[BC] Early TV Audio Boards

[Mark Humphrey]

On 8/4/06, DHultsman5 at aol.com <DHultsman5 at aol.com> wrote:

> Yes and No
>
> George Townsend was already in the transmitter business, Ampex was in the
> VTR and getting more into video products, etc.   I think they signed a  deal
> with a Eureopean color camera company and they purchased or merged Townsend  into
> their video division.

CCA also offered a kludge version of the Townsend UHF transmitter.  My
1976 CCA catalog shows a driver cabinet with aural and visual exciters
similar in appearance to the CCA modular E-series FM exciter, but the
PA cabinets are definitely Townsend.  I wonder how many were actually
sold.

> I am not a TV guy,  but I believe that the new   transmitters  were nicknamed
> "TAmpex" transmitters.

When I worked at Channel 9 in Syracuse, we had an old 5 kW backup rig
that some of the guys called the "Tampax" transmitter.  It was a
water-cooled RCA that had been taken out of service at WJAR-TV in
Providence, our sister station at that time.  The cooling system had a
few slow drips, so the transmitter engineers came up with the idea of
applying tampons in strategic places to absorb excess fluid.

Mark