[BC] Transmitter Question...

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 06/03/2006 1:14:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
biwa at earthlink.net writes:

> Well, now that I've read the auction, it says that's what it was used 
>  for.  150 Watts?  Maybe a 150 Watt one-time spike.  Since it's a 
>  Model 10A I would imagine it puts out about 10 Watts.  This could be 
>  a neat rig on 160 Meters.

At only 10 watts, you'd most likely want to follow it with a good linear! <G> 
Either that, or *only* use it in winter, and if you have a *really good* 
antenna.

Otehrwise, it *might* make a reasonable low-power transmitter for a station 
with flea-power at night.

The main question, though: Is this thing even FCC Type Accepted for broadcast 
use? I have my doubts! Just looking at the simplicity of the circuit, and the 
lack of coils/caps except for the output ckt, makes me wonder! It looks like 
they have discrete transistors for the x-tal osc, driving what are probably a 
couple of TTL chips in a divider configuration. That appears to drive the 
small  heatsinked transistor, which in turn drives the finals. (I presume 2 of 
those TO-5's are audio, two are RF?) I don't see any tuned circuits anywhere in 
that chain. That makes me wonder what kind of waveform (square, I would 
imagine?) those finals are producing into that tank circuit. It may look close to a 
sinewave on the output, but a spectrum analyzer would tell the whole story... 
and it probably wouldn't bet very pretty. This thing was intended to drive a 
"leaky coax" type of antenna system, buried around the parking area of the 
theater... not radiate into the air.

I also agree with the 10 watt assessment, as I posted earlier. There's no way 
that puny little power supply could handle more than that! Someone else 
pointed-out the 1A fuse. That would be another very obvious clue that it's a fairly 
low-power unit. Notice how the seller doesn't have the site configured to 
allow the posting of comments? (As some do!) If it did, his "150 watts?" claim 
would be clearly refuted by any one of us! ;)

I suspect there will be a new pirate going on the air somewhere, soon after 
that puppy is sold... unless it happens to go to a responsible person who knows 
better. <G>

Willie...