LPFM Rip-Off EXPOSED!

Here's another "un-named FM" that's recently undergone a complete transmitter site move and rebuild due to the owners stupidity in demanding that his previous engineering firm construct it by building a 70 foot UNGUYED Rohn 25-G which is not rated to go over 30 feet without proper guying...

Later, it was discovered that the transmitter site was also located several (5) city blocks distant from the location specified on either the CP or license so, a move and rebuild was in order! And now, due to more stupidity on the behalf of the owner, it's been moved even MORE in the wrong direction!!!

Before you leap headfirst into this and say, "They're biased!!!", you need to realize the manner in which this project has been paid (click the check to download a full-size image file):

This first "payment" was followed up by this "payment":

Which was finally followed up with a "good" check in the amount of $500.00 on Friday, February 8, 2002... (Kind of a means of obtaining "unauthorized financing" for a few months, as best we can figure...)

Here, the top section of tower is attached to the gin pole and just being readied for lifting into position for final attachment at the 80 foot level of the new tower.

Note the GUY WIRES at 30 feet and at 60 feet that run from the tower to the 30 foot telephone poles that are located some 20 feet from the tower base.

That's right! We had asked for a 100 foot by 100 foot property on which to construct the tower but, upon being advised that the property was ready, it measured out to a whopping 50 feet by 75 feet and there was a house in the middle of THAT!

The 30 foot telephone poles allowed us to guy the tower as though it were only a 60 foot tower by raising the apparent ground height (relative to the attachment points on the tower) to a height 30 feet ABOVE the location at which they'd normally be!

Another view of the same stage of completion but viewed from a different angle...

The set of temporary guy wires at 50 feet are to provide stabilization while the top sections were being lifted into place.

We take a bit longer than the competition by doing things in this manner but, in the long run, we feel that these practices protect both our people and your installation!

Some people feel that these practices are a waste of time and "Ain't got no time for all that foolishness" but, we simply prefer to work as safely and reliably as possible and choose to not accept work from anyone who displays such an attitude in advance of the first stages of actual construction.

The top GUY WIRES have been attached and the section (including the pole mounted antenna) is being raised into place...

This operation was actually a lot simpler than it looks and only took a little more than 20 minutes to complete.

After the bolts were tightened and the GUY WIRES properly tensioned, the only remaining cleanup involved a slow ride from top to bottom securing transmission lines and cutting off excess GUY WIRE from the guy points all the way down.

Before the guys reached the ground, we had already fired up the transmitter for preliminary testing and had determined that the antenna might have to be returned to the factory due to a lack of reflected power... (Just kidding but, the thing DID test out PERFECTLY on the first attempt!)

The completed 90 foot tower (GUYED at 30, 60 and 90 feet) with the antenna pole mounted at 95 feet...

Some grounding and attaching the two-bay backup antenna system (the backup transmitter is only capable of 50% of the output of the main transmitter) at the mid-point and the entire installation is completed and ready for use!

When asked why there are some many poles involved in the installation, the only answer that comes to mind is that the station could become heavily involved in "Pole-ish" community interests...