(Fwd) Re: Ginsburger meets Collins transmitter

[w1mnk@ibm.net]

Dan,
        Informative post. I would assume that the RCA Ampliphase 
was the same one we had at the Squantum site. I can picture the 
place in my mind, but 30 years has burned out a few neurons :-)

We sometimes had to switch to the 5KW (which I can't remember 
that well) on the incoming tide. The water would causing arcing at 
the tower bases, and the ole plate contactors would start 
kurchunking! The owner at the time, Mr Richmond, (who apparently 
listened 24/7) would call and raise holy heck about reducing the 
power. I also remember that we had problems with the Ampliphase 
door safety bars. After a period of time, vibration would cause the 
safety bars to move close enough to shut er down. Then I would 
have to crank up the 5KW while I adjusted the bar back to the 
proper position. Remember to pull the plate breaker. 15KV at all 
those amps would guarantee a quick departure!  Another call from 
Richmond.

OK, now a couple of questions - can someone fill me in on 
Richmond? And whatever happened to Ron Robin (aka Polkari 
(sp?)) Jeesh, it's to fun to grow up and have a history!! Thanks!

Jon

PS I miss broadcast engineering. Gee, I still have my General 
Radiotelephone (Formerly First Class Phone). Maybe I can start a 
new old career here in Sunny West Coast Florida where we're 
using our entire feeble mental energy to push BigBad Mitch away. 
Keep them 180MPH winds away!
- ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
To:             	gitchzoo@bellsouth.net, boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
From:           	Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>
Subject:        	Re: Ginsburger meets Collins transmitter
Date sent:      	Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:32:21 +0000

At 10:09 AM 10/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Martin J. Waters wrote:
>>         Now it can be told: That Collins transmitter that Ron has in Fla.
>> was never installed at WMEX as a transmitter. It was used only to cook the
>> Ginsburgers . . . <g>
>
>Well, truth be told, I indeed used to warm my lunch sandwiches on the
>driver side of the transmitter. We don't have a microwave in the
>WYHI/1570 commissary.
>
Did you say that the TX was installed at WYHI in 1982? If so, and if it had
ever actually been installed at WMEX's Squantum facility (as opposed to
having been ordered by WMEX but never delivered), it never made the trip to
Waltham (to what is now the WNRB TX).

I got a tour of that TX building (I think the calls may have been WMRE at
the time) while the station was preparing to return to the air in 1987 after
a period of silence. (The calls after the sign-on were WNRB, the current
calls.) My memory is fuzzy, but I seem to recall seeing two 50 kW TXs in the
building (only one of which was installed) and a 5 kW, which, if memory
serves, was a Collins. The 5 kW TX WAS installed and was the backup.

WITS moved from Squantum to Waltham in 1981. Before the CP was granted to
move the TX, the station had also applied to modify its facilities in
Squantum. They were going to install a separate 50-kW day pattern with
better null fill-in to the southwest, and keep the old 50-kW day pattern as
the CH pattern. In other words, WITS would have been one of those relatively
rare stations that operated DA-3. But the night signal had become so bad in
most of the market as a result of the construction of the State St South
office complex just to the west of the Squantum site, that a move--at least
of the night site--was mandatory.

My guess at the chronology of the TXs at the WNRB Waltham site is that the
50 kW main was new (or new to the station) at the time of the move. The 5 kW
was the old main night TX and was moved to Waltham shortly after Squantum
signed off. It was installed in Waltham and became the auxilliary. The old
main day made the move to Waltham but, unless Communicom actually installed
it, it may be sitting there, unconnected, even as we speak. The Waltham TX
building was flooded in either 1995 or 1996 at just about this time of year.
If that 50 kW TX was there and had not been installed, it probably suffered
serious water damage that most likely was never repaired. 

- -------------------------------
Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205


Jon Maguire
w1mnk@ibm.net

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