If I touch this tower, I die

KMOX-AM is a 50kW clear channel station in St. Louis, MO; take a tower of the tower and transmitter site!

Contents:

00:00 - 50,000 Watts
00:23 - The tower is the antenna
04:12 - The ATU (Antenna Tuning Unit)
11:30 - Transmitter building
14:03 - PEP Station (EMP-proof)
15:28 - Transmitter building (and power distribution)
20:50 - Giant tower lights, and the !@&(* button
23:41 - Guy wires and a full-service restroom
25:31 - Transmitter room
37:43 - Backup studio and MREs
39:34 - A century of tools in the workshop
41:21 - Fried frogs and other tails

[SpiraSpiraSpira]

The fact that you can hear the radio station inside the building just based on how much energy is radiating off conductors is absolutely terrifying.

[Whatsinanameanyway]

Your father is a rare breed, someone who has a wealth of information in his head and is able to explain it in a way that people can understand it. Thanks for sharing these videos, subscribed & hope to see more.

[GunnarMiller]

I'm a radio amateur (KA3KAS), and for me this was the equivalent of a Cessna private pilot getting a tour of a 747. All the principles are the same, but the scale is several orders of magnitude larger. I'd be interested in how they calculated for optimal standing wave ratio (SWR) before building it. Hearing echoes of the broadcast through all that metal is spooky indeed! Your father is a very clear presenter.

[RB]

I worked at an HF transmitter site when I was in the Army. We had multiple 1kW to 70kW transmitters, about 17 Rhombic antennas, backup power generation, technical control facilities, workshops, etc. Your video brought back a lot of good memories! Thanks for all the work to put this together and share it.

[nhand]

I had no idea how complicated these transmitter towers are. What a great idea for a video. Your dad is a natural in front of the camera. He knows his stuff and explains it really well.

[charliepearce]

My dad lived next to a TV antenna. I said to him one day that he could probably watch TV without having it plugged in the wall socket. He said, " Son, you can colse your eyes and see the programs on the inside of your eyelids !"
I loved my dad, he was the best .

[MarcoGPUtuber]

Please don't touch the tower. I actually like your content.

[jeff]

Almost 50 years ago, I worked for a 3 tower AM station. Periodically I had to go out to each tower to take base-current readings. I think I remember the hair on my arms standing straight up because of all the power in the dog house. We had to take the readings when there was no modulation, so we had a little transistor radio… but it didn’t have to be set to the station frequency. It was so powerful in there, you could set it to any frequency and you’d hear it. I was just a kid of 20 with almost no training. Lucky I didn’t touch anything that would have killed me.

[WhoFlungPoo]

More! More! More! I could watch these tours endlessly. They're beyond fascinating. Kudos to you and your Dad! And agreed about the Simpson 260. At Memphis in Navy Tradevman "A" School in the mid-60's, every bench position had a 260. They're still unbeatable.

[jackjones]

My brother knew a guy who died exactly that way! Pointing up as a joke while taking an electrical engineering student tour. Done!

[BobHolowenko]

I am a contract broadcast engineer and know all this but somehow watch the whole video because it's really cool to see how other guys do the same things.

[GodmanchesterGoblin]

As a retired design engineer who worked predominantly with digital circuits, I always looked on RF as a bit of a black-art. What this has shown me is that high-power RF is in a league of its own. I loved that modular high-efficiency AM transmitter cabinet - I had no idea it was done like that these days. All the shiny copper was nice too. The whole video was truly fascinating. Thank you. both, for taking the time and sharing this knowledge.

[GenericAnimeBoy]

I'm a BS Electrical Engineer and PE, and this video validates my opinion that RF power electronics is black magic and the guys that maintain it are wizards.

Seriously though, very very cool stuff!

[silverismoney]

Your dad seems like a cool guy, you're so lucky you can still have that experience with your pops. Don't take it for granted. Great video too, love the transmitter sites. I once worked at place that had satellite transmitters and some things are similar.

[iambuschi]

Love these episodes with your dad nerding away like crazy.. 😂 Please keep on making them. Awesome to listen to the incredible knowledge and how he breathes RF!

[pdgingras]

My dad worked for two-way radio, zipcall, metromedia paging in the Boston area. When I was younger in the 60s I would go with him on many of his service calls. This video brings back many good memories during that time period. One of his contracts was with WBZ TV, but he also serviced the US Navy, the Coast Guard (Nantucket Light), Woods Hole, etc. He had a fascinating life, and always had great stories.

I remember him telling me that he had to service a transmitter on Mt. Wachusett. He didn't know at the time the transmitter tower itself was live. He grabbed the tower and was thrown back. One of the guys he worked with laughed and told him he had to jump onto the tower in order to climb it.

At another time the Navy sent him out to service the radio equipment on a tugboat. When he got to the boat location, he called and told the Navy that he couldn't service the boat. When asked why, he said the boat had sunk at the dock. They had to raise the boat before he could service the equipment.

He was literally in love with his job. Miss you dad. RIP. ❤

[felixar]

I always found interesting how as you increase frequency, the electricity goes from travelling in wires to travelling in pipes, and then as you increase even more into UHF and microwave it starts looking like HVAC ducts.

[dblcab]

This video was recommended. I originally thought I would watch a few minutes and move on, BUT I really really enjoyed the video. Yall kept it interesting and humorous. Thank you for the inside view of KMOX and your history. Why does every business have a space where chairs go to die but never quite make it to the dumpster. Subbed and thumbed.

[nicholasorr]

it always amazes me how far away from STL I can hear KMOX. This was super cool to see, thanks for sharing.

[TheWeakLink]

Your dad’s knowledge is amazing! As an amateur radio operator being able to see this is incredibly fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing!