WBZ/Westinghouse/Springfield, MA

[Dan.Strassberg]

Hi, Sid: Thanks. You pointed out only one of several errors in my
posting. The towers are not 185.5 degrees, as I had said; they are, as
you pointed out, 188.5 degrees, which is ~500' at 1030. I had said
492', and called it ~500m, which is obviously wrong; 492' is just
about 150m.

I wonder whether the difference between the photo that Dale posted and
the one that Scott posted could be that the WBZ towers were reguyed
maybe half a dozen years ago. Before that work was done, it had been
mentioned several times on this list that the towers were to be
completely replaced. There were several delays in the replacement and
then it was announced that the station's owner (probably Infinity back
then) had decided that replacement was not necessary and that the
towers would be reguyed. It is possible that there were only two sets
of guys on each tower originally and that reguying involved adding
three sets and replacing two. A visit to Hull might provide the answer
or it might not. (It would, however, allow me to say that I had been
to Hull and back;>) I suppose that, by connecting multiple guys to a
single anchor point, one can use only two anchor points to anchor five
guys. However, if everything were done properly, wouldn't having a
separate anchor point for each guy provide higher reliability than
anchoring two or three guys at a single point?

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sid Schweiger" <sid@wrko.com>
To: "Boston Radio Interest"
<boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: WBZ/Westinghouse/Springfield, MA


>>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?<<

Scott Fybush's shot of the towers is much more detailed.  See it here:
http://pcswithease.com/WBZ/wbz_transmitter_site.html  Five guy levels,
with what appears to be only the top 20 feet or so unguyed.

The FCC database says they're 188.5 degrees, not 185.5.


Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF/WEEI/WEEI-FM/WKAF
WMKK/WRKO/WVEI/WVEI-FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040
P: 617-779-5369
F: 617-779-5379
E: sid@wrko.com