TV WEATHERS MT.

WMTW In Third Winter of Succesful Operation
From Scene of World's Worst Liveable Weather

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Television from a mile high in the sky is today a practical reality. WMTW has proved that a successful TV operation can be carried on despite the elements and an almost inaccessible location. More than two years operation has confirmed WMTW's choice of its skytop transmitter site.

From the standpoint of antenna height, Mt. Washington, New Hampshire is just about ideal. The WMTW antenna is situated 6,393 ft above sea level (3847 ft above average terrain). Operating on Channel 8 with an ERP of 105 kw, visual, the station provides primary coverage of a sizable portion of New England blanketing Vermont, New Hampshire, South and Central Maine.

From the standpoint of convenient operation, Mt. Washington poses two big problems . . . inacessibility and inclement weather. Perseverance and ingenuity on the part of WMT's personnel have solved these problems.

The studios of WMTW are located on the site of the famed Poland Springs Hotel, Poland Springs, Maine. This is forty-eight air miles from the transmitter site. However, eighty-seven road miles separate the two locations; the last eight of these miles curl up a steep, rocky road to the summit. This road is inaccessible to ordinary vehicles eight months of the year.

The summit of Mt. Washington is admittedly the site of the world’s worst livable weather. The highest wind velocity ever recorded on earth, 231 mph, was recorded here. The wind exceeds hurricane force in every month of the year, about every other day in six winter months. Temperatures reach 49 degrees below zero and have never gone above 71.

Summer of a sort arrives in July and is gone in September with the arrival of ice and snow.

On September 1, 1954, the first test pattern enemated from the WMTW transmitter on the summit. The transmitter building was only partially completed, but station engineers and technicians had beaten old man winter in. Finishing touches were soon completed, and on September 15, men and equipment settled down for their first winter at the transmitter site.

Would the equipment operate at peak efficiency under such adverse conditions? Would the building be able to take the ice and wind? Had careful plans accounted for every contingency? Could communications be maintained between studios and transmitter? These were big questions then. Now they can be answered in the affirmative. Television has come to stay at Mt. Washington.

The WMTW Transmitter House has become one of the tourist attractions of the Mt. Washington summit. It is open to the public during the summer months and thousands of visitors who have ascended the mountain, via Cog Railway, toll road and on foot get their first look at television transmitting equipment. This is probably the most widely visited transmitter installation in the world, the guest log having recorded as many as one thousand names in a single day.

The Transmitter House is a 78 by 36 foot building, especially constructed to withstand extreme wind velocities as well as damage from falling ice. Adjacent to the building is a 50 foot tower which supports the station’s specially designed antenna. The antenna is so constructed that it may easily be deiced under conditions where ice build-up occurs at a rate in excess of six inches per hour.

The building houses the transmitter equipment, emergency power equipment and living quarters for operating personnel.

WMTW operates on Channel 8 with an ERP of 105 kw, visual and 52.5 kw, aural, using an RCA 25-kw Transmitter. Type TT-25AH. A conventional “in-line’ transmitter cabinet arrangement is used. A manual transfer panel has been installed, so either aural or visual section of the 10-kw driver can be used directly on the air in emergencies. The two-section antenna can be split into aural and visual or operated one section at a time. This feature together with “power cut-back” in the transmitter results in a very reliable combination.

Auxiliary equipment includes RCA de-modular, sideband response analyzer, RF-load and wattmeter, stabilizing amplifiers and sync generator, Type TG-2A. A vidicon camera chain, Type TK-2l has been installed at the transmitter for use with slides and also for a live weather pickup.

Since commercial power is not available at the summit, a diesel power plant is required. This supplies not only the transmitter, but also the antenna deicing equipment (with a load of more than 100 kw). The installation consists of three Caterpillar diesel generators. Two of these are rated at 225 kw and one at 50 kw. Switchgear, which permits parallel operation, is also included. The generators are equipped with hydraulic governors and 0.1 per cent voltage regulators. Waste heat from the diesels is utilized in heating the building.

Adajacent to the power generator room is a plenum chamber which is constructed with a Fiberglas outer wall facing toward the studios in Poland Springs. STL micro-wave dishes are placed behind this wall. The high temperature in the chamber (150 deg F) prevents ice formation so that clear microwave paths can be maintained.

