[BC] Phasitron...

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

From: "Dana Puopolo" <dpuopolo at usa.net>

>This sounds exactly how the carrier syncronyzer at WLLH in Lawrence, MA worked. The carrier frequency of the Lowell transmitter was divided down to an audio tone that was sent to Lawrence by a telco line. In Lawrence, the transmitter there also had its carrier divided down by the same amount. The rest of the circuit is as you described for the FM PLL, except in this case the motor turned a crystal trimmer on the Lawrence transmitter. Once a week the Office Manager used to stop at the Lawrence transmitter on her way to work and zero beat the tones using a pair of headphones.

When WBZ and WBZ-A were synchronized, I heard that they did it the same way, also. It seems that once a scheme is devised that works, engineers stick to it like glue. I'll bet a dime against ten cents that a review of the station's records would show that the same engineer's name is there as well!

Of course, one needs to be careful when sticking to a particular solution. When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail. Someone called Abraham Maslow stole that from me without giving me any credit. As a sixteen year old, I used this in a science fair project. He died in 1962 and that is probably why.

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