Not that its really on topic for this newsgroup, but if any of you are wondering where your Radio on FM and DAB has gone in the West Cambs / east midlands area this morn, here is the reason!.
Still no one's likely to be irradiated in that area for a while!...
They might fall on you.
Do they have active parts of the transmitter actually on broadcast masts of this type? I thought that they were mainly lattice work with passive radiating elements.
I suppose it could have been something like a transformer underneath...
Mary
Seems to be quite a large building at the base of the tower, so I assume it caught fire and weakened the steel to the point of collapse.
Dave
Don't forget there is 10's of Kw of power going up the transmiter, it only needs a fault in the feeder for the power to end up where it can cause a problem....
In article , Dave Stanton writes
Doubt it very much. Word seems to be it was "malicious".....
I've been into a few mast sites (co-locating comms kit, etc).. There are often several buildings at the base of a mast, each full of seriously heavy duty radio transmission kit (and recievers!) as well as BIG UPSs and auto-start generators... You all know what happens when you put metal into a microwave... Imagine a mast with several dozen microwave transmitters and something goes "phut" ...
Although simply cutting a few of the guy ropes/wires in a strong wind might be enough to bring it down, which might cause a fire in the building(s)...
Gordon
While the announcement a little while ago on Radio 4 was the usual laconic and non-specific: roughly, "If you're having difficulty receiving our signal in the Peterborough area, this is due to a technical fault at the transmitter. Engineers are working on the fault, and hope to have FM service restored soon. Meanwhile, you may find better reception by retuning."
What would it take, I wonder, for a "really" serious announcement? (Other than the death in a traffic accident of a poor little rich girl brought about by a drunken chauffer and the soi-disant unwanted attentions of publicity photographers, of course...)
Stefek
In article , Gordon Henderson writes
Yes but there is very little power going up there at those frequencies most of the gain is in the aerials themselves, and even at broadcast powers transmitters would "foldback" the power to protect the equipment.
Theres somewhere around 6 to 8 tons of tension in the stays on a mast like that so you wouldn't need a wind;(
Still have a look..
That's what I heard, it was nothing, until I read the opening post of this thread.
Yes.
I've also wondered if the troops would be withdrawn from Iraq if Mrs B* were taken hostage ...
Mary
*either of them
to take up stamp collecting ...
Mary
Careful Mary - that could be construed as a plot!
Al
Oh no - I've blown it!
Mary
er - who's that at the door? Must be Trick or Treat ...
It may depend on how it affected the load presented by the antenna. The high power transmitters I have worked on, typically had forward and reverse power monitoring built in. Should the antenna mismatch rise to a level where the amount of reverse power would cause damage to the output stages, then the software would "trip" the output for a second to see if that clears the problem. Should you get three such trips in the space of two mins then the transmitter is locked out. So you could end up being unlucky with you mast being damaged in such a way as the SWR still looked reasonable. Next thing you know you have something getting a bit hot!
I had a George Bush at the door ! With a little square box stuck to his back, which amused me no end. Guardian readers.....
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