I did something today I have done only four times before in 38 years of my job: I put a new transmitter on the air.
In this case, it's new only to my immediate employer, having already served for five years elsewhere in the corporation. But it's new to us.
Depending on how you look at to, they have only had four or five different transmitters since the station first went on the air, and I am the only person who has worked on all of them. I was the last person to operate their first transmitter, an all-tube 1950s behemoth that took a little coaxing to get working again (and every second of tuning it up was an adrenaline-heavy thrill ride). Now I'm the first person to put their newest transmitter on the air, a device so rich in surface-mount components that there's no troubleshooting most of it down to the level of individual parts: most problems, you trace back to whatever subassembly has gone wrong, and order a new one.
The previous transmitter, in analog and digital configurations, served for over 29 years, and it's still a backup. The 1950s giant lasted for 32 years, counting backup service and that record will probably be broken by the one I just shut down. Except for a few hours here and there -- the day we overloaded the big generator during a power outage was the longest, five or six hours -- it was on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for nearly three decades.
The transmitter I put on the air today will probably still be on the air when I retire, and that's a strange feeling.
Update
10 months ago
6 comments:
Congratulations on getting the new-to-you box on the air!
Have you noticed how much heat builds up in the cabinet? I'm getting the urge to leave the back door of the cabinet open on ours.
Our station has had four VHF transmitters:
RCA TT50AH (?) 1954-1972 (at old tower site)
RCA TT35FH 1972-1997 (at current tower site)
Harris Platinum HT40-HSP 1997-2025
GatesAir VAXTE-6 2025-
I've touched all but the first, along with the Harris Sigma UHF transmitter used during the DTV transition. I don't miss that thing.
A very similar progression for my employer, but they kept the same site -- TT50AH, TT50FH, a 70 kW Platinum (3 PAs converted to a 5+ KW digital transmitter in 2009) and now the VAXTE, with a UHF Sigma for the DTV transition. The F-line and digital Platinum both ended up running at full throttle, the RCA after changing to a CP antenna, and the Platinum as a result of successive power increases without adding another PA to the transmitter. You get used to it, but it was a challenge. If Master Control sat in black too long, the RCA would let you know about it; the Platinum eventually needed a room temperature near 60 to be happy.
The Sigma was a high-maintenance creature. We eventually had three PAs and I could count on one or two IOT umbilical arc-overs per year. I just kept a replacement all built up, flexible braided conduit and all, so it was a drop-in replacement. I'd ended up with a spare almost-everything after we upgraded the first (gen 1!) PA when we added a second one, and that was really handy.
Our VAXTE hasn't been too warm -- but it's getting 60-degree room air and the top of the cabinet is loosely coupled to the return for the big HVAC system. The Platinum was built into a partial wall, feeding right into the return, and the VAXE stands where the original control and driver racks sat (yes, two racks -- it was the largest example of that model they ever built). I'll find out today or tomorrow how it is after a really long run.
The old Platinum transmitter and I are the longest-serving transmitter and transmitter tech at the station, and it is still a surprise to think that it is now just a year younger than the RCA A-line was when I started work at the site. The TT50AH was a venerable relic, the transmitter over which I had watched Saturday morning cartoons before I'd even started preschool! And so it goes.
Think of its ongoing endurance as your personal legacy to station viewers.
You have a boatload of history there, Roberta. Congratulations!
Smart to keep spares on hand. Sometimes documentation doesn’t match actual product. Retired from a dental company that had kept examples of all models produced. It became a vital resource for new engineers training and for customer service when diagnosing a decades old unit 1,000 of miles distant.
Woot! Congratulations.
Post a Comment