Even industry legends are not immune to the problem of theft of metals.
Paul Gregg, president of Bauer Transmitters in El Paso, Texas, tells RW he lost 11 bays from two used FM antennas, a Jampro JSCP-8 and a Celwave CFM-3, on his property.
“These were antennas — both still in good condition — that I purchased from stations in Arizona that moved from the valley to the mountain top so they did not need them anymore,” he told RW. “I intended to refurbish them and sell them along with a ‘remanufactured’ Bauer transmitter. The Jampro eight-bay and a Bauer 625 (25 kW) would make a nice 100 kW ERP package.”
The antennas were in his company’s side yard behind a high chain link fence with a barbed-wire top.
“The interbay lines were all on a large metal storage rack; the antenna bays were on the ground. The Jampro bays weigh about 45 pounds each and at present salvage rates for mixed copper and brass bring about $54. A replacement bay quoted yesterday by Jampro is $3,200. The Celwave antenna is no longer made having been replaced by a newer model made overseas.
The bays were taken between Aug. 2 and Aug. 9; Gregg said Bauer reported the case to the police. “My suspicion is that they were taken for their copper/brass value by someone who did not know what they were. I assume they are in a scrap yard now.” The items were not insured.
“So now,” Gregg said, “I have about 700 pounds of surplus transmission line.”
Gregg was the subject of a career profile in Radio World in 2004; read it here.
