[BC] when you had to bunk at the station

[Phil Alexander]

Boys, boys!

If I were less polite ..... but I'm not so I won't make the
comment for which this one begs. <ggg>

Howsome effer:

While there was a PHASITRON EXCITER, there was no Phasitron
transmitter. Secondly, those of us who operated and maintained the Syracuse blue beasties never used the GE
model nomenclature. We called them by rated TPO of the 
last PA, thus you had a 250W GE, a 3KW GE, or a 10KW GE 
FM. It is true that GE cataloged a 50KW FM, but I never 
saw one of those or talked to anyone who had seen one. 
On paper the 50 looked like a slightly modified low band
TV aural. Remember, those were the days of 50% aural ERP.

While the 10 kW box was rather large, the much more 
common 3 kW (also the driver of the 10 kW) was, compared 
to inferior types, rather small. Some may think that 
calling others "inferior types" is an unfair comment, 
but the GE FM line was so far ahead of the industry 
that, in some ways, 20 year old GE's were "state of 
the art" when FMS made them obsolete. Of course when
GE designed the FM series Syracuse was arguably one 
of the leading, if not THE leading, electronic 
production labs in the world. Compared with the stuff
(BTF-10D) from Camden several years later .... IMHO 
the brown (umber gray) boxes were so far behind that 
was simply not possible. For example consider the TRUE 
VHF "birdcage" power tetrodes (7D21's in the 3 KW and 
8D21's in the 10). The tubes GE needed did not exist 
so they made them.

My specialty in those days was the ability to "tune" 
a Phasitron. Almost anyone could "tune" a phasor. That 
was easy, but getting a good compromise between 30 cps 
and 50 cps at 100% mod on a 2H21/5593 was an art that 
few mastered. My own feeling was the FCC solved the .
problem by eliminating the 30 cps (Hz) point from the 
FM audio proof requirement. Regardless, the last one I
"tuned" nearly 50 years ago passed the original FM audio
proof standard cleanly!

I do not understand why logging at 30 minute intervals
seems remarkable. All of us who can remember when Elvis
cut records for Sun - that was before RCA - had to do 
that. Not only did we have to log an FM, there was an AM
box and a phase monitor (Nems-Clark) - all to be done
every 30 minutes WHILE WORKING AN AIR SHIFT with chatter
and live reads between cuts. Kinda makes me laugh at 
today's "overworked" DJ's, but that is another thread. <g>

Yes, there was a day when working in radio meant WORKING,
and in those days for FM, GE was THE transmitter. For some
of us in small markets those were the best of days and the
worst of days, all at the same time. But, I may be 
prejudiced. I started working on a 10W GE NCE Class D
back in prehistoric days when I was about 15. <g>

Phil Alexander, CSRE, AMD
 

-----Original Message-----
>From: Richard Fry <rfry at adams.net>
>
>RichardBJohnson recently posted:
>
>> Surely someone who writes with such authority would at
>> least spell-check their text.
>and
>> My first venture into a real radio station was as a
>> runaway and I stopped by WTAG-FM on Asknebumskit Hill 
>> in Paxton. The Engineer in charge showed me around 
>> the facility. He had to keep a transmitter log every 
>> 30 minutes, at which time he would read the meters 
>> on a huge General Electric Model 4TF5A1 Phasotron
>> transmitter and type the log.
>and
>>--sorry, I couldn't resist...
>_______________________________
>
>With due respect, your own spell-checking is not perfect,
>either, even though, IMO, you present yourself with great
>authority.
>
>Please research the correct spelling of "Phasotron."
>
>Sorry, I couldn't resist.
>
>RF