[BC] RCA History earliest transmitter

[Dana Puopolo]

Another company that made exciters in the '50's/early '60's was ERCO Corp,
Based in (I believe) Nassau County, Long Island, NY.

I saw one of their exciters when I contracted for (now defunct) WGLI 1290,
Babylon back in the '70's. It was in their back room - and took up a whole
rack. It was on 103.5 (WTFM). It was designed to work with the Crosley stereo
FM system.

Jim Allsopp worked for me at WGSM. I gave him the exciter, as he had worked
for ERCO and actually designed it. His initials were all over the blueprints.
His mother in law owned the company, and when he got divorced, the company
foundered.

I have no idea if ERCO made transmitters, but I wouldn't be surprised if they
did.

-D

------ Original Message ------
Received: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:58:30 PM EST
From: "Mark Humphrey" <mark3xy at gmail.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Subject: Re: [BC] RCA History earliest transmitter

On 12/29/06, Dana  Puopolo <dpuopolo at usa.net> wrote:
> Was there not a GEL FM transmitter? I recall seeing one back in the 70's at
> WVCA in Glousester, MA.

Yes, I think GEL stood for General Electronics Labs of Cambridge, Mass.

WVOR in Rochester started out in 1962 with a GEL, I recall it had a
pair of 4CX5000As in the final and was rated for 15 kW output.   It
was replaced with a CCA in the late '70s when Bob Denny was CE, but
was still on site as a backup through the mid '80s.

GEL also made a Serrasoid exciter and SCA generator, which WVOR's old
sister station (WDDS 93.1 in Syracuse) retrofitted into their RCA, in
place of the "Iron Fireman".

Mark
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