Has anyone poked their head up there lately and seen the damage and the temporary set up? I’d be curious to know.
I presume they’re gearing everything to go at the BAI tower going forward, right?
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That’s what I was basically told right after the fire happened, the SCTV site would have to be demolished.
Basically everything has to be renegotiated with the site owner.
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I would love to, but VicRoads haven’t opened the road to the public yet. If I’m game I could bushwalk it…
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Oh wow, didn’t realise roads were still shut up there
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Continuing the discussion from Broadcast Facilities:
Los Angeles based Pacific Television Center was formed in 1983 by Australians to help support Network Ten Australia’s coverage of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympiad.
From a single edit bay and studio, it grew into a global transmission hub with pioneering fibre optic circuits linking their facilities in LA, NY and London with customers in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK and Europe.
In 2023 it was acquired by TATA Communications.
This video celebrates the company’s origins and staff.
Pacific Television Center Origins and Staff Video YouTube link
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I remember when The Switch bought PacTV, that was a while ago. What is the state of operations since the acquisition by TATA, have they moved facilities?
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The YouTuber has climbed some of the towers on Mt Coot-tha - but doesn’t know which ones they are.
This is actually the ABQ tower looking out to 10 across the road.
This is climbing the community radio tower adjacent to 10 across from ABQ
This is the comm tower (no TV stations) looking across at the TV towers
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If he keeps doing that he will cook his brain. Literally.
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The road was opened this weekend. I’ll try to get some new photos of Mt Alexander.
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Correct - the spot on the Broadcast Park community FM tower where the YouTuber was videoing was right next to one of the penetrator elements and would have been a very high RF level area. He is lucky his phone was working in that environment. Not somewhere I would have been without a passthrough power reduction.
BAI tower across the road had even worse hazards for the YouTuber particularly the FM across there - BAI and Broadcast Park need to review their perimeter security.
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Talking to a retired Telstra OH&S executive, there was an incident many years ago (1980s iirc), where the trespasser’s clothes managed to catch fire while climbing broadcast tower due to RF induced arcing. Toasty!
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That may have been at the 2NR AM site at Lawrence - one of the local kids was warned off climbing it by the Telstra techs that knew them but did it anyway. They got bad RF burns on their feet and hands when they grabbed the tower.
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I wish he’d come back.
Hello if you are still lurking out there.
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I suppose if I were to ask how the towers get painted, the answer would be “carefully” :wink. I recall the Courier Mail had a front page picture one year showing painters half way up the 10 tower looking very brave.
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When maintenance is done, they will usually reduce transmitter power to safe levels. In the case of the Capital cities, most TV and some FM stations can switch between towers.
i.e. On Mount Dandenong the Commercial TV stations can broadcast from the ATV or HSV sites, and ABC/SBS can broadcast from the BAI or ATV sites.
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In Brisbane the QTQ tower is the alternative for the commercials (after BTQ got truncated).
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Yes, the facility has moved from the iconic circular building. They are now located in much larger digs on Victory Blvd Los Angeles. The new facility includes several active sound stages.
MCR operators have tackled the tyranny of distance created by a much larger facility by using motorized go-carts.
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I miss RF Burns but he took the wise path and went silent because he works in commercial broadcasting - unfortunately some broadcasters are overbearing annoying employers and go looking for disputes with staff to keep their turnover rates up. Unfair Common Law employment contracts or ridiculously low pay rates on an old stripped award are your employment choices in most places. Some TV stations even have an in-house legal counsel they try and run as a profit centre by aggressive litigation.
Don’t get me started
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Bloody insane is what i would call it, one touch of that antenna would give him a nice burn for sure
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I have a confession to make: before OHS ever got invented I did some work on the previous Broadcast Park tower and you could feel a tingle when you touched one of the cross members with your arm there was that much RF. There are more FM services there now than 40 years ago too.
No safety harnesses/lanyards, hard hats or RF alarms back in those days. The good old days were only good afterwards.
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