Art Morris - Radio & General Blog

Rick Batson says he'll retire

2009-12-02T21:28:00.002-06:00

From the Aurora Advertiser:

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/news/x2072223702/Chief-plans-to-retire

Police Chief and former City Manager Rick Batson says he'll retire soon.

When I moved to Aurora in 1991, it was still the old Mayor-Council form of government. Things have certainly changed since then.

Art

Guess I need to get busy

2009-12-02T21:26:00.001-06:00

Wow, guess I need to get busy. I haven't posted anything here in some time.

I need to do something about that.

Art

KWTO 75th Anniversary

2008-12-27T19:55:00.000-06:00

Just a couple of shots from the KWTO 75th Anniversary Open house.
December 27, 2008

KWTO 75th Anniversary

2008-12-27T19:53:00.000-06:00

RJ McAlister at the KWTO Control Board

KBTN-FM temporary transmitter shack

2008-05-14T20:59:00.003-06:00

Click image for larger view

We were able to get KBTN-FM back on the air Monday. Inside the van
are an STL receiver and a 250 watt exciter. At first, we ran it off a
generator, until commercial power was restored Tuesday. It will be a
few days before we can begin rebuilding. But, this little bit of
'inventive engineering' at least has the station on the air.

The tower, an ERI put up by Rocky Mountain Erection about 10-years ago, survived the tornado with no apparent damage. We will have it plumbed and tensioned just to be sure.

While this is a big loss to us, it pales by comparison to the loss of life in this deadly storm. Over 20-people were killed, many close to this location. Kinda puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

Art

KBTN -This is the floor decking of the building

2008-05-12T20:48:00.001-06:00

This is the floor of the building, some 100+ yards away from the site.
The steel entry door the building hasn't been found yet!

KBTN-FM Xmitter site- looking to the NE

2008-05-12T20:45:00.001-06:00

Click image for larger view

KBTN-FM Hailstone from storm

2008-05-12T20:43:00.001-06:00

Matt Krueger holds a hailstone from the tornadic storm. This shot was
taken 3 hours after the event, and the hailstone was still this size!

KBTN- what's left of equipment rack

2008-05-12T20:37:00.000-06:00

Click image for larger view

KBTN - Other half of FM10T

2008-05-12T20:36:00.000-06:00

Click image for larger view

Half of BE FM10T lying in field

2008-05-12T20:35:00.000-06:00

KBTN tower site demolished - looking to the SW

2008-05-12T20:34:00.000-06:00

KBTN-FM Transmitter Site Demolished

2008-05-12T20:30:00.001-06:00

KBTN-FM, (class C3), licensed to Neosho, MO is operated by Community
Radio of Joplin, MO. It is a classic country format. Transmitter was
located about 3 miles NW of Neosho, MO, or about 10 miles SE of Joplin,
MO. The tower is about 400feet tall, located along state route "NN",
near it's intersection with "Iris Road".

I was involved in a Skywarn amateur radio net when my assistant, Matt
Krueger called to say that KBTN was off the air, and he was on his way
to investigate. A long-track tornado had been on the ground for some
time, moving from northeast Oklahoma into southwest Missouri. Matt
called back to say that the KBTN transmitter building was demolished,
and the equipment was scattered across the adjacent field. The 16x20
pre-fabricated wood frame building is a type that's commonly used for
transmitter buildings in this area. It was completely destroyed. The
steel entry door hasn't been found yet.
The transmitter, a BE FM10T was tumbled into the adjacent field. It
was also pounded with baseball sized hail during the event.

The site was right in the path of the 1/4 to 1/2 mile wide tornado,
described as perhaps an F4. Homes and other buildings in the area were
also demolished.

The tower is still standing, and appears sound. The antennas and coax
look good, but there's no building or power on the site. The station
is currently off the air, and we're considering what we can do to get it
back on the air.

Pictures of KJML Tower Collapse

2007-12-13T20:19:00.000-06:00

These are pictures of the collapse of the tower of KJML-FM, Columbus, KS.
The studios are in Joplin, MO.
This tower was built about 7 years ago, and is a Rohn 45G.
It fell during the severe ice storm. We're not sure exactly when the tower fell, but we believe it was probably Monday, December 10, 2007.

