I've been wondering this for a while but haven't found a good answer. In the USA, what station has the oldest transmitter still in use as of 2026?
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Oldest Transmitter Still in Use?
- Thread starter DelmarvaDX
- Start date
Since there's no registry of what transmitter is being used by any given station, there's no hard source of data to answer this question.
I believe WXME 780 in Maine was, for a long time, using a 1930s Western Electric transmitter, but I don't know if that's still the case.
WLW's transmitter site in Mason, Ohio is still home to many generations of working transmitters. The 1927 WE 50 kW that later served to modulate the 500 kW rig was still operational as late as the night of Y2K. There was a failure of the liquid cooling system after that (it wasn't properly drained and froze), and I don't know if was ever fixed.
I do know of two extremely old pieces of broadcast infrastructure in my town of Rochester NY. WXXI 1370 has a modern Nautel XR6 for its main transmitter, but its aux is an RCA BTA5G from 1955 that was installed for its predecessor, WSAY, and it's still completely functional and running.
And WHEC-TV 10, which stayed on RF 10 after the analog shutdown, still uses the batwing antenna it began using in 1962, when it began sharing the antenna with WROC-TV on channel 8. It doesn't function especially well these days, especially because it's actually tuned to channel 9 and another station in the market at the same tower farm uses RF 9. It's *probably* the oldest TV antenna in active use in the country, but again, I can't be certain.
True and also if we are to consider only the oldest equipment in a TV transmitter it would have to be from within the 2000's. If in fact the oldest equipment is still there. it is because in the 2000's there were major changes to remove analog equipment off TV transmitters to meet the 2009 deadline to shut down analog TV signals. Yes as of today there are plans, talks or already in the installation process to put ATSC 3.0 equipment in TV transmitters to meet the 2030 deadline.
TV Manufacturers May Soon Be Forced To Add ATSC 3.0 Nextgen TV To New TVs | Cord Cutters News
In recent months, momentum has built among broadcasters and regulatory bodies to compel television manufacturers to incorporate ATSC 3.0 tuners into new TV sets, addressing the slow adoption of NextGen TV signals that promise enhanced over-the-air broadcasting capabilities. This push comes as...
cordcuttersnews.com
If shortwave transmitters are also included, the three GE 250kW transmitters at Greenville B Plant were installed in the early 1960s.
Many recently installed TV transmitters, even if they are currently running ATSC 1.0, are also capable of ATSC 3.0 output. These were often a part of the 2017-20 UHF spectrum repack.
WXME is owned by Allan Weiner, best known for his antics with shortwave outlet WBCQ. Weiner is pretty much a self-avowed Luddite, very much of the “new technology bad, old technology good” mindset.
That unit had been heavily modified over the decades, so only partially the “real deal.” Sort of like a historic house that has been extensively renovated multiple times…it it really the same as the original?
In 2023 the Woofferton shortwave facility in the UK celebrated its 80th anniversary, and had a special one hour commemorative broadcast on several frequencies beamed to various parts of the world. While most of that site’s transmitters are more recent units, the beam to North America used a vintage Marconi transmitter from 1963. I listened to the broadcast from that transmitter, and have an E-QSL of the event.
If one is to include the oldest transmitters using HD Radio equipment it would have to be around the same age as the ATSC 1.0 equipment in TV transmitters are as they had to be installed sometime in the 2000's.
Analog AM and FM not sure about their oldest transmitters using original equipment.
Analog AM and FM not sure about their oldest transmitters using original equipment.
Unless things have changed in the last year or so......WKXL (1450) in Concord, NH still uses a Gates BC-1T transmitter as a backup --- it was installed in the late 50s as the main, with an RCA BTA-250L as the backup. This WAS the main transmitter until the station was granted the power increase to 1 kw.
The main is a BE AM-1A. IT replaced a Harris MW-1.
BTW.....the BC-1T now uses solid state rectifiers in place of the 8008 and 866A mercury-vapor tubes!!
The main is a BE AM-1A. IT replaced a Harris MW-1.
BTW.....the BC-1T now uses solid state rectifiers in place of the 8008 and 866A mercury-vapor tubes!!
There just has to be a station, out in the hinterlands, running a kilowatt day and night, on a graveyard fequency...that is still limping along on an old RCA tube unit. Not modulating well, mind you, but still wigglin' the needles. It is out there my friends!
