[BC] Western Electric Model 304A 1kW ??? 443-A Western Electric

[Chuck Lakaytis]

At a transmitter site I maintained, the Collins 50 KW ISB transmitters had 
Xenon recifiers which made a pretty purple glow.  The 10 KW Western Electric 
ISB's T-409's had mercury vapor rectifiers with that great blue glow.  Most 
impressive were the 4 10 KW CW transmitters made by Federal Electric.  Hour 
after Hour they poured out the five letter code groups.  These were ASA 
(Army Security Agency) circuits.  The pulsating glow was outstanding.

And the Collins OA2180 systems with a gazillion tubes.  They were autotune 
transmitters where the exicter ran a few watts and the servo detectors tuned 
the tuned circuits in the high level stages.  Worked great until for some 
wierd reason the transmitter decided to change tuning!

The final amps of the ANFRT 51 50 KW had a wierd rare parasitic oscillation 
that Collins could never eliminate.  So they had plug in suppressors that 
were 100 watt carborundum resistors with a coil wrapped around it.  About 
once a month there would be a noise like a cannon shot in the transmitter 
room, then the mad cycling of the overload relays.  We would vacum out the 
remains of the suppressor, then plug in a new one.  Good for another month 
or so usually.

Chuck Lakaytis
Director of Engineering
Alaska Public Broadcasting, Inc.
135 Cordova Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
907 277 6300
907 277 6359 FAX
907 301 4339 Cell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <DHultsman5 at aol.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] Western Electric Model 304A 1kW ??? 443-A Western Electric


>
> In a message dated 4/10/2007 5:04:09 PM Central Daylight Time,
> RichardBJohnson at comcast.net writes:
>
> Oh wow!  I'm absolutely in love! What a beautiful rig!
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Richard  B. Johnson
> Read about my  book
> http://www.AbominableFirebug.com
>
>
> Mr. Johnson:
>
> Go to _www.oldradio.com_ (http://www.oldradio.com) ,  table  of contents,
> hardware, transmitters,  Western Electric,   1940's  443-A
> 1 kW.   The transmitter has four 357-B tubes.  I am not sure  if it is a
> Doherity or a linear amplifier.  It has four 6 Inch round  meters.
>
> Also floating around on this forum are several color photos of the
> transmitter in operation with the doors open and the tube filaments  on. 
> I don't
> recall if ther mercury vapor tubes were drawing current.   Very nice 
> photos.
>
> If anyone recall where these photos may be located  please ket us have 
> the
> URL.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave Hultsman
> Continental Electronics
>
>
>
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