Notice
General Meeting of the TCFMC
- Details
- Category: Meetings
- Published on Thursday, 10 May 2012 01:14
- Written by A.J. Hirman
- Hits: 41
The Monday, May 14 meeting of the Twin City FM Club will present researcher, scientist and amateur KS0J, Skip Jackson on his fascinating talk "The Lost Flight of Amelia Earhart" You will see some important facts about the flight; the equipment (aircraft, radios etc), the People Involved, Radio Propagation, Planning Problems, The State of World Politics in 1937 and the continuing search today. Meeting time is 7PM at the Ridgedale Library. The library is located just behind the Ridgedale Shopping Center, in Minnetonka.
TCFMC Monday March 12, 2012 at 7:00 pm - 1270 Feet and 500.2 Kilowatts
- Details
- Category: Meetings
- Published on Monday, 20 February 2012 12:51
- Written by Rusty - KC0VCU
- Hits: 371
Our Guest speaker this month is Chris Petersen, K9EQ, who began life as WN6MSC.
The transition from analog to digital television broadcasting created an opportunity - surplus broadcast antennas. Would it be possible to use a television broadcast antenna for amateur radio? What would it be like operating from 1270 feet? Would 300,000 watts of RF just a few feet away be a problem? What could go wrong?
Since access to the transmitter site was restricted, a station controlled over the Internet was installed at the TPT broadcast facility in Shoreview. Not wanting to waste a resource, a UHF repeater was also connected to the antenna. Chris will report on what it was like to have the "tallest stick" in the state.
The station operated for about nine months until the Ch 2 antenna was scheduled to come down. Could we continue to operate from the tower? And where would we get 800 feet of feedline?
Chris will give a photographic tour of the broadcast facility prior to analog shutdown. See photos of 500 kW transmitters and how 9 FM transmitters feed one antenna. We'll compare the classic (antique) channel 9 transmitter with that of TPT's 28 kW state-of-the-art solid state Harris.
Both the 6 meter station and UHF repeater are now connected to the Internet and will be demonstrated.
We'll conclude with a virtual tour of the tower as it is today. Come to the meeting and find out what it is like to make contacts from 1270 feet.
The TCFMC meeting will be Monday, March 12 at 7:00 pm at the Ridgedale Public Library large meeting room.
