Farnsworth Peak Prepping for Shift Change

[fmdj1]

That's very cool! Thanks for sharing!

[amanuensis]

So does the person on duty there rotate with others working vs. sleeping on site? Or is there just a single person there at any time and that person has to hope that no alarms go off when he is trying to sleep?

[kenglish]

Two people on duty, one for the radio side, one for the DTV side. If anything happens during the overnight hours, alarms go off, and they run take a look, often staying up to help each other. It's often a quick reset, then back to bed.
Years ago, there were two guys up there, with one sleeping while the other was on duty, and they would arrange to both be awake during the day, or when they might have to work together on an overnight project.

[CAwasinNJ]

Do you happen to know if there will be any extra personnel up there (or at Fox 13 master control) on Super Sunday? It seems like every year there's a story about how some station or provider had a major failure during the game and the viewers lost their mind. I wouldn't want to be that story.

[kenglish]

I wasn't able to get hold of their engineers.
I did stumble on to a story about former CE Al Schultz passing away (last August), which I never heard about.
He was a great guy.

[friendlee]

OT (sort of): Ken, did you know or work with John Griffin? He was one of the KSL mountaintop guys years ago....

[kenglish]

I seem to remember the name, from way back when the old RCA TV transmitters were replaced by the NECs. I think there are a couple of photos up there, with him working.
I talked to him on the phone, or said hello on shift change days.
I was a studio engineer back then. I started on Farnsworth in March 2015.

[kenglish]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-griffin-7086674

[CAwasinNJ]

Due to concerns voiced by the engineers working on Farnsworth, the link to the camera has been removed.

[David]

I can't even begin to fathom the logistics that are involved in the day to day operations at Farnsworth Peak. It must take a small army of people just to keep the road plowed and passable in the winter, especially during heavy snowfall years like this one. I don't know if the engineers get to the site with their own vehicles or if transportation is arranged for them, but I'd imagine it's got to be a real chore getting to the peak's summit even in good weather. Even if I had the required training and education to work at Farnsworth, I don't think I could handle the drive to and from work every day because of my fear of heights. I remember the time I drove the road to Powder Mountain one summer, and I almost tossed my cookies on the drive down the mountain. I salute the professionals who work at Farnsworth Peak so we can enjoy broadcast radio & TV 24/7/365!👍

[kenglish]

Here's a link to an interview with Cloyde Anderton, who was Chief Engineer of Farnsworth Peak for many years:

collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6n02trz