KVLY-TV mast
Template:Short description Template:Infobox building The KVLY-TV mast (formerly the KTHI-TV mast) is a television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. It is used by Fargo station KVLY-TV (channel 11) and KXJB-LD's Argusville/Valley City/Mayville translator K28MA-D (channel 28), along with KNGF (channel 27). Completed in 1963, it was once the tallest structure in the world, and stood at 2,063 feet (628.8 meters) until 2019, when the top mount VHF antenna was removed for the FCC spectrum repack, dropping the height to Template:Convert.<ref name="FCC height">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1974, the KVLY-TV mast was succeeded by the Warsaw radio mast as the world's tallest structure. The Warsaw mast collapsed in 1991, again making the KVLY-TV mast the tallest structure in the world until the Burj Khalifa surpassed it in 2008. The KVLY-TV mast remained the tallest structure in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest broadcasting mast in the world until the removal of its antenna in 2019.
LocationEdit
The mast is located Template:Convert west of Blanchard, North Dakota, halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks. It became the tallest artificial structure, and the first man-made structure to exceed Template:Convert in height, upon the completion of its construction on August 13, 1963.
ConstructionEdit
The tower was built by Hamilton Erection Company of York, South Carolina, and Kline Iron and Steel, and required thirty days to complete, at a cost of approximately $500,000<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (roughly $Template:Format price todayTemplate:Inflation-fn). Construction was completed August 13, 1963.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
OwnersEdit
Template:Refimprove Owned by Gray Media of Atlanta, Georgia, the tower broadcasts at 350 kW on channel 36 for television station KVLY-TV (channel 11 PSIP, an NBC/CBS affiliate) which is based in Fargo, North Dakota. The tower provides a broadcast area of roughly Template:Convert, which is a radius of about Template:Convert. CBS/CW+ affiliate KXJB-LD's translator K28MA-D also broadcasts on this tower at 15 kW on UHF channel 28 (also its virtual channel).
When the mast was built, the call letters of the television station for which it was built were changed to KTHI for "Tower High".<ref name="Farg631213">Template:Cite news</ref> The top is reachable by a two-person service elevator (built by Park Manufacturing of Charlotte, North Carolina) or ladder.
SpecificationsEdit
The tower consists of two parts: a lattice tower of Template:Convert;<ref name="npr">Template:Cite news</ref> topped by the transmitting antenna array of Template:Convert. The total height of both is Template:Convert. The antenna weighs Template:Convert, the lattice tower weighs Template:Convert, giving a total weight of Template:Convert. It takes up Template:Convert of land with its guy anchors.<ref name="emporis">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="valley">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its height above mean sea level is Template:Convert.
Federal rule changeEdit
Some time after its completion, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a policy that states, "Although there is no absolute height limit for antenna towers, both agencies have established a rebuttable presumption against structures over 2,000 feet above ground level." The FCC and FAA may approve a taller structure in "exceptional cases."<ref name="fcc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
GalleryEdit
- KVLYDistance.jpg
KVLY tower from a distance of about one mile (1.6 km)
- KVLYPylon.jpeg
A guy-wire anchor
- KVLYFromBase.jpeg
Detail of the tower, showing its network of guy-wires
- KVLY-TV tower, North Dakota 019.jpg
Some of the guy-wires that support the tower (with Stockbridge dampers)
- Base of KVLY-TV mast.jpg
Looking up at the KVLY-TV mast from its base
- Base of KVLY-TV tower.jpg
Building at the base of the KVLY-TV tower
Structures of similar heightEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Structurae
- Tower web page at KVLY-TV
- Template:ASR
- Template:SkyscraperPage
- Drawings of KVLY/KTHI TV Mast from the Skyscraper Page
- KVLY and KXJB Towers from PBPhase.com
- Video of the KVLY Tower, summer 2009 from YouTube
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