rexoliver7780 If only you knew the tuning range of their jammers you could broadcast outside of them to cause them to take a financial hit to keep up. Of course there's regulations on our end..

[@rexoliver7780]

@@Kinann operating a jammer transmitter is expensive and not really effective. Most of the broadcasts still get thru to the target areas. It’s better ti use the jammer transmitter to broadcast counter material. That’s what some of the “jamming” broadcasts do.

[@Kinann]

@@rexoliver7780 If you're far enough away you can use high gain antenna to direct much more power to the target area instead of omni antennas making much more cost effective. I question your judgement. Plus the cost of jamming doesn't change when there's counter material being broadcast instead of buzzsaw so you contradicted yourself.

[@VK3CSJ]

Excellent Video thank you guys, it was good the camera was able to pickup the speech so well in that noisy environment. Love seeing the broadcast side of a Commerical Stations...many thanks. Clint - VK3CSJ Melbourne

[@stevemumbling7720]

What I think is really amazing is someone that understands all this AM broadcasting equipment that doesn't have any grey hair. Thanks guys, great job.

[@AM-pl2pt]

Way cool tour. I recalled taking FCC exams back in mid 70’s. Got 1st Class and radar endorsement. That license opened doors for me. Ended up in IT communications No RF though.

[@jeromewhelan6723]

Yep - similar for me. I got my 1st done + Radar in 1970, but ended up working as an engineer in the hertz down to millihertz range: Only apply the RF knowledge in ham radio.

[@DanKuches]

This was an awesome video and tour. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot! Thank you for posting, and thank you, Dan, for showing us this magnificent RF site! I'm looking forward to more, maybe a visit at night for another perspective.

[@stevewebb7882]

Great video, very informative by Dan who clearly knows his stuff. I hope his boss appreciates and rewards him accordingly. I can relate to much of what Dan has shown us in the video because I have spent nearly fifty years, before retiring, working in radio and TV. The first twenty repairing and servicing TV and radio receivers and the final thirty years working on radio and TV transmission systems. I worked in our broadcast transmission service provider's central service facility, surrounded by test equipment repairing rf power amps, IPA's, exciters, power supplies, telemetry control and remote monitoring systems and much more. I went out to transmission sites as much as I could, providing a backup to the field engineers, so I can relate to much of what Dan describes in the video. I have no experience of IBOC or HD radio as he called it, but I did work on our DAB system here in the UK, so the constellation and the COFDM display on the Nautel looked familiar. Nice one thanks!🙂

[@rickmaudlin2160]

Great tour ! Thanks

[@cubinn149]

Cool transmitting station

[@dougtaylor7724]

Dan could open up an bed and breakfast in the transmitter shack. Hams would book it up for years. Put a sink and snack machine in the corner and they’re fine.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Lol funny stuff

[@npsfam]

This brings back a lot of memories as a young amateur radio op and broadcast transmitter op. I'am still in "RF" field but have transitioned up to 60GHz, radar sensors. Loved this video..... :)

[@PowderMill]

Thank you Guys! Great video… 73 from the Currently Occupied PRNJ. (People’s Republic of New Jersey)

[@robertheckman9813]

Terrific video!

[@enumrob]

Awesome information, great video. Damn you really know your shit and you don't really look all that old. Smart dude.

[@MrCarlsonsLab]

Enjoyable tour! Thanks for taking the time.

[@Radiotexas]

Very nice plant! Thank you. Pretty much state-of-the-art. Ive been doing this for longer than I care to remember. God was I ever as young as Dan?!?!?!

[@roncaruso931]

Amazing how the technology has advanced since the time of all analog broadcat transmitters.

[@markrhine5809]

This is an excellent video, very interesting, I am an electronics student and I always wanted to see inside one of these, Thank you kindly for sharing this video...

[@garysmith8455]

Nice, but someone needs to put some love into that room. Enjoyed the tower tour and seeing those Austin transformers, many don't know what those are, so it was good to have it explained. The spark gap is lovingly known as 'Johnny Balls' LOL

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

The site is sold and no more transmitters.

