SAN FRANCISCO — Over the years I’ve seen images of the television tower atop Mt. Sutro and always liked it. However, from all of those images from TV and movies and probably Flight Simulator 4, I thought the tower was monochromatic, perhaps even the same color as the Golden Gate Bridge. While I was disappointed to learn that it wasn’t Golden Gate red, I still enjoy the stately presence of this unique, three-sided antenna(s).
There is a great write-up about the tower on the aptly named Web site, Mount Sutro.
Sutro Tower is a 297.8 meter (977 foot) self-supporting steel structure designed to withstand seismic activity—there is a huge foundation with about 6.8 million kilograms (15 million pounds) of concrete in the ground and the tower weighs about 1.7 million kilograms (3.7 million pounds); the actual center of gravity is below ground—which is shared by at least ten television stations and four FM radio stations.
Breaking ground in 1971 and completed in 1972, Sutro Tower began transmitting on 04 July 1973 to the residents of the bay area. Sutro Tower’s base is 254.2 meters (834 feet) above sea level and the total height of the tower above sea level is 552 meters (1811 feet). Sutro Tower is powered by two separate 12.5 kilovolt, high voltage lines from Pacific Gas and Electric.
I took a number of photos of it from several vantage points —
[flickr : my photos tagged with mountsutro/slideshow]
