Re: The Colonial Network-- what I found

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

Donna: I remember the post. I kind of doubt that it really was THE first 
vertical AM radiator, but as I said, it was one of the first AND were it 
standing today, I'm sure that there would be a queue of people trying to get it 
classified as a Massachusetts, if not a national historic landmark. There can 
be no question that what was described in the Shepard release was a Blaw-Knox 
diamond tower. Scott Fybush can tell you how many of them remain in the US 
today. I think there are fewer than 10. The nearest one is at WFEA south of 
Manchester NH. There are three at WBT in Charlotte NC but at least two of those 
are not original--having been replaced after hurricane damage 20 or so years 
ago. The tallest is at WSM Nashvile and the most famous is at WLW. A picture of 
the WLW tower adorns the home page of Scott's Web site.

I'm a bit confused about the claimed 430' height of the WNAC/WAAB tower. 
Shepard's release suggests that this was the height with the 75' pole fully 
retracted. Blaw Knox diamond towers definitely were equipped with such poles 
because, in those days, not enough was known about the effects of tower height. 
However, at 1230 (the frequency on which WNAC operated) 430' was already more 
than 180 degrees. By my calculation it was 193 degrees. And at 1410 (WAAB's 
frequency) it was 222 degrees. A 225-degree tower produces the maximum 
radiation efficiency, but as was discovered at WSM several years after 1931, it 
also produces a wicked skywave that causes fading within the station's normal 
service area--unless interference from other stations restricts the service 
area even more than the fading does. I would think that the tower proper would 
have been shorter than 430' (no more than 400'; maybe less) and that the pole 
would have been adjusted upward to achieve the best compromise between 
radiation efficiency and anti-fade properties for the two stations.

--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367

> Back in the summer of 2001, my husband and I found the exact neighbourhood 
> in Squantum where the transmitter stood.  I posted this message at that time:
> 
> "SO it turns out the remnants of the WNAC transmitter are all over one 
> neighbourhood in Quincy, and I have the pictures to prove it.  The shack 
> still stands, as do various cement blocks, and whatever you call those 
> things that held the guy wires-- wow, what a massive installation that must 
> have been.  Lucky for me, when the tower was torn down and new homes built, 
> the people who moved into them are still there, and were very amused that I 
> wanted to traipse through their back yards with my husband to take pictures 
> of something from the "good old days."  State of the art in 1931, obsolete 
> by the late 40s, yet there were remants in FIVE different people's back 
> yards!!!  I gotta say it's bizarre to see a flower garden in a neighbour's 
> yard and in the midst of it are cement blocks from what used to be a 
> transmitter site... talk about creative use of space and working around a 
> problem!   One lady has the concrete base and the moorings for guy wires 
> occupying a corner of her driveway-- and again, if you didn't know what the 
> thing was, it now has flowers and shrubbery growing around it... "
> 
> And the other post about it from 2001 was this press release, written in 
> 1931by Shepard's publicity dept:
> 
> 22 August 1931, from the files of Shepard Broadcasting Services
> 
> "WAAB's vertical half-wave radiator at Squantum, Mass is the first antenna 
> of this type in the world to be used by a broadcasting station.  The whole 
> tower is the antenna and rests on a porcelain insulator tested to a 
> compression of 1,000,000 pounds.  The four guy wires, each of which carries 
> a strain of 50,000 pounds, hold the tower in place.  The steel giant is 430 
> feet high and weighs 30 tons.  A 75 foot pole at the top can be raised or 
> lowered in tuning the antenna.  Six insulators in each guy wire weigh 450 
> pounds each.  Guy wires are moored to four anchors, each of which contains 
> 50 tons of cement.  The tower is 18 feet square where the guy wires are 
> attached and one foot square at the base.  The cromium ball at the top of 
> the mast is twice the size of a man's head.  An aviation beacon of 2,000 
> watts power will flash from the top-most part of the fabricated structure 
> which will also carry stationary aviation lights.  WAAB alternates with 
> WNAC as key station of the Yankee Network."