[BC] Richard B Johnson at Wilkinson

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

I don't know. When Guffy Wilkinson died, his wife didn't want to run the company. It was sold to someone in the Denver area I think.
I don't know about Richardson.

There were lots of start-ups from AEL in Lansdowne, PA. The basic AEL designs were used by ITA, CCA, Sintronic, etc., etc., with little modification until solid-state came into vogue. Most of the engineers who started these companies at one time worked for AEL, some as test technicians, and some as engineers. Bill Johnson (no relation), Chief Engineer of Wilkinson Electronics, also had worked for AEL. Therefore, most of the FM transmitters were similar, except for Collins and RCA. Even though RCA pioneered grounded-grid amplifiers for television, their FM transmitters were all grid-driven tetrode amplifiers, including the "blowtorch" design http://www.abominablefirebug.com/Job/RCA.pdf CCA's founder, Bernard Wise, having worked for RCA, insisted that grounded-grid designs be used in his company's transmitters. The actual designs were developed by Chief Engineer, Juan Chiabrando and Senior Engineer, Juan Gregorio. Juan Chibrando insisted that Juan Gregorio be called "John," because Juan wanted to be the only Juan... Mr. Gregorio also designed the higher-power FM transmitters for Sparta/Bauer, and McMartin Industries.

Collins FM transmitters used the "stove-pipe" design for their final amplifiers. Their reliability is legendary.

Most of my early work involved FM exciters, stereo generators, and solid-state transmitters. This was the very first piece of equipment I designed for the broadcast industry. http://www.abominablefirebug.com/BlogFiles/Wilkinson.jpg It got the attention of the FCC because, unlike most others of the day, it actually worked! The FCC bought a couple for use in testing modulation monitors. This got me great visibility ans soon I was considered an "expert," even for things about which I knew nothing---- and had to learn real quickly!!!

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "wpio fm 89.3" <wpio at gate.net>

Richard, what do you know about Richardson selling to TTC (Television 
Technology Corp in Denver)?