Transmitter sites tend to be out of site and out of mind for many and that’s one of the many reasons we partner with broadcasters. Routine site visits and maintenance are a big part of our services. I’m continually amazed at the different types of ingress we discover. This time it was high reflected power on the transmitter that had me walking outside to, literally, see what was up. Here’s a case of, “Hurry up and zip tie the coax to the tower.” I can image the project manager realizing cable management hardware was overlooked in the parts order or perhaps it was simply left behind at the office. Either way, time is money on the tower and it appears 180 feet of 7/8 inch cable wasn’t properly attached to the tower. Now it’s twisted up in our customers antenna. Suddenly, I recalled a recent conversation I had with one of the staff about how the station was usually strong in a particular part of his drive home but lately seemed to drop out entirely. It all makes sense now. It’s not uncommon to find abandoned cables and coax on a tower. Wether it’s owned or not I’m sure we will be looking into cleaning up this tower soon enough.
My grandfather was a lineman. I think this sort of fun is in my blood.