[BC] tube sound (tube transmitters)

[Kevin Tekel]

Nat Kayle wrote:
> Well in defense of "old Bessies" everywhere, tube transmitters will
> shrug off voltage spikes that can wipe out dozens of sold-state modules.
> A station I'm familiar with here in lightning country got hit at least
> once every summer.  They ran a hybrid transmitter with solid state
> exciter, driver and control logic- and tube finals.  Every hit would
> zapped one or more solid state components but the old tubes would fire
> up and go right back to work.

IIRC, during the big August 2003 blackout, New York City's 710 WOR fired
up their old Continental 317C rig, because it was more tolerant of the
unstable AC power which kept tripping off their main DX-50.  In the areas
of the Northeast which did not lose power, voltage swings from 79 to 147
volts (on a standard 110-120V circuit) were reported!  One fellow in
northern NJ observed repeated swings from 95 to 140V for an hour, and
then a steady line voltage of 145V for a while, before it finally
returned to the standard 120V.  Needless to say he quickly unplugged any
valuable electronic equipment!



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