dxAce" wrote in message
...


David Eduardo wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"roger carroll" wrote:

Sorry David your personal political views are showing....I'm talking
about the sound of the station. If KFI was "left wing" it would still
be the best sounding station in LA nothing to do with politics,,,they
do everything the correct way and tied for number #1 in LA. rc

KFI is 50kW with a real nice antenna.

Actually, it is 25 kw with a top-loaded 1/8 wave vertical. There is no
"nice" antenna anymore.

When did they reduce power? Everything I check still shows them at 50 kW,
including the FCC data.


They lost the licensed tower in an aircraft collision late last year. They
are running an existing
auxiliary tower in a nonconforming operation at half-power until such time
as the
half-waver can be rebuilt at the current site or a new site found. The
auxiliary tower, which was put into use within a couple of hours of the
aircraft tragedy, can not handle full power as it is very short.

Getting permits to rebuild the tower may take many more months. During this
time, KFI is running 25 kw. It is not necessary to re-license a station for
a bona fide emergency operation.

The tower can not immediately be rebuilt as it qualifies as a totally new
structure, subject to today's codes and regulations, not those in effect
when the old tower was built in 1947.

A number of area broadcast engineers or engineering departments have
"souvenirs" of the old tower. We have a piece of ATU insulation, a shard
from the beacon and a piece of an insulator, as well as some paint flakes in
both white and orange. .

David Eduardo wrote:

dxAce" wrote in message
...


David Eduardo wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"roger carroll" wrote:

Sorry David your personal political views are showing....I'm talking
about the sound of the station. If KFI was "left wing" it would still
be the best sounding station in LA nothing to do with politics,,,they
do everything the correct way and tied for number #1 in LA. rc

KFI is 50kW with a real nice antenna.

Actually, it is 25 kw with a top-loaded 1/8 wave vertical. There is no
"nice" antenna anymore.

When did they reduce power? Everything I check still shows them at 50 kW,
including the FCC data.


They lost the licensed tower in an aircraft collision late last year. They
are running an existing
auxiliary tower in a nonconforming operation at half-power until such time
as the
half-waver can be rebuilt at the current site or a new site found. The
auxiliary tower, which was put into use within a couple of hours of the
aircraft tragedy, can not handle full power as it is very short.

Getting permits to rebuild the tower may take many more months. During this
time, KFI is running 25 kw. It is not necessary to re-license a station for
a bona fide emergency operation.

The tower can not immediately be rebuilt as it qualifies as a totally new
structure, subject to today's codes and regulations, not those in effect
when the old tower was built in 1947.

A number of area broadcast engineers or engineering departments have
"souvenirs" of the old tower. We have a piece of ATU insulation, a shard
from the beacon and a piece of an insulator, as well as some paint flakes in
both white and orange. .

Yes, I had forgotten the fact that the tower had been toppled a while back.

Wasn't there some question at the time as to whether they could actually rebuild
on that same site?

Unfortunately I am no longer able to hear KFI here due to a local on the
frequency, though I do have them QSL'd (one of my very few MW QSL's).

I think I will call the local to inquire as to when they might be down for
maintenance.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

"dxAce" wrote in message
...

Wasn't there some question at the time as to whether they could actually
rebuild
on that same site?

There are many obstacles, including the city where the tower is located and
the nearby airport as well as fall zone rules, etc. Best guess a b¿mong the
local engineering circle is 12 to 18 months, and the tower will probably
have to be strobed.

Unfortunately I am no longer able to hear KFI here due to a local on the
frequency, though I do have them QSL'd (one of my very few MW QSL's).

Just 75 miles from the site, I hear the Cd Juarez and Parral, Mexico,
stations often on top of KFI. There is no such thing as a clear channel any
more.

David Eduardo wrote:

dxAce" wrote in message
...


David Eduardo wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"roger carroll" wrote:

Sorry David your personal political views are showing....I'm talking
about the sound of the station. If KFI was "left wing" it would still
be the best sounding station in LA nothing to do with politics,,,they
do everything the correct way and tied for number #1 in LA. rc

KFI is 50kW with a real nice antenna.

