• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

1kw solid state transmitter opinions

Nautel
BE AM 1A

Rigs I'd avoid:

Harris current models if you plan to keep them long (too many SMD devices)
Armstrong
Any foreign made rig which lacks US based Tech support
Energy-Onix Pulsar if your only transmitter (Documentation is lacking pertaining to your actual rig you own) Bernie Wise's tech support is actually very fine. If you must go budget, much better than an Armstrong.

I am biased, I like transmitters actual engineers can field repair and maintain. Especially if she goes Tango Uniform on a Saturday or Sunday. I also like good documentation to aid my troubleshooting, and I love good tech support and value for the money. Which makes us look better to the station owners.
 
Lots of good recommendations here. Will stay away from cheap foreign made stuff.

I had a talk with the owner after some quotes came in, he thought he was going to get by with 5-8k which is just unreasonably cheap.

It was agreed to keep the old CSI going for a while longer as the return on investment would be too long for the small savings, not counting any air conditioning needed. +1 for the csi there, it runs and runs and runs at over 100 in the building all day every day during the summer and never complains.
 
stephend2 said:
Lots of good recommendations here. Will stay away from cheap foreign made stuff.

I had a talk with the owner after some quotes came in, he thought he was going to get by with 5-8k which is just unreasonably cheap.
Click to expand...

There is no way in hell I'd put a 5-8k transmitter on the air as my main. If that's what he had in mind, you are better off with the CSI.
 
Kent T said:
Nautel
BE AM 1A

Rigs I'd avoid:

Harris current models if you plan to keep them long (too many SMD devices)
Armstrong
Any foreign made rig which lacks US based Tech support
Energy-Onix Pulsar if your only transmitter (Documentation is lacking pertaining to your actual rig you own) Bernie Wise's tech support is actually very fine. If you must go budget, much better than an Armstrong.

I am biased, I like transmitters actual engineers can field repair and maintain. Especially if she goes Tango Uniform on a Saturday or Sunday. I also like good documentation to aid my troubleshooting, and I love good tech support and value for the money. Which makes us look better to the station owners.
Click to expand...


I don't see any reason to avoid the Harris DAX1. It's definitely worth a look.

We installed a DAX5 in Dayton 3 years ago, which we run at 5KW 24 hours a day. We haven't regretted it for one second. The 1KW rigs aren't a lot of money.

Yes, there are a lot of SMD devices, but welcome to the 21st century.
 
The Harris DAX is good when new, working and when you have lots of spare modules. In lightning country, better have lots of spare modules. I'd rather have a rig which with a $100 of parts, can be put back on the air if it goes down rather than $800-$900 in module replacement costs. Practicality in small market radio. I still run tube backups due to being in East TN lightning country. More than once, that tube rig kept us on the air.
 
Kent T said:
The Harris DAX is good when new, working and when you have lots of spare modules. In lightning country, better have lots of spare modules. I'd rather have a rig which with a $100 of parts, can be put back on the air if it goes down rather than $800-$900 in module replacement costs. Practicality in small market radio. I still run tube backups due to being in East TN lightning country. More than once, that tube rig kept us on the air.
Click to expand...

I have a client with a 30 year old 10 kW CCA FM. And, swear on my soul, except for the tube, anything I have needed to repair it thus far I have gotten from either Grainger or Master Distributer. I had a wire wound power resister in the plate circuit bust up on me and was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find a replacement. Or should I say an inexpensive replacement. One phone call to the office in Louisville and one was on it's way, post haste! Time delay relay for plate voltage burnt up on me, Grainger had an exact replacement for $15. Why can't we have transmitters like that anymore?
 
This can get tricky financially, if your local electric rate is high can a "solid state" 1 kw (or greater) save enough money to pay for the higher cost or purchased and higher repairs?
 
stephend2 said:
plenty of lightning around here.... about to have to feed the old CSI again, its been 3 yrs, tubes getting weak.
Click to expand...
3 years? I'm impressed. The Collins 20V2 (driven to the wall by an Optimod 9100) chewed tubes up and spit them out every 4 months like clockwork--and yes, the filament voltage was correct. If that rig had gotten 3 years from a set of tubes, it might still be there.
 
Bengalsfan said:
Kent T said:
The Harris DAX is good when new, working and when you have lots of spare modules. In lightning country, better have lots of spare modules. I'd rather have a rig which with a $100 of parts, can be put back on the air if it goes down rather than $800-$900 in module replacement costs. Practicality in small market radio. I still run tube backups due to being in East TN lightning country. More than once, that tube rig kept us on the air.
Click to expand...

I have a client with a 30 year old 10 kW CCA FM. And, swear on my soul, except for the tube, anything I have needed to repair it thus far I have gotten from either Grainger or Master Distributer. I had a wire wound power resister in the plate circuit bust up on me and was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find a replacement. Or should I say an inexpensive replacement. One phone call to the office in Louisville and one was on it's way, post haste! Time delay relay for plate voltage burnt up on me, Grainger had an exact replacement for $15. Why can't we have transmitters like that anymore?
Click to expand...
That's been my experience with a 40 year old CCA 20KW FM...the very definition of the word battleship. A tube every 18 months, a blower rebuild every 10 years or so...it's a box of simple needs. Hopefully someday things will come full circle and a solid state version of the decades old CCA design will become commonplace. I want something I can fix or at least redneck-engineer it to stay on the air until I can get the parts in!
 
