Channel 50's transmitter (Re: WNDS News at 7 and 10)

["Peter Q. George" <radiojunkie1@yahoo.com>]

     WNDS has a major problem.  Its' transmitter.  It is an old 1983+
Townsend transmitter (from what I have been told).  Since Townsend
went out of business, several years ago, parts are scarce.  It was
never a good transmitter, from the beginning.  At the old
WHRC-TV/Channel 46 in Norwell, MA (1986-1989), we had a brand-new 60
kW Townsend Transmitter that practically became an "orphan" from
nearly "day one".  The Westfield, MA company went belly-up, just a few
months after installation.  Whenever the video passages became bright,
the less than adequate AGC video circuit would make the picture
"zorch" (for the lack of a better term) for a couple of seconds and
would ramp to the darkness and then creep up to a usuable luminance
level. We could actually hear the relays clicking in the next room.
The color sucked, if we ever were able to get a usuable chroma level. 
I never liked the unit from the beginning.
     Channel 50's video has all of the symptoms we had at the old
Channel 46.  It's no wonder Townsend faded away.  It's NOT fault of
the current employees of Channel 50. They are stuck with a s**tty
transmitter.  They are trying.  Give them some credit, where credit is
due.

- -Pete  



- ---Mike Malone <wdoa@ma.ultranet.com> wrote:
>
> Here in Worcester on Greater Media Cable,  WNDS also looks sub par. 
Picture
> is grainy, colors are off, and the audio is pretty poor as well.
> Mike Malone
> 
> >>Don't they have a TBC or a scope....I have not seen any transition
that
> >>didn't have a major color shift.
> >
> >I've hesitated to post, but WNDS has looked terrible on my cable
system
> >(Time Warner) for the past year or so.  Colors are orangey and the
picture
> >is dim (no luma?).  I can't stand to watch it more than a few
seconds at a
> >time.
> >
> >What I wonder about is whether it is our cable.  As it stands, our
public
> >access channels look better than WNDS, and we are only an SVHS
facility and
> >engineering work is often done by volunteers (me, mostly...)

==
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Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
33 Stetson Street, Apt. 2
Whitman, Massachusetts 02382

radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
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