The fire in the Lopik transmission tower in IJsselstein yesterday is thought to have been caused by overheated cables, according to the director of owner NOVEC in an interview with NOS. “We have concluded that a number of cables become overheated and partially burned. We now assume that was the cause, but the experts have yet to confirm it,” sad Jan Willem Tom. It is hoped to bring the Lopik facility back into service by the end of the weekend.
NOVEC cannot say anything yet about the cause of the fire and partial collapse of the tower in Hoogersmilde. The police must first complete their investigation before the company is allowed access to the tower. However, there is not thought to be a link between the two fires, merely a bizarre coincidence. “The towers have been there for more than fifty years, so it’s strange that suddenly there’s a fire in two of them on the same day. The first thing you think is that there must be a link between the two fires, but so far we have no evidence to suggest it,” said the director.
Both masts were undergoing maintenance when the fires broke out. IJsselstein was under routine maintenance and at Hoogersmilde cables were being replaced. Earlier today a report showed that in 2007 management was alerted to security and safety risks at the sites. NOVEC has today carried out checks on all the masts in the Netherlands - some 50 in total.
(Source: Radiofreak.nl)
Meanwhile, NOVEC has received permission to construct a temporary mast on land belonging to the Ministry of Defence in Assen. The mast will be around 100 metres high, and should be able to take over “a substantial part” of the functions of the collapsed mast at Smilde. Construction of the mast will commence either on Sunday or on Monday morning,
(Source: ANP)
Related stories:
- Dutch FM update: temporary transmitters activated
- Dutch radio/TV transmissions disrupted by two fires
on Jul 17th, 2011 at 14:53
Do You Remember the fire in the 540 meter high tower in Moscow????
The Ostankino tower got fire in August 2000 killing 3 people.
Never the exact cause was mentioned, but in the radio world everone knows that TX powers are increased without replacing the coax cables between the TX and the antenna, since replacing hundreds of meters massive cable vertically is a hell of a job, requiring all transmitters to be switched off. So these cabels get hotter and hotter, the rest is history……..
In Lopik the cable replacement already takes a couple of days, since Friday afternoon, now end of Sunday afternoon, no signals coming from the Lopik tower.
The Ostankino tower carries about 20 TV stations and 25 radio channels, including the East Europa FM band. Very efficient.
on Jul 17th, 2011 at 23:32
Has it been noted abroad that the very same happened in Germany on 26 April, in the Calau transmission tower east of Cottbus, knocking off all FM and DVB-T from there? A large area around the tower had to be evacuated, for fear it could happen what at Hoogersmilde now indeed happened. Some pictures are here:
http://www.wwwagner.tv/?p=7133
FM transmissions resumed on 9 June (DVB-T a bit earlier) through makeshift antennas that have been mounted on the concrete tower. The FM solution consists of a main eight-bay antenna that covers the range from about 220 to 60 degrees and additional fill dipoles on the opposite side, for the sector behind the tower, using vertical polarization to minimize self-interference with the main antenna (in Germany horizontal is the standard polarization for FM transmitters). Unfortunately this fill-in is pretty weak, still leaving areas uncovered for “ordinary” listeners. Pictures of that:
http://www.wwwagner.tv/?p=8044
At present it is expected that the main antenna systems can not be used again before early 2012, because just anything inside the tower is destroyed. They are still occupied by mounting new ladders.
on Jul 18th, 2011 at 14:41
In 2004 a latice 200 m FM tower in Peterborough, UK collapsed after the coax line caught fire.
Mast owner Novec stated that a fire in 2 towers on one day is very un realistic, I disagree with that, now given several examples of mast fires in European countries caused by overheated cables and lines and equipment.