Author: Paul Thurst

Village seeks repayment from Energy Onix

This saddens me a little bit.  Apparently, the Village of Valatie, NY is seeking repayment of a $500K loan from Transmitter Manufacturer Energy Onix.  Since the passing of Bernie Wise, the company has basically folded.

The village may foreclose on the building if necessary, said Mayor Diane Argyle.

Located at 1306 River St., Energy-Onix was founded in 1987 by broadcast pioneer Bernard Wise, who is known for bringing the “grounded grid” to radio broadcasting. The company designed, manufactured and sold radio transmitters and tubes.

More from the Columbia-Greene Register Star.

Sadly, there goes support for many Energy Onix and CCA transmitters still in the field.  I know of several of those old CCA transmitters that are still cranking away, 40 or more years after they rolled out of the factory in Gloucester, NJ.   I have tried, several times, to call Energy Onix since Bernie passed last year and the phone goes unanswered.  I wonder if we could pick up the field support and service for these units.  I wonder if there are any spare parts left at the old factory building?

Transmitter Haiku

I wrote a little Haiku about Thanksgiving dinner:

Telephone rings
Old transmitter beckons
Dishes get cold

Not exactly the 5/7/5 of a traditional haiku, but close enough.  This year, it was the nearly 30-year-old Broadcast Electronics FM35A at WEBE.   A set of readings from the remote control reveal; zero forward power, zero plate current, and 12.8 KV plate voltage.  My first assumption was some sort of drive issue; a failed exciter or IPA driver.  After starting the backup transmitter and making sure that it was running stably, I spoke with the program director and told him we would be out the next morning.

Upon arriving at the transmitter site, I found the BE transmitter had no filament voltage.  An obvious clue, I began working backward from the tube socket until I found this:

Broadcast Electronics FM35A filament voltage regulating transformer
Broadcast Electronics FM35A filament voltage regulating transformer

This is the auto-transformer that regulates the filament voltage.  Schematically, it is noted as T204 and it is in series with one side of the filament transformer.  This one is burned open.  The bad news;  Broadcast Electronics does not stock this part, it is a special order item, the replacement part costs $2,800 dollars and it will take a few weeks to get here.  The good news, after digging through our stock of old transmitter parts, I found an exact replacement:

Replacement part, T204, BE FM35A
Replacement part, T204, BE FM35A
Replacement part name plate, T204, BE FM35A
Replacement part nameplate, T204, BE FM35A

We will be installing it on Monday morning.

No food or drink in the studio

This is a rule that I always find difficult to enforce.  Since switching into contracting mode, I am often at any particular studio once per week or less.  It seems to me, no matter what signs are posted or what words are spoken, the DJ seems to hear; “It is okay to eat and drink in the studio.”

Of course, with that attitude, the inevitable is bound to happen:

RS-18 Millenium console on/off button membrane
RS-18 Millenium console on/off button membrane

To make things worse, this was spilled on the main mic on/off buttons.  These button membranes come in groups of six and are not inexpensive.  The complaint was “The main mic will not turn off.”  Ah well, I am paid to fix things after all.  The DJs are only inconveniencing themselves at this point.