[BC] Remote control follies

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

Haha! When I was CE at WCHA, Chambersburg, PA., we had a homemade remote control unit that had three meters, each with separate calibration pots. Each morning I would dutifully record the readings at the transmitter site and set the calibration pots at the studio.

Eventually, however, one of the pots was up all the way and could not adjust its respective meter anymore. It was then that I removed the panel to find out what needed to be fixed. What I found was that the meters all connected to a single 9-volt battery through a calibration pot. The battery was turned on and off using a DPST switch on the front panel. The other pole of the switch went to the remote-control phone line.

At the transmitter, the remote-control phone line was connected in series with the plate-relay coil, which used 220 volts!

There was 220 volts on the telephone line and no actual metering! When I brought this to the attention of the owner/manager, he said; "Just change the battery!"

Eventually we did get a remote-control unit, but only after the last blood was drained out of all the rocks in Pennsylvania.

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Hultsman" <DHults1043 at aol.com>
 
I recall a small local AM station on 1490 in Texas, was located about two miles from their transmitter site. I was always impressed  with two things they had.   Their Air monitor sounded as good as the audio going out and they had a remote control system that had four meters that operated all the time.  Plate Voltage, Plate current, Remote Base Current and Modulation were all visible simultaneously.