4 ms·

Alabama station in disbelief after 200-foot radio tower stolen

2 points by rmason 3y ago

rmason 3y ago
I am a ham radio operator and in my younger days I helped do some tower work and know what it is to be suspended by a belt 120 feet in the air. There is no way this tower was disassembled overnight in the dark. It was probably a two day job and the transmitter would have been switched off first. Most commercial stations have monitors. Someone switches off the transmitter and you get a loud warning. If they didn't have a monitor then how few people were listening that not a single person called the station asking why it was off the air? In college I had several buddies who got their commercial licenses and babysat transmitters overnight. Even at 4 am if something went amiss they would be flooded by phone calls from listeners. I have to wonder if this wasn't done for the insurance money?
- bell-cot 3y ago
  I'd bet it could be taken down faster...but just how well-funded and -staffed of an operation are we talking about here? And how much evidence would be left on (and in) the ground at the transmitter site?
  - rmason 3y ago
    Saw a video of two guys who walked the site. Definitely cannot say someone cut the tower and dropped it, there was no evidence of it. Taking a tower down manually with a gin pole one section at a time is going to take more than a day. The power meter is gone and it doesn't look recent. It would take two guys to carry out the transmitter which would way hundreds of pounds. But there were no footprints and a bush stood in the way didn't appear to be disturbed. There's a water plant just South of the tower location. A chicken plant with dozens of employees is down the road in the opposite direction. Somebody saw something.
bhaney 3y ago
Is there some kind of black market for massive radio towers? How would the thieves discretely store and sell this? If they were just planning to scrap it and sell the materials, surely there are easier targets?
Mobil1 3y ago
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2 points by rmason 3y ago

I am a ham radio operator and in my younger days I helped do some tower work and know what it is to be suspended by a belt 120 feet in the air. There is no way this tower was disassembled overnight in the dark. It was probably a two day job and the transmitter would have been switched off first. Most commercial stations have monitors. Someone switches off the transmitter and you get a loud warning. If they didn't have a monitor then how few people were listening that not a single person called the station asking why it was off the air? In college I had several buddies who got their commercial licenses and babysat transmitters overnight. Even at 4 am if something went amiss they would be flooded by phone calls from listeners. I have to wonder if this wasn't done for the insurance money?

bell-cot 3y ago
I'd bet it could be taken down faster...but just how well-funded and -staffed of an operation are we talking about here? And how much evidence would be left on (and in) the ground at the transmitter site?
- rmason 3y ago
  Saw a video of two guys who walked the site. Definitely cannot say someone cut the tower and dropped it, there was no evidence of it. Taking a tower down manually with a gin pole one section at a time is going to take more than a day. The power meter is gone and it doesn't look recent. It would take two guys to carry out the transmitter which would way hundreds of pounds. But there were no footprints and a bush stood in the way didn't appear to be disturbed. There's a water plant just South of the tower location. A chicken plant with dozens of employees is down the road in the opposite direction. Somebody saw something.

bhaney 3y ago

Is there some kind of black market for massive radio towers? How would the thieves discretely store and sell this? If they were just planning to scrap it and sell the materials, surely there are easier targets?

Mobil1 3y ago

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