There is a Class D AM operator (name withheld to protect the possible guilty), who has a good FM translator. The station has “flea” power at night plus a 500 watts pre sunrise authority telegram. The tube transmitter that does the flea power and pre sunrise is in really bad shape. Does he have to run the “flea power” at night to keep the FM translator running at night? If so can he "misplace" the pre sunrise telegram and just run daylight hours?
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Not sure if this can be done legally?
- Thread starter secondchoice
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It would make more sense to repair or replace the little transmitter, but I believe that the owner can give up the nighttime authorization and continue running the FM translator fulltime.
Frank is correct. A daytimer AM can run their translator during nighttime hours without the AM, but if the AM has night authorization, they need to run the AM at their authorized power/pattern. There have been stations with FM translators that have experienced catastrophic AM failure, but continue to broadcast using the translator. One would still need to apply for an STA, including a good reason for the outage and expected remediation.
The old transmitter needs a new transformer and capacitors. I reworked the fan. The main transformer has slightly oozed. I really don't want to touch it.. If needed I could get hazmat gear and hope we can find a reasonable priced disposal service due to possible PCBs (been there done that do not want to do again. I do not want to deal with EPA again. I dealt with a nice guy, but it still was very expensive.) The old transmitter is currently making 489 watts max since I changed out a couple of tubes. My plan was to find a ham operator. Some of those guys use old AM transmitters. Sell it for one dollar as is.
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You might want to find a transmitter by posting here:
That doesn't mean the transformer has failed. Which transformer is it, filament, plate, choke, or modulation?
So it's an oil-filled transformer? Or are you just assuming the ooze is oil?
What make and model?
The owner wants to ride it out. He checking to see how much his lawyer will charge to get rid of the night time service.
BTW It's an old Gates BC500T and the filament transformer is questionable.
BTW It's an old Gates BC500T and the filament transformer is questionable.
Assuming you really do have a bad transformer, if you're serious about fixing it, there are a lot of options that don't cost that much: Peter Dahl was purchased by Hammond after Peter passed away: Peter W Dahl Transformers (PWDAHL Series)
They have a lot of replacement transformers at a pretty decent price. Those old Gates BC-series rigs were pretty simple to keep running and fix as required. You should be able to check the filament voltages pretty easily. It's either there, or it's not.
It's been over a decade that I've touched one of these, but I believe the filament transformer isn't bathed in oil, so you shouldn't have to worry about catching cancer or cooties. Some of the older open frame transformers used wax coated paper insulators between the windings, which would ooze if it got hot enough, but didn't mean the transformer had failed.
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The transmitter hasn't failed. It still makes the minimum wattage, but only gets attention when it doesn't work. I don't think it would run without filament voltage. I will look up part number next time I'm over there, when they are off the air. Its a shame AM is financially dead. 30 years ago a solid state transmitter would have saved enough to pay for itself in high electric rate area. Thanks for the transformer source. Sooner or later I will be a customer.
If hes a class D AM, I would go ahead and just drop his pre and post authorizations and just become a daytimer only. The FM translator can operate overnight for such stations
Many moons ago I modified the bigger brother; a BC1-T to operate PSSA. It's a pretty easy mod, actually. All you need to do is reduce the final amp plate voltage down by itself, leaving the modulators running normally. The way I did it, was calculated what the final output current needs to be, then added ceramic resistors into the high voltage line that feeds the final tubes to drop the high voltage. Did that with a DPDT heavy duty relay (24VDC coil) triggered by the remote control for the proper times.
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