[@garysmith8455]

@@n9amiwavelengthradio Aaaw, sorry to hear this. Are the towers down too??

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

@Gary Smith They will be taken down for scrap. They were running some ham ops last weekend on them. But the site is shut down

[@garysmith8455]

@@n9amiwavelengthradio Ok, on the amateur radio event. The same thing happened locally some years ago on an historic AM station 'repeater' (WBZA). It is always sad when stations go down literally ! Thanks for the update. De-KC1JZR.

[@voiceofjeff]

Thanks, Dan for the tour. It's good to see younger engineers like you continuing the tradition of keeping AM alive. You seem to really be into engineering and I'm sure you enjoy it. You've got a nice facility there. Keep up the good work! I'm the former owner of two AM's and one FM in a smaller market. Same basic gear, just a little smaller scale! Be well!

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Thanks for watching!

[@MikeinSoCal]

This is a superb tour of the transmitter plant and antennas. Dan really knows his stuff and is very impressive! I hope his employer realizes the superior engineer they have. Old broadcast engineer here, working since the 1970's. Was chief engineer of an AM-FM station combo in the Southeast before switching to television engineering. I love the clever old school engineering that went into the antenna systems, especially the AM systems that were mostly conceived in the 1930's. For example, did you notice that the heavy copper lines that carry the RF power from the AM tuning units to the tower bases ( example shown at 17:24), all have a one turn loop in the line? The inductance of that single turn coil has little effect on the low frequency AM power but it presents a high impedance to lightning strikes. That's because the fast rise time of lightning acts like a very high frequency signal. This high impedance directs the lightning to the spark gap across the base insulator of the tower (shown at 19:55). The gap arcs over when lightning strikes or excessive static builds up on the tower, allowing lightning energy to be safely dissipated in the ground system. Without that one turn loop, lightning may get back into the tuning units and the transmitters, causing serious damage. But when the spark gap arcs over, it temporarily shorts the tower to ground, shorting out the transmitter power. Transmitter power will keep the arc alive and it will keep arcing until the transmitter is turned off. The AM transmitter I maintained had a circuit that powered a relay through a DC voltage on the transmitter output cable that ran all the way out to the base of the tower. When the spark gap arced over, the relay coil circuit was completed. The relay contacts then shut off the transmitter final amplifier, killing the output. This caused momentary interruptions in the transmission, but it allowed the air around the spark gap to deionize and quench the arc. When the gap stopped arcing, the relay opened and normal transmission was restored. As thunderstorms were frequent at that location, in the transmitter building, I could hear this relay chattering as storms approached, then hear the momentary dropouts as the storms drew closer until our tower finally was struck. Our tower was struck by lightning many times with no damage to the FM and AM transmitters and antennas. I consider that a tribute to the early engineers whose designs truly stood the test of time.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Thats some interesting info thanks for that Mike.

[@jordanclarke2996]

Thank you to you and Dan. Great video 73

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Thank you for supporting the channel.

[@nakayle]

I miss seeing the big glowing tubes guys. 🤔 Bring back the big tubes and mercury vapor rectifiers. 😊

[@miscbits6399]

those were the last things I worked on in power RF (ZLB). All long gone now

[@nakayle]

Mercury vapor rectifiers were so cool how their blue glow would pulsate in step with the modulation like Disco lights.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Pass on those mercury bombs.

[@nakayle]

@@n9amiwavelengthradio I've never heard of one exploding! They can arc-back if they are old or haven't been given enough warm-up time- but the mercury stays in the tube just as it does in fluorescent light bulbs.

[@ryanpaaz]

This is so cool. The Wikipedia for the station says the AM channel is silent and the station sold the land to build more warehouses for like 30 million. It's a shame the AM stations are getting more and more rare, by far the coolest of all the broadcast modes.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yup, the Fcc is not a proponent of AM. New cars are coming out without AM on them also. I disagree with it.

