[BC] Silly engineer tricks

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

Real radio station tricks: When FM Stereo was first approved, there were many radio stations that couldn't possibly run stereo without replacing their exciter and adding a stereo generator. Some transmitters even had frequency doublers in the drivers (like Western Electric transmitters) so they couldn't be converted at all.

Cheap solution: Buy a Heathkit solid-state audio generator, bridge it across the program line, and feed 10 percent modulation of 19 kHz. There were literally hundreds of such lash-ups in New England until Nathan Hallenstein from the Boston FCC office got wind of it. Then there were literally hundreds of fines being accessed and the stereo pilot lights went out across the dial for a few years until real stereo equipment was installed.

Methinks IBOC could be emulated with a noise generator.......

Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Book: http://www.AbominableFirebug.com/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry Mishkind" <barry at oldradio.com>

         In college, I had someone next door in the dorm
         who liked to run his favorite station up at
         full level (he must have been a DJ, since
         most DJs only know two levels: off and 100%)
         VERY early in the AM.   A little phono oscillator
         bought a lot of peace.