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Author Topic: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike  (Read 2741 times)

Offline Ct Yankee

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WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« on: June 06, 2017, 2120 UTC »

One of my favorite listens on the way home from work is WPPB's "Afternoon Ramble".  It's strong signal bounces across Long Island Sound well into the Nutmeg State.  The past couple of days, the signal has been shortwave-like....static, fades, perfectly clear, and then completely gone.  Today, "Ramble" host Brian Cosgrove apologized to the audience about the transmission, he explained that they were struck by lightning last Friday and equipment will need to be replaced.  I could not find a story about it on line but Connecticut had Tornado Warnings the same evening.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2017, 2217 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
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Offline redhat

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2017, 2144 UTC »
It happens, particularly if proper grounding techniques are not adhered to.  It doesn't take much of a strike to take out the front end on a microwave receiver, and that's probably what happened.

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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2017, 0016 UTC »
There's a local AM/FM that seems like it goes dark every time the sky darkens up. That's what happens when you build a whopper antenna on top of a mountain. The constant wind up towards the top can build up quite a static charge. Throw in a disturbed atmosphere and "zap", there goes the feed.

Offline skeezix

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2017, 0224 UTC »
(June 9 is a typo in the post)


http://peconicpublicbroadcasting.org/post/note-our-listeners-and-donors

Quote
On Friday afternoon, June 9, a rogue and brief thunder and lightning storm struck our satellite, internet, and broadcast transmitter causing severe damage to our broadcast facility. The damage to our transmission equipment was extensive and kept us off the air for several hours over the week-end. I apologize to you for that inconvenience.

We began the effort to restore service and assess the damage immediately. Our engineering team of John Schmidt and Corey Holder led the "repair and restore” effort, along with the help of  NPR, Optimum, and Verizon. They worked through the night on Friday, assessing the damage and finding ways to get us back on the air as quickly as possible until we could fully repair and replace damaged equipment and return to full service. They have completed the survey of the damage and we were able to return to the air on Monday morning.

What they learned was that the largest damage from this lightning strike will be the hit to our budget. The damage began at the satellite dish and our Transmitter facility on the Stony Brook campus and worked its way through the entire broadcast chain destroying or compromising wiring and equipment along the way. It will be a very expensive and unexpected repair and restoration project. Therefore, our budget is likely to be the biggest casualty of this destructive event. We do not yet know how much it will cost or whether we will be able to recover some or all of our expenses from insurance claims.

Fortunately, we had scheduled our Spring 2017 Fund Drive to begin on Wednesday, June 7, and end on Saturday, June 17.

We achieved our first goal of restoring service on Saturday, June 3, and had most of our programming restored. Most importantly, thanks to NPR, our news programming is temporarily being delivered to us via the Internet. We still have to repair and replace essential equipment. That will take several weeks.  

We will have more information to share with you then and let you know how you can help fully recover from this unexpected and costly event and further secure the present and future of Long Island's only local public radio and NPR station.

Thank you for listening, your loyalty, and your ongoing support of this essential community resource.  

Wally Smith,

President, Peconic Public Broadcasting

General Manger  88.3 WPPB-FM
Minneapolis, MN

Offline redhat

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2017, 0808 UTC »
Well thank god, the beg-a-thon hadn't begun yet!

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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2017, 2322 UTC »
It's constant and revolting here, Redhat. My wife is always giving them money, it just encourages them. Can't they do their panhandling by liquor stores like respectable derelicts?

Offline Ct Yankee

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2017, 0011 UTC »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline Josh

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2017, 1439 UTC »
The least Trump could do is eliminate pbs entirely.
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Offline MDK2

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2017, 0254 UTC »
The least Trump could do is eliminate pbs entirely.

Or better, create a special tax district consisting of PBS critic and funding it from money collected from them.  ;D
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Offline Josh

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2017, 1636 UTC »
Much more apropos would be to tax 0bama/killary supporters to pay for aca and pbs. I feel around 99 percent tax rate is just and rational, considering their desire to spread the wealth and help the unfortunates and so on, I know you agree with this.
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Offline Ct Yankee

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Re: WPPB-FM 88.3 Southampton, NY lightning strike
« Reply #10 on: July 14, 2017, 2122 UTC »
Weird, really weird today (July 14).  Started my drive home (2030ut) with no reception of WPPB 88.3.  As I drove further NORTH, a station started coming in.  They gave a severe thunderstorm warning for the local area - Marion County (Ocala), FL.  Began losing the station when I pulled into the valley my home is located.  No reception at home.  Curious if anyone else in northeast has the same experience.  There is a religious station on 88.3 in Ocala but I'm not sure this was a religious station, they didn't give ID when I heard.

On a continuing weird note driving home.....saw my first live fisher cat in the wild - weird, freaky looking things.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 2238 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)