Although not directly amateur radio related, I am posting info on this tragic event as an alert for caution as the busy season for Ham tower activity arrives. Various media reports indicated the tower company employed was from Oregon. The name of the one deceased worker (so far) does not register in the Zed / FCC database. Unknown if any of the other injured workers are Hams, their names have not been seen published. The collapse at minimum took out a PBS TV station and a NOAA WX bulletin station on 162.4 Mhz. I have not seen reports of any amateur repeaters involved but loss of the NOAA may affect Skywarn or other Ham activity in the area. The work was initially reported as routine maintenance, "...replacing crossbeams on the tower..." however this article paints a different and somewhat troubling story. https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/missouri-tv-tower-collapses KOZK executives were not available for comment at press time, but the Springfield News-Leader quoted MSU spokeswoman Andrea Mostyn at the scene as saying the station was "conducting some tower...modifications to comply with some FCC changes to channels." That station is being repacked from channel 23 to channel 16, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, and is in the FCC's first phase of stations needing to move to new channels -- the move must be completed by the end of this year. NAB has expressed concerns about safety with so much tower work needed to meet the repack deadlines. Suzanne Shaw, VP for marketing and communications for Missouri State University, confirmed that the crew was working on repack-related equipment issues rather than routine maintenance. "They were adding reinforcements to accommodate the new equipment associated with channel repacking," John, WØPV PS - additional link with drone video of the aftermath (thanks KØDD) http://www.ky3.com/content/news/DRONE-VIDEO-TV-Tower-collapses-in-Fordland-Mo-field-480285143.html
Actually, the tower is technically non-profit and government, not 'commercial'. Repacking is the placing of broadcast stations into a tighter frequency range. This is intended to free up spectrum for commercial cell carriers, and others, such as (ultimately) FIRSTNET. There will be spectrum auctions, and that is what drives the timescale for repacking. If you get a changed frequency assignment then the antenna changes. The TX /filter changes. Its like starting from scratch. Most transmitters can easily change frequency but the amplifiers and antennas can't do this easily. There are only a handful of tower companies qualified to do tower 'reinforcement' for repacking, these include (there may be more)--- Coast to Coast Tower Service, Inc.; ERI Installation Services; H.C. Jeffries Tower Company, Inc.; Northeast Towers, Inc.’’; Precision Communications, Inc.; Seacomm Erectors, Inc.; Sioux Falls Tower & Communications; Tower King II, Inc.; Tower Communications; Tower Systems, Inc.; Velocitel, Inc. Formerly Doty-Moore; Vertical Technology Services, LLC; and Wallen Communications, LLC. A vast majority of these companies are staffed in large part by hams. Chances are there are hams effected by this tragic accident. Rumor has it that a guy was being removed to raise equipment. Not presentimg this as fact. 73 Chip W1YW
The 600 MHz auction has already been completed. TV channels 38 through 51 will be relinquished and all remaining TV stations will be repacked into channels 2 through 36. The repack will be accomplished in 10 phases starting September 14, 2018 and ending July 3, 2020. https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/fcc-initiatives/incentive-auctions/transition-schedule The FirstNet will be in the 700 MHz band which was cleared back in June 2009 after the initial Digital Television transition. You can see which of your local TV stations will be moving here. Due to interference issues, even stations already on channels 2 through 36 may be moving. https://rabbitears.info/repackchannels.php
"...Shaw said KOZK-TV remains off the air, and that the collapse also affected the NOAH weather station, but not KSMU, the university radio station, which was not co-located...." Phil
Chip, thanks for the clarification and expanded info. And many congrat's on your Hamvention Technical Achievement Award! As you said and the link that Ron W6RZ provided illustrates, repacking all those broadcast TV channels is gonna take a LOT of work. No doubt many professionally working Hams will be involved. Hope it can be accomplished safely. 73, John, WØPV
It is ham related, the KB0E 147.120+ repeater was located on the tower as well https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=29&ID=11194
I agree with the NAB -- the repacking time scale is unrealistic and, as this tragedy reveals, problematic.
Ouch, Ultra-wide coverage, 80 mile radius. SKYWARN backup. A significant regional asset loss for the FCC Part 97 Amateur Radio Service. Curiously, the 145.43 (Springfield) KA4FKF linked remote receiver in Fordland is indicated as green, still operational, on the groups web site. Located elsewhere? http://www.sgfrepeater.com/
Interesting information............ "As of this writing, it is unclear what caused the tower’s collapse. It may have been in disrepair. According to a document obtained by the News-Leader, the tower’s operators were seeking bids to perform $775,000 worth of structural repairs to the tower." https://www.inquisitr.com/4871694/fordland-missouri-tv-tower-collapse-leaves-one-dead-three-injured/
I beg to differ. The Broadcastingcable link says that the crew was working at approximately the 100 ft level when the tower gave way. To me, and admittedly I am NOT an expert, it looks as if the tower snapped off at the level the crew was working on. It looks as if the tower came straight down, shoving the bottom 100 ft off in one direction, then all the guy wires snapped and the remaining tower toppled over in the opposite direction in more or less one piece. I've been to the big antenna farm used by Sacramento TV stations in Walnut Grove, Ca, and those huge towers are awe inspiring and scary at the same time. Working on one of those puppies requires a lot more courage than I will possess in my lifetime.
As noted on this thread, the antenna was being re-engineered for a different freq when it collapsed. AND it was in disrepair too? This will make some lawyers extremely wealthy and Missouri State extremely poor. When the 1920s-era main tower for KDKA came down in 1995 due to weather, Group W Broadcasting (a distant descendant of Westinghouse Corp.) made lemonade out of lemons, cut the wreckage into small pieces which were shipped to Canada, to be made into commemorative paperweights, with the profits benefiting the Pittsburgh Childrens Hospital. I still have mine here on the shelf. Very interesting approach to a tower collapse. When a small plane flew into KFI's tower (located at the Fullerton general aviation airport) a while back I was hoping they'd do something similar.
The KA0FKF repeater has a different main site in Springfield, MO. It also has multiple remote receivers in other locations. It is still on air. Yes, the KB0E repeater had a huge coverage radius for mobiles and base stations. Very sad to see it off air.
I found a coverage map for the repeater. http://www.sgfrepeater.com/repeaters/147-12-overview/ It's likely I heard it while training at Fort Leonard Wood. I had a 5 watt HT at the time, I don't recall transmitting with it while there as I wasn't sure about the rules on doing so. I remember hearing Army recruits in field training on 6 meters with those big old pack radios. I thought about messing with them by taking to them, but then thought better of it. I doubt the people running the radio knew the rules on what frequencies that they should use, but then I wasn't so sure of them either. As I recall those radios worked on 30 to 88 MHz, they probably just picked something roughly in the middle of it's frequency range and didn't think much of it. They ran 5 watts or so off a good battery, and they didn't have good batteries. It's quite likely no one heard them but me, it was apparent they could barely hear each other.