This tower used to be 300 feet tall.
KJML "Rock 105.3" is obviously off the air. The format has been moved to 107.1, also owned by Community Radio of Joplin. You can click on these pictures to see a larger image.
During the ice storm, power was off for 2 days. When the power came back on, I couldn't get the station back on the air by remote. I drove to the site to find what you see here. You'll notice that the collapsing tower missed the transmitter building. It also missed the 3-phase power lines coming onto the site.

You can see here what I believe the be the starting point of the collapse. This is about the 40-foot point, where one of the legs gave way. The weight of the ice must have been overwhelming.

Art Moris
www.artmorris.com

2007-07-27T05:10:00.000-06:00

These are my experimental weather radar pages.

http://www.artmorris.com/radar/ksgf_br2.jpg (less clutter, but less distance)

http://www.artmorris.com/radar/ksgf_br248.jpg (more clutter, more distance)

You see what I see.

If I'm zoomed up close when the page updates, that's what you see also. I try to leave it on a moderate sized view if there's no bad weather. If there are storms, I try to zoom it up to a closer view, focused on the Aurora/Verona/Monett area.This will give you a better view of the areas that matter most to us. The picture updates about every 5 minutes, sooner when the weather is bad.

Some details--
Red boxes are severe thunderstom warnings
Bright purple boxes are tornado warnings.
Green triangles indicate possible hail.
Yellow or Red circles indicate possible circulation or shear.
A bright purple triangle is a tornado signature.
Lightning is indicated by little lightning bolts and little + signs.
Feel free to comment on the radar.

Thanks,Art

Sorry no updates

2007-04-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted here in a long time.
I'm spending most of my time on the radio message board.
Feel free to come over and join us.
The discussion is lively.
http://missouriradio.mywowbb.com

Radio Blog

2007-02-05T09:10:00.000-06:00

So, I'm working on a bulletin board for those in the radio industry.
http://missouriradio.mywowbb.com/
Feel free to take a look.
art

Brandon Beck-Mythbuster!

2007-01-31T14:06:00.000-06:00

Brandon Beck of KY3 Weather debunks "Farmer's Almanac" predictions of
ice storm!

http://www.ky3.com/weather/5411271.html

Update 1-25-06

2007-01-25T07:28:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted more lately.
Last Saturday, while still handling the disaster in the Ozarks, we got the call that my Mother-in-law, who has been suffering from dementia and colon cancer, was 'going down' fast.
We rushed up to Trenton, Missouri Sunday, and she passed away Monday. So, that's where we've been for the last several days.
She was buried yesterday (wed) at the family plot in Humprheys, Missouri.
She had suffered for several years, and is now at peace.

So, hopefully, we can get our lives back to normal shortly, and I'll have more to write soon.
Thanks for your support.
Art

More Ice Storm pics

2007-01-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

These pictures are intended to give you an idea of how thick the ice is here.

The picture of the tower shows the climbing bolts on the side. They are about 5-inches long. No climbing today!

(And what fool mounted the equipment box with the screw-downs on the top!!!!!!!)

Ice Storm Pictures

2007-01-18T20:56:00.000-06:00

This was taken just northwest of Aurora along the M&NA tracks. The building you see in the distance is the MFA mill in Aurora.

More ice storm news

2007-01-18T20:34:00.001-06:00

Monett seems to be really suffering with this storm, especially in the
electrical department.
Here's a story from the Monett Times that talks about it.

http://www.monett-times.com/NF/omf/monett/news_story.html?rkey=0023508+cr=gdn

Storm Update - Thursday 700pm

2007-01-18T19:47:00.000-06:00

OK, so I haven't written since Sunday night.

I bought a generator Monday, and hooked it up at the house so we could continue to live in our home. Empire Electric's crews were able to repair the line going to my neighbor within a day, so she (and we) were back on commercial power by Monday night. It turns out the line that my neighbor is on is a priority line serving a sewer lift station. So, they were in a hurry to get it back up.