A main load center supplies power through individual lines to the transmitter, the antenna deicing equipment, and throughout the WMTW transmitter building. To obtain maximum efficiency from the generators, they should be operated close to full load. In order to maintain this full load, power is supplied to several other installations on the summit.

Fuel for the power generators and for heating is stored in five 20,000 gallon tanks. These provide enough fuel for a full year’s operation and are located about 1500 ft down the mountainside for safety. A 500 gallon tank located beneath the powerhouse is filled each day by means of special pumping equipment. Daily filling assures a fuel reserve to allow for mainte-nance time in emergencies.

The living quarters for operating personnel consist of a large living-dining room, two bedrooms, kitchen, bath and a storage room with five 18 cu ft freezers, washing machine, clothes dryer and copious shelf space. The kitchen window affords a “million-dollar view”, looking southwest from the summit to the Lake of the Clouds and Crawford Notch, N. H.

Drinking water is stored in two 850 gallon tanks under the transmitter building. Wash water is stored in two 5000 gallon tanks in the powerhouse. These are kept filled with water from rain and melting ice collected by means of a gutter sys-tem on the roof.

Since summer spends so little time atop Mt. Washington, construction and installation of WMTW had to be undertaken in only two months-from ground breaking to “ON AIR.” Every phase of the venture was carefully planned by John W. Guider, President, Mt. Washington TV, Inc., together with William F. Rust, Jr., President and General Manager of the Rust Industrial Co.. who offered the assistance of his plant facilities.

The task would have been impossible without the industrial facilities provided. With excellent coordination of all the plant units-engineering, drafting and design departments, model shop, purchasing department. the pool of skilled technicians, the installation was completed in record time. Parker H. Vincent, Chief Engineer of WMTW, executed the plans and supervised each phase of construction and assembly, assisted by Alden M. Doughty, Transmitter Supervisor; John Ricker, Studio Supervisor; and other members of the WMTW engineering staff.

All transmitting equipment was received in Manchester, N. H. The TT- 25 AH Transmitter was assembled and wired; control equipment was installed in console and auxiliary equipment in racks. Other units, usually assembled ‘on-the-job”, such as load centers, water systems and air ducts were prefabricated at the plant. This enabled the complete transmitter installation to be pretested in operation. It is estimated that these techniques cut assembly time on the mountain by more than 50 percent.

The equipment was taken apart and pre-assembled units trucked to the mountain-top. Meanwhile, the transmitter building was only one-third complete-the roof covered the transmitter room only. Protected by this section of roof, installation speeded on. Careful coordination was required between widely separated Manchester, Mt. Washington and Poland Springs. The use of two-way radio cornmunication between these points and mobile units installed in station vehicles speeded construction and movement of material to the transmitter site.

Every phase of the mountaintop in stallation required something new and different. For example, the transmitter building had to constructed to withstand extreme wind velocities, It was designed by Professor Albert Deitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. and has the highest windloading of an building ever constructed--230 miles per hour, steady or gusty from any direction.

Prefabricated and trucked to the summit in sections. the building has a steel tranie set in a concrete foundation deeply anchored in bedrock. This was done not so much to hold up the low-silhouette structure, but rather to prevent it from being blown off the summit. Inner and outer walls, floor and roof deck are fabricated of Douglas fir plywood panels--a wooden grid-work sandwich between two pieces of 4 inch plywood .

In addition to the wood panels the roof deck has an overlay consisting in part of two inches of end grain balsa wood; this acts as a shock absorber in arresting the impact of large hunks of ice which occasionally fall from the tower. To prove its capabilities a sample roof panel was tested. The panel: withstood the impact of a 300-lb block dropped from a 60 foot bridge. Since then the roof has stood up under more rugged treatment-- being bombarded with blocks of ice weighing several tons.!

