The Transmitter Shack

Last week my trusty Equipment Engineer, Marc William Fisher III, and I went out to the transmitter shack to clean it up.  It took about four hours of sweeping, vacuuming, and organizing to make the tiny room look somewhat clean.  The transmitter shack houses the most important and expensive piece of equipment WSBF owns, the transmitter.  Keeping the transmitter in a clean, well controlled environment is essential to successfully keep it running.  However, to say that the transmitter shack is run down would be an understatement.  Currently there are no lights in the shack, which makes it very difficult to work.  Repairing a transmitter in the dark is not something I would suggest to anyone.  We keep a flood lamp that we can plug in inside the shack for those times when light is necessary.  I suspect all of the light bulbs in building might be burned out, but there is a chance that the ballasts may be damaged as well.  In addition to not having any lights, the transmitter is open to the elements.  The attic crawl space isn't properly boarded up to the outside, which allows water, snow, animals, etc. into the attic.  There is also no cover closing the attic crawl space off from the inside of the building, which means all of these things can easily get inside to where the transmitter is and cause damage to it.  This also creates a concern with keeping the transmitter shack cool, as a lot of cold air can escape this way.  Overheating can also cause serious damage to the transmitter.  There's also an issue of water coming in under the front door.  Based on the mud on the floor, it is apparent that during heavy rain, water and mud seeps in under the door.  If this reaches the transmitter it could cause big electrical problems, or even a fire.  We have a device designed to suck moisture out of the building, but as far as I can tell it doesn't appear to be functioning, and may need to be repaired or replaced.  There are also a few regulatory things that need to be taken care of to stay FCC compliant.  We need to have signs on the gate and tower with our contact info and tower number, respectively.  We're also required to have modulation monitors.  While we do have these monitors, they seem to malfunction anytime they are touched.  They seem to recover after an unknown period of time, as they are always working when I go out there, but if any of the buttons are pressed, they stop working.  I need to look into repairing, or possibly replacing these as well.  Fixing all of these issues is essential to keeping the radio station in working order and are a priority.