[SBE] High Intensity Tower Light (1000ft tower)

[Rolin Lintag]

We have a system installed last Dec 2007 that has most of its electronics inside the building. There are 12 flashheads with respective power controllers. The topmost 4 have their controllers at the 300-ft level so it needs a climb just the same.

I have worked on the power controllers inside the building and was able to replace capacitors and timing & trigger boards. I was told by an experienced tower crew that the manufacturer will most likely replace the trigger board whenever there is an issue since it looks like the weak part of the chain. I have replaced 3 of such boards for the last two years in operation.

A tower climb is needed just the same to replace flash tubes at the flashheads. We have to schedule every 3 years to replace all flash tubes so that chances of failure of individual bulbs is less, hence less climbs.

We could have gotten an LED system if only our chosen brand was able to secure an FAA/FCC type approval in time. They are from Canada.

At another 1,000ft tower with older Fuellgraff system, maintenance is a nightmare. It averages at least 3 climbs a year for about $13,000 in parts and labor. 

The painted tower idea with LEDs look appealing.

Romualdo "ROLIN" Lintag, CSTE
Chief RF Engineer
Victory Television Network
KVTN 25.1 Pine Bluff, AR
KVTH 26 Hot Springs, AR
KVTJ 48 Jonesboro, AR
www.vtntv.com

Message: 4
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:52:00 -0500
From: Bob Reite <br at telcen.com>
Subject: Re: [SBE] High Intensity Tower Light   (1000ft tower)
        Maintenancebudget
To: sbe member discussion mail list <sbe at sbe.org>
Message-ID: <4B80BBF0.30200 at telcen.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I've seen a strobe system advertised in which the electronics is on the
ground, with minimal parts in the strobe head.  At least if those fail,
you don't have the tower crew cost for repair of the electronics.

Fluker, Steve (CXR-Orlando) wrote:

> Yes, the first generation of the Dialight LED beacons did have problems

> around the high RF areas.  My top beacon would shut off when the Antenna

> was hot, and if I dropped the carrier, the light would come right back

> on.  I'm using the 3rd generation now and they work fine.  As Paul

> Reynolds said, maintaining the strobes can be very expensive.  When I

> rebuilt a 1,500 foot tower, we painted it and used LED's.  Not looking

> forward to the cost of repainting down the line, but so far it's saving

> money with the LED lights.  I've also replaced the lighting on three

> other towers with LED's and so far have had good luck.  Two AM towers

> were outfitted with LED's about 4 years ago and to date we've had no

> maintenance costs on either tower.

>

> Steve Fluker

> Director of Engineering

> Cox Radio, Orlandl

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> *From:* sbe-bounces at sbe.org on behalf of R.V.Zeigler

> *Sent:* Fri 2/19/2010 3:46 PM

> *To:* sbe member discussion mail list

> *Subject:* [SBE] High Intensity Tower Light (1000ft tower) Maintenancebudget

>

> If I could inject something here. Dialight supplied the first set of

> beacons for our 1000' FM stick with 3 Class C FM's on discreet antennas.

> They were abysmal and our supplier changed them to another brand. One

> level of beacons sits directly between bays 5 and 6 of the bottom

> antenna. The replacements lasted 6 months before we had all sorts of

> intermittent and strange problems. Dialight sent me 2 replacement

> beacons, which we installed over a year ago and they are working

> wonderfully. Moral of my story, if you decide to go LED beacons I would

> not be afraid to put the new Dialight's with RF shielding anywhere on

> the tower.

> We spent close to $15K trying to get the replacement beacons to work and

> were looking at almost $50K to retrofit to incandescent when Dialight

> came to the rescue. From a financial standpoint, it may be very

> reasonable to paint the tower and retrofit to LED's. The longer you have

> the property, the more you save every month.

> BTW, the intermittent beacons work fine sitting on the bench in the

> engineering shop.

> Rod

>

> --

> R. V. Zeigler, Dir. of Eng.

> Nebraska Rural Radio Assn.

> KRVN-KTIC-KNEB

> rzeigler at krvn.com

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