[BC] Freq agile AM transmitters

[Neal Newman]

Frequency agile transmitter on AM?
That's not easy to cover the Entire AM spectrum (540-1700) without 
some modifications to the transmitter
  the exciter cards are just some switch settings ,but the Amp 
stages  need either Capacitor, coil, or Toroid  changes.
Usually they are in frequency ranges.

Here is an example:
  I had a station just last week have a transmitter failure no backup.
Lucky for them I had a spare BE AM-1A at my site( my AUX transmitter 
not yet installed) Its range 1580 to 1700 with its present 
configuration. Lets just say the station in need was at the lower end 
of that range. and the transmitter was set at the higher end.

I called BE.. they said If I was lucky I could get 500 Watts out 
without changing the Toroids in the final stage.
Heck 500 watts is better than being off the air. I loaded up the 
transmitter into my pickup and drove several hours to deliver and 
install the transmitter.

Well  I wont complain. I got 800 watts out of the transmitter without 
the Toriod change.   Hey at least they were back on the air. Ill take 
800 Watts over being totally off the air any day. After they repeair 
the NAUTEL that failed.  The BE will go back to the factory to have 
that Toriod changed. and will return as their backup TX..



<mailto:WFIFeng at aol.com>WFIFeng at aol.com wrote:

>By "Frequency Agile", I mean something where you flick a thumbwheel to the
>required frequency, and press the "ON" button. You're there. *Not* something
>that requires changing coils (or taps on coils) and tweaking various variable
>caps... just like the modern Ham rigs: Just spin the VFO dial, and 
>you're on a
>new frequency. (seconds, not hours.)
>
>The idea being that you can just toss the unit into the back of the car and
>trundle it to a sister station as an instant backup. Dial up their freq, hook
>it up, and press the button. It would be even better in a 
>multi-station setup,
>where moving the input , output, and changing the freq would be all that's
>required to get a failed station back on the air in mere minutes.
>
>Willie...