this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
267 points (96.8% liked)

Technology

74731 readers
2833 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

‘What do you mean, the tower is gone?’: thieves steal 200ft structure from Alabama radio station | Alabama::Small radio station forced to go silent after ‘unbelievable’ theft of giant tower, which would cost over $100,000 to replace

all 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] sorghum@sh.itjust.works 36 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Carmen Sandiego level crime

[–] bassomitron@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I was thinking Despicable Me level, but that's probably because my kid is obsessed with that movie.

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 32 points 2 years ago (1 children)

For those wondering like me, that's a bit over 60m in rest of the world units.

That's crazy.

[–] Serpent@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Just divide by three and you will be close enough to understand the scale.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 26 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I hate organised crime, but damn, part of me just finds this so impressive that I'm not even angry

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

This was simply a meth heads, or junkies, with the right power tools, heavy equipment, and knowledge.

They've either already sold it for scrap, have one of the biggest ever private HAM repeaters in their backyard, or possibly duct taped it to their now collapsed roof.

[–] notgold@aussie.zone 1 points 2 years ago

High voltage transmissions towers have parts stolen all the time. I have a vague memory of half a dozen being stolen from a desert in India and no one noticing for a year

[–] JCreazy@midwest.social 22 points 2 years ago (3 children)

So the missing tower was discovered by a landscaping crew, did nobody trust listens to the radio notice?

[–] captainastronaut@seattlelunarsociety.org 22 points 2 years ago (2 children)

AM radio? Anyone who is listening to that probably doesn’t have a phone to call anyone about it, inside their Mad Max bunker.

[–] NaoPb@eviltoast.org 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Or they might not know what country code to use since some of that AM stuff gets broadcasted really far.

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I remember doing international support as a youngling, and asking my co-worker what the calling code was for the US.
"+1"
'Haha, no, really, what is it?'
Checks internet
Makes the tea once everyone has finished laughing

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

TIL the 1 at the beginning of numbers designates that they are US based

[–] _wizard@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

But my company absolutely has a dedicated target audience we boast about to potential advertisers.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

Apparently this was their AM feed and most people listen to their FM feed. And they'd been doing maintenance lately where they'd be down for days at a time, so may not have seemed unusual.

Plus they're a really small station and their listener base skews old and people are kinda apathetic.

The bigger problem I guess is that they themselves appear not to have been doing anything to monitor the signal as required by the FCC. But I really doubt they get audited much or ever.

[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

They have a 100+ mile range and often the same content will be broadcast on a different frequency by other towers. A lot of people would have just switched to the other frequency and moved on with their lives. You might have three frequencies to choose from for the same content.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 13 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Elmore said the theft was first discovered last week by a landscaping crew that regularly manages the area nearby the tower, WBRC reported.

The radio tower was previously located in a wooded area, behind a local poultry plant.

Elmore quickly reported the theft, but said that local police were equally surprised at the brazen robbery.

About six months ago, a nearby radio station had their air conditioning unit, copper pipes and other materials stolen.

Elmore isn’t sure if the robberies are connected, but believes thieves may have targeted WJLX’s tower and transmitter to make a quick buck from selling the metal.

Elmore added that the station is working to get the AM tower up to get back on the air, but will resume their broadcasts online in the meantime.


The original article contains 553 words, the summary contains 129 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] teamevil@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Lucky they didn't kill themselves. AM works by sending a FUCKton of RF energy into the tower structure. If you're touching the tower and ground you're going to conduct it instead and poof.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Typically towers are simple structures to elevate the actual antennas high up in the air. The towers aren't live wires, they're ladders with rungs for mounting.

[–] deranger@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Not AM. They’ve got an insulator at the base, the entire tower is live. There’s so much energy being transmitted you can get sparks off the fence surrounding the tower.

https://youtu.be/Aax-ehkRTnQ

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

There was another video where a guy clamped a wrench to ground with a jumper cable and held it (wearing insulated gloves) within arcing distance of the tower. The power transfer of the arc was enough that you could audibly hear one of the transmission frequencies just in the arc along. Those AM towers are no joke.

[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Surely there's an easy to find switch to cut power and make it safe.

[–] Librenautik@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

For me it smells shady business.

There is no way to remove the tower without leaving trace. I would

[–] KrapKake@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

"WJLX still has its FM transmitter and tower, it is not allowed to operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air."

But why?

[–] sudoku@programming.dev 5 points 2 years ago

they have a deal with authorities only to re-transmit their AM broadcast. No AM, no FM. Prevents demise of AM broadcasts.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah they really needed to do a follow up question on that one didn't they?

Can only really speculate here... maybe something to do with the Emergency Alert System? But I dunno. Could just be FCC bureaucracy reasons.

[–] Kiernian@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

It would set a horrible precedent.

I don't know the exact frequency specifics, but I know the FCC is super particular about any broadcast over a certain power on most wavelengths.

I imagine this is yet another instance where "mostly works" is in fact somewhat problematic in one way or another.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It can't be a tower like one in the picture right? There's no way you're stealing one like that without anyone noticing

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

Some of these installations are quite rural.

I bet with a big box truck, some meth heads with a few angle grinders, you could get one of these down and gone in a few hours.

[–] abhibeckert@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

This reminds me of the time someone stole a mango in Australia... obviously, being Australia, the mango was very big.

It was just a marketing stunt and it backfired — police weren't too happy about wasting their time investigating a fake crime. Even after they were told what happened, they still had phones ringing off the hook with people calling in evidence, wasting government resources.

[–] NaoPb@eviltoast.org 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I do love that US radio stations actually look like they did in the cartoons, with a massive tower with red blinking lights next to the building.

[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

Wow I'm glad they had that little addendum after the headline telling me this happened in Alabama, I was worried that it might be my local Alabama radio station.

[–] cryptix@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 years ago

Is Alabama the Bihar of US😶