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Need help to change freq of Gates FM-2.5H3

A

Art Sutton

Guest
Our company owns a single phase Gates FM-2.5H3 transmitter on 92.1 mHz. We would like to move it to 96.3 mHz to serve as a backup.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions as to where I can find the information about whether we can do this and what's involved.

Thanks.
 
I recall changing a 10H3 from 104-something to 97.9 back in the late 80's

As I recall, there are about 6-8 small doorknob caps under the final socket that must be changed to bring the tuning into range

Other than that, peak-and-dip

A dummy load with a wattmeter would be a great help
 
Art Sutton said:
Our company owns a single phase Gates FM-2.5H3 transmitter on 92.1 mHz. We would like to move it to 96.3 mHz to serve as a backup.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions as to where I can find the information about whether we can do this and what's involved.

Thanks.

You can do this. The info is on the Harris website. You will have to register to access the Premier area of their site. Go to support...documentation...radio TX....FM....FM-K....FM 2.5H/K frequency change.

I have changed one before. Been awhile. Best I remember....if you use the built in IPA, there is an
inductor that has to be shortened, moving the PA line to the correct holes, & retuning the harmonic filter.
No parts changes necessary.
 
Just took one off the air, was on 89.5 when we put it in but only had to move it to 92.3. Just went looking for that Harris bulletin, but must be on the computer at work.

As I remember, on the grid of the final there is a little link which you shorten as you go up in frequency. It's soldered in place. Also, in the cavity, there is a plate that can be moved as a coarse tuning adjustment on the final.

If you can, find an exciter that will put out about 30 watts or better; and connect it directly into the final. The IPA is connected to the final by a short jumper, on the right hand side of the cavity (looking from the back) you'll see the BNC jack. On ours, the IPA is little more than a buffer amp--an MX15 will drive the final directly to about 1200 watts, I used an 802A to get the full 2500 watts, with around 25 watts of drive. Final grid tuning becomes critical to match the exciter, but once set it just runs.

Also--crawl in the cavity and check the plate loading capacitor. It's a little air variable with three plates; it can come loose over the years and start arcing. Once it does, you are dead. Don't know of a replacement source.

An in-line watt meter is almost necessary. These things were built back in the time of hand-picking finals for best efficiency. On my box the listed efficiency is 74%, never could do much better than 69%, and it REALLY did not want to make full output--usually settled around 2300~2350 watts. My licensed tpo was 2450, so no big problem.
 
One of mine went from 106.3 to 92.7...had to go to a hobby shop & buy a piece of 1/4" wide brass several inches long to replace the too small piece that the box shipped with. And by all means, nuke the tube IPA and drive it with a 30-50 watt exciter, trimming that piece of brass (or whatever is in yours) for a good match to the exciter. Then get ready to enjoy a transmitter that (I hope I'm not jinxing myself) just runs and runs...one of Harris' best models in my experience.
 
Indeed, even with a new Nautel V2 we are going to keep the 2.5H3 in case of a complete meltdown of the Nautel.
 
TomT said:
Indeed, even with a new Nautel V2 we are going to keep the 2.5H3 in case of a complete meltdown of the Nautel.
Meltdown...interesting word. The Nautel V10 at one of my stations dropped to 1/3 power...a spade lug in the power supply distribution panel did just that. It appeared to have been less than factory tight from the get-go & after 22 months, it indeed "melted". But the V10 kept chuggin' & their tech support was superb. There's a 2.5H3 nearby, but it belongs to another station. This was my first experience with a Nautel failure in a long time...their support was vastly improved from 6 years ago when it took a day to get a call back.
 
Since the V-2 is really just two 1500 watt amps run through a combiner, there is considerable flexibility to keep me on the air.

If one amplifier dies, it folds back to around 500 watts. If the combiner dies, I have an adapter to go directly from the 7/8ths DIN output into the 1 5/8ths connector on the feed line. Putting me back on with 1500 watts.

But since it took 4 of us to wrestle the 2.5H into that site, I'll just leave it sit as the ultimate back-up.
 
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