W4CLdotNET |
| The beacon is located at the transmitter site of WGHP-Television located near Randleman, North Carolina south of Greensboro, North Carolina. Not only a FOX network affiliate, but owned and operated by FOX Broadcasting Company, a News Corp company. These pictures were taken on 24 May, 1999 with a Kodak DC120 digital camera. |
|
|
| If you look closely on the roof and slightly to
the left of the RF warning sign on the gate, you can see the 10
meter vertical antenna for the beacon. It appears to be a very
thin white line against the green tree background. The six meter antenna is
located behind the ten meter antenna in the same horizontal plane.
The base of the tower you see belongs to a 382 meter (1255 feet) Kline tower that supports the television station's RCA Traveling Wave 18 db gain antenna. The site was built in 1963 and the left most part of the building (slightly lower roof) added in 1981 to accommodate the current transmitter. The view is looking east. |
|
|
| Here is a view from the side of the building that
faces north. The ten meter beacon antenna is clearly seen in the
center of the picture supported from the ice bridge that carries
the transmission line for the TV station. The six meter antenna added after this
picture was taken, is located to the left along the ice bridge above the
end of the building (3rd vertical support left of the ten meter
antenna).
The green grating below the antenna is the ice protector for the the 250 kW emergency power generator for the site. Yes, we do get ice here but only once a year and the ice is usually small (1 to 3 inches thick), but falling from 382 meters (1255 feet) with give ANYONE a bad day if you get hit! The generator usually gets run more for hurricane power outages than ice outages. |
|
|
| Here is a picture of the whole reason this site exists. (Though the beacon plays a VERY small part of the reason. YEAH, RIGHT!) This is a Harris TVD 50H 50kW NTSC television transmitter. It operates on Channel 8 (180-186 MHz). With the 18 gain antenna the transmitter is operated at 50% (25kW) power to achieve the authorized power of 316 kW ERP. This view is from the front door airlock you see in the front view of the building picture. The beacon sites in a rack behind the far three cabinets of the transmitter. |
|
|
| Here is what you came to see (I guess!?) The WB4WOR beacon on 28.2905 MHz and 50.0625 MHz. The beacon sits in the back of the stations two-way radio equipment rack along with the nitrogen pressure manifold for the transmission line and other transmission lines for the microwave antennas on the tower. The back of the far cabinets in the previous photo is 3 and half meters (12 feet) to the left side of this picture. I am facing back toward the front door of the building. The MFJ GrandMaster backup keyer is located on the bottom of the stack Next up the stack is the ten meter transmitter followed by the MFJ 424 main keyer and the Alinco DR-M06 six meter transmitter. |
Back
UPDATED 5/11/2001
