[BC] Dropping power at dusk

[Paul]

To the List:

I worked at KORN 1490 in Mitchell, SD 1977-79 where we had a morning board
op who failed to RAISE power correctly the right time and received NAL from
the FCC. The engineer at the time, Gene Monday, hooked up two direct time
readout clocks, one to raise and one to lower the power output. After that,
all was well as long as Gene adjusted the alarm time each month as the power
change time changed. KORN was what was described as a class IV, 1KW days,
.25KW nights. I was responsible for seeing that the power change lowered as
required and checking for antenna lights/beacons on. Remember the Gates, and
I suppose other remote systems with multimeters that you had to keep "in
step" with the unit at the other end? One of the positions showed lights &
beacon flashing by throwing the needle back and forth across the face of one
of the meters. If it didn't swing all the way, one of your lights or the
beacon was burned out and you had to call an FAA Flight Service Center to
let them know.

Paul Kretschmer
WIHS Operations
Middletown, CT (for the past 25 years)


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