how much does a 50,000 watt transmitter cost?

[CarolinaFM]

we're having a radio reunion party Friday...I'm showing some old pictures, including me driving
a new 50 thousand watt transmitter over bumpy ground on a fork lift. This was a very bad idea.
This was circa 1988. Just want to tell the folks how bad of an idea it was for the morning man to
drive this thing....want to know roughly how much that thing was worth.

 

[frankberry]

Back in 1988 .... About $250,000.00

 

[b-turner]

I heard $160,000 for a top name 25kw transmitter a couple of years back. In fact, I'm monitoring it now on this computer. I won't mention the brand since they always say to call for a quote when you get to such higher power transmitters.

 

[Kelly A]

Back in 1988 .... About $250,000.00

Yes, that's about right.

 

[bradgoehl]

I just paid in the in the 180k area for a 40kw FM with HD importer/exporter, spares, ect..

 

[bossbill]

Hmmm... AM or FM. I sold Harris transmitters in 1995-98. A 50kw AM DX-50 listed at $179,000 but you could get one for under $130,000 if you negotiated. FM I don't remember.

 

[awsherrill]

I got an informal quote recently of about $140K for a 50K solid state AM rig.

I have done the transmitter-on-a-forklift job more than once. Sometimes if the delivery truck driver refuses to put his (or her) rig on the sketchy road that goes up to the tower, it's what you have to do.

In one case we had to get a 60-kilowatt FM up a hill, in separate pieces. The power supply cabinet was so heavy, once it was on the forks the forklift wouldn't move. Another engineer had to push the forklift with his truck while I steered. Fun times.

 

[CarolinaFM]

thanks guys. nothing bad happened, but looking back it just seems like a really stupid thing
for us to do.

 

[davideduardo]

In one case we had to get a 60-kilowatt FM up a hill, in separate pieces. The power supply cabinet was so heavy, once it was on the forks the forklift wouldn't move. Another engineer had to push the forklift with his truck while I steered. Fun times.

My worst "last mile" experience was getting an FM transmitter up a mountain on a road with about 7 foldbacks as it cris-crossed the face on the side facing Quito, Ecuador. A lightly loaded 4WD could get up, but in any kind of wet conditions, it was dangerous. The transmitter was built in modules, so we opted for using donkeys to go from about 10,000 feet AMSL to the 13,000 foot level of the transmitter.

The other experience was a "regular" fork lift job moving a 5 kw Gates AM in Puerto Rico across the site to a new building. We wrapped the transmitter in a rain coat, but, as is usual in San Juan, it can rain with no advance notice and does so several times a day. The forklift lost traction, so we took ropes from the construction job and used the winch on our Jeep to pull the forklift for about 20 feet where the grass was too slick to

 

[channel99]

My worst "last mile" experience was getting an FM transmitter up a mountain on a road with about 7 foldbacks as it cris-crossed the face on the side facing Quito, Ecuador. A lightly loaded 4WD could get up, but in any kind of wet conditions, it was dangerous. The transmitter was built in modules, so we opted for using donkeys to go from about 10,000 feet AMSL to the 13,000 foot level of the transmitter.

Did you have AC power at the top? It would be a nasty place to haul fuel to, if depending on a generator.

 

[davideduardo]

Did you have AC power at the top? It would be a nasty place to haul fuel to, if depending on a generator.

Our neighbor, HCJB TV had taken AC up the mountain. They let us buy a Share of the installation. We g
Had a backup site at about 10,600 feet AMSL.

 

[ContinuousWave]

I think the definitive answer is "IF you have to ask, you cannot afford it"

 

[1L6E6VHF]

On this topic:

What about a pre-owned, but useable 10kW AM transmitter (e.g., an earlier solid-state model, or a tube unit that happens to use tube(s) that are affordable), that could also run about 50-100 watts?

What about two 187' guyed towers? Self-supporting towers?
30,000' of copper wire (and would the FCC likely approve a waiver for aluminum in lieu of copper if asked?)

A phasor for two towers (it may help that the day and night patterns could be stereoisomers).