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World's tallest TV antenna

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schmitt trigger

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Yesterday I was on a business trip in Fargo, North Dakota.

Someone mentioned that about 50 miles from town is the World's tallest TV antenna Tower. Would I like to see it?

Of course!

The antenna sits at the middle of the flat, virtually limitless cornfields that characterize the Great Plains states. There are no visual clues in any photo that could convey its sheer height.
But in person, it is an impressive structure!

According to Wikipedia, at 2063 ft tall it was the World's tallest structure until dethroned by the Burj Khalifa.

Google KVLY tower.
 
I've been around the base of winter hill transmitter here in lancashire a couple of times, thats pretty big, but only 1/2 as high, so that must be quite something.
 
;)When I called my wife and told her where we had been, she replied:

"A TV antenna? I had forgotten I had married an engineer. "

Indeed, one has to be a little nerd to appreciate the beauty of a TV antenna tower. ;)
 
The TV antennas for Los Angeles (233 feet) are located on the top of nearby Mount Wilson (5710 feet) but, of course, that doesn't really count as a tall tower I suppose. :D
At that altitude the line-of-sight horizon is 92 miles which, I would imagine, is the distance for good TV reception.
 
When flying, you have to remember that these things have guy wires which come to earth about a 1/5 of a mile out from the base.
 
My cellphone has an antenna, top is at 4,982 ft (1,519 m). (the bottom is also at 4,982)
 
I visited this one last spring when I was in the Dayton area for the big hamfest. The story **broken link removed**, but in a nutshell this thing dates back to the 1930s, and transmitted on 700KHz at a power level of 250,000W

wlw.png
 
Ever want to be the guy who changed the light bulb at the top of one of these? :)

I was NYC born and grew up there and on Long Island. This was old over the air television and all transmissions were from atop the Empire State Building, pretty tall for the day. We not only had the three network stations but we also had several independent stations. During my inquisitive early ham radio days I added a second TV rooftop antenna and discovered I could shoot across Long Island Sound and get a few Connecticut stations. Hitting the Empire State Building was easy from several miles away. Later transmission moved to the then new WTC (World Trade Centers) around 1972 or 73 (I was long gone) and remained there till 9/11/2001 when the towers fell. They moved back to the Empire State Building until the new WTC tower was built where they are now.

There is just something impressive about a free standing tower that is over 2,000 feet tall. They are incredible.

Ron
 
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I visited this one last spring when I was in the Dayton area for the big hamfest
Interesting structure. Were the guy wires kept low because of some FAA thing?
Way back in my TV repair days, I salvaged an abandoned Crosley pushbutton tuning AM table radio, and often listened to WLW on it. Like, circular, dude.

ak
 
And why the hard had? What could possibly fall on you?
In my hard hat wearing days I never had anything fall on me, although there was plenty of opportunity for it to happen.
But, several times I walked into low hanging objects with a big thump which would have hurt mightily if I had not been wearing the hard hat.

Climbing that tower in and out of the antenna elements is no place to bang you head.

JimB
 
Most likely a drone
Think about being 1000 feet in the air, drone buzzing around, and you boss running the drone and on the radio.
"Did you tighten that nut? Don't forget the lock tight. Is your insurance up to date? Your wife called three times. "
All you want to do is drop the radio, shoot the drone, and get down.
 
Think about being 1000 feet in the air, drone buzzing around, and you boss running the drone and on the radio.
"Did you tighten that nut? Don't forget the lock tight. Is your insurance up to date? Your wife called three times. "
All you want to do is drop the radio, shoot the drone, and get down.
Get down most of the way to improve your aim, and drop the radio on the boss.

ak
 
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