My back is hurting!

[K4KWH]

Yesterday, I went with a good friend to an AM broadcast station to look at their old transmitter they were going to haul to the landfill! #It is a Collins 20V using 4-400's and the 807 in the exciter. #My ham buddy (ham since 1955) helped to set up this station in '56 so he is getting this old workhorse (as if he needs any more AM transmitters!) #Instantly my back began to ache at the sight of this big boy! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # Ah, I've manhandled Globes, the old WWII truck-mounted transmitters, (I forgot the name.....grr) T-368's. I'm getting too old for this! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

So Tuesday, the engineer of the station is cutting out all access (RF) and double checking isolation, etc. so we can disassemble this old rig and load it on a truck.

Not sure, but I think I'm getting the short stick! #LOL! He's getting the Txmitter for free, and I'm getting a sore back!!! # http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # What's fair about that?

(nah, I'm happy to help and to see that these pieces of history aren't all hauled the dump.)

73

[va7aax]

i need to go an AM station here to check if they have anything like this going to the dump. i might get something free!

[kl7aj]

Congratulations and/or condolences.

You'll have a blast. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

eric

[ka0gkt]

That can be a nice old transmitter. You ought to be able to tune it into the 160-meter band without too much trouble.

At Work, I just got through dismantling the 10-KW driver cabinet from a Continental 50KW AM transmitter in preparation to install a new solid state back-up to the Harris MW-50 main transmitter.

73 DE KAØGKT/7

--Steve

[W5HTW]

You mean those BC610s and T368s could actually be MOVED? Wow. My plan was to abandon them and get new ones if we relocated. Of course, the sarge didn't agree with me.

I built a 1 KW AM station, using an old Gates that had been around the block a few times. Still have back problems.

Friend of mine just got an R390A. He and a friend took the power supply out and the AF chassis, just to get it onto his desk.

Many of those old things were not boat anchors. They were boat sinkers.

You will have fun. I don't even pick up a 4-400A these days.

Ed

[K4KWH]

Quote[/b] (W5HTW @ June 30 2007,13:22)]You mean those BC610s and T368s could actually be MOVED? #Wow. My plan was to abandon them #and get new ones if we relocated. #Of course, the sarge didn't agree with me. #

I built a 1 KW AM station, using an old Gates that had been around the block a few times. Still have back problems. #

Friend of mine just got an R390A. #He and a friend took the power supply out and the AF chassis, just to get it onto his desk. #

Many of those old things were not boat anchors. #They were boat sinkers. #

You will have fun. #I don't even pick up a 4-400A these days.

Ed
NOW ya done it! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # You #just HAD to do it! #You just had to say it out loud! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif # But NO! #You just had to say "BC610" out loud! #You could not resist! #OUCH!

(back begins to throb as old 'wounds' begin to awaken!)

LMAO!


73

[K4KWH]

Quote[/b] (ka0gkt @ June 30 2007,12:57)]That can be a nice old transmitter. #You ought to be able to tune it into the 160-meter band without too much trouble.

At Work, I just got through dismantling the 10-KW driver cabinet from a Continental 50KW AM transmitter in preparation to install a new solid state back-up to the Harris MW-50 main transmitter.

73 DE KAØGKT/7

--Steve
I believe the 20V can go as high as 15(?) meters if I read the book right at the station (with modification, of course)

73

[ka5piu]

Hello.

One SW station upgraded its exciter and I got the old one, a 10 KW solid state unit.
What is it with the output sizes of this stuff?
It comes in 1 KW or 10 KW, I have never seen anything else.
The 250 watt transmitters are 1 KW adjusted to that output level.
Do not get me wrong, I am not unhappy with a 10 KW solid state transmitter, just that I will never use it at that power level.
A 1 KW unit would work just fine.
And, this thing does not really do AM, no modulator on the finals, no, it does almost DSBRC.
I have looked at it, DSBRC is super easy to do, filters for SSB are next.
And, yes, a lot of this stuff is free for the asking.

[N8UZE]

GET A HANDCART TO MOVE IT WITH!

[W5HTW]

Yep, PIU, it is kinda sad. I was offered some really big transmitters, free, if I wanted them. Well, dreams are nice. Reality is a very different animal. I was offered an 11,000 pound Collins 231-D SW ten channel transmitter. Free. No problem. Well, yeah, problem. It weighed precisely what my household goods shipping allowance was. I could either ship the transmitter, or I could ship some clothes. But not both.

And where would I put it? In my bedroom? Seven feet tall, with three, wide racks? And on 480 VAC? I stood in front of it and with tears in my eyes told it goodbye. Presumably it wound up in the scrap metal yard.

I did manage to latch onto a 1 KW CW transmitter, for free. It was rather large and heavy, and I got it shipped home. Because of its weight and size, though, I eventually dismantled it, using some of the parts for a small amplifier.

I was offered a Collins 208U-10, but I think the fella was just kidding around. It was complete, but not working. He told me he was serious, but he was noted for jokes, so I didn't fall for it. I really don't think it would have wound up in my pocket. Besides, I didn't have 3-phase voltage in my home.

So I feel the pain. I came really close to being given a real deal, but someone beat me to it, because I thought they weren't serious about giving it away. I procrastinated, and a friend of mine walked off with a really good HFL-1000 KW amplifier, in fine shape, even with a spare tube. Now THAT I sure could have used!!

I guess the kilowatt CW rig was the best freebie I ever had.