The BTA-1R1 and 1R3 were popular units....The first station i worked at (WHEB, Portsmouth NH 750 -- now silent) had a 1R1....and used an RCA BTF-1D for FM until it got a power increase. The Bauer 707 used some of the design features of the 1R1 (like the front glass window to view the 4-400 tubes for the modulator and final....).
That 1R1 was moved "up the road" to Madbury, NH sometime in the (IIRC) early 80s when (then) WWNH 1340 went on the air.
THAT station is, I believe, now silent.
That would be KGRO 1230 in Pampa, Texas. I owned it up until last year, and we were still using what you described. It was getting harder and harder to find the tubes for it, but when it worked, it hummed along. It had been there since the 50's, and the two Collins FM transmitters for our pair of Class C2's were 1962 and 1964 models respectively. I sold the stations before I had the chance to replace them, but I believe the new owners were in the process of doing just that.
Your station is even sort of where I figured it might be! Though the thought occurs that there might be a station or two like yours in 30+ states around the nation. But TX panhandle definitely tracks.
I bet those 1950s transmitters were builted with handling nuclear strike things were made a lot more rugged and I'm sure it would last for many many more years if they had the parts
Seems like EVERYTHING was built better "back then".....!
Transmitters, receivers, cars, major appliances, etc.
Somewhere along the way, quality workmanship fell by the wayside....and never got back on its feet!!
I get such a feeling of confidence and pride when I plug in a "wall-wart" transformer ----
And it snaps and sparks!!
Where's Heathkit and Allied/Knight Radio when you need 'em???!!
"I built it myself!!" is covered in cobwebs today...
(Leaves soapbox.....returns to my HW-12......)
Transmitters, receivers, cars, major appliances, etc.
Somewhere along the way, quality workmanship fell by the wayside....and never got back on its feet!!
I get such a feeling of confidence and pride when I plug in a "wall-wart" transformer ----
And it snaps and sparks!!
Where's Heathkit and Allied/Knight Radio when you need 'em???!!
"I built it myself!!" is covered in cobwebs today...
(Leaves soapbox.....returns to my HW-12......
)
Those old boxes were built very solidly because they had to be. An AM transmitter required heavy transformers, chokes and power supply capacitors, which generally (in low to medium power rigs) were inside the case on the bottom. Then you had shelves or a panel with the oscillator and the audio circuits, and then the intermediate power RF and audio drivers. That is where it gets top heavy: the final stage would be the RF and audio tubes, along with big, heavy fans to cool them. And a lot of space went for the final tuning of the unit to the output cable.
The case itself, made of steel or aluminum, helped absorb and radiate heat. But mostly it had to be solid to hold all the "stuff" inside.
I built quite a few lower power (1 kw to 5 kw) AM transmitters myself, and I had a company that made metal office desks build custom cases. They weighed about 300 kilos each, including the interior panels and compartments!
Today, all you need is a rack to hold the solid state modules. The cooling is generally part of each module, and the need to handle heavy weights is minimal. But light weight construction does not mean that the unit will last less time... less mechanical vibration, far less heat.
I'll put a Nautel made today up against any 50's or 60's tube rig and I'll bet it will have a much longer lifespan.
And it'll just run and run - not needing the tube monitoring, replacements and tweeks the old rigs required. Keep the air filters clean and the ferrites on the feedlines and it's good to go.
Seems like EVERYTHING was built better "back then".....!
Transmitters, receivers, cars, major appliances, etc.
Somewhere along the way, quality workmanship fell by the wayside....and never got back on its feet!!
I get such a feeling of confidence and pride when I plug in a "wall-wart" transformer ----
And it snaps and sparks!!
Where's Heathkit and Allied/Knight Radio when you need 'em???!!
"I built it myself!!" is covered in cobwebs today...
(Leaves soapbox.....returns to my HW-12......
Off-topic, when I was a kid, my Pawpaw (grandfather) had a 1969 Mercury Montigo, which he bought in '71 and had them install an eight-track player in it when he bought, already had an AM radio. In the Summer, that was the hooooooooooootest car, literally.
) Had metal all over it inside and out, the bench seats with the springs in them, so as a kid, your knees were near your chin LOL. Man, did that AM radio work good though, loved the eight-track too. Now that ol' radio may not have been as good as a Buick radio, but it was good in it's own right. Thanks for the memories.