General – Page 37 – Engineering Radio

Generators and mice

Never a good mix, unfortunately, it usually turns out bad for the mice and sometimes the equipment. This is an Onan GGMA 20 KW propane generator installed in a rural area, not that the location matters that much. Mice will find what they perceive as a safe secure spot to hold up for the winter.

Unfortunately, the mice decided that the generator cooling fan was a good place to make a nest. It probably was until the generator started, then the mice had a quick lesson in centripetal force.

This will require some additional maintenance in the springtime when I change to oil. By that time, the carcasses should be mostly dried out and easier to deal with.

The mice are generally a nuisance, getting into ATU’s, transmitters, electrical panels, spare parts boxes, etc. Once in place, they begin to breed and reproduce. The gestational period for a mouse is 21 days, which means populations rapidly increase creating further problems. If left alone, mice will chew through electrical insulation, control wires, cardboard boxes, packing material, and so on. They tend to carry diseases like hantavirus and bubonic plague.

I don’t usually agree to using poison to get rid of pests, it tends to linger in the environment and accumulate up the food chain. However, judicious use of some type of poison is usually the only way to effectively get rid of a mouse infestation.

Wherever possible, make sure that all openings and holes into equipment and buildings are sealed up. Do not kill snakes and other predators, who will assist in keeping the mice in check. Employ traps and wear gloves when removing dead mice and mouse parts. Beware of fleas.

Why be a Broadcast Engineer?

That question was posed to me this afternoon by a coworker. It is, indeed, a good question. Certainly, broadcast engineering is more of a vocation than a career, especially where it concerns radio stations. Why would anyone work for low wages, long hours, little or no recognition, 24/7 on-call, and or unappreciative management?

Further, in this risk-averse, zero-defect, micromanaged environment, what is the upside to being a radio, RF, or broadcast engineer?

I suppose one would have to have some appreciation for history. One of the reasons I cover radio history here or certain historical events is that without knowing the roots of radio, one would be hard-pressed to find today’s version of radio broadcasting even remotely interesting. Understanding that before there was the internet, web streaming, Spotify, Youtube, Sirius/XM, television, cellular telephones, 3G, 4G, and so on, radio was mass media. Radio was people-driven, and people-oriented, not an automated computer programmed from afar. People tuned in for the music but also the personality and the personal connection.

Growing up in the late sixties and seventies, radio was my link to the outside world. As a young boy living in rural upstate New York, my mostly agricultural surroundings seemed a bit provincial. Through radio, I was able to listen to the clear channel stations from New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Cincinnati, etc. The street that I grew up on did not get cable TV until 1980, prior to that, the rooftop antenna received exactly two channels when it wasn’t blown over by a storm. The black and white TV was often broken, sometimes for over a year. It was of no great consequence, however, when nightly under my pillow, the battery-powered transistor radio was employed until midnight or later.

When I got older, shortwave radio kits were built and listened to.

Through that medium, I learned about life outside of my small town.

Author, sitting in front of Atwater-Kent Model 20 regenerative receiver

The upside is being a part of something that can still be great, although those stations are getting harder and harder to find. Still, there is a certain pride to a job well done, a clean transmitter room, and a well-tuned machine working into a properly tuned antenna. Does anyone even appreciate that anymore? I do. Lou Dickey, John Dickey, Bob Pittman, Leslie Moonves, and other CEOs may not care that the transmitter site is clean and well-kept. They may, in fact, question it as a waste of salary. I appreciate it. Fellow engineers will appreciate it, too.

Starting a transmitter, especially a high-powered tube transmitter, is a joy all its own. Nothing against Nautel, they make fine transmitters, however, when pressing the on button, the outcome is almost assured: The transmitter will turn on. Not so with certain tube-type transmitters. Pressing the plate-on button for one of those can have many different outcomes. There is a certain thrill when it all works right, the first time. There is a certain pride in driving away from a transmitter site, listening to the radio, and knowing; I caused that to happen.

The 90th anniversary of…

Many of the US’s earliest commercial radio stations are celebrating their 90th anniversary of broadcasting this year. I’ve seen announcements for WOR, WGY, and a few others.

It is fun to go back and look at the old pictures of those stations during the golden age of AM radio. If nothing else, it reminds us of what used to be and will likely never be seen again. Stations like WGY employed hundreds of people in their hay day; actors, musicians, announcers, news people, salespeople, support staff, engineers, etc. These days, WGY likely employs less than ten, certainly not more than twenty directly.

There are a few stations bucking that trend, but very few.

So here is to what once was and happy birthday to the hollowed-out shells of their former selves.

The hard restart

Sometimes there is just no way around it, especially with some modern equipment:

This Nautel VS2500 transmitter got all cranky after lightning struck the tower (or nearby) on Friday night. Thunderstorms in February are not unheard of, but they are unusual, at least in the Northeastern United States.

Nautel VS2500 FM transmitter, WBEC-FM, Pittsfield, MA

Anyway, the transmitter would not reset or restart via remote control, therefore, we had to ride the chair lift to the top of the hill and pull the plug to reset its logic and start over again.

At least the trip up to the transmitter site was scenic. We had to wait a day for the winds to calm down, but all in all, not a terrible day. Did I mention the scenery?