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1kw solid state transmitter opinions

S

stephend2

we are looking for a transmitter to replace an old CSI that's getting tired..

I have sent off for quotes from armstrong, BE, Nautel and Energy-onix.

Now I'm here asking for opinions of each manufacturer, budget is very slim here. I've heard the armstrong can be had for around $8k which is probably about as much as the owner is willing to spend.

Anyone here have an armstrong on the air? Does it perform as advertised? Is it junk?


Stephen
 
Okay, I'm going to put this in all caps, just to make sure it gets read as it should:

DON'T GO WITH ARMSTRONG!!!!!
 
BE or Nautel. It costs more up front, but if the owner is going to cheap out on the transmitter, the one component that allows listeners to hear his product, he needs to look at the potential downtime caused by buying an inferior product. There are places where cheaping out can be made to work, but a transmitter isn't one of them.

You're better off repairing the CSI than getting an Armstrong. It's a shame they use the Major's name for such a product. I have horror stories a mile long about those things. Their FM product was a nightmare too.
 
My 1st choice Nautel,2nd BE. The power savings alone will easily cover the extra expense of the new transmitter.I would also get the Nautel surge protection,it will more than pay for itself. always remember cheap stuff ain't good and good stuff ain't cheap!
 
the CSI is in good working order, just looking for some savings and towards the future, tubes are getting harder to come by.

I will wait for the quotes from BE and Nautel to come in...
 
Run from Armstrong. I've had mixed results with the Energy-Onix AM transmitter. It gave us nothing but hell until we had to modify the PDM frequency because the dumb thing was spitting out spurious above and blow the carrier (so many channels off equally). The pdm frequency was changed and not only did the Spurious issue go away, the problem of going through fets every so often did too.
 
Armstong has been stable the past few years. Remember, you're dealing with a
shipping / distribution / repair facility in NY state. Maybe they answer the phone
between Christmas and New Years....maybe not. I had one installed in Hawai'i about
a year ago, and it's been flawless...24/7. They are NOT U.S. made or even Canada!

Now, I should also let you know, I live in Wisconsin, where lightning is frequent for
9 months out of the year, and the BE brand of solid state AM transmitters simply do
not like lightning...even a mile away. I guess, it all depends upon where you live.
Many (almost ALL) BE users, switch to tube-type back-ups, at the first hint of lightning.

Harris and Nautel are fine units.
 
stephend2 said:
what are the horror stories about armstrong?
Click to expand...
I would be interested in the Armstrong horror stories too. I installed one about a year ago and haven't had any issues with it. It is on a unipole antenna with surge protection on the electrical panel and is in an air conditioned building, so the environment is pretty good.

That being said... I vote for the Nautel J1000 with the surge protection unit as my first choice. Nautel tech support is second to none in my opinion.

RFB
 
I have Armstrongs everywhere. They work fine as long as you don't run them at full power. (As is probably the case with many brands) I have one of the 1k boxes where the TPO is 650 watts. It's been there for 12 years now and has never been off the air. The ones that run closer to full power pop fuses once in a while and occasionally (every 4 years or so) will blow one of the 4 pa's. They aren't easy to work on, that's for sure. Last two I've had problems with, just shipped it back to them and had it back repaired in about a week at a pretty resonable price.

Never used a Nautel 1k box, but hear good things about them. BE is always a good choice, but you will pay a bit more for both.

Major problems with any Energy Onyx I've come across AM or FM. Got a support guy to admit once that they use parts that are just barely rated to handle full power of the transmitter. Thus don't expect them to run problem free at full power. Their 1k box has this crappy trim pot on the front to control the output power. The pot gets dirty real fast then any time you touch it, the output jumps up full tilt. Not good!
 
Oh, if you are talking about AM, then I agree with the rest. The Armstrong AMs don't seem to hold up well at all. My prior post is about my experience with their FMs.
 
The BE would benefit from a 1:1 isolation transformer in front of it. Station that has one locally get knocked off every time power company sends a surge. Other than that, seems reliable.
 
Well.. maybe you all like US products but can tell you to look at new Elenos Indium series, since buget is in question.
They also have dealers in US. btw box is 2RU.
 
rfburns said:
That being said... I vote for the Nautel J1000 with the surge protection unit as my first choice. Nautel tech support is second to none in my opinion.
RFB
Click to expand...

I have learned that with the surge protector, you don't need tech support all that much. I had a recent problem with one where the PDM duty cycle changed. Tech support helped me find a happy spot and it's been good to do since then.
 
My vote is for Nautel. Excellent customer service. Ours has had only one issue in ten years (stayed on the air with parts over nighted and installed the next day).
 
wtrw said:
Many (almost ALL) BE users, switch to tube-type back-ups, at the first hint of lightning.
Click to expand...
I have 5 BE AM-500A's and 1 BE AM1A and none of the sites have tube units to go back to. They range in age from 3-15 years. Lightning hasn't been much of an issue on any of them here in Indiana...and we have our share of the stuff. The BE's have very little diagnostic metering and replacing some components (main power supply and cooling fan come to mind) isn't easy, but the other side of the coin is that they rarely fail and when they do, their tech support people are relatively painless to reach at any hour. Another plus for BE...the AM500 has been in production for a long time--and still is. How many incarnations has Harris been through it that time? Add my name to the "Nautel or BE" chorus.

The advice that there are some places where "cheaping out" is acceptable is dead on. Buy cheap CD players and throw them away every 2 years. Don't buy a garbage transmitter or console. I've been at this for 45 years now...I speak from experience.
 
Exactly Bob. Great medium-priced ANALOG consoles and ANALOG transmitters are out there at affordable prices these days. Doing research, including here, will save tons of headache and heart-ache in the future years for the station and it's technical help. If your station is poor, at least buy good used stuff that has good support and a great reputation for that model, etc. I don't go for the most expensive thing, but the more reliable thing. Glitz is unimportant to me. I just want it to keep running and running.
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
Glitz is unimportant to me. I just want it to keep running and running.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more....the days of the Better Homes and Gardens Beautiful Transmitter Plant competition are long gone.
 
Yup. They want it to work 100 percent of the time, cost the least to run, and be bulletproof so it's just not something, from a management standpoint, they have to worry about. Technology is such that IF you buy the right equipment, air condition it properly, keep it dry and relitively dust-free they can almost have that. The trick is doing the installation correctly and demanding things like excellent buildings (like cell-site type pre-fab, redundant air conditioners, excellent grounding, etc. I'd must rather spend money on "doing it right" techncially than buying expensive toys like HD or digital consoles. The name of the game is trouble-free and always on. It gives an engineer time to then give nice creature-confort things to the talent and sales folks to really make them happy with you :).
 
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