PastorGary Posted April 19, 2018 Report Posted April 19, 2018 Link for Details: http://fox2now.com/2018/04/19/worker-killed-when-missouri-public-tv-tower-collapses/ Logan5 1 Quote
skylloga Posted April 20, 2018 Report Posted April 20, 2018 Wow this is right up the road from me. IIRC this had one of the main repeaters for skywarn in this area on it. Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn’s main repeater is the N∅NWS Repeater operating on 145.490 MHz. with a standard minus 0.6 MHz. offset and a PL of 136.5 Hz. This repeater (pictured right) transmits and receives from antennas located atop a 1,000-foot-high commercial broadcast tower in Fordland, Missouri approximately 15 miles east of Springfied. This is a wide-area coverage repeater. It uses a Vertex VHF Repeater unit along with a CAT controller. A 100 amp DC power supply powers a 350 watt amplifier. It is the main linking hub which then connects to the following participating repeaters: Quote
PastorGary Posted April 20, 2018 Author Report Posted April 20, 2018 If anyone has additional news of any communications that may have been affected by this incident, please log your observations here. (Amateur, business, public safety, GMRS, cell systems, microwave interlink, etc.)The PBS tower was just under 2000 feet high, so it may not be the same '1000 foot commercial broadcast tower' as listed in the data supplied above. Confirmation from local sources would be appreciated regarding interruption of any communication services. Quote
Radioguy7268 Posted April 20, 2018 Report Posted April 20, 2018 There's some drone video up on www.ky3.com which is the local news station there in Missouri. The broadcast video shows a 2nd tower still standing near the location of the collapsed tower. I believe the newscaster mentions this tower being closer to 1900' tall. I have no knowledge if that's correct or not. Devastating. It's amazing that only one person was killed, but sad that it happened at all. Work was being done to reinforce the tower - apparently in anticipation of some upcoming re-pack work. This is the 2nd tragedy that I know of being blamed on re-pack work, the other one being earlier this year a tower near Miami where 3 workers were killed when rigging failed. Quote
Jones Posted April 20, 2018 Report Posted April 20, 2018 The 2000 foot fallen tower was owned by Missouri State University. The primary service was for KOZK-TV, channel 21, the PBS affiliate. Also on the tower was NOAA Weather Radio station WXL46, at 162.400MHz. Both of those stations are out of service till further notice,, and do not have backup facilities. The above article incorrectly stated that KSMU-FM was also on this tower, but it is not. KSMU-FM is still on the air from it's primary tower location. Suzanne Shaw, vice president for marketing and communications for Missouri State University, confirmed that KOZK-TV remains off the air, and that the collapse also affected the NOAH weather station, but not KSMU. Shaw said she had no estimate on when the station would be back on the air, but said they were talking with local broadcasters to partner with them in some way. I do not believe that N0NWS has any repeaters at this location, but I have emailed the Ozark SkyWarn team to ask. If I hear back, I'll update this thread. -BartSouth-Central Nebraska SkyWarn Quote
n4gix Posted April 20, 2018 Report Posted April 20, 2018 What those workers were doing is extremely dangerous. Removing a cross-brace prior to installing a new one is similar to Russian Roulette... Sad that anyone died as a result. Quote
Jones Posted April 21, 2018 Report Posted April 21, 2018 Reply from Southwest Missouri Regional SkyWarn director Michael Blake: I am happy to say we are not on the PBS tower that fell, I am on the process of helping NOAA get their station back on the air, using one of our antennas, this will be the set up until they can get there antenna and coax installed on the same tower we are on,Thanks for checking on us. It means a lot to me.Michael Blake So there is the official word from N0NWS. On another note, for those who are not familiar with the "repack work" going on, our fabulously intelligent government has ordered all TV stations above channel 34 to "Re-Pack" themselves onto lower channels. This also means that some lower channels must move down the dial. Most must install new antennas. This is also causing the displacement of some FM stations, since lower channels means larger antennas for TV transmission. The Government nuts are doing this because they have "Sold" all of the TV channels above 34 to the cellular phone and broadband companies, so the TV stations have to move out by the end of THIS YEAR!!! ...an impossible feat, but congress idiots seem to think that changing channels of a transmitter site is about the same as changing the channels on your TV set. Hans 1 Quote
Jones Posted April 21, 2018 Report Posted April 21, 2018 Another update... There WAS indeed a ham radio repeater on that tower. KB0E at 147.120 is down. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=29&ID=11194 Quote
PastorGary Posted April 21, 2018 Author Report Posted April 21, 2018 Thanks for the news. It may be awhile for all the services to be restored - in some manner. Quote
PastorGary Posted April 22, 2018 Author Report Posted April 22, 2018 A colleague at a broadcast station in Mississippi mentioned to me that their upgrade was completed a couple weeks ago on their 2000 foot tower, by a crew that had three persons killed during an upgrade in Florida in September of 2017. https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/three-tall-tower-workers-killed-florida-168970 Quote
Radioguy7268 Posted November 26, 2018 Report Posted November 26, 2018 Update: Inside Towers has an update on the outcome of the OSHA ruling. https://insidetowers.com/cell-tower-news-contractors-error-caused-death-osha-reports/ Hans 1 Quote
Hans Posted November 27, 2018 Report Posted November 27, 2018 https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/tower-guy-hill-post-auction-repack-should-not-be-rushed-168401 Tower Guy to Hill: Post-Auction Repack Should Not Be Rushed "[T]here is one inescapable fact: there are not, at present, enough qualified workers to perform all the tower work we will be required to complete," he said. Logan5, JohnE and Elkhunter521 3 Quote
Radioguy7268 Posted November 29, 2018 Report Posted November 29, 2018 And the hits just keep coming.... Apparently, there was video of the collapse as it happened. The video is grainy, but apparently shows that the workers knew something was wrong. Shocking tower collapse video shows an erector just two seconds away from death.https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=88&v=oH-ER8yFJfs More video, along with the story: http://wirelessestimator.com/articles/2018/shocking-tower-collapse-video-shows-an-erector-just-two-seconds-away-from-death/ Hans 1 Quote
Hans Posted November 29, 2018 Report Posted November 29, 2018 Others may disagree with me but that's a brave and compassionate man to order his crew off of the tower and remain there himself to figure out the problem. RCM, Elkhunter521, Logan5 and 1 other 4 Quote
n4gix Posted November 29, 2018 Report Posted November 29, 2018 That was a frightening experience for the three who managed to get down. Hans 1 Quote
RCM Posted November 30, 2018 Report Posted November 30, 2018 Others may disagree with me but that's a brave and compassionate man to order his crew off of the tower and remain there himself to figure out the problem.No doubt about it. That man was a hero. Hans 1 Quote
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