[@sriramulu.mayiladuthurai]

Thank you very much sir good videos ❤

[@ZAR797]

Thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it. 73 from South Africa ZS land

[@johnsampson1096]

Great tour! I loved seeing the 9200 Optimods. Set up properly with pre processing, they sound quite nice......

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

No doubt. I need something like that for my bauer.

[@rickmartin6817]

Nice tour. I engineer for some stations in VA and NC, including a 100KW FM in VA. Your toys are cooler than mine.

[@ashishjaiswalazm]

Great video..video is informative.

[@davidxbeats]

Great video. Thanks!

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Glad you liked it!

[@MUN.A1988]

Wavelength thank you for this tour.. We want you to give us like this tour from an Airport ..toknow how thw planes communicate with the ATC and what are the aids for approaching the airport and the aids for landing on the R/W by using VHF and UHF transmitters.

[@laserfloyd]

Fascinating stuff. What a cool job! Unless it's summertime and the AC goes out. 😅

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Fingers crossed!

[@Rocketman88002]

Very well explained. I wondered how the antenna fields were controlled during night time broadcasting. I wonder if the AM short wave antenna fields are directed the same way.

[@technoroom5]

Great tour. Nice explanations of everything and good camera work too! Thanks for moving the camera up and down the racks so we could see everything. I share another commenter's concern about when you guys were inside the locked fence standing within inches of that tower! Was it just the FM antennae at the top that were live at that point, so the rest of the tower was not energized at that time? Seemed like you'd get cooked from the inside out otherwise!

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@antimaga856]

At 18:48 he comments they were on daytime power, so I assume this particular antenna is not used for either AM station (720 or 840) during daytime? He says "watch your fingers", so I'm guess RF from the adjacent, high power daytime antenna might cause a shock on something not grounded. I'm speculating, though. Loved the video.

[@EstorilEm]

Sounds like you’re next to an Air Force base or something, pretty cool! 😎

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yes Nellis Air Force Base

[@EstorilEm]

@@n9amiwavelengthradio haha knew it, those aren’t your usual jet engines

[@markw9285]

A bit nervous watching this when you were standing next to the live antenna tower! Talk about 'RF burns'! If you would have miss stepped and come into contact with it wouldn't you just literally 'blow up'!!?

[@dr.zarkhov9753]

Thanks for sharing this in depth look at the station guys. It's given a renewed sense of awe at what the user end seems so simple a thing but in reality is the tip of the iceberg!. First thing that comes to mind inside that tower cage is it needs an AvE "DANGER Not to be operated by fuckwits" sticker. Hahahaha!

[@JamesHalfHorse]

Don't feel bad the back of the racks at all my transmitter sites look the same.

[@Bill_N_ATX]

They all look pretty on day 1. Come back a few years and a couple of engineers later and they all look very similar. Although I do remember in one facility where everything was very neat and organized except for this one cat 5 cable from one rack to another across the room. It was properly toe tagged. The tag read, “Temporary tie line between Switch 1 and Switch 4.” It was dated six years earlier. So even the best of us fall victim from time to time.

[@coreybabcock2023]

That's crazy 20 amps at a few hundred volts coupled directly to the tower base 6,000 watt tower ?

[@MrTherende]

reminds me of the USCG LORAN-A stations that transmitted just above the AM band

[@secretlab2205]

Great site, and a sharp engineer. The tour is a very appreciated bit of history because the 2 AM stations at the site, KXST and KDWN, are now silent, perhaps never to return. I'm unsure of the status of the site itself. Did Audacy sell the ground underneath because the real estate became more valuable than the stations?

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yes correct

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yes correct

[@drakbar5957]

Audacy needs money, and the land value made these two AMs expendable. Eventually the FCC will hold an auction for the frequencies. But don’t look for a new owner to go directional with high power. Equipment and land are too expensive for AM radio.