Really, a properly protected Harris DAX or Gates One or Nautel Amphet will do just that. Static drain chokes, power protectors, and a keeping them in a good enviroment go a long ways to keeping them working right.
 
Bengalsfan said:
I had a wire wound power resister in the plate circuit bust up on me and was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find a replacement. Or should I say an inexpensive replacement. One phone call to the office in Louisville and one was on it's way, post haste! Time delay relay for plate voltage burnt up on me, Grainger had an exact replacement for $15. Why can't we have transmitters like that anymore?
Click to expand...
Probably the biggest reason is the constant improvement and obsolescence of solid state parts. FETs in particular.
 
This one has been good, I've been caring for it around 4 years now, it was rough when I got there, fed it tubes, 6 months later it took a lightning hit, shorted every tube including the audio drivers and oscillator.. fresh set of tubes and one resistor later, back on the air. Solid state definitely would not have been that lucky.

Only other issue in 4 years time was when the power company had a transformer short in the substation down the road, was bad enough to destroy meter bases for a couple blocks, vaporized lines leaving the substation, let the smoke out of the UPS at the site, opened winding in blower motor. APC UPS did a good job, it died but protected equipment on the other side of it. threw a blower in and back on the air nothing else damaged.

The only reason I brought up solid state is the owner asked me to inquire.

On the collins eating tubes, I occasionally care for a collins 820e that eats up a set of 4cx5000s about once a year.





BobOnTheJob said:
stephend2 said:
plenty of lightning around here.... about to have to feed the old CSI again, its been 3 yrs, tubes getting weak.
Click to expand...
3 years? I'm impressed. The Collins 20V2 (driven to the wall by an Optimod 9100) chewed tubes up and spit them out every 4 months like clockwork--and yes, the filament voltage was correct. If that rig had gotten 3 years from a set of tubes, it might still be there.
Click to expand...
 
we also have a CCA 5kw FM, in 4 years, I've fed it one tube due to the current one being gone, the other was due to lightning at the owner's request. tube that took the hit was still fine and is sitting on the shelf as a spare. Harmonic filter didn't fare so well. was able to call around and find a suitable filter about an hours drive away, went and picked it up, got right back on. completely surprised me that it came right on up and made full power after that. IPA tube has been in there as long as I've been around or longer, still going strong. Final is starting to get weak, been in there a little over 2 years.




BobOnTheJob said:
Bengalsfan said:
Kent T said:
The Harris DAX is good when new, working and when you have lots of spare modules. In lightning country, better have lots of spare modules. I'd rather have a rig which with a $100 of parts, can be put back on the air if it goes down rather than $800-$900 in module replacement costs. Practicality in small market radio. I still run tube backups due to being in East TN lightning country. More than once, that tube rig kept us on the air.
Click to expand...

I have a client with a 30 year old 10 kW CCA FM. And, swear on my soul, except for the tube, anything I have needed to repair it thus far I have gotten from either Grainger or Master Distributer. I had a wire wound power resister in the plate circuit bust up on me and was a little worried I wouldn't be able to find a replacement. Or should I say an inexpensive replacement. One phone call to the office in Louisville and one was on it's way, post haste! Time delay relay for plate voltage burnt up on me, Grainger had an exact replacement for $15. Why can't we have transmitters like that anymore?
Click to expand...
That's been my experience with a 40 year old CCA 20KW FM...the very definition of the word battleship. A tube every 18 months, a blower rebuild every 10 years or so...it's a box of simple needs. Hopefully someday things will come full circle and a solid state version of the decades old CCA design will become commonplace. I want something I can fix or at least redneck-engineer it to stay on the air until I can get the parts in!
Click to expand...
 
Not knocking the Nautel Ampfet line. I have some of these in my care. Great transmitters which run for years and years and superb tech and parts support. I don't care for Big H gear too much except for some oldies.
 
I have mixed emotions about the Nautel Jazz series stuff. It's much harder to work on and seems in some installations much easier to break (mainly lighting). I highly suggest that if anyone has one of the Jazz units they better wind themselves a good static drain choke, use the power protector they suggest, and make sure things are right at the tower so the transmitter really is seeing 50 0j. I've helped a friend that had one that kept popping modules. I retuned their tower to a more proper match and we added a static drain. So far, so good. Another friend still has nothing but hell with theirs. It's on a Franklin antenna so it should theoretically be grounded but still loves to blow FETs if they leave it hooked up during storms. They don't anymore. They go to the backup. I can't help but wonder if they would be wise to add a static drain close to the transmitter and see how that works out...
 
I had a harris gates one brought to my attention today. Looks like early 90s? If it can be had for the right price, is it worth it or stay away ?
 
I have a Gates One and have been pleased with it..Do not know if retuning is a pain or not...JBI
 
stephend2 said:
I had a harris gates one brought to my attention today. Looks like early 90s? If it can be had for the right price, is it worth it or stay away ?
Click to expand...

Before you can make an accurate judgement, you need to find out how much it would cost to retune it. If you have to go from, say 610, up to 1650, it may be more trouble than it's worth. Otherwise, the Gates One is a solid rig from Harris and I'd take it.
 
Changing frequency could involve changing components on the OSC board, IPA board, IPA matching network, each PA module, and the output matching network. Need at least a network analyzer to tune the output network.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom