Wanna see a Big XMTR ?

[AB8RU]

HI ; wanna see on ebay whats selling ?

GATES BC1F BROADCAST TRANSMITTER

Gates XMTR (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5700903121)

This guy has it on the 80 M. Band read and see if you really wanna talk DX !! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I thought this was kewl !

read it all one of a kind..

Mark Holman AB8RU

[AG3Y]

Well, the old gal has been through the mill, but could be restored if the right guy got ahold of it !

My first job in Broadcasting was at an AM station who's transmitter was a BC-1T. #There is an awful lot about that rig that looks familiar! #I can remember tuning the output stage with that big roller inductor that shows up in the forth picture down. #That shaft that extends across from the coil to the front panel has two universal joints, and a flexible coupler to hook it to a turns counter on the front of the rig! #The white cylinderical object in the top center of the same photo is a ceramic capacitor that forms part of the tuned circuit. Come to think of it, it could be part of the de-coupling circuit. #It has been a looong time since I played with that rig!

I believe that huge reostat ( note the ceramic standoffs ! ) was used to vary the primary voltage for the B+ transformer, but I may be wrong. #We pretty much left that alone because our incoming line voltage was pretty steady. #I do remember that the filament voltage was pretty critical, however, since the tubes were directly heated, If I'm not mistaken!

The filaments glowed nearly yellow, and the plates of the tube had a cherry "hot spot" when they were cranking out everything they could crank!

However, as far as "talking DX" with the rig, I would bet that you would do a lot better with a SSB rig and fully legal amplifier, since AM is about 6dB less efficient than SSB, if I remember my math correctly. #However, you could sure have fun playing "radio" with that rig in the AM window!


BTW, transmitters really aren't "big" until you can walk around inside them!

73 from Jim AG3Y # #PS, check out his other items !

[KG6OPR]

..Ya ,
The thing is more then likely full of PCB's in the caps and the modulation transformer is as heavy as a small car. I recall taking apart a old RCA BTA-5T, It cost more to haul of the PCB laced caps then the transmitter was worth. The 833's glow is great worked at KAFY in Bakersfield in the 70's on a old 20-T Collins what a big rig from the 40's
# # # # # # # # # # # # # KG6OPR http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[kc0ebm]

I know a textbook example of a LID that claims to have a "Big Johnson".

Don't worry Glen. He won't be flooding your inbox with protests.

Why?

Because he cain't read http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[AG3Y]

Oh, I'll never forget when we had to change out the PCB filled caps in a TV transmitter one year. #( different job, then ! )

The total area that the caps took up was about 3 square feet of floor space. #You might know what kind of caps I am talking about. #They were sealed cans that kind of resembled those old "Focused Beam" flashlight batteries. #They had a couple of ceramic towers on them for the electrodes. #

Well, anyway, one day a BIIIIG tractor trailer ( at least 50 feet long ) comes pulling up into our parking lot at the top of this mountain that is our transmitter site. # A guy in a haz-mat suit takes the caps and gingerly places them into the bottom of a 55 gal oil drum and seals the top of the drum with a band!

That was the entire contents of this truck. ( remember, 50 foot trailer, here ) and when he tried to turn it around to go back down the mountain, he got stuck between the end of our building and a tree at the far end of the parking lot!

It took him nearly 2 hours to get that thing turned around so he could go back down the hill with his HUGE load! #He had come all the way from Dover Del. to Hagerstown, MD, and back to a "Hazardous Materials Disposal Site" to pick up a few pounds of Electronic Components!

The silly, stupid stuff that the Government does in the name of the Environment!

73 from Jim AG3Y

[ka1kjz]

By the end of next week I'll be the proud owner of a Gates BC-1G, next generation of that F.

I'm not so sure what I want to do with it yet... leave it as AM on 160/80/40 or just salvage the tubes and iron and make a homebrew kilowatt.

Or I may switch out the modulator, rebias the tube and supply it with a SSB exciter, using the whole box as an amp. Dunno yet...

First have to sneak it past the wife...


Ron http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif


Gates Gallery (http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/gates-tx.htm)

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ka1kjz @ May 20 2004,18:53)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">First have to sneak it past the wife...[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Now that can't be easy! I've been able to sneak in the occasional receiver.. but THAT would be a challenge!! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[AG3Y]

It might help to slip her a &quot;micky&quot; before trying to drag that beast through the door ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

73 from Jim AG3Y

[n0ov]

Don't let KMAN see this

[KM5FL]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ka1kjz @ May 19 2004,19:53)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">First have to sneak it past the wife...


Ron http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif


Gates Gallery (http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/gates-tx.htm)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
When I wanna sneak something past my wife, I just tell her, &quot;There's a sale at.....&quot;

KM5FL

[K3UD]

One of our local AM radio stations in Hopkinsville KY had one sitting unused for quite some time and finally gave it away to I think K4KYV ( a noted AMer on 160 with a signal next to none) I think he is converting it.


73
George
K3UD