Well, some of use weren't that crazy......

Posted by doodlebug (A) on December 5, 2006 at 08:27:07

In Reply to: Those transmitter tubes posted by Frihed89 on December 5, 2006 at 00:26:41:

Transmitter tubes were a different animal. Most transmitting amps were located outside the main TV station in a separate room - for obovious reasons. The story I related had to do with all the small-signal processing that went on in the studio itself. There were plenty of racks of gear for switching and managing the network feed as well as inhouse production. This is where the technique I mentioned was applied. If you had Walter Cronkite on a 7PM doing the news and you lost your video to the transmitter, what did you do? Remember this was live!

All radio and TV transmitters had regular maintenance schedules and the FCC in those days required that all meter readings and maintenance logs be kept up to date. Failure resulted in loss of operating license. The FCC was mainly concerned with poor transmitting performance and didn't really care if the feed was lost. In fact, part of the records required that an engineer go out into the field and measure the amount of RF from the broadcast station to ensure that the radiating power was correct.

You didn't go near those transmitting tubes without first shutting it down - many small animals found out why the hard way. What we now know as the Darwin Awards took out those engineers who didn't pay attention.

Cheers,

David

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Let MY costly mistake be a lesson to YOU... - adhoc 20:22:04 12/04/06 (21)

Re: Let MY costly mistake be a lesson to YOU... - jdiamantis 08:00:21 12/07/06 (0)

What kind of amp was this? (nt) - morinix 10:06:04 12/05/06 (3)

Re: What kind of amp was this? (nt) - adhoc 11:35:01 12/05/06 (2)

Re: What kind of amp was this? (nt) - morinix 12:06:20 12/05/06 (1)

Re: What kind of amp was this? (nt) - adhoc 12:20:10 12/05/06 (0)

I once had singing 6H23p's (6DJ8)- Plus, an idea for a homemade ribbon microphone - Bambi B 08:21:20 12/05/06 (0)

don't tap speaker cones either - john8417 05:56:48 12/05/06 (0)

Thanks ...but - Quest 00:56:36 12/05/06 (2)

i'd think that most tubes are WAY more resilient-- - stuck.wilson@gmail.com 07:34:24 12/06/06 (0)

Agreed. - snert 19:21:42 12/05/06 (0)

Tapping is a viable service technique...... - Alpha Al 21:47:12 12/04/06 (1)

Re: Tapping is a viable service technique...... - andy evans 03:43:56 12/05/06 (0)

A story from long ago..... - doodlebug 21:08:12 12/04/06 (8)

Those transmitter tubes - Frihed89 00:26:41 12/05/06 (7)

Well, some of use weren't that crazy...... - doodlebug 08:27:07 12/05/06 (2)

Are you talking but EMF hazzards? - Frihed89 11:07:54 12/05/06 (1)

Re: Are you talking but EMF hazzards? - DaveInVA 14:47:59 12/05/06 (0)

And many were water cooled! My preference is the air-cooled Madza - Bambi B 07:49:10 12/05/06 (2)

Along those lines... - lipmanl 08:19:40 12/05/06 (1)

I like your idea very much - Bambi B 08:32:28 12/05/06 (0)

Re: Those transmitter tubes - McCormack 06:58:24 12/05/06 (0)

Follow Ups

Well, some of use weren't that crazy...... - doodlebug 08:27:07 12/05/06 (2)

Are you talking but EMF hazzards? - Frihed89 11:07:54 12/05/06 (1)

Re: Are you talking but EMF hazzards? - DaveInVA 14:47:59 12/05/06 (0)

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