A maximum safety factor is designed into the transmitter installation due to the inaccessibility of the location. Extra equipment reliability is a must. Power cutback to the 10-kw driver and split feed to the two-section antenna set up on a manual transfer panel, further extends the reliability inherent in the RCA transmitter design. A full complement of spare tubes, blowers and miscellaneous electrical and mechanical components is maintained. A dual microwave link is used to obtain utmost reliability. Emergency power generator equipment is available and a full year’s supply of fuel is laid in each summer. Two-way radio communication is available between transmitter, studio, and a carryall truck used by the chief engineer. This truck is equipped with a signaling system so that transmitter engineers can contact the chief any time of day or night. These factors plus extra careful maintenance by a conscientious staff has reduced lost air time to a minimum. WMTW is proud of its record of 99.9 per cent of scheduled air time "ON AIR”

When July comes the job of stocking the Transmitter House for the long winter begins. Sufficient food to satisfy hearty appetites for the following year must be purchased, delivered and stored away. Meats, poultry, frozen juices, vegetables, ice cream, are loaded into five 18 cu ft freezers while canned food, flour, cereals and other staples are stored on copious pantry shelves. Water tanks are filled.

Fuel oil for the power generators is trucked over 116 miles from Portland, Maine. Specially designed tractors hauling 5000 gallon tanks are necessary to climb the steep road to the summit. Fueling starts in July and is completed by the middle of August-a total of 20 trips being required to fill the station’s supply tanks.

Any outdoor maintenance to the building, tower, antenna and tanks, must be performed in the summer. Stocks of spares are checked and refurbished. Any new equipments that have been purchased are installed, and the installation is made ready for another long winter.

WMTW engineers live at the Transmitter House year-round with a work schedule of two weeks on and one week off. The winter months offer little opportunity and less inclination for long walks through the countryside. These men are virtually snowbound for about eight months of the year. Three transmitter engineers work a staggered trick. In addition a full-time mechanic is employed. He is also an expert mountain man, who operates the station’s sno-cat for vital winter transportation, and must be prepared for all emergencies.

In addition to special maintenance trips, Chief Engineer Parker Vincent makes a regularly scheduled trip each Monday to take the relief engineer up the mountain and bring the off-duty engineer down. In the winter, they leave the Vincent house in Auburn, Maine about 8 a.m., reach the base station at the foot of the mountain by 10:30, continue by 4-wheel drive jeep to the sno-cat shelter, partially up the mountain, and arrive at the Transmitter House about 12 noon. A week’s supply of fresh milk, eggs, and other perishables is taken on this trip. It has only been necessary to postpone this trip due to extra hazardous weather conditions twice since the station went into operation.

WMTW studios are located on the site of the famed Poland Springs resort hotel, 87 road miles from the transmitter site. A dual-microwave link spanning 46.2 air miles connects the two points.

The station devotes much of its program day to network programming. Local live programs and commercials originate in Studio “A.” This studio measures 50 by 30 ft and is equipped with two RCA studio cameras, Type TK-11A. The studio accommodates several sets; among them a kitchen set.

Film provides another important pro-gram source at WMTW. The station’s film room is equipped with two separate TK-21 monochrome film systems to provide utmost reliability in daily operation. Each individual film chain is equipped with a TP-6B “Professional” Film Projector, a TP-3B Slide Projector, and a TP-l 1 Multiplexer. A spacious film storage and editing room is adjacent to the film room.

Master control is fully RCA equipped. The control consoles overlook Studio “A.” The equipment consists of a BC-2B Audio Consolette, two control monitors for TK-21 Film Cameras, two control monitors for TK-11A Studio Cameras, a TM-6B Line Monitor with TS-5A Switcher and TC-4A Basic Buy” Control Equipment. Network and off-air signals are shown at the utility monitor and receiver at the right wall. The equipment arrangement allows the TC-4A Switcher to he used for one man control rluring periods of network and film only.

Equipment racks which line the back wall of Master Control house two TG-2A Sync Generators. equipment for film and studio cameras, network termination equipment microwave control and two-way radio communication Units.

The same operating precautions and extra equipment reliahilitv so important to the transmitter plant is also emphasized in the studio. This has resulted in very successful operation. WMTW has overcome the problems of an inaccesible location and extremely adverse weather conditions. Now in their third winter of operation.

WMTW personnel have demonstrated the perseverance and ingenuity required toturn an idea into a practical reality. Television has weathered Washington.