[@the-am]

07:20 Please don't touch them! 😂

[@Brainy_Bytes]

Nice video appreciate the technical aspect with an IT flare.. I highly recommend to blur out your ip addresses that are labeled in the video fyi ;)

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Thanks for the tip!

[@UnitSe7en]

I might know why the current meter is pegged at 0 - It's blown. It's likely suffered an overvoltage/overcurrent situation from a nearby electrical strike. That's the last meter on the output, isn't it?

[@1949ala]

Very nice presentation....thanks for doing it...k6HHW

[@metalbill]

I’m a ham radio operator here in Las Vegas. K1ZCR and would love to tour a radio transmitter site someday.

[@cubinn149]

The ham guys are hamin it up

[@robincross4625]

As a retired Broadcast Engineer, I flinched while you were waving your hands around the tower. I have had a spark jump to me from a 10KW AM doghouse matching network. It is not recommended.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yea honest you are so right..It was kinda for the video sort of thing. Thanks for dropping in for a watch.

[@TonyLing]

10:10 DIN Rails. I didn't know they were used in North America

[@LawpickingLocksmith]

Smashing!!

[@captainkeyboard1007]

This show was made for audiophiles like me.

[@coreybabcock2023]

We need to see the jumper cable spark sound from am antenna to ground

[@billfargo9616]

The common point current would change with modulation, regardless.

[@PaulCoty]

sehr cool

[@kittyplays2324]

27:00 is trans Siberian orchestra- a mad russians christmas (I guess songs...)

[@natep121]

Super cool. Any ham repeaters on those towers?

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

None

[@DavidBerquist334]

If there's no hills in the way how far will the signal go from around here are stations go about fifty miles what kind of music does the station play

[@GothGuy885]

just don't turn your transmission power up too high at night, or the Galaxy being will burst out and start waling around and zapping people.. [First Outer Limits Ep. reference]

[@g.drummond5959]

I have that video!! Really miss the series too.

[@EstorilEm]

Probably a stupid question, but why do they change between day and night? FCC considerations? Different programming from the stations who pay for certain areas? ❤️

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Most simple explanation goes like this. On the AM broadcast band you have to go to low power at night because the signals will travel allot farther. So the FCC mandates low power so they do not interfere with other stations around the country.

[@EstorilEm]

@@n9amiwavelengthradio Interesting, so what’s the more complicated answer? I’ll google it, but I’m assuming something atmospheric? I just can’t understand how daytime translates into transmission efficiency, unless there’s just a different thermal profile or something. Or maybe it’s just as simple as additional RF noise during the day? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@kareem-a.-jones-miller]

I live in Queens, New York, and I'm looking for a radio station transmitter for business purposes and inspiration for both better health and youth.

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Sorry can’t really help with that.

[@wlsallnight]

Hasn't 720 Las Vegas gone dark due to sale of transmitter site?

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Yup

[@pmr1049]

Alot of IPs shown here by accident, if only local not so big deal. But if you somehow forgot it was shown just wanted to point it out.

[@coreybabcock2023]

Gotta fix that drop ceiling

[@holden190]

I've watched the first eight minutes and you still HAVEN'T mentioned the call letters and where the station is located!!!!!

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Its a mystery isn't it? 😁

[@lkmsl]

DANNY IS CUTE !

[@brucesumter4327]

first time here where is this radio am fm at??

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Both

[@ThumperKJFK]

✌👍

[@misstakenot9582]

A lot of messy wiring! 😅

[@netautorisationnetautorisa545]

*SUPER VIDEO* *EUROPE (WEST)* *JAN 9 2023*

[@lesstime1678]

nice stuff but the wiring don't pass inspection in my town ,the inspectors here are so pickisssssss wen comes to wiring ,everything has to be neat , you do a nice job DAN ,keep going strong man

[@n9amiwavelengthradio]

Thanks for sharing

[@djlunchmeat7710]

oooooooooooooh I love it!! Testy testy Calling CQ 80 de N8QDV