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Getting to the Transmitter Site Safely and Efficiently

Hey folks, good to have a chance to chat again! First, apologies for the radio silence in 2024 – as most of you may know, we shifted US territories around a bit when our good friend Ted Nahil retired (that only lasted a few months, but that’s a story for a different day!). As a result, I took most of 2024 off with respect to articles and webinars as I learned how to get around my new territory.

For anybody who hasn’t seen the releases or emails, I’m now covering everything east of the Mississippi and Jeff Wilson covers everything west, including Minnesota and Louisiana (not that I still won’t sneak across the river on occasion if I can find an excuse!) I look forward to lots of meeting, eating and greeting with new friends and associates!

One of the things I noticed in my travels is that how I get from point A to point B varies a lot more here. When I covered the west coast, it was a lot of flying from town to town. In the center of the country, it was more flying into one city, renting a car then driving a big circle over the next week or two and flying home from the starting point. Now, it’s a much more varied combination of planes, trains and automobiles… in fact, this article is being written on an Amtrak run between Washington, DC and Boston, MA. I’ve become a big fan of Amtrak, especially on the eastern seaboard – comfortable, cost effective and convenient scheduling.

Figure 1 – Unintentional plug for our friends at the MaxxKonnect Group!


And thus, the inspiration for this session’s article was born – getting to the destination (usually the transmitter site) safely and efficiently. There have been a few experiences and observations over the past few weeks, months and years that have led up to this and I’ll try to weave them into the commentary below.

One of the most common methods of site access is the pickup truck – for the majority of us, our sites are vehicle accessible, at least for a good portion of the year. A couple of considerations to make in that regard are having an emergency kit, decent tires and a battery booster, along with an assortment of fluids and parts, depending on your specific vehicle and site accessibility. One example – most folks know that in my infinite spare time, I lend a hand with a local community station. Jamie, our GM and one of the founders, does all the heavy lifting, but I do try to show up on occasion, especially when it involves the transmitter site. Last winter, we had to make an unscheduled visit to the site after a snowfall… and we took my truck, since the 4WD worked – that’s important in snow country! Remember I mentioned decent tires? Turns out I needed some…

Figure 2 – that’s not the road!


Not to worry, a leisurely mile or so hike down the hill and a few hours later, it was winched out and good to go – but my lack of planning turned what should have been a one-hour trip into a 4-5 hour trip. If we lived in more mountainous terrain, it could have been a lot worse. No matter what, do NOT neglect the maintenance on your site access vehicle! I do carry a reasonable assortment of tow ropes and crank winches, but proper planning could have reduced the odds of this particular situation occurring.

Next, and just as important, the vehicle maintenance kit – making sure you’ve got antifreeze, oil, a tire pump and battery booster, along with brake fluid and steering fluid, can go a long way toward getting you out of a jam. In a pinch, brake fluid can also be used to clean mechanical parts (not advised for use on blower belts!), motor oil can be an emergency lubricant if you’ve got a bearing that you need to get a few more rotations out of before the replacement arrives, etc. Note that I did say “a few more rotations”, motor oil is definitely NOT a substitute for bearing grease! Just last night, on the way to an SBE meeting, we were coming out of the restaurant where we picked up the pizza for the meeting when a young person approached asking if we had booster cables – these days, USB chargeable battery boosters are getting lower in price and they provide an excellent power source for charging USB devices. Both my wife and I have NOCO brand boosters in our vehicles and they’ve both been used at one point or another, whether on our own vehicles or somebody else’s.

Figure 3 – image courtesy www.autozone.com


As with all emergency kits, what you stock will be determined more by your local environment – at a minimum, I keep a first aid kit, wound dressing kits, water, a couple of beach towels (which can almost double as blankets in a pinch), a few utility candles, some waterproof matches and a decent pair of scissors in my truck, along with a couple of granola bars. There’s probably a whole bunch more that could be in there – a plastic bucket makes a great container and can help to keep moisture out. Look to this Five Gallon Emergency Kit Checklist as one source of ideas for what you should have for an emergency stock. If you get stuck at the site some cold winter night, it can make a huge difference in how comfortable you are!

Figure 4 – images courtesy Chatham Co. Emergency Management


Beyond the 4x4s, whether personal or company owned, a lot of sites require extra effort to access in the winter. I’ll admit to having stolen this photo from Shane Toven’s Facebook page (hi, Shane!). Shane is the Director of Technology at Sandhill Media Group and has a bunch of sites that are not always accessible by regular motor vehicles, thus extra effort may be required.

Figure 5 – for seriously snowy site situations!


Obviously, machines like this come with their own specific maintenance and spare parts requirements. Certainly, consult with your owner’s manual, but if you are charged with use and maintenance of any off road vehicle, it’s also good practice to reach out to users groups for that specific unit and to build a relationship with somebody who has a reputation for being able to repair them. If your site requires one of these to access, you want to be 100% certain that it starts every time you turn the key!

One of my favourite transmitter site stories is about coming down a mountain in a 1950s vintage Jeep in Central America with no brakes and a flat tire… the trip was done in 1-low, with the motor screaming and transmission smoking. To say the driver was sweating all the way down the hill would be an understatement. The goal of this article is to ensure nobody else goes through that level of stress – if you’ve got thoughts, ideas or stories of your own regarding site access, emergency kits, or anything else related to those, please feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]!

That’s about it for this session. Hopefully I’ll see some of you in my travels as I continue to explore the new territory, meeting, greeting and eating. Until next time, be safe and happy engineering!

Jeff

Jeff Welton, has worked with Nautel for 30+ years. He is currently the Nautel Sales Manager for U.S. Central Region but previously he spent 16.5 years as a Nautel Customer Service Technician. A regular speaker and contributor on broadcast engineering, Jeff was elected to the Board of Directors for the Society of Broadcast Engineers in August 2023, and has been recognized with the following awards: 2020 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award; 2019 APRE Engineering Achievement Award; and 2018 SBE Educator of the Year Award.

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