Topband: and KDKA

[Grant Saviers]

My uncle W2NPR George Saviers(SK) was an RF engineer at KDKA radio in 
the 1930's when the "original" Saxonburg, PA 718' tower collapsed due to 
a guy failure while under construction in 1936.  As he told the story 
the guy cable ends were flayed out and potted with molten zinc into a 
reverse tapered internally end fitting.  One not correctly potted 
failed.  A second tower of the same design was built at the Saxonburg 
site in 1937.  It was a symmetrical center fed antenna, 135deg per 
leg.   In 1939 the antenna was dismantled and moved for better coverage 
to Allison Park, PA.  That tower was 1000yds from my back yard.  The 
moved 718' "Franklin" was replaced in 1994 due to age (55 years) and 
tower parts were sold to benefit charities.  The present 718' Franklin 
is an unsymmetrical design, 90deg base, 180deg top sections.

See http://www.fybush.com/sites/2010/site-100326.html

I collect older KDKA radio memorabilia and would appreciate any.

I guess is possible there is some substance to the farmer story, but the 
Allison Park WWII tower location north of Pittsburgh is pretty rough up 
and down small hill country, not much farming.  I've not heard it 
before.  At the Saxonburg site KDKA/Westinghouse experimented with MW 
400kw transmissions.

Grant Saviers KZ1W

On 9/10/2013 12:32 PM, Herb Schoenbohm wrote:
> There is an old story about KDKA's antenna system that was told to be 
> a long time ago. During WWII KDKA along with a frew other stations was 
> allowed to operate with 250,000 watts to the antenna system. A farmer 
> across from the KDKA's arrays was plagued by RF on everything 
> including hearing the station in his kitchen sink.  A friend of his 
> was a ham and came up with the idea of tuning all the lamps in the 
> barn and house into a tuned circuit to resonate and provide a means of 
> lighting for free.  It work so well that the farmer would brag about 
> it at a local tavern and was overheard by one of KDKA's engineers who 
> told the management who called the FCC Field offices.  So the dispute 
> insued that the farmer claimed the radiation  was on his land without 
> permission and he had rights to it no matter what.  The whole matter 
> ended up in the DC Circuit with KDKA claiming it could not comply with 
> its required radiation pattern  because the farmer was distorting 
> their pattern.  The court came up with an unusual conclusion that 
> there was merit to both arguments.  But since the station was required 
> to have a precise RF level at a measuring point the court offer the 
> farmer the option of leaving his lights on all the time or completely 
> turning the lights off permanently. Since the lights were constantly 
> flickering with modulation he chose the later solution if KDKA agreed 
> to pay for his lawyer.
>
> I would be interested if anyone else has heard this story before and 
> if there is any veracity to it.
>
> Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
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> On 9/10/2013 1:34 PM, Bill Cromwell wrote:
>> Hi Ed,
>>
>> The engineer at WTIC responded. That station does not have a Franklin 
>> antenna but has "series fed halfwave" during the day and switches in 
>> a second one at night, phased to change the radiation pattern. He 
>> also told me that their 'sister station', KDKA in Pittsburgh, does 
>> use a Franklin antenna. Some members near Pittsburgh may want to roll 
>> by for a peek at it.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Bill  KU8H
>>
>>
>> On 09/06/2013 04:13 PM, Edwin Karl wrote:
>>> There are several interesting articles if you Google "Franklin Antenna"
>>> they are mechanically BIG and require feeding ingenuity (hams are known
>>> for this feature ...) but are stacked verticals, note- phase the top 
>>> element
>>> to avoid cancellation.
>>>
>>> If memory serves me right WTIC in Hartford phased two of these puppies,
>>> but it's been a long time ...
>>>
>>>
>>> 73!
>>>
>>> ed k0kl
>>> _________________
>>> Topband Reflector
>>>
>>
>> _________________
>> Topband Reflector
>
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> Topband Reflector
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