I sure enjoyed Mark Persons’ “popped up antenna tower” article.
The story reminded me of a phone call I received years ago from a North Central Kansas client station, KFRM, a 5 kW, three-tower DA on 550 kHz.
Rod, the local engineer, told me that someone had just build a 200-foot tower across the highway from the station. After a quick check of the database, I told Rod the “someone” was the state of Kansas, and that the tower wasn’t even half way constructed; the planned height was 450 feet.
I contacted the state communications director and was told that he would “check into it.” Like Mark, I mentioned a couple of FCC regulations.
A half-hour later I received a return call saying, “You’re right, we’re wrong, make it right.” Some $60,000 later, also with the help of Mr. Nott, the tight shotgun pattern to the south-southwest was back into compliance. The project resulted in a continuing association with the state, as their tower projects moved forward.
Larry P. Waggoner, WØKA
Broadcast Technical Consultants
Wichita, Kan.
