[BC] Harris Corp. Seeks Cuts in Transmitter Business

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 02/04/2007 12:33:32 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
wbzq1300 at verizon.net writes:

>  Robert Meuser wrote:
(SNIP)
>  > That being said, my real world observations pretty much agreed with 
>  > what I was taught.  When the Gates One came out, my impression was it 
>  > was named that way because it was a cheap transmitter that adhered to 
>  > the old Quincy Tin Works standard that Harris after many years had 
>  > purged from their newer gear. 
>  
>  Our station (what you would not call real broadcasters) uses a Gates One 
>  and it's been reliable and trouble-free.

We got a Gates 5 over 10 years ago. So far, only one failure that I would 
call "moderate"- the 4 PDM filter caps failed internally, and allowed too much of 
the PDM frequency thorough. (Their electrolyte broke down and they "sloshed" 
when I removed them.) Other than that one-time, $360 repair, all this box has 
ever needed was an occasional fuse replaced and regular inspections/cleanings.

The only other repair of significance that it needed, was when a tuning error 
caused one of the internal coils to self-destruct. (We were having some major 
rework done on our phastor & tuning units.) Needless to say, once that coil 
was replaced with a slightly higher current unit, it has been flawless. This 
was *not* a fault of the transmitter, BTW.

So, I would still recommend these boxes... but I believe they aren't made 
anymore?

Anyway, in light of the present discussion, (all of it, not just the above) 
it looks like my 50/50 opinion between Harris & Nautel just leaned a little 
more in Nautel's favor. Maybe 45/55.

Willie...
(Still cautiously optimistic.)