KCTC Broadcast Tower – Sacramento, California
The KCTC broadcast communications tower has been serving Sacramento, California listeners since 1945. A 512-foot tall AM/FM tower, KCTC operates as an FAA E2 tower requiring a dual medium intensity obstruction lighting system.
Operating both AM and FM broadcasting on the same tower presents significant radio frequency (RF) interference, which negatively interfered with the lighting equipment’s functionality. The customer received a high number of alarms and NOTAMs, resulting in extra truck rolls and potentially delaying other projects.
Traditional solutions by multiple service providers proved unsuccessful at remedying the tower’s communications issues. Flash Technology needed to think outside the box and solve this customer’s long-standing challenge. Our engineering and product management teams innovated a new lighting system incorporating fiber optic communication.
The customer contracted Mayday Tower, a Flash Qualified Service Provider, to upgrade the structure’s lighting. Mayday installed an E2-style system consisting of three FTS 372 dual medium intensity beacons, controllers and monitoring unit. Integrating fiber optic into this high RF environment resulted in a complicated install. Flash teams worked closely with Mayday on the logistics and shared learnings of this new solution.
The new system is operating trouble-free, and the customer is very pleased with the solution. Resolving this structure’s steady stream of alarms has allowed them to better focus on other initiatives.
