WBZ/Westinghouse/Springfield, MA

[Dan.Strassberg]

WBZ's towers in Hull are 185.5 degrees tall. If my math is correct,
that comes out to 492' or almost exactly 500m. I have no idea of the
face dimension, but the towers appear to be triangular in cross
section and quite slender relative to their height. From the photo, it
appears that the towers are guyed at approximately 175' and 350' above
ground. That leaves ~140' at the top unguyed. Is that approximately
correct? And if so, isn't that a very great length of a slender
uniform cross-section tower to be left to support itself--especially
given the high wind loads one would expect in the unsheltered seaside
location? I was surprised to see only two sets of guys on such tall
and slender towers and even more surprised that the higher
guy-attachment points are so far from the top. Is there somebody
reading this with enough structural-engineering savvy to comment?
Thanks.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dale H. Cook" <radiotest@cox.net>
To: "Boston Radio Interest"
<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 10:40 AM
Subject: Re: WBZ/Westinghouse/Springfield, MA


> I've posted a 1024x768 bitmap image of the WBZ towers past and
> present. On the left are the original WBZ (later WBZA) towers atop
> the old Westinghouse factory in East Springfield. On the right are
> the current WBZ towers in Hull.
>
> http://plymouthcolony.net/starcityeng/index.html
>
> Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, Centennial Broadcasting,
> Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA - WZZI / WZZU / WLNI / WLEQ
> http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/starcity.html