|
Posted by Neal McLain on January 28, 2008, 11:22 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Empire State Building 'Bermuda Triangle'
By Richard Weir
New York Daily news staff writer
Sunday, January 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
In the shadow of the Empire State Building lies an "automotive Bermuda
Triangle" - a five-block radius where vehicles mysteriously die. No one
is sure what's causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming
giant in our midst - specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long,
antenna-laden spire.
http://tinyurl.com/22qg5w
(Telephone Collectors International) list, posted the following story
which may explain the mysterious "automotive Bermuda Triangle" phenomenon:
Sent: Mon Jan 28 0:12
To: 'TCI"
Subject: Empire State Building 'Bermuda Triangle'
A number of years ago, while working on top of our county's main FM
radio and Television broadcasting site, Cuesta Peak, one of the cable
television company's engineers came from next door, into the television
transmitter building to visit with me.
We had our antenna located at the two-hundred foot level on KSBY-TV's
460' tower and I was working on our FM transmitter which was also
located in the same building along with KZOZ-FM's transmitter.
Years earlier, when we moved our transmitter onto the site, KSBY's Chief
Engineer told me that KZOZ's transmitter was of poor design and if I
ever saw the fluorescent lamp that hung directly above their transmitter
lit-up when the light switch was turned-off, go over and retune the P.A.
until it went out. A few years latter KZOZ was cited by the F.C.C. and
F.A.A.for radiating spurs in the aviation band and the cable company was
constantly having problems with them radiating into their cable systems.
If the final amp was not properly tuned, the power would reflect back
down the transmission line and the excess r.f. would cause havoc
throughout the hill. As a matter-of-fact, Channel Six had to install
chokes even on the analog filament meters or they would provide
erroneous readings.
Of course the telephone company had previously installed r.f.
suppression on the lines and equipment long ago.
He also told me if my vehicle had an electronic ignition and would not
start when I got ready to leave, go back inside and make sure the lamp
was extinguished.
Anyway, when my friend from the cable company came over to visit, a
short time later a carpenter came inside and ask him to open up the
cable company's building so he could start remodeling.
My friend gave him the key and told him to go over and get started and
he would be there in a short while. While we continued to visit, the
carpenter came back inside and asked if we could assist him since his
car would not start.
My friend and I looked and each other with a smirk and asked if he had
an electronic ignition. He said no but his vehicle did have electronic
fuel injection.
We suspended our urgent conversation about barbecuing and beer-drinking
and went outside and pushed his car about 75-feet away from the tower,
into a null area.
His vehicle started right up!!
Posted to Telecom Digest by Neal McLain
|
 
| |
Posted by T on January 28, 2008, 5:57 pm
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
says...
> Empire State Building 'Bermuda Triangle'
> By Richard Weir
> New York Daily news staff writer
> Sunday, January 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
>
> In the shadow of the Empire State Building lies an "automotive Bermuda
> Triangle" - a five-block radius where vehicles mysteriously die. No one
> is sure what's causing it, but all roads appear to lead to the looming
> giant in our midst - specifically, its Art Deco mast and 203-foot-long,
> antenna-laden spire.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/22qg5w
And the plot is exactly what an RF signal from a dipole would be at
close range. RF power falls off as a square of the distance too, so they
have to be cranking some serious power into that tower.
The problem is that you can't shield the vehicle electronics that well.
A good shield requires a ground connection that most vehicles don't
have.
|
|
Posted by John L on January 28, 2008, 11:14 pm
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options >> http://tinyurl.com/22qg5w
>
> And the plot is exactly what an RF signal from a dipole would be at
> close range. RF power falls off as a square of the distance too, so they
> have to be cranking some serious power into that tower.
Well, since the WTC is gone, that tower once again has all the broadcast
TV stations in New York City and I think a fair number of radio stations
as well.
The empire state building was built before the TV era, but by fortuntate
coincidence they built it with a blimp mooring mast at the top that they
adapted.
R's,
John
***** Moderaotor's Note *****
In the Boston area, there is a similar area, which local ham operators
call "Intermod Alley": it's next to the TV towers in Needham, where
call phones tend to die and car burglar alarm controls and remote
starters don't work.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
Please put [Telecom] (The brackets are important) in your subject
line, or your post will be delayed for as much as a week.
|
|
Posted by danny burstein on January 28, 2008, 11:55 pm
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
>>> http://tinyurl.com/22qg5w
>>
>> And the plot is exactly what an RF signal from a dipole would be at
>> close range. RF power falls off as a square of the distance too, so they
>> have to be cranking some serious power into that tower.
>Well, since the WTC is gone, that tower once again has all the broadcast
>TV stations in New York City
Most of the VHF, not quite all, and only some of the DTV transmitters.
There's another transmitter farm at [deleted], about a half mile away
(shhh... four Times Square)
(There are also some sites with, for want of a btter
term, transmitters on chilly standby, which can be
fired up if needed. They take this stuff seriously
post 11-September).
>and I think a fair number of radio stations
>as well.
Only a handful.
Given the physical layout of the ESB, where the antenna
is 1,200 or so feet up and propogates primarily parallel
to the earth, I doubt this effect (if real) is from it.
More likely there are lots of localized interference issues
from the mix and matching of _huge_ numbers of low
powered transmitters (wifi bses, cell phone jammers, leaky coax,
and just about everything else you could imagine) crowded
into that 2nd floor window to your right and that 4th floor
one behind you.
-Which are reflecting off that metal overhang 30 stories
up down the block from you...
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
|
|
Posted by Garrett Wollman on January 28, 2008, 11:53 pm
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
>And the plot is exactly what an RF signal from a dipole would be at
>close range. RF power falls off as a square of the distance too, so they
>have to be cranking some serious power into that tower.
Well, sure! It's only every FM and TV station in New York City....
(With only a few exceptions: one TV is primary at 4 Times Square, and
half a dozen non-commercial-educational FMs are located on other
rooftops.)
Empire currently has on it:
* TV channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, *13, *25, 31, 41, and 68, plus DTV
transmitters for all except, I think, 68
* Full-class-B FMs on 92.3, 93.1, 93.9, 95.5, 96.3, 97.1, 97.9, 98.7,
99.5, 100.3, 101.1, 101.9, 102.7, 103.5, 104.3, 105.1, 196.7, and
107.5
* Other lower-powered stuff that I haven't mentioned.
At that height, a class-B FM only gets about 6,000 watts. The DTVs,
on the other hand, are all on UHF and operate with substantial ERPs
(100 to 500 kW average ERP each).
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are
wollman@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry
Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape
of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness
|
| Similar Threads | Posted | | What is the state-of-the-art of telephone call encryption? [Telecom] | May 22, 2008, 6:42 am |
| Google Buys Garage Where its Empire Began | October 2, 2006, 1:02 pm |
| Telephone building web page | January 1, 2007, 7:23 pm |
| Re: Telephone Building Web Page | January 2, 2007, 8:11 pm |
| Re: Telephone Building Web Page | January 3, 2007, 5:30 pm |
| Re: Telephone Building Web Page | January 4, 2007, 8:24 pm |
| Old Western Union Building Becomes a Condo | December 23, 2005, 12:15 pm |
| Cisco Steadily Building Advanced Technology Portfolio | October 20, 2006, 2:27 pm |
| Question About NYS Tariffs re: Telco Paying For Building Power | March 16, 2007, 5:06 pm |
| Book Review: "Designing and Building Enterprise DMZs", Ido Dubrawsky | February 5, 2007, 7:03 pm |
|
|
![[Telecom] Empire State Building 'Bermuda Triangle'](/images/header.jpg)
NewsGroups 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML site map