A Brief Guided Tour Of KPFK's Main Transmitter
Hosted and filmed By Don Mussel
A brief look at the KPFK transmitter facility at Mt. Wilson, 5700 feet above Los Angeles. We just finished adding a new antenna system.
The main transmitter is an Armstrong 60000FMT, and the backup transmitter is an older CCA 20000GS. KPFK operates with 110,000 watts ERP (effective radiated power). The new antenna is a Shively 6814-5R.9SS, a high power, reduced wave-spaced design, which allows more power to the audience and less energy on the ground below the tower. The standby antenna is a Jampro 4 bay high power model, and at the very top of the tower is a single bay Shively 6814 backup. The big reddish covers are for ice protection, which is very important up at Mt. Wilson. The winter of 2008 brought lots of ice and snow, and lots of damage to adjacent transmitter sites up there. KPFK did fine, except for one of the STL (Studio-transmitter link) dishes that has a bent feed horn (scheduled for replacement this spring).
The guy running to avoid being on camera is Bob Conger, the chief engineer at KPFK. He keeps the whole thing running smoothly.
