We had been having some issues with erratic power readings on our Douglas transmitter.  I really didn’t think too much of it since (at the time) it was still within normal limits and appeared to be on the air.  I had planned to check it out as soon as I got back.  Soon we started to get complaints that people couldn’t hear the signal.  I asked my assistant to investigate.

As I was enjoying my vacation in England, I checked my E-Mail to find the following message from my assistant…

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Subject: KDUW Tower Collapse

Herewith an image of the carnage. The first is looking southeast from the building.

The second is of a wooden pole on the west side of the building. It was used by the Union Pacific.

I believe I can use a couple of steel clamps with tensioned cables to hold the antenna vertical outrigger to the pole.

— Reid
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Several of the following pictures were attached to the message…Yikes…Weather was not a factor and vandalism is suspected.

We wound up mounting the antenna to the adjacent pole to get back on the air.  To add insult to injury, apparently water had infiltrated the building at some point and destroyed the transmitter controller!  It’s going to cost less to actually replace the transmitter than it will to repair it…*sigh*

Even though the transmitter itself was damaged we were still able to use the exciter to put some power into the antenna…