Topband: and KDKA

[Grant Saviers]

I haven't heard the farmer story, but in the 60's lived 1000yds from the 
KDKA radio tower in Allison Park, PA.  That area is rough up and down 
small hills, not much farming.  KDKA/Westinghouse did experiment with 
400kw short wave at the old Saxonburg site.  We didn't have any RF 
problems, but I was QRT at that home.

My uncle George Saviers(SK), last call W2NPR, was an RF engineer at KDKA 
in the 1930's.  KDKA moved the transmitter to a site in Saxonburg and 
began construction of a 718' Franklin antenna, center fed, 135deg per 
side.  That tower collapsed under construction due to the failure of a 
guy end potting (molten zinc poured around flayed out wires into a 
reverse taper cavity according to George). This tower was rebuilt by 
American Bridge on the same site, but poor coverage caused them to 
dismantle it and move it in 1939 to Allison Park, north of Pittsburgh, 
east of Rt 8.  In 1994, after 55 years service, the tower was replaced 
with a new 718' radiator fed as 90deg bottom and 180deg top.  Pieces of 
the 1939 tower were sold to benefit local charities.

I collect KDKA radio stuff, so let me know if you have some looking for 
a new home.  My dad was also a briefly KDKA employee on the studio side 
pre WWII and the two brothers roomed with Dave Garroway who started his 
broadcasting career at KDKA.

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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