Top of 660/880 Tower

Top of 660/880 Tower


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Here's a medium shot of the top of the main 660/880 tower. Note the top-loading on the uppermost level of guys.

If you look down at the second level of guys, you'll see a rather odd-looking section of tower. At this point, there was originally an electrical discontinuity which was bridged by a tuning box. This was done in order to terminate the tower for 880, thus reducing its electrical height to half a wavelength, while passing 660. This turned out to be an incredibly bad idea, not least of which because every time the tuning box needed adjustment, an engineer had to climb the tower. Ultimately, WCBS gave up on this approach and bridged the gap with steel, accepting the consequences of a tower which is electrically too tall.


Copyright 2003, Garrett A. Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2003-01-15.