[BC] Designers then and now

[Robert Meuser]

Tom:

Nice blather, but we are talking about transmitters not complex 
directional arrays. Without the need for computers, it was easy in the 
day to understand the gathered data of the lifetime of 833s. 4-400s were 
cynical marketing hype. This has nothing to do with new frontier 
engineering or the need for computer.  This is simply a case of bad 
engineering judgment probably driven by sales.

R



Thomas G. Osenkowsky wrote:

> > Good advice, but it sounds like you are working for the incompetent
> > designers.
>
> I have redesigned many AM directional arrays and feeder systems.
> I could write volumes on the inefficient, narrow banded designs.
> I have something those designers didn't. Powerful software to design
> an array to meet the client's coverage needs and Moment Method
> analysis accompanied by a matrix circuit analysis program. The
> transmitter designers didn't have circuit analysis software.
>
> Back in the day, the multiplication method was a simple way to
> design in-line symmetrical arrays. Yes, there were reciprocal
> nulls but those fell over cow pasture and farm land.
>
> Then came progress. The cows gave way to condos, the farms
> became malls. The station no longer serves its intended audience
> because the environment changed but the array didn't.
>
> The designers of the equipment we now laugh at did the best
> they could with the available technology at that time. There was
> just a discussion over the Sta-Level. Great design for its time.
> Same for the 20-V3, the Gates BC-x series and so on.
>
> Not every design was the best, from a service or specification
> POV. There are some simple math errors in "Theory and Design
> of Directional Antennas". A classic text. A simple BASIC code
> can bang out a list in fractions of a second. Carl Smith had to do
> it all by hand. I am careful not to criticize designers of the past
> because someday someone will probably be saying the same about
> one or more of my designs.
>
> Some designs of the past are very much in demand. Pultec EQ's,
> UREI LA-x series, 1176, etc. There are even emulators for them.
>
> Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE
>
>
>
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