We got our regular commercial power back here at my house Wednesday afternoon about 4pm.

But, many, many of our friends are still in the dark, toughing it out in the cold. There are so many stories, I'll try to recount them as time goes by.

More coming.

Storm update - Sunday 600pm

2007-01-14T18:10:00.000-06:00

Well, I had silently hoped that the third wave would miss us.... it didn't.
My phone started ringing at 700am this morning, with friends calling to check on us. I went out to check on the state of things in Aurora. At that point, many of the businesses up and down the main drag still had power and were open.
By noon, I think everyone in Aurora was out on the streets, trying to find gasoline, kerosene, propane, food, and anything else that would help them get through the storm.
About 200pm, it started raining. If this were April, it would have been a nice spring storm. Today, it was catastrophic. What was already a destructive situation became awful. If feel for the dedicated city workers who were running left and right as the trees and lines fell.
About 400pm, the 3-phase line that runs up and down my street fell. I mean, FELL. Down at the corner of Lover's Lane and High street, two lines meet (or least used to ). The pole on the corner bent over and snapped. There was a loud BOOM, and turned to look out the window and see the line falling. My neighbor was driving down the road at the time. She said she saw her life flash before her eyes. SHe's OK, but I think she thought she was going to meet her maker.
That, of course, brought an end of my makeshift electrical setup. No power, no how. Oh well, we've moved over to a friend's house to ride it out.
Haven't seen any National Guard here. Just lots of people trying to help themselves and their neighbors.
Art

Ice Storm - Not over yet

2007-01-14T07:53:00.001-06:00

Sunday Morning 800am update.

It ain't over yet.

617 AM CST SUN JAN 14 2007

...UNPRECEDENTED ICE STORM WILL IMPACT THE MISSOURI OZARKS...

INTENSE FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE OZARKS REGION
TODAY CAUSING ADDITIONAL SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS ON EXPOSED
SURFACES. CATASTROPHIC TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE WILL OCCUR
CAUSING MAJOR POWER OUTAGES THAT WILL LIKELY LAST FOR SEVERAL DAYS.
GROUND TEMPERATURES HAVE FINALLY DROPPED BELOW FREEZING ALONG AND
NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE 44 CORRIDOR. ROADS AND HIGHWAYS WILL BECOME
NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DRIVE ON UPON THE ONSET OF FREEZING RAIN AND
SLEET. TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED...AND ANYONE PLANNING TRAVEL
THROUGH SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL MISSOURI TODAY SHOULD ALTER THEIR
PLANS...AND REMAIN OUT OF THE REGION UNTIL THE ICE STORM HAS PASSED.

UNFORTUNATELY CONDITIONS WILL ONLY CONTINUE TO DETERIORATE HEADING
INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. DESPITE THE CONCLUSION OF WINTER
PRECIPITATION...A SURGE OF ARCTIC AIR WILL CAUSE TEMPERATURES TO
FALL INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS...AND POSSIBLY BELOW ZERO MONDAY AND
TUESDAY NIGHTS. THESE BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES WILL ONLY
AGGRAVATE THIS DISASTER AND CAUSE HUMAN SUFFERING AMONGST RESIDENTS
WITHOUT HEAT AND POWER.

THOSE WHO USE IMPROVISED HEATING SOURCES TO ATTEMPT TO WARM THEIR
HOMES ARE URGED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION. DANGERS OF CARBON MONOXIDE
POISONING AND FIRE INCREASE DRAMATICALLY WITH SUCH DEVICES. IN
ADDITION...THE COLD TEMPERATURES EXPECTED FROM MONDAY INTO WEDNESDAY
MAY LEAD TO WATER PIPES BREAKING...ESPECIALLY WITH HOMES AND
BUSINESSES WITHOUT HEAT OR POWER.

LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES SHOULD CONTINUE COORDINATING
EFFORTS TO MINIMIZE IMPACTS FROM THIS IMPENDING DISASTER. THIS IS A
VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. STAY TUNED TO THE LATEST FORECAST AND
ADVISORIES CONCERNING THIS UNPRECEDENTED WINTER STORM.