Talk About Obsolete!

[fybush]

If the "1929 RCA" story is true, I'd sure like to know more about it. The engineering community is small enough that I'd think someone I've run into out there would have firsthand knowledge of the situation. The number of stations that were at the same transmitter site from 1929 until the early nineties is extremely small - heck, I've probably been to nearly all of the stations that would meet that description, and this is the first I've heard of that story.

For the record, the oldest transmitters I've seen still on site are WLW's 1927 Western Electric (not presently operable, but easily restored to operating condition with a few plumbing tweaks in the basement), a homebrew 1930-vintage McClatchy-built transmitter at KWG, Stockton (possibly still operable, no longer connected as of a couple of years ago), and a Western Electric at KBOI, Boise that apparently originated at KOAC in Corvallis, Oregon, was moved to Idaho for KBOI's predecessor station KDSH 950 in the forties, and was then moved out to the new KBOI site circa 1967, though it was already out of service by then.

After that, I think the next oldest rigs I've seen in the field are an ancient RCA at WYLL (WJJD) Chicago, no longer operable, and the late-forties Westinghouse boxes at WOWO, WHO and KFAB. WOWO's 50HG still worked as of a decade or so ago. Don't know if that's the case today.

 

[davideduardo]

After that, I think the next oldest rigs I've seen in the field are an ancient RCA at WYLL (WJJD) Chicago, no longer operable, and the late-forties Westinghouse boxes at WOWO, WHO and KFAB. WOWO's 50HG still worked as of a decade or so ago. Don't know if that's the case today.

I still think that a transmitter that does not "glow purple" is ugly. It was a sad day when I removed the rectifier tubes full of mercury from WUNO's BC-5P and put solid state, plug in, rectifier stacks in their place in about 1971.

I wonder how many of us cleaned the PCB sludge from leaky caps and chokes and transformers with a rag and some alcohol without even putting on goves!

 

[136kgb]

If the 1929 RCA is still there and available I have a home for it. As I collect RCA everything, and don't have one that old yet. But here in San Diego we still have a 1948 RCA BTA-5F, a 1958 RCA BTA-5T, 1964 RCA BTF-20E, and my own personal box that I own is a 1955 RCA BTA-500M that is a 500M not MX so it has the tambour door.

Just remember RCA ALL THE WAY!

And I would prefer to work on any RCA rather than a Harris (Quincy Tin Works) transmitter.
Remember at Harris you can buy better, but you can't pay more!

 

[davideduardo]

If the 1929 RCA is still there and available I have a home for it. As I collect RCA everything, and don't have one that old yet. But here in San Diego we still have a 1948 RCA BTA-5F, a 1958 RCA BTA-5T, 1964 RCA BTF-20E, and my own personal box that I own is a 1955 RCA BTA-500M that is a 500M not MX so it has the tambour door.

Can you identify the model and the production years for the transmitter in the link about 5 posts down?

 

[vacuum tube]

I Believe the MW rig is an RCA BTA-1L. I'm not sure about the HF rig but I think it's a Gates HF- 5 or 10.
Real transmitter glow in the dark and will load into anything between a daed short and an open...

Let it play on the big ol' RCA!

 

[davideduardo]

I Believe the MW rig is an RCA BTA-1L. I'm not sure about the HF rig but I think it's a Gates HF- 5 or 10.

ou mean the rig right above it? Thats a local built 19 kw on La Voz de Guanacaste on 1125 AM.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

A station in Monticello, Maine has an old 1930s (or 40s) transmitter that they plan on using for future night service.

The station is on 710 AM but I don't know its current call letters. Provided they get night-time auth, it would be the oldest transmitter in service in the United States.

The station is owned by Alan Weiner (of Radio Free NY fame)

 

[davideduardo]

A station in Monticello, Maine has an old 1930s (or 40s) transmitter that they plan on using for future night service.

The station is on 710 AM but I don't know its current call letters. Provided they get night-time auth, it would be the oldest transmitter in service in the United States.

The station is owned by Alan Weiner (of Radio Free NY fame)

That would make an interesting story.

The oldest working transmitter I ever saw was at WLVH in Hartford in 1979 when I did due diligence there. On the "FM Hill" the site had the original FM box built by Maj. Armstrong and it was "capable" of going on the air (fully wired, coax connectors, etc.) but I did not ask to see it on the air... aour intention would have been to donate it to an institution that would preserve it and replace it with something ugly, like a Harris 10k. (hey, it was '79...)

 

[kyscott]

I thought the Western Electric at WLW still worked? Didn't I see a story in the trades about them putting it on the air for the 1999-2000 changeover?

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

That would make an interesting story.

The oldest working transmitter I ever saw was at WLVH in Hartford in 1979 when I did due diligence there. On the "FM Hill" the site had the original FM box built by Maj. Armstrong and it was "capable" of going on the air (fully wired, coax connectors, etc.) but I did not ask to see it on the air... aour intention would have been to donate it to an institution that would preserve it and replace it with something ugly, like a Harris 10k. (hey, it was '79...)

http://www.wbcq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=46

An original Armstrong transmitter? Wow! That certainly is something deserving of a museum display!!!!!

 

[Turntable]

I thought the Western Electric at WLW still worked? Didn't I see a story in the trades about them putting it on the air for the 1999-2000 changeover?

Sure was.

http://hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml

 

[fybush]

I thought the Western Electric at WLW still worked? Didn't I see a story in the trades about them putting it on the air for the 1999-2000 changeover?

Sure was.

http://hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml

After which someone apparently forgot to drain the plumbing for the heat exchanger, which subsequently froze and burst. (The place gets cold at night with only the solid-state 3DX50 running!)

There's a second heat exchanger in the basement, from the 500kw days, that could be plumbed in pretty easily to get the Western back on the air if needed.

 

[kyscott]

I thought the Western Electric at WLW still worked? Didn't I see a story in the trades about them putting it on the air for the 1999-2000 changeover?

Sure was.

http://hawkins.pair.com/wlw.shtml

After which someone apparently forgot to drain the plumbing for the heat exchanger, which subsequently froze and burst. (The place gets cold at night with only the solid-state 3DX50 running!)

There's a second heat exchanger in the basement, from the 500kw days, that could be plumbed in pretty easily to get the Western back on the air if needed.

Well that sucks. I was unaware of that. Did it destroy the entire heat exchanger?

 

[fybush]

I'm no expert - but it didn't look like anything that a good auto shop couldn't repair. In any event, there's an identical twin (from the 500kw) mounted directly below it, so it's really just a simple replumbing and the old WE is good to go again. Or so I was told when I visited a couple of years ago...

 

[scottedwards1111]

( Epolog: In 2000 Clear Channel brought the station. The first thing they did was rip out that 1929 transmitter and replace it with used recent one from one of thier other stations which had just gotten a new transmitter. )

I am more than a little skeptical of the idea that a 1929 transmitter would be in use in the 90's. First, I don't believe that any of the tubes in use in '29 were made much past the first part of the 40's. Then, components would have expired, worn out and such. At some point, everything from tube sockets to relays or contactors would have expired.

Really?!? What about that light bulb from 100 or so years ago that is still working in a Fire House in California? Hmmmm?!?!?