Actually, it is 25 kw with a top-loaded 1/8 wave vertical. There is no
"nice" antenna anymore.

When did they reduce power? Everything I check still shows them at 50 kW,
including the FCC data.


They lost the licensed tower in an aircraft collision late last year. They
are running an existing
auxiliary tower in a nonconforming operation at half-power until such time
as the
half-waver can be rebuilt at the current site or a new site found. The
auxiliary tower, which was put into use within a couple of hours of the
aircraft tragedy, can not handle full power as it is very short.

Getting permits to rebuild the tower may take many more months. During this
time, KFI is running 25 kw. It is not necessary to re-license a station for
a bona fide emergency operation.

The tower can not immediately be rebuilt as it qualifies as a totally new
structure, subject to today's codes and regulations, not those in effect
when the old tower was built in 1947.

A number of area broadcast engineers or engineering departments have
"souvenirs" of the old tower. We have a piece of ATU insulation, a shard
from the beacon and a piece of an insulator, as well as some paint flakes in
both white and orange. .

When KDKA's tower was knocked down in a storm in 1995 they decided to
cut it up and sell it as souvenirs. I have a round piece of it, frozen
in lucite. The tower dated back to 1920 and was the world's first
commercial radio tower. I can't remember how much it cost, but the cost
was a donation to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.


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"running dogg" wrote in message
...
David Eduardo wrote:

When KDKA's tower was knocked down in a storm in 1995 they decided to
cut it up and sell it as souvenirs. I have a round piece of it, frozen
in lucite. The tower dated back to 1920 and was the world's first
commercial radio tower. I can't remember how much it cost, but the cost
was a donation to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.


The hospital got it wrong... and I have several of the Lucite-embedded
slices of steel.

In about 1928 or 1929 KDKA built the tower that came down in 1995. It
actually fell on the first try, and had to be rebuilt. There was an article,
including a cover picture, in an 1929 issue of Radio World. Interestingly,
they built a ring of 1/8 wave towers around the big tower with a curtain
hung from them to attempt to reduce low angle sky wave. I never saw a report
anywhere on whether this worked.

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 21:02:51 GMT, "David Eduardo"
They lost the licensed tower in an aircraft collision late last year. They
are running an existing
auxiliary tower in a nonconforming operation at half-power until such time
as the
half-waver can be rebuilt at the current site or a new site found. The
auxiliary tower, which was put into use within a couple of hours of the
aircraft tragedy, can not handle full power as it is very short.

Getting permits to rebuild the tower may take many more months. During this
time, KFI is running 25 kw. It is not necessary to re-license a station for
a bona fide emergency operation.

The tower can not immediately be rebuilt as it qualifies as a totally new
structure, subject to today's codes and regulations, not those in effect
when the old tower was built in 1947.

KTAR does really well with a 440' tower. KFI may have to make do with
something similar.

"David" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 21:02:51 GMT, "David Eduardo"
They lost the licensed tower in an aircraft collision late last year. They
are running an existing
auxiliary tower in a nonconforming operation at half-power until such time
as the
half-waver can be rebuilt at the current site or a new site found. The
auxiliary tower, which was put into use within a couple of hours of the
aircraft tragedy, can not handle full power as it is very short.

Getting permits to rebuild the tower may take many more months. During
this
time, KFI is running 25 kw. It is not necessary to re-license a station
for
a bona fide emergency operation.

The tower can not immediately be rebuilt as it qualifies as a totally new
structure, subject to today's codes and regulations, not those in effect
when the old tower was built in 1947.

KTAR does really well with a 440' tower. KFI may have to make do with
something similar.

They could do the 50 kw into the 1/8th wave tower, but it was built as an
auxiliary tower and the ATU will not take 50 kw. Since the metro coverage is
satisfactory with 25 kw, and metro coverage is all they care about, it is
unlikely they will "fix" the small tower until they get the 1/2 wave tower
back in operation. In fact, they had their best book ever after the tower
fell and they were on lower power on a less efficient tower.