Putting up a new steel building near Radio Towers? make sure you have coordinated with tower owners to not interfere or you could be in for a very big bill and possibly have to tear it down.

As a Contract Broadcast Engineer I have a AM Radio Station I maintain north of Pittsburgh
and one of the big issues with it is coordinating with persons putting up Steel buildings and towers near it now that the community is expanding.

A Volunteer fire company put up a new steel building and is interfering with my signal they will now have to pay to correct the situation besides the noise the LED lighting in their parking lot they are creating. 

https://www.lbagroup.com/blog/is-this-cell-tower-detuned/

http://ncjweb.com/features/novdec05feat.pdf

If you put up any type of metal building or tower within 1 mile of an AM Radio Station transmission site  you must under FCC rules coordinate with the station you could possibly interfere with  to make sure you do not reflect or deflect its signal path. If you do there are 2 remedy's

1- put in a network of De-tuning wires to  neutralise your building or tower  or

2- tear down and move your tower or building 

If you fail to do this the FCC can and will force you to comply plus there is a big fine $25,000.00 which goes with it.

Same goes for the lights they can put in a filter or turn off and replace all the lights.


A tower company in Texas was forced to tear down and move a tower after it interfered with an AM station several years ago.

Every architect and builder should be aware of and know rules of building around towers but there are always those who will plead ignorance of the rules and can end up costing them and their clients big bucks. and when it comes to the FCC you will lose every time you ignore rules and regulations.

.

What we have here is a Failure to Communicate. How Verizon FiOs failed and Napco Starlink came to the rescue when Fire Alarms would not send there signals.

Verizon Fios has proven to be a very good solid  digital telephone service I have several panels running on it with no issues and they report everyday to the central station.
But for some reason all of a sudden Fire Alarm panels on the 561 phone exchange in Mt Lebanon Pa. failed to take any format 4/2 , CID and SIA all of which had been working fine now could not send their alarm signals and Verizon had no answers as-usual . They where tearing all the copper phone lines out of Mt. Lebanon.
The problem seems to be with the make break timing of the touchstones and how fast they are dialed

This meant one choice switching the panels over to Cellular Communicators But Honeywell as usual is behind the 8 Ball with its IPGSM4G communicators not ready for 4GLTE  and I was not spending $400.00 and then having to change them in 2 years when 4G-HPSA and 3G are going away so what to do?

The answer an unique and quick and easy product to hook up under $200 made by Napco and made in USA to boot.

The LTE Starlink.
 a simple 4 wire connection 2 wires for power from panel either 12 or 24 VDC and 2 wires for the phone dialer to hook to .

There on the Verizon Mobile network and they are solid performers there is even a $100.00 rebate program offered
and it works with all panels that do CID and 4/2 formats . and its Sole Path UL listed  which is fantastic. Small simple and no seperate plug in transformer like you have with Honeywell.

So needless to say the (4) IPGSM4G I have in current use in Mt Lebanon- Dormont area  will be replaced shortly as they will be going obsolete.

Napco is putting a big hurt on many cellular communicator manufacturers who  missed the boat .

Plus they have models that work for Mercantile /Fire  and dual path communicators to meet any need.

Plus an even bigger bonus you can often save money over dial up service where you are paying for dedicated phone lines like in apartment buildings and Offices with IP phone systems .  The cell service plans are cheaper than maintaining 2 phone lines just for the fire system 

check them out  at. 

https://www.napcosecurity.com/starlink/#commercial-fire-communicators

Selenium Rectifiers an old fashioned way to convert AC power to DC power that are still out there and more dangerous as they grow older

Before modern Zener and other diodes came on the market and where used in a Bridge Rectifier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfWmIQfYIRI

 

 Configuration to convert AC to Dc Power there was the Selenium Rectifier

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium_rectifier

A metal device with fins coated with Selinium which was used in all kind of applications from simple radios and toy train layouts  to large industrial machines 

 They where used in products up till the late 60s as they where very dependable and could handle higher voltages better than previous copper oxide rectifiers developed in early 30's 

Unfortunately with age these rectifiers break down and can give off extremely toxic gases  due to Nickel and Selenium plating and there are still plenty of them I come across in old fire alarms and industrial machines and old tube radios people love to collect .

I try to change them out with modern units where I can to keep an old machine running safely but its not always easy to match everything up. 

Plus radio purest when restoring radios want to keep everything original. 

So should I be worried if I have them in my bussiness or home.

Yes there is concern so know it can happen and have a plan in place should one brake down and give off fumes immediately leave the room and ventilate the room  if possible and call 911  

this is a hazardous materials situation.

They may be neat to look at and are part of history but do so from a distance .