[BC] The cause of Gates Radio's slide

[Dennis Cope]

Phil, what can you tell me about the THE-1 exciter?

I have one and want to rebuild it..  I have the manual for what it's worth.

Dennis
WESR, WCTG, NOAA

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net]On Behalf Of Phil Alexander
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 13:13
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: [BC] The cause of Gates Radio's slide


On 4 Feb 2007 at 11:40, Gary Glaenzer wrote:

 > you were taught incorrectly, then
 >
 >
 > ----- Original Message -----
 > From: "Robert Meuser" <Robertm at broadcast.net>
 > Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 10:48 AM
 >
 > > Maybe I am spoiled, but I never had to work on original Gates gear.

Indeed! And obviously so. The real GATES hardware was quite good.

The "Quincy Tin Works" moniker came about through George Dively's
edict to build at lower cost once Harris-Intertype bought Gates in
1957.

It took Harris over 40 years to learn how to build good boxes once
they were calling the shots. For their day, the Gates BC-250GY,
BC-500GY, BC-1F, BC-5B etc. were reliable, easy to work on, strongly
built and would withstand more abuse than anything on the market in
the 50's.

Some of the people Harris hired were those who had bounced around
the industry to the extent that they were unqualified for Gates but
Harris didn't have a clue and hired them. The results were, among
others, the Vanguard, the VP-100 and the TE-1 exciter.

Had it not been for Hilmer Swanson and a few other hold-overs, the
losses might have been enough to sink the division.