AM Ground Systems Company
WVNN-AM

In Feburary and March of 1999, our alter ego, KK Broadcast Engineering built a new daytime transmitter site for WVNN in Athens Alabama.  The new site consisted of a new 296 ft Rohn 45 tower, Nott Ltd. Unipole and tuner, Alabama Easyset Concrete Building and a New Ground system installed by AGSC.  The existing Harris DX10 transmitter was moved to the new site and reinstalled.  Tower work was performed by American Towers (Ernie Oliver) of Florence Alabama.
 
 

Tower construction started on a cold, wet (you can see ice in the puddles of water) day in February.  Packing crates & pallets were laid on the ground to one of the guy points in an effort to not lose a tower crew member in the swamp down the hill.  The well (with steel casing) can be seen to the left of the tower.  The structures in the background are greenhouses on the property of an adjoining nursery.
 

Down the hill to the right of this image is as close to a swamp as can be found in North Alabama.  Before this project was completed, we had almost lost a concrete truck, a backhoe, a tractor,  a couple of pickups and a helper or two.

Nothing really relivant about this picture except that it was shot down the well that is visible a few feet away from the tower.  The steel casing can be seen on the extreme right of this image.  Water is visible about 100ft down.  The open space around the casing was filled back in with dirt and mud from the swamp.
 

A view of the swamp (looking east) with marks left by the ground radial plow.

A view of the property looking basically south.
 

Looking east.

Looking north(ish).


 
 
 

American Tower Crew installing insulators on Unipole skirts.
 


STL Dish goes up.


More detail of the unipole and fixtures.


Ground screen after a certain station employee (who shall remain nameless) drove over it several times before the ground cover was installed.
 

What a mess!


The blood shed was minimal and the screen survived...


Ground Screen was covered with weed block fabric and a couple inches of crushed stone.  The beginnings of the tower fencing can be seen in this image.  Also visible is a rented generator that operated the tower lights for almost a month before power was installed at the site.  The ground screen assault vehicle can bee seen in the background.  The culprit said that he didn't think that it would hurt the screen even though he had to stop a couple of times and pull it loose from the truck tires.


Alabama EasySet delivering the building.
 



 


In the foreground is the gravel pad constructed for the building.
 
 
 


The tower and building mostly completed.





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