From eBay @ Gates BC-500T BC-1T 500 watt AM Broadcast Transmitter 1590 KHz | eBay
And complete with an Audimax and Volumax
And complete with an Audimax and Volumax
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500 watt AM transmitter for $499 "Hollow State Nostalgia"
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
It actually looks to be in pretty good shape! I've spent a lot of hours rebuilding and modifying those old rigs. The price isn't bad, but my wife would kill me if I brought something like that home.
You'd have to pick it up. The truck rental would be more than the rig. I can see a ham buying it, though. But I can't envision the plate / hv relay taking the constant on/off of a ham keying the mike 40 or 50 times an hour! Plus they are noisy!
Can you get 833's any more?
Getting rid of the 833's and tube audio drive deck used to be the first modifications. I'd build a plug that would fit into the 833 socket with diode stacks forming the rectifier. I used to mount an EV tapco 100w audio power amp connected to a phone company 111C coil to replace the old tube audio drive deck.
Back in the 70s we (WKXL 1450 Concord, NH) had a BC-1T as the main and an RCA BTA-250L as a backup...
We finally got a Harris MW-1 for the main and the 1T became the standby....the 250L was actually hauled out -- in several pieces, in a U-Haul trailer (!!) by a guy from Kentucky...a die-hard 160 fan, who didn't mind the trek to NH --- the transmitter was free for the moving!!
Currently (as of last year) the station still has the 1T as the backup.....and a BE AM-1A as the main....
Word on the street is that they got rid of the MW-1 because of the beryllium power transistors that, if crushed, could produce cancer-causing toxins.....There was a WARNING at the top of EVERY page of the Tech manual for this rig!!
I'm still looking for a Bauer 707 that's still in good shape --- nice for 160 m Ham work......
Not so nice for my electric bill!!
Kelly A ---- I think your socket mod was NOT for the 833 (the final and modulator tubes) but the 866 and/or 8008 mercury vapor rectifiers....IIRC, Wilkinson made custom stack rectifiers for various transmitters.
We finally got a Harris MW-1 for the main and the 1T became the standby....the 250L was actually hauled out -- in several pieces, in a U-Haul trailer (!!) by a guy from Kentucky...a die-hard 160 fan, who didn't mind the trek to NH --- the transmitter was free for the moving!!
Currently (as of last year) the station still has the 1T as the backup.....and a BE AM-1A as the main....
Word on the street is that they got rid of the MW-1 because of the beryllium power transistors that, if crushed, could produce cancer-causing toxins.....There was a WARNING at the top of EVERY page of the Tech manual for this rig!!
I'm still looking for a Bauer 707 that's still in good shape --- nice for 160 m Ham work......
Not so nice for my electric bill!!
Kelly A ---- I think your socket mod was NOT for the 833 (the final and modulator tubes) but the 866 and/or 8008 mercury vapor rectifiers....IIRC, Wilkinson made custom stack rectifiers for various transmitters.
You're right! I was replacing the 8008 rectifier. Goes to show how long ago I worked on one of those things.
Kelly A ---- I think your socket mod was NOT for the 833 (the final and modulator tubes) but the 866 and/or 8008 mercury vapor rectifiers....IIRC, Wilkinson made custom stack rectifiers for various transmitters.
Wilkenson made the original SS rectifier stacks that plugged into the 8008 sockets. I modified the design with single half wave rectifiers sold by BE mounted to a circuit board. Saved having to mount and wire together a bunch of individual diodes like the Wilkenson.
Last time I tried to buy some to help out a friend with an old RCA, the only ones still available were from China.
Wilkinson also made a plug-in replacement for the 866s. Converted a BC-1T to Wilkinson's back in the early 1970s.
"Audiamax & Volumax and modulation monitor not included, only shown for demonstration purposes."
When I saw that post from David including the photos, I thought 'Ah, how cool is that'? It was one of those momentary dormant nostalgic neurons reminding me of the not-so-good-ol-days of getting some late-night or weekend phone call to troubleshoot some old rig. To be fair, usually, once I had one of those vintage boxes sorted, they behaved pretty well, even in crappy conditions like out in some dusty prairie or in a run-down building next to a swamp. Sometimes I miss the challenge of troubleshooting and maintaining the old gear, but given the reliability of modern gear? I don't miss it THAT much.
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