General – Page 15 – Engineering Radio

Out with the old, in with the new

Pictures of a backup power systems replacement evolution at one of our clients. The old generator was a Katolight 45FGH4, circa 1990. The new generator is a Cummins Power GGHE-1503557 60 KW 3 phase. Unfortunately, when the Katolight generator was moved from the previous studio location in 1998, it was never installed correctly. The 500-gallon propane tank was undersized, the gas tubing was undersized, etc. We fixed those items, but the damage was done. After running too lean under load a few times, the head gasket blew and there is oil in the antifreeze and antifreeze in the oil. It is a Ford straight-six engine, and sure, we could rebuild it, but why bother? This is a major group of stations in a very lucrative market, it makes much more sense to replace the entire unit.

Katolight Genset hooked up to the crane, ready to move

In addition to the head gasket problem, the load on the generator has increased. Since the old generator was installed in 1998, two more stations have been added to this facility. That means another air studio, another production studio, more computers, servers, air conditioning, etc. Thus, the new generator is rated for 60 KW.

After the GENSET is placed, connections for remote start, battery charger, block heater, and AC power output are made. We were able to reuse the existing conduit and cable, thankfully the electricians used 3/0 AWG cable for the AC power connections to the transfer switch.

It appears that they have dropped the Onan name, but not the color, completely.

Something fun

So, I ~~spent~~ wasted several hours on this SDR website over the holiday weekend:

This is a web-based SDR hosted by the University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands. I enjoyed listening to the European medium-wave and short-wave stations available. Something that is always fun to check out: UVB-76 on 4625 KHz.

Have fun!

PS: A special thanks to all those who have donated to the cause via the donate button on the upper right sidebar. I had enough money to buy a FUNcube dongle SDR. I think I have all the other necessary hardware to launch one of these sites myself. If or when that happens, I will post a link here.

Accidents, mistakes, mishaps and other tales

Let’s get started:

Results of a deer vs automobile accident

It does not look like much, however, that is about $5,500.00 worth of damage. What you don’t see is the mashed oil cooler and radiator. This happened on my way from one place to another during the early morning hours. I was traveling at about 55 MPH when a deer bolted from the woods and entered the roadway from the right. I did not have time to a break.

A momentary lapse of attention causes a loss of $80.00. I think I was adjusting the defroster as I was driving down the road when suddenly, I felt the car tilt over to an alarming degree. You can see the tow truck getting ready to pull it out. Fortunately, there was no damage to the vehicle.

This is on the access road to one of our transmitter sites. The station has a legal right of way through this property, however, the neighbor seems to object. I spoke with him and showed him a copy of our deed, he has since changed plans.

One side of a balanced audio connection disconnected

This is the downside of using category cable to make audio connections. The wires are not as rugged as say Belden 8451. This was causing problems because it is at an AM studio/transmitter site.

Burned 30 amp three phase contactor — Burned 30 amp three-phase contactor

Three-phase, 30 amp, 240-volt contactor installed in a 480-volt system. Lasted a few years, anyway.

White face hornets nest — White face hornet’s nest

New tenants on one of our towers. This is a white-faced (or bald-faced) hornet’s nest. They are really paper wasps, but that difference aside, these beasts are nasty, aggressive, and have a painful sting. Normally, I am a live-and-let-live kind of person, but in this case, they gotta go.

This is at one of our AM client’s site. Somebody, quite some time ago it seems, made this test load for a 1 KW AM transmitter. It is very nice, with carbon ceramic resistors, 50 ohms, and surprisingly little reactance. Then they attached it to this piece of plywood. As one can surmise, the load gets quite hot under full power and full modulation conditions. We remounted this in a cage-type enclosure and bolted it to the cinder block wall.

Scala PR-950U cross polarized — Scala PR-950U cross-polarized

The client at this station is complaining of intermittent STL dropouts and low signal strength at the receiving end. Found this Scala PR-950U antenna mounted for vertical polarization, but the antenna element is horizontally mounted. We’ll call it “vorizontal.”

Ribbon cable from a Cummins 135 KW generator

This was discovered during routine maintenance and thankfully not during a power outage. Mice got into the control box of a newish Cummins 135 KW generator and chewed through what looked like a data buss cable. The generator would not run and the cable and control board needed to be replaced.

There are more bulging capacitors removed from flat panel monitors.

And so on…

Transmitter site re-hab

One of the reasons for the recent lack of posts; I have been busy rehabilitating several transmitter sites for various broadcasting companies. These are mostly FM transmitter sites and vary in power from one kilowatt to twenty-six kilowatts ERP. I enjoy project work, but I have been driving hither and yon, racking up 27,000 miles on my new car since last August.

Subaru Crosstrek XV at remote transmitter site, somewhere in rural New York

So, here is one transmitter site that I just finished; WFLY, Albany, New York. Removed Collins 831F2 transmitter which was functioning as a backup and installed new Broadcast Electronics FM20S. The Continental 816R2 is becoming a little bit long in the tooth for a main transmitter, being new in 1986. Thus, it was time to install a new unit, and I like the Broadcast Electronics solid state and tube designs. With the BE AM and FM solid-state units, their simplicity is their beauty. We service many BE transmitters, some are thirty years old and are still supported by the manufacturer.

WFLY transmitter building, New Scotland, NY

The BE FM20S transmitter is actually two FM10S cabinets combined with one controller. Each cabinet requires a 100 amp three-phase mains connection. This station’s TPO is 11.5 KW, so there is plenty of headroom in case the owners ever want to install HD Radio or replace the three-bay antenna with a two-bay unit.

WFLY main transmitter, Broadcast Electronics FM20S

In transmitter cabinet two, above the exciter is room for HD equipment.

I also reworked the coax switches to provide an easier implementation of the backup transmitter. Basically, the main transmitter is on the main antenna, and the backup transmitter is on the backup antenna. We can move the second coax switch to test the backup into the dummy load. We can move the first coax switch to change antenna feeds.

Pretty standard setup.

We moved the Collins 831F2 from Albany to here to replace another, dead Collins unit at WKXZ in Norwich, New York. This transmitter is forty years old but still runs reliably. Of course, doing this work in the dead of winter added a degree of difficulty to the job, as the roads to both the WFLY and the WKXZ transmitter sites needed work to make them passable for a moving truck. In the end, we used a skid steer with forks on it to get the transmitter up the final hill and into the small WKXZ transmitter building.

Collins 831F2 transmitter, WKXZ, Norwich NY

The WKXZ transmitter building interior is floor space challenged. It is located next to a former TELCO microwave site which has a guyed tower.