A couple of Queensland radio stations were, or nearly were thrown off air by forces of nature.
That’s a long way up!
In Far North Queensland the cockatoos were having a field day with 101.5 Douglas FM cables leading to the FM antenna. They became exposed meaning each time heavy rain came, the whole system would go into a fault state.
Fortunately, via a $12,000 Quick Response Grant the station has been able to fix the damage, and apparently keep the cockies away.
How’s the serenity?
Further south, the Gold Coast were in a spot of bother too when someone ‘unplugged the dongle that goes into the what-cha-mah-call-it’, throwing not just Hot Tomato off air, but all the TV stations too.
Someone in the below Facebook post did ask whether Hot Tomato’s Big Trev was in the vicinity of the main computer at the time, but he assured them he wasn’t…..
The Gold Coast outage was due to a power issue at Mount Tambourine and restored after about an hour. Ryno, the tech mention above, helped get everyone back online.
Images supplied by the wonderful Bryan Bergman at Douglas FM. One might have been digitally altered slightly….
In 1984, a flight by the space shuttle Discovery was postponed because a woodpecker was pecking at the foam insulation of Discovery's fuel tank at the Kennedy Space Center.
The foam insulation was critical to protecting the hydrogen and oxygen fuel used to propel the shuttle into space.
Like cockatoos damaging transmission equipment described in the story, it is a lesson that small creatures can disrupt the operations of technology made by humans.
Anthony, Strathfield South, in the land of the Wangal and Darug Peoples of the Eora Nation.