Well, no, maybe not. A couple of years ago a fellow gave me a Dentron 160-10L. Worked great. But then he seemed to be hinting he had second thoughts. After a month I gave it back to him. Now I wish I had not, as it turned out he wasn't quite a good a friend as I had imagined. And it has never been on the air except twice. He NEVER had it on the air, and I know for a fact, he has not used it since I gave it back to him. It is like new. (Sob, cry, bawl, choke.)

At least I kept the KW CW rig! And it only weighed about 300 pounds or so.

ed

And yeah, I said (whisper) BC610. Almost had one free. Almost got a T368, too. But "almost", as they say, is good in horseshoes, not radios. And I came sorta close to having a GPT750, complete with AM modulator AND SSB rack (not installed.) Then it showed up on someone's inventory, and more tears fell like rain.

[kq9j]

Makes me wonder how many of these beautiful old transmitters have been dismantled and hauled to the landfill. Also why they didn't just sell it on Ebay? Maybe they tried. Oh well, I would never have that kind of luck to step into a deal like that. I would kill for a 20V2. Used one of those when I worked at a broadcast station years ago. Would make a beautiful addition to the shack. Actually I'd have to put an addition ON the shack, but anyway....

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (W5HTW @ June 30 2007,17:19)]I was offered an 11,000 pound Collins 231-D SW ten channel transmitter. Free. No problem. Well, yeah, problem. It weighed precisely what my household goods shipping allowance was. I could either ship the transmitter, or I could ship some clothes.
Obviously you need to rethink your priorities. Who needs clothes? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[WS2L]

I have a friend who's Father has a Collins KW1 that he restored in 1990 so I'm trying to work out buying it from him. The only problem is getting it from FL to NJ, guess I will rent a small U-Haul and drive it back.

[k4kyv]

Good luck. The trophy collectors have driven the going price of a KW-1 up into 5-digit range.

I can recall as recently as the mid 80's, the majority of the KW-1's that were still known to exist (over half the 150 or so ever manufactured had been accounted for) were actually on the air in an amateur station.

But overnight some time in the late 80's they became collectors' items. Hams using them on the air were made offers they (thought) they couldn't refuse - $1500-2000. Before long they selling for $5000. I have heard of these transmitters lately going for as much as $20K.

Unfortunately, very few of the new owners are actually using them on the air. Many have been shipped overseas to rich collectors in Asia and Europe. Most are now sitting unused in someone's trophy room as a museum piece.

[WA7KKP]

wowsers . . .

Wish I could find something like that --- my Johnson Desk KW was bad enough, requiring FOUR men to lift and carry to my pickup.

Get that going, and it is a work of art, when on the air. Just to see the glow of the 4-400's, and the blue from the MV rectifiers in the bottom.

When visitors ask you if that is a real transmitter -- you can say, "As a matter of fact, it is . . . . "

See you on 160, or maybe 75 meters?

Gary WA7KKP

[W5HTW]

I saw two KW-1s in my long amateur radio lifetime. Never used either one of them. One was at Weisbaden, Germany, in the combined MARS/HF station. It was used on a military HF net, not MARS, but about that time, AM for military communications was being replaced by SSB, and the KW-1 sat on, 24X7, but tested weekly. It had been replaced by a brand new KWS-1 and 51J3. It probably wound up either being scrapped, or sent to a surplus depot.

The other was a neighbor of mine. I can't remember much about him, except his name was Frank, and he was one of the engineers, perhaps the chief engineer, at the KOA-AM transmitter site east of Aurora, back when it was just off East Colfax. He lived two houses from me. I was a Novice, and during that time I lived there, got my General. Frank operated only 20 meters. I don't think he ever shifted frequency. Consequently he had remoted the KW-1 in his basement. He had a 75A2, I think, in his bedroom, witha small control panel and a D-104, and that's about it. He could turn the rig on or off, but could not QSY, from the bedroom table. But when he squeezed the D-104, the sound of the relays in the basement was unmistakable! He took me downstairs and showed me the rig, where he also had a very nice workbench.

He also had a Kaiser car, by the way. He took me to the KOA transmitter site and gave me a nice tour. I was duly impressed, as a 17 year old ham would be.

I moved away. Frank had indicated he was gonig to remote the VFO so he could move more in frequency, but I have no idea if he ever did that.

Both of those "sightings" were in the late 1950s. I've never seen another one. It was also around that time I saw my last BC-610. I saw my last T368 in the late sixties. Will probably never see another of any of those "good old boys."

Ed

[K4KWH]

I am fortunate in that I had access to a KW-1! # Belonged to a good friend; he bought it circa 1956 or so. In pristine condition. I ran CW and phone with it in the 90s. His wife got lung cancer and he was forced to sell. #I believe it brought $17.000 (?) (don't quote me on it). #It was way up there.


But the guys are correct. KW-1's will bring 5 figures in working order--was as high as $25,000 at one time! Don't know about now. I'm just glad I had the pleasure of operating one!


73

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (WS2L @ July 01 2007,11:51)]I have a friend who's Father has a Collins KW1 that he restored in 1990 so I'm trying to work out buying it from him. The only problem is getting it from FL to NJ, guess I will rent a small U-Haul and drive it back.
Or you can just leave it here in my shack Q. I'll keep it safe for ya. And I'm not even in a flood zone. Last one I saw sell was for $14,500 on fleapay. And I've NEVER seen one in person.

KD2NX had an HT4 in his front room a few years ago but I never saw it on the air.

As for the 20V, I suggest a look at the website of K2PG HERE. (http://home.att.net/~k2pg/K2PGhome.htm) He has tech tips, photos of his 20Vs (yes, more than one of them,) etc. Phil knows his stuff and his tech info is beyond reproach.

Good luck to you, your back, and your buddy.