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Antenna Replacement

After 30 years of standing guard through rain, sleet, hail, snow, ice and the hot, humid Michigan summers, it was time to replace the antenna; a process that took almost a year of planning.

Most broadcast antennas are subject to the elements and corrode. The copper radiators and other metal components break down after time and are not as efficient in signal propogation as when new. The antenna outlived its useful life by 5 years. It was time for a new one.

Preliminary studies to expand the broadcast coverage area proved fruitless, so Ron Wittebols elected to install the exact same model of antenna. After careful consideration, Shively Labs, Munn-Reese, Great Lakes Tower and Spalding DeDecker were selected to work together to create, install and calibrate the new antenna. A noticeably cleaner signal was realized after the installation.

The install date was Monday, December 20, 2021.

The two copper radiators are staged upon the table, waiting for final inspection.
A different angle illustrates some of the support structure and hardware needed to successfully mount the antenna on the monopole.
Yet another view shows the relative size of the new antenna elements.
It’s quiet time before the installation crew shows up.
One of the bays comes together under the expert construction of Great Lakes Tower out of Flat Rock, Michigan.
The other bay is nearly complete with its fiberglass radome to protect the copper element of the antenna. When installed, these bays will rest 92 feet above the bus loop for the next 30 years.
After partial assembly inside the commons area, both bays are marched out by the installers.
The pieces are quite manageable, easily carried by two people.
The top bay is carefully dropped onto the parking lot. The other bay is still attached to the tower.
A closer look at one of the old bays. The thin rods served as parasitic elements to stear the directional signal which pointed 350° from true north. Thirty years of weathering. It serve The Biff well.
The old antenna is about to be dismantled. Notice the corrosion caused by years of exposure to the elements.
Meanwhile, the crew has removed some coax from the feed line and is in the process of reconnecting it to the transmitter. This room is in the basement of Model Center.
Station Manager Ron Wittebols has the excess coax in hand. That loop hung on the wall. A neat transmitter room is a happy transmitter room.
The tower stands proudly with its new radome-protected bays.
David Collins (BHHS-22), a former staffer, provided this bird’s-eye view of the antenna in March 2022.
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