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Tokyo tower shows off breathtaking views (2,080 ft. tower)
Yahoo News (AP) ^ | April 17, 2012 | AP

Posted on 04/17/2012 8:08:03 PM PDT by Texas Fossil

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To: JRandomFreeper

And science is not about passing tests. It is about discovering the truth about how things work.

Creativity can be nursed, but if a person is not gifted with the ability it cannot be given to them.

For a time I used this tag line on my emails “Finding order in apparent chaos is the highest form of creativity.”

God created order out of darkness and chaos. The best a human can hope for is to be able to see some of that order in the noise of the world.


61 posted on 04/17/2012 9:50:15 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Erasmus
Last place I worked in the broadband business, I had a dedicated climbing supervisor working for me. If he didn't like it, he had carte blanche to call a climb off.

We had customers down, and he called me and told me the wind was too high. I said: 'fine, shut it down'.

Got yanked into a director's meeting getting yelled at by customer service and finance directors.

I told the CEO (A buddy of mine) 'climbing supervisor says it's not safe, ask your lawyer for advice'. Meeting adjourned.

The guy running the crew in the field has to have the final say, and managment has to back him.

I could cry for your friend. He did everything he could, and the contractor pushed it. I was just lucky my guys were in-house, or customer service and finance would have pushed them.

/johnny

62 posted on 04/17/2012 9:51:24 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Texas Fossil
My friend and I went up on the Stuttgart TV tower observation deck in 1997. Like hundreds of others, we penned our names on the stucco wall behind us.

"< Ladyfriend and I >:
Wir waren hier!
30.04.1997"

The total height from the ground to the tip of the antennas is about 714 feet, and the observation deck is around 500. Since it's on top of a large hill, it gives a great view of downtown, and the countryside in all directions.

Not very large by recent standards, but it was the first free-standing concrete TV mast; all others are descendants of that one.

63 posted on 04/17/2012 10:01:01 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Texas Fossil
Not sure the ham repeater is still on that tower. Heard when the ice storm almost took it down that they did a house cleaning to reduce the load on the tower and the Hams got booted.

Heck, I thought all that extra coax just made the tower stronger! I've seen some of them where you couldn't see through the tower. You could probably remove the tower itself and nobody'd know the difference.

≤}B^)

64 posted on 04/17/2012 10:09:39 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Erasmus

My OKC EME friend told me about working military RF in Germany. About installing microwave towers on Concrete structures. Sections bolt together, hollow construction. tumble formed pre-stressed concrete tubes.

Amazing stuff.


65 posted on 04/17/2012 10:11:36 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: DManA

No way. That’s scarry. Thanks, DManA


66 posted on 04/17/2012 10:13:59 PM PDT by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: Erasmus
On a 1400 footer, that is not how it works.

There was a mixture of commercial installations and a few emergency and Ham groups. All the nonessential ones went, from what I heard.

If your business is news, weather and broadcasting. The side deals can really be pretty unimportant if they jeopardize the money machine.

Dave K.

67 posted on 04/17/2012 10:32:13 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Erasmus

Heliax is not light. And we had problems keeping moisture out of the system. Nitrogen under pressure is the best, but often is a maintance issue. (leaks)

I have seen people try to use drying agents on compressed air. Never liked those systems, did not seem to work properly. Air compressors by nature produce water in the compression tank.


68 posted on 04/17/2012 10:35:17 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Erasmus
And since the FCC stopped demanding minimum levels of transmitter performance, many stations don't give enough of a s*** to hire competent technical help anyway.

Loudness, man, loudness! What else is there to care about?

For people in cars, towers will still be necessary. The audiophiles among them understand your comment about loudness.

What would it cost to retrofit an existing installation to the highest standard?

69 posted on 04/17/2012 11:02:36 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: gunsequalfreedom

All the way to the top. We were there fight after big rains had cleared the atmosphere so the air was crystal clear.

Beijing on the other hand was unbelievably bad.


70 posted on 04/18/2012 2:17:25 AM PDT by DManA
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To: DManA

fight = right.


71 posted on 04/18/2012 2:18:42 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Kennard; Erasmus

Dunno what you radio geeks are rambling on about ;) but from the music production side of the loudness wars things are just as mucked up.

The concept of dynamic range and distortion got mixed up in some record company office. It’s gotten better than it was for a while but when the production world went digital, the old rules changed. And you still have people trying analog SSL desk tricks on computer hardware. The laymans version is that it sounds REALLY bad. Thou shalt not exceed 0dbfs, for it it beith impossible. So of course they try. Just stack a few Waves L2 limiters and crank them. ;)

(Spoken as a hobbyist - no pro iZ I)


72 posted on 04/18/2012 2:34:42 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: Texas Fossil

At my first station, we had what looked like a cast aluminum tire pump, the kind that has two lugs at its base for you to stand on. It had a rectangular glass-windowed compartment on the side that contained dessiccant.

Our transmitter was on a shelf in the back of the control room, so that’s where we kept it.

It’s possible that someone might actually have used it as a tire pump.


73 posted on 04/18/2012 5:00:05 AM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Kennard

In most cases it’s not the fault of the equipment proper, just the way it’s installed and (mal)adjusted. Sometimes, removing certain equipment in the chain can improve things.


74 posted on 04/18/2012 5:07:59 AM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Erasmus

How tall was the tower?

Makes a difference.

The temperature difference at the top of the tower vs the temp at the bottom cause condensation. Usually in the connectors and with that corrosion. Have seen if also with wave guide type transmission line. Very expensive transmission line. I have never seen a dry air filled transmission line without a problem internally with corrosion and precipitation of water. I am not a believer in that method.

This is not as much a problem with coax, but is a problem with Heliax and waveguide.


75 posted on 04/18/2012 8:38:26 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Texas Fossil

Cool!! When we were in Tokyo in 2005, we went to the top of Tokyo Tower. It looks like a brightly colored Eiffel Tower. ;o) But it’s a great view, and I finally saw the graveyards I hadn’t noticed before at street level, because they’re behind walls.


76 posted on 04/18/2012 1:42:50 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Texas Fossil

The line was Heliax, about 1.5”, installed in 1949, and lasted about 40 years. When I was involved, it was just over 10 years old.

It was just a short run; I’d estimate about 70 feet total. Just a 30 foot tower on a 4-story building, fed from the first (and-a-halfth) floor.

Antenna height above ground about 80 feet, and above average terrain about 24 feet (sorry to say).


77 posted on 04/18/2012 4:10:17 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: Erasmus
It was just a short run; I’d estimate about 70 feet total.

What we worked with was in 400 ft. coils. So there were a number of splices. connectors do not seal perfectly. And I can assure you that the temp dif on a 150 ft. run is huge and the condensation problem is bad.

78 posted on 04/18/2012 5:32:48 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Erasmus
Corrected:

It was just a short run; I’d estimate about 70 feet total.

What we worked with was in 400 ft. coils. So there were a number of splices. connectors do not seal perfectly. And I can assure you that the temp dif on a 1350 ft. run is huge and the condensation problem is bad.

79 posted on 04/18/2012 6:26:09 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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