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Author Topic: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??  (Read 5016 times)

Offline Azimuth Coordinator

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Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« on: December 15, 2017, 2234 UTC »
QTH: A Clandestine location on the East Coast
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Offline redhat

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2017, 2256 UTC »
pfft... A Harris of that vintage, I'm surprised it lasted that long.

They are indeed lucky it didn't take the building.  A lot of early MW-5's would do similar, and take the building with them.

+-RH
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Offline ThaDood

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2017, 1829 UTC »
        I gave. And here's the link for the newly uploaded Allan Weiner World-Wide.     http://radionewyorkinternational.com/archives/aww/2017-1215%20allan%20weiner%20worldwide%20fire!.mp3     That should be an interesting one.
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline DimBulb

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2017, 1940 UTC »
Hey redhat, check out this story of a a bit of a flame-fest from a MW-5's point of view:

   http://www.comcents.com/rg/mw5.html
Location: New Hampshire  eMail: dimbulb999@gmail.com

Offline redhat

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2017, 2350 UTC »
Hey redhat, check out this story of a a bit of a flame-fest from a MW-5's point of view:

   http://www.comcents.com/rg/mw5.html

Yup that one has been around the block a few times.  I don't think you can get the PWM choke anymore.  What a lot of engineers missed when repairing these boxes is a check of the damper diodes.  You needed a special test setup to test them.  If the damper diode stack was bad, your new coil and mod tube would fail in short order.

+-RH
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Please send QSL's and reception reports to xfmshortwave [at] proton [d0t] me

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2017, 2358 UTC »
From the description, it sounds like this is (or was) their only 50 kW transmitter? I thought all US SWBC stations had to use 50+ kW transmitters (I assume that requirement was to make it more difficult for SWBC stations to go on the air).  WBCQ has four transmitters I think? Are the others not 50 kW?  Just curious.
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Offline redhat

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2017, 0017 UTC »
According to the audio, this was their main for 7490, backed up by another transmitter that for whatever reason only makes 30 KW.  My guess never having seen the place is that most of their transmitters are either missing parts for other frequency ranges, or have instabilities and are happiest on certain ranges.  Some of the pictures I've seen include old AEL/REL transmitters from military service in the 50's and as such parts are probably no  longer available.

You make due with what you have.  5% power beats 0%.....been there :(

BTW, RCA BTF-20E's had a similar problem where an arc would catch the tube deck on fire (which was made out of lexan).  The plenum blower would then blow flaming bits of plastic all over the room.  Quite a few failed in this way, and for that reason, RCA transmitters were banned from one of the transmitter sites in NYC.  I was happy to retire one in 2006 that had its fair share of close calls, and an ice storm the winter prior sealed its fate after running at 7% power for a week.

+-RH
« Last Edit: December 17, 2017, 0057 UTC by redhat »
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Please send QSL's and reception reports to xfmshortwave [at] proton [d0t] me

Offline Pigmeat

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2017, 1400 UTC »
Do you think Weiner and Timtron are battling it out for the back-ups Tim has stashed in that fleet of junk school buses over at his place?

"C'mon Tim, I'll give it back." "That's what you said about my broadcast Collins and I haven't seen it since." "I told you, Lightning ate it?" "JPL can eat, but he doesn't eat ferrous metals. Give it up!"

Offline John Poet

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #8 on: December 25, 2017, 0750 UTC »
..."there was no insurance"....  ??


Maybe they should get some.


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Offline CoolAM Radio

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2017, 0145 UTC »
Created a special Promo! Used the text from the Donation website!

http://www103.zippyshare.com/v/Wnz5Yw8d/file.html


André
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                Then go to sleep...
                        Have another dream and do it again!

                 Sweet dreams!!!

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   Transmitters Do It On Air!!!
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Offline digitalmod

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2017, 1822 UTC »
  I think Harris was Gates or bought out Gates. As a much younger dude than I am today, I worked with the 1kw am model. It was four bottles. Two RF, two Modulator. As I recall Gates believed in the old, but true KISS principle. The Transmitters were basic, but always had high reliability. And yes BCQ it is indeed a marvel it lasted more than half a century. Believe its vintage was 1959!  8)

I think it was the two ears bottle, the 833A triode. Those were the days and then that beautiful mercury vapor GLOW of the rectifiers.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2017, 1824 UTC by digitalmod »
Radio is dying. We need to give it shelter

Offline redhat

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2017, 1855 UTC »
Nope, they had the PDM MW-50 modified to an SW-50.  There is apparently a problem with the fiberglass chimneys for the tubes.  As they age, they become more prone to carbon tracking and breakdown, which is what happened.

Funny, Allan says he wants to go back to a conventional push-pull high level modulated transmitter....I would advise against this, as his power bill might double.

Also He did mention there was no insurance.  Most of the radio stations I've worked for had some form of business insurance.  I can't imagine running one without.  In this business, you have a lot of exposure, towers that fall, buildings that burn, stuff that is pretty expensive to replace.

Just a thought,

+-RH
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Please send QSL's and reception reports to xfmshortwave [at] proton [d0t] me

Offline digitalmod

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2017, 1314 UTC »
 :o Well, why no insurance? I think I read, they said, they could not get it because they were very far from any fire station.
I suppose closer to truth, they can't get any reasonably priced insurance because of that.
They now say, 20 grand can bring in a transmitter to include shipping from where ever.

I am wondering having been a BC engineer when in my twenties, if routine preventive maintenance could have prevented the big burn? :-X
Radio is dying. We need to give it shelter

Offline KaySeeks

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2017, 1414 UTC »
Also He did mention there was no insurance.  Most of the radio stations I've worked for had some form of business insurance.  I can't imagine running one without.  In this business, you have a lot of exposure, towers that fall, buildings that burn, stuff that is pretty expensive to replace.

I was thinking that, rather than describing it as "no insurance", perhaps "self-insurance" might be a better way of describing it. But then having to publicly raise funds to cover the cost isn't self-insurance. 
« Last Edit: December 31, 2017, 1421 UTC by KaySeeks »
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Offline Azimuth Coordinator

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Re: Anyone have a spare 50Kw SW Transmitter ??
« Reply #14 on: January 01, 2018, 1449 UTC »
I'm not sure how most SW Broadcasters keep the Transmitter and Lights on.. WINB sent me an E-Mail offering 60min blocks on their station for $25 an hour  at that rate their just squeaking by  WBCQ had 5 SW 50Kw's  They knew of the issue with the Fiberglass and had inspected and cleaned it thinking that it was still serviceable trying to save a few dollars. but it didn't go as planned.  It's hard to turn a profit or break even in AM or FM let along SW.  Which the average American has no idea exists.  just my 2 cents
QTH: A Clandestine location on the East Coast
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