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An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

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Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#41

Post by tonyarkles »

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #21
aeonik wrote: post #15

Working backwards from clues in the article, thief maybe stole 200-400 ft of wire. Assuming between 3-1/8″ - 6-1/8″ diameter. Somewhere between $1,360 - $6,400 of scrap value. $70k-$100k to repair... Absurd.

>Somewhere between $1,360 - $6,400 of scrap value If it's a "normal" wire specification that someone else can use it was likely sold for ~50% of retail.

It was gas-filled presumably ultra low loss RF cable, but the thief cut it into small sections so that they could take it away. You might be right about the 50% number of they had somehow managed to steal it as a single intact spool. As-is, the station even said that they wouldn’t be able to use it even now that it’s been recovered because of fears of gas leaks.

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#42

Post by m463 »

sowbug wrote: post #23
aeonik wrote: post #15

Working backwards from clues in the article, thief maybe stole 200-400 ft of wire. Assuming between 3-1/8″ - 6-1/8″ diameter. Somewhere between $1,360 - $6,400 of scrap value. $70k-$100k to repair... Absurd.

That's the usual car stereo theft economics: cause $1,000 of damage to sell a $100 radio for $10.

probably $10 of meth to harm a body so that it eventually needs $50k of medical work, or $100k of dental work

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#43

Post by laughing_man »

mslt wrote: post #34
xp84 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than those who commit grave offenses of bodily harm, I reserve my greatest disgust for the type of dirtbag who imposes these orders-of-magnitude greater costs on other innocent people for such a relatively low "reward." They'd burn the Mona Lisa for fuel, melt down the Statue of Liberty for scrap, anything if you let them. I agree with another commenter here, the overlap of this mindset with tweakers is large.

I’d suggest considering empathy once you get past the anger, their former selves would be equally repulsed by their behavior, and for many I expect their current selves feel similarly despite their lack of control. The villains here aren’t the broken people.

The villains are those of us who tolerate this kind of behavior in the name of compassion.

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#44

Post by bandofthehawk »

hyperhello wrote: post #40
bandofthehawk wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general I agree with you, but it also makes me wonder how these people got to this point. I think most people would burn the Mona Lisa if it meant surviving through a cold night. Our society has failed these people in many ways.

I don’t see how to blame our society for copper thieves.

Lack of healthcare, limited job opportunities, growing income inequality, are just a few reasons off the top of my head.

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#45

Post by geerlingguy »

Cutting a live transmission line is incredibly foolish, for many reasons, but I'm guessing the station has a modern(ish) solid state transmitter, which has great foldback protection.

I've seen (and personally tested) AM transmitters dead shorting, and within less than a second (probably less than 100ms, but I haven't measured precisely) it will fold back on a dead short to like 1% of its operating power, lower if it still detects a short.

This is to protect the (even more expensive) transmitter from lightning strikes or other weird eventualities (like the line leaking pressurized nitrogen, used to prevent shorts from moisture mainly).

But replacing that 3" transmission line is not cheap or fast. Usually the runs are planned and designed, and every elbow / connection has losses that are accounted for.

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#46

Post by sidewndr46 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #3

That’s wild. Radio transmission power is no joke. I replaced the 100W FM transmitter on our college radio tower and got in front of the emitter beam for like 10 seconds and my head rung for a week. The amps and power aren’t to be messed with. I can’t even imagine messing with 100K line that’s a solid block of copper

You think exposure to 100 watts at ~100 MHz is going to cause your head to ring?

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#47

Post by konmok »

xp84 wrote: post #33
gacgacgac wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Furthermore, going after scrap metal sites makes an important business harder and fails to be inquisitive enough about the reasons why the thefts happen at all. Maybe we should try to understand why people are stealing copper. (Presumably poverty, drug addiction, lack of opportunity)

If you believe we can just fix poverty and drug addiction with some government program, I have a bridge to sell you. So far, no one has, anywhere in the world. Many people (and once they get themselves addicted to something bad, that rises to "most") are just terrible and care only about their own short-term gain. They'd do any amount of destruction to others for some small temporary profit or fix.

The USA opioid epidemic was caused by gross government negligence and corruption. Is it really a stretch to think that a policy solution could have prevented the majority of the harm? And do you really think there wouldn't be enough food and shelter to go around, if the government decided to get serious about poverty relief?

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#48

Post by cevn »

m463 wrote: post #42
sowbug wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the usual car stereo theft economics: cause $1,000 of damage to sell a $100 radio for $10.

probably $10 of meth to harm a body so that it eventually needs $50k of medical work, or $100k of dental work

10 dollars? Who's your meth guy?

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#49

Post by paleotrope »

bandofthehawk wrote: post #44
hyperhello wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see how to blame our society for copper thieves.

Lack of healthcare, limited job opportunities, growing income inequality, are just a few reasons off the top of my head.

Drugs. It's usually drugs.

Re: An Ohio Valley 100k-watt FM signal is severed in broad daylight

#50

Post by esikich »

hyperhello wrote: post #40
bandofthehawk wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general I agree with you, but it also makes me wonder how these people got to this point. I think most people would burn the Mona Lisa if it meant surviving through a cold night. Our society has failed these people in many ways.

I don’t see how to blame our society for copper thieves.

Right, why didn't everyone just get good education, dental care, and healthcare, get a car when they're 16, have their parents help them go to college and work for a VC and get rich. Just can't understand it. Truly, an enigma.
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