Breaking: Troop H lost it's tower

[kb0rpj]

Little information at this time. however, early reports are that the Missouri Highway Patrol Troop H tower in st. joseph has been blown down by a severe thunderstorm.

from the new-press "The Missouri Highway Patrol confirmed that high winds blew its communications tower over. The tower is located at the Troop H headquarters on the North Belt Highway. Troopers had been dispatched to Maryville and Barnard in Nodaway County to help with storm damage there."

[talkpair]

Thanks for the information.

I've been monitoring since the storm began.....Things were extremely busy surveying damage around Maryville, then all went quiet.

I doubt the fill-in transmitters at Watson, Mercer and Utica have enough punch to cover the troop.

[kb0rpj]

Utica might, its i think 1kw. I can hear it on them mobile scanner as far out at moberly to the east and Ive heard it pretty good from st. joseph.

I just wonder how the counties are calling HP. I'm guessing maybe by phone?

[kb0rpj]

several media outlets now have pictures up check out KCTV5 - Kansas City News, Weather and Sports - Home or StJoeChannel Home for more pictures.

heard a snippet from Sheldon Lyon of Troop H this morning saying that the radio operators didnt know at first the tower fell, they thought it was just a tree near the troop had come down. I would imagine it was quite a shock when they found out otherwise

[talkpair]

From the news article, the tower went up in 1940. (aged 70-71 years !)
From the license, the tower 'was' 102 meters (334 ft) in height.

I would guess that this tower would have probably been replaced anyway for the MOSWIN upgrade.
It looks like that particular part of the project will get moved up.

This is a good example of where having a mix of both radio and wireline facilities paid off, since the remote transmitters stayed operational.
If the building itself had been damaged and usable, those circuits could have been patched around to another troop, or another building.

Utica might, its i think 1kw. I can hear it on them mobile scanner as far out at moberly to the east and Ive heard it pretty good from st. joseph.

The license shows Utica's power at 250W

At around 5 am this morning, the 42.4 transmitter came back to life, although it's very weak.
The point to point transmitter is also very weak.

It will be interesting to see if they will try to get by with their temporary setup until a new tower is built, or if they will lease an existing tower

[KD4YGG]

Here are some of the photos...

[rabidmoose57]

The press is reporting that operations are being handled with the mobile command post. I cannot hear any of the traffic from my position here in the Southern part of St.Joseph. Perhaps too many hills between here and there. Amazing the tower missed everything in the process of collapse!

[OCO]

A contractor couldn't have dropped that more precisely, by the looks...Cut it up, cart it off, replace a little sod and a few dents in the parking lot. When the Michigan State Police took down a similar low band (42 Mhz) tower down at MSP HQ a few years ago, it took about three days of riggers, steeplejacks and a monster mobile crane to take it down. That one was a hot tower originally, setting on insulators...I was sorry to see it go..(hmm I'll have to look for my pics)..

I'm sure this'll be a huge headache for the State of Missouri as most states are self insured...

[KAA951]

Looks almost identical to the tower that KHP lost in Topeka 6-7 years ago! Unfortunately, that one fell onto a neighboring apartment complex destroying a bunch of cars in the parking lot and major damage to several apartments.

[KC0CSE]

WOW!!! great pic's......maybe some used coax will be available???????????.....glad no one got hurt...could of went the other way....

[talkpair]

Thanks for the pictures KD4YGG

I'm sure this'll be a huge headache for the State of Missouri as most states are self insured...

You could look at it a couple different ways..........Another thing to consider would have been the demolition cost if the tower was to be replaced anyway in the statewide upgrade.

I'd like to talk someone out of one of the old low band side mount antennas if they're still usable !

I cannot hear any of the traffic from my position here in the Southern part of St.Joseph.

It's barely breaking squelch here near Holt........In fact the other 3 remotes are coming in better even though they are more distant. I am even hearing the Watson remote today, which is pretty rare.
My home brew custom cut dipole is on the blind side of my tower, so that probably cuts down the reception as well.

I'd be interested to know what kind of antennas they're using temporarily.

[jim202]

That tower looks like it should have been replace years ago. It is not that heavy of a structure for the height it was. The photos show the classic structural failure not far up the tower. The design of that tower was probably not made for the winds that hit it.

Bet the tower that goes up in it's place is a monster. The legs will be much further apart and more steel will be in the legs.

[talkpair]

I cannot hear any of the traffic from my position here in the Southern part of St.Joseph.

The signal on 42.4 Mhz seems to have improved this evening.

Still not full strength, but readable now.

[rabidmoose57]

The signal is greatly improved from Troop H tonight indeed....showing normal levels. Don't know what they did, but glad they did it.

[scannerowner]

What are they going to do now?! Just rebuild it and go from there... to bad they can't work on the P25 stuff

[kb0nhx]

They actually moved off the tower in Watson this spring before the floods came. They are now on a tower on a hill in Rockport. Still just a 100-w transmitter, but gained about 500' AMSL with the move! It was noise quieting in St. Joe on Friday a.m.

[talkpair]

I noticed they have a pending application for the move from Watson to Rock Port that was submitted the day before the St Joe tower came down.

Overheard the radio tech on Monday say that he was "10-7 at the new troop H tower site on S 42nd"

I'm guessing they're going to lease some space one of the Midwest Mobile radio towers along the west side of I-29, just north of the 169.

[scannerowner]

Just checked the FCC website they do have an application out to change the location to 42nd street...

[talkpair]

I should have clarified myself, since there are 2 junctions of US 169 & I-29 in St Joe.

I meant the 'south' junction.

Their current license shows them at "BUSINESS LOOP I-29 AND US HWY 169".
It appears there are 2 junctions of Business 29 and 169 as well.

It looks like MODOT may have had a repeater antenna on the downed tower as well

[talkpair]

It sounds like 42.4 bit the dust.

All i hear is a pop when they key up now.