A look around a 1 million watt FM tower

Firstly, I know this is in America, but its a fascinating video from Jeff Gerling as his Dad gives us a tour around not only the antenna tower, but the supporting building. Inside he details the various components, backup power and dummy loads with impressive power handling.

Personally I found it rather impressive to see the power output from the transmitter vs when it arrives at the actual antenna itself. Combine that with the copper pipe ‘coax’ cables!

Timestamps for the video:
00:00 – The Supertower
01:52 – Grounding and Guy-Wires
03:11 – Tower-scale cable management
04:13 – Transmitter Room
05:49 – 400A power and backup power
07:09 – 50kW Dummy load, switching, and 30kW water cooling!
09:16 – MARTI filter cans and cable loss
10:37 – In the basement – from 30 to 300 kW
12:47 – Giant coax with explosive arcing potential
14:00 – Tower safety: RF lockout
15:01 – Power, Aux services, Comms, and Lights
16:41 – One tower, many stories