[BC] Re: Oldest Transmitter still in daily service

[Jerry Mathis]

It probably is. That transmitter was built like a tank. I worked with a 
number of them when I did contract Engineering in Middle and West Tennessee.

The hardest thing to keep working were the tuning motors. This transmitter 
has 4 gearmotors that tune the PA Plate, adjust Loading, RF Driver Plate 
Tuning, and RF Driver Grid Tuning. These motors tended to lock up over the 
years, and finding replacements was a pain. I did a lot of business with 
Herbach and Rademan in those days.

But the RF and AF circuitry was excellent. Plenty of drive was designed into 
the transmitter, so you could get more life from the tubes than the Harris 
boxes. I forget if it was one or two 813's driving the RF final tubes, and 
the audio side had a pair of large tubes (I forget their type number; brain 
freeze). The Harris boxes had 807's. Not even a close resemblence.



Jerry Mathis
Clear Channel Radio, Tupelo & Meridian MS





>From: Chriss Scherer <cscherer at primediabusiness.com>
>Reply-To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Subject: [BC] Re: Oldest Transmitter still in daily service
>Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 17:39:38 -0600
>
>In 2003 we asked readers to help us find the oldest transmitter in daily
>use. In the Dec 2003 issue we noted our finding: a 1960 Gates BC-1T at
>WNAH-AM, Nashville.
>http://beradio.com/departments/radio_shaping_radio_today_24/
>
>Once we published this finding, we received more letters disputing this
>claim to be the oldest. (Where were they when we asked the first time?) The
>follow up resulted in a response from WFLO-AM, Farmville, VA. It uses a
>Raytheon RA-1000 from 1947. In Feb 2004 it is the only transmitter that
>station ever used since signing on.
>http://beradio.com/departments/radio_search_continues/index.html
>
>That was almost two years ago, and I don't know if the Raytheon is still
>going.
>
>Chriss Scherer
>Radio magazine
>
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