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Fire at KLFE / KNTS Transmitter

Damn!......Are they still on the air using a backup somewhere?
 
That would be interesting to know. From the look of the picture, it appears that the fire was not in the transmitter building, as earlier reported, but one of the antenna tuning units.

If the fire was not at the tower that shares KNTS, that could explain how they both came back so quickly. Probably says a lot about their engineer(s), too. They have two towers out there, which could have given them some options.

Neither sounds very strong at my place near Bremerton though, so they may still have their hands full.
 
I don't know about 1680 but I was under the impression that 1590 used the tower on Pigeon Point in West Seattle.

Val
 
valvashon said:
I don't know about 1680 but I was under the impression that 1590 used the tower on Pigeon Point in West Seattle.

Val
Click to expand...

Nope, 1590 has been on Bainbridge as long as I can remember.....
 
1590 went full time from Bainbridge in the late 80's or early 90's to make room for KXA 770 to move there before they moved to Vashon. Then 1050 moved in. 1250 also uses Pigeon Point for day mode.

The ATU that flamed on Bainbridge was the daytime tower used in Non directional mode for both stations (if it was the night tower that flamed, both stations would have stayed on the air or at least returned to air at full power with in hours). The tower day tower had 15KW on it (5 from KLFE and 10 from KNTS). The day tower had two transmission lines ran to it, one for 1590 and one for 1680. The night tower would only have one transmission line run to it, for KLFE night mode. The day tower would have had all the equipment at it's base to diplex the two stations into one tower for day operation.

The transmitter building with the KLFE phaser, transmitter and the KNTA transmitter should be OK. Since they lost all the filters and duplexing equipment usually located at the tower ATU, the only way to get both stations back on in a temporary non directional day mode, would be to drive the night tower with a reduced 1590 say no more than 1000 watts. Then drive the regular day tower with 1680 with no more than 1000 watts. That way both stations are on the air with an easily controllable and forgiving power level. 1680 may not be able to go full power without upsetting 1590 since there is minimal filtering going on. 1590 may have to sign off at night or go lower power (10-500 watts). 1680 could stay on at night since they are license for 1KW at night.

Things to consider are, some directional stations install a smaller transmission line to the night tower so they might not be able to pump 5KW to the night tower. What's it take to jumper past the phaser and get a reasnable match to the night tower for 1590. Since each station has it's own tower (assuning they are driving them seperatly) they are real close, what's the legal power they can run with out weird harmonics because the filters got destroyed. As they rebuild the day tower ATU they have to work around 1680 and it may have to run at reduced power till it's all done.

Then there is what started the fire? Did a filter have an issue? Loose over heated connection. Something get across an open feedline or tower base? What were the base currents for each station two days before and leading up to the fire.
 
Good memory.

At one time, 1590 used Pigeon point for their day signal, going to Bainbridge at night. As the PP tower belongs to Sterling, it might be safe to assume this was going on when they owned the station along with KZOK?

I wonder if this was also the day / night arrangement when the station was KETO.

As for the fire, I suppose it could be anything. If their doghouses were wood (a lot of older ones are), then it could have been as simple as arcing from a failed mica cap.

A few months ago, I had a harmonic filter flame out in a 10kW Nautel. by the time the transmitter shut down, there was a hole burned in the aluminum filter box. Took longer to clean soot & melted aluminum out of the transmitter and the building interior than to replace the burned out parts.

Good to see they've got the stations back up, power levels notwithstanding.
 
Grounded Grid said:
Good memory.

At one time, 1590 used Pigeon point for their day signal, going to Bainbridge at night. As the PP tower belongs to Sterling, it might be safe to assume this was going on when they owned the station along with KZOK?

I wonder if this was also the day / night arrangement when the station was KETO.

As for the fire, I suppose it could be anything. If their doghouses were wood (a lot of older ones are), then it could have been as simple as arcing from a failed mica cap.

A few months ago, I had a harmonic filter flame out in a 10kW Nautel. by the time the transmitter shut down, there was a hole burned in the aluminum filter box. Took longer to clean soot & melted aluminum out of the transmitter and the building interior than to replace the burned out parts.

Good to see they've got the stations back up, power levels notwithstanding.
Click to expand...

It seems their day signal level improved shortly after the switch to KJET (They seemed to come in Lynnwood better.) Prior to this, KZOK-AM ("Solid Gold 16 KZOK") was much spottier during the day and came in better at night. By 1984, day and night seemed about equal on 1590.....
 
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