We are scrapping several old transmitters these last few weeks as part of a site upgrade A couple of Harris FM20 and 10H transmitters are out the door.
Some people like these transmitters. I am not one of those. I found that they were of dubious reliability, tended to drift out of tune and have AM noise problems, and had multiple catastrophic failure modes. If it was not tuned just right, it also had a tendency to have HF oscillations and internal arcing in the PA cabinet.
This transmitter had a non-factory authorized modification installed as a tuning aid. Tune for best efficiency, and minimum AM noise then check and see if it is arcing. It is also advisable to wear hearing protection during the tuning process.
This particular transmitter was my nemesis for a couple of years. It is actually possible to hate an inanimate object, I can tell you. Goodbye, you piece of shit.
We tend to scrap these instead of dumpster them. It saves the client a little bit of money on dumpster charges. If all the metal is sorted out by category, e.g. all the copper windings are cut from the HV transformer and PS filter inductors, and all the brass, aluminum, and wiring harness are separated, then it is almost worth the time and effort. Personally, I’d rather see all that material reused than landfilled.