Tour of a FM radio station transmitter site

This is a tour of the FM radio station transmitter site that I maintain. This was a requested video so if you have any other video ideas, please leave them down in the comments. The non-commercial radio station transmits with an ERP of 4,600 watts from 100 meters above the surrounding terrain . According to Wikipedia, "ERP (effective radiated power) measures the combination of the power emitted by the transmitter and the ability of the antenna to direct that power in a given direction. It is equal to the input power to the antenna multiplied by the gain of the antenna."

[stopandthinknow]

Jay: Thanks for the tour. I worked at WABC AM & FM in NY in the late 1950's, never went to the transmitter. Hank

[gandalf]

Never forget about the kettle and the Coffee. That is vital. My boss always tells me no work, no pay. My reply to that is No Coffee, No Work. Needless to say, I always have an endless supply of Coffee at work.

[pirate.]

That's some of the best cable management I've ever seen behind the racks. Usually there's a thousand wires hanging and connected to nothing.

[GrowlyBear]

On the maintenance subject, the boss wanted visits to the transmitter to be as short as possible so that I could be assigned to other tasks. I told him that cleaning was part of the job, but if he did not want cleaning done he should never take anyone to the site. The big boss came down from corporate and wanted to see the site, so I e-mailed him ahead of time telling him of my direct supervisor's unwillingness to let me take the time to make things spotless. Next thing you know my boss is insisting I go up to the site and put a shine on everything. It took hours, but the floor and equipment was left so clean you could lick it like a dinner plate. I even sprayed some stuff on the block walls to prevent dust from being there. When the big boss saw the place he was ready to give me an award!

[davidkennerly]

My company made the Wohler audio monitor. I believe that this model was produced before we sold the company. In the early days, we did not anticipate the extent to which our gear would also be used at transmitter sites but they came to be seen as essential to many such facilities. It is always gratifying to me to see it in so many YouTube facilities tours. Also, I knew almost all of the people behind so much of the other gear you and others use in broadcasting. We would all find ourselves meeting again and again at the many broadcast electronics trade events around the world. I've been privileged to know many of the greatest names in the radio, t.v., film and recording industries including Ray Dolby and Rupert Neve.

[PascalJeanty]

Thanks a lot TVJAY. Your video is a lifesaving one. I don't think you can imagine how useful it is to me (my graduation project).

[GrishTech]

Watching this again 2 years later. Good stuff.

[DougForce]

Love station tours! Not sure how I missed this on your channel before now! Great video, Jay!

[snugglebunnyhaven]

It's interesting how so many stations are converting to the solid state transmitters. I removed a Harris 3.5K a few weeks ago as the station had bought a new solid state BE. The building is very very small, so it gave them alot more room. The Harris was cleaned up and retuned for another life elsewhere.

[johnrieley]

Fantastic thanks. Around 1968 I worked at a university TV studio with video recorders the size of a small IBM mainframe. Times changed rapidly during my life with miniaturization.

[tomato]

Thank you for the tour of your site. There are so many "armchair" transmitter site experts out there with all their wise guy comments on how THEY would keep things so clean and pristine. It seems you are doing just fine with the budget you have been given, and the once-per-month schedule you have at the location.

[maryrafuse]

My husband grew up in a radio family. In the tube era transmitters needed the constant attention of the Chief Engineer. With AM, FM & TV solid state (FET) transmitters Nautel revolutionized broadcasting and brought dependability up and cost down. This company started out with solid state radio beacons in the early 1970's. With online seminars and excellent customer service Nautel is truly the industry leader.

[eabnamoliben]

I am an intern at a radiostation. We use optical fiber to transmit digital signals from some audio processing technology to the transmitter where analogue signals will transmit to receiver.

[BobCarterMidAtlanticEngineer]

Nice tour but you might want to invest in some clean filters for that Nautel transmitter, clean out the junk and clean the dust and dirt out of there. All of your equipment will run much cooler and last a lot longer.

[witness]

Cool! I manage about 15 Nautel transmitters -fun stuff!

[barrygeary]

Thank you for sharing a vidio i work in community radio myself

[blautens]

Great video, thanks. I've always enjoyed transmitter site tours.

[Jimbob_Offical]

Thanks for uploading this, I'm currently doing an assignment on diffrent workflows relating to the broadcasting industry. One of the workflows is about how a radio goes from a playlist with music on it, to being mixed with software like radio DJ to eventually being transmitted. Your video is really helpful it shows a traditional professional system at a basic level.

[djpotmeter]

Thank you for the tour!
Lol...I was thinking to make a radio channel in my village cause only two stations u can find with bad service...so I tought I get a transmitter from Amazon for couple hundred bucks😂 all this stuff 😂 and the maintenance...just beautiful ❤

[barrygeary]

Nice videos i worked in Community radio the mosely stl link is the best quality out there 😅