TV and radio station broadcasting masts

Have you looked at Forum Sponsor TW Trainworx??? They offer a cell tower kit (you could eliminate the cell “bits” at the top):

https://www.twtrainworxstore.c...-tower-kit-twx-2200/

Another sponsor, Mr. Muffins, also offers a Korber kit:

https://mrmuffinstrains.com/co...s/products/kor-703-k

A seller called gizwiz_2003 on ebay sells O-scale radio station antenna masts and the various antennas that hang off them.

Both of those are way too pricey for what I need.  Found one from Korber that is better looking but still too much for my wallet.

Thanks, though.

Without getting too technical, are we talking AM or FM?  If AM, is the tower array directional?  Self-standing at the lower end of the AM band?  Or guyed towers at the high end?  If FM how many bays?

Jon

You got way to **** and gone too technical, but thanks for trying.

Guess I'll draw what I'm looking for and see where that takes me.

Kool Jock:

Please post some photos of the various type of AM, FM, and microwave towers that you mention.

Also, any TV broadcast towers.

I am ignorant regarding the specific functions of the various styles of towers & would appreciate your informational input.

Thanks in advance for the education !!!

As soon as it gets light out, I'll go out back and take some pictures!

Jon

First one needs to understand how AM and FM signals propagate.  AM travels both through the air and through a ground wave.  A good chunk of an AM radio station's antenna system is just under the grass in the form of copper ground radials that stretch out and away from the tower.  (It's also why you don't want to be standing in the tower field during a thunderstorm!)  For this reason, AM towers tend to be built in low, wet areas.  The AM tower itself is built for the transmission frequency.  They tend to get shorter as the frequency gets higher, but that's not always the rule.  When I worked at 790 WPIC in Sharon/Youngstown, we had a 550' free-standing tower:

At the very top, you can see the FM bays for WYFM (Y-103) mounted.  (Thanks to my friend Scott Fybush for the pics of my old stomping grounds!  If the grass was shorter you'd see my 1986 Ford Tempo in the lot)

AM stations can also be licensed for a "directional" pattern.  If the FCC licensed another station nearby on the same frequency, you'd have to lower power and go "directional" at sundown.  When I worked at the "Mighty 1290 WGLI" on Long Island, we'd go from 5,000 Watts unidirectional off of one tower in the day to 1,000 watts directional at night off of three towers construcrted in a line from northwest to southeast.

Sometimes this could be taken to an extreme, such as the case of another station I worked for in Connecticut: 1510 WNLC.  There was a station in Boston also on 1510 (WMEX) so at night, we'd drop power and go to a (I kid you not!) EIGHT TOWER directional array!

I could finish my afternoon show and drive away, still seeing the blinking lights in my rear-view mirror, and drive out of the signal area!

TV and FM antennas are all about height.  The signal travels "line-of-sight", which is why you'll find FM and TV antennas at the top of skyscrapers, REALLY tall towers, and on top of mountains, while the AMs are out in the marshlands surrounding the city.  If you get it high enough, the FM or TV antenna doesn't even need to be very big.  Depending on the FM bays, you really only need 15 to 20 feet.  But unlike AM, the signal dies at the horizon, and it doesn't follow the curve of the earth.

Jon

It's now light enough to get some pictures here.  Our tower has several functions.  1.  It's an AM tower cut to 1230.  2.  It's a source of rental income, with cell equipment mounted to it.  3.  It's the mount for the KOOL 105 Studio-Transmitter link to another transmitter site across Lake Champlain in New York State.  4.  It has the FM bays (and a back-up set) for WOKO-FM.

The tower is a "guyed" tower, and mounts to the ground at a single point at its base:

The wooden structure coming in from the right is the transmission lines coming in from the transmitters in our building.

Further up you can see how the lower guys attach.  These come to concrete blocks in the ground with turnbuckles to maintain even tension:

And here are our cell-phone tenants:

And finally our KOOL 105 studio-transmitter link dish, followed by the WOKO FM antenna bays at the top (back up bays just below the dish):

Fun Fact:  the lights don't just "blink" like they do on a train layout, but each tower blinks at a rate specified by the FAA to aid in pilot navigation.  I bet Rich knew this!

Jon

Kool Jock1:

Thanks for the pix & detailed explanations !!!

Kool Jock1:

Tonight is New Year’s Eve.  

In addition to the 2022 Ball-drop from the top of the Times Square Building in NYC, a local radio program said that many other cities in the US have their own ball-drops from their own local buildings.

Do these NYE ball-drops interfere with radio & tv transmissions on any buildings with broadcast antennae ?

Does the presence of broadcast antennae on a building exclude that building from NYE ball-drop service ?

Thanks in advance !!!

@CBQ_Bill posted:

Kool Jock1:

Tonight is New Year’s Eve.  

In addition to the 2022 Ball-drop from the top of the Times Square Building in NYC, a local radio program said that many other cities in the US have their own ball-drops from their own local buildings.

Do these NYE ball-drops interfere with radio & tv transmissions on any buildings with broadcast antennae ?

Does the presence of broadcast antennae on a building exclude that building from NYE ball-drop service ?

Thanks in advance !!!

Bill;

FYI - The ball at Times Square (42nd St.) drops at One Times Square, not the Empire State Building (34th St.). It is on a flag pole of sorts, so there is no interference with any transmissions.

Happy New Year 🎉🎉🎉

We have a big hunk of cheese that drops in nearby Plymouth WI.!

Yes, the Empire State Building and nearby Freedom Tower have "multiplexed" antennae at the top.  Engineers have figured out how to broadcast multiple TV and radio signals from a single tower array on dozens of frequencies.  It takes a lot of cooperation between broadcasters.  Our Chief works up there all the time, and worked in the transmitter room at the World Trade Center on 9/10/01.

I'm not aware of any ball-drops on broadcast towers... but if there were, I'd start the drop below the FM Bays, and make the ball out of fiberglass and LED's.

Jon

What you are looking for is not that common in o scale.  I scratch built one on my layout using brass to bile and wire for the cross sections - lots of soldering.   When I owned Korber models I designed and introduced the radio tower kit, it is laser cut micro plywood.

you may be able to fins something in HO scale that will work for you, but unlikely.  You may be able to get someone to 3D print one for you, at least in several Pieces to assemble.

best of luck, a radio tower is a real eye catcher on a layout.

I hope so.  I'm looking to erect about six of them in various places, some 15 inches tall up close and a couple smaller and further back.