[BC] CONELRAD and transmitters

[Broadcast List USER]

From: Rob Landry <011010001 at interpring.com>
>Wouldn't they have had to switch to alternate tuning networks, both in the transmitter and at the tower base?
>
>In many cases would it not have made the most sense to have a separate transmitter pre-tuned to 640 or 1240? That way, they'd only have had  
>to shut off the main transmitter, switch the tower from the regular tuning network to the Conelrad one, and power up thr Conelrad transmitter.

Switching 10 or 40 kHz is not a big deal.  You may want to take a  
small power reduction for reliability though.

However, but swings need more, and the transmitter isn't a big deal.   
Remember, in the days of CONELRAD, we had manned transmitters at  
directional stations, so it was not a big deal.

Re-tuning the transmitter was not a problem.

The phasor more so, and the ATU(s) was huge.  Many stations installed  
secondary networks and went ND for CONELRAD operation.  This made a  
lot of sense from both a technical standpoint and from a tactical  
standpoint.

The thing that amazed me (I was a baby when the system was running) is  
how fast the stations were switched.  It really had to be hard on any  
transmitter that was running full power.

I do have a MP3 of a CONELRAD test that I will provide to anyone who  
want's it, but I would absolutely love to get recordings from anyone  
else who has them.

Thanks.

--chip