FM – Page 15 – Engineering Radio

Message from the General Manager

Or whatever those guys are called these days:

Especially when that sink is located on the second floor, above the studio on the first floor. ‘Tis but a small thing really, one of those little details, but in light of the sink also being clogged, it becomes very significant. That, coupled with the fact that the building is uninhabited at night and disaster is afoot.

The water was running slowly all night…

It filled up the sink. It ran across the floor. It soaked the carpet. It seeped into the sub floor and out of the ceiling on the first floor and then into this nice Pacific Recorders BMX III console.

Pacific Recorders BMX III console, draining

Pacific Recorders BMX III console, draining/drying

Do you know that burning electronic/plastic smell? Yeah, that’s it, mixed with stale funky water, wet wood and a nondescript mildewy odor; that is what the room smells like. Very pleasing. The furniture below the console was soaked too:

Some of the input module edge connectors; didn’t fair so well:

The backplane for the power supply buss has to be replaced and these switches with the water bubbles in them, have to go too:

Pacific Recorders BMXIII buss select switch full of water

We dried out the furniture with an industrial strength hair dryer. By three PM we had unsoldered all of the bad parts and cleaned off the modules and the console back plane.

Parts for repairs are on order from Mooretronix. I doubt this will be repaired before next Tuesday.

Somebody came in and was all “awww, this sucks bla bla bla.” Well, maybe, but I get paid by the hour and frankly, there are much worse things that I could be doing…

Moving and upgrading a translator

Something that I eluded to in a previous post, we finalized the move of the WSBS translator, W231AK, from the Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington to the side of the AM tower.

Tower crew hanging translator antenna on AM tower

The move was started by hanging a new Shively 6812B antenna from the side of the AM tower, located off of US 7, north of Great Barrington. This is a half-wave-spaced circularly polarized antenna.

While this work was going on, some guy from OSHA showed up and started taking pictures without asking permission or telling anyone who he was. We informed him that he was on private property and asked him his reasons for being there. He got in his car and left, no doubt to a parking lot down the road so he could keep the tower climbers safe… mostly from themselves… by levying huge fines for free climbing… Wasn’t there something in the news about the government running out of money? Anyway…

WSBS had been using this translator for a few years. The advantages for the station from the translator move are greater power output (from 35 watts to 250 watts ERP) and less operating expenses in the form of TELCO line charges and roof top rental at the Hospital.

In addition to that, the reliability of the translator should increase, as there have been several instances in the past when TELCO line problems have taken the translator off the air for days at a time.

W231AK new transmitter, WSBS base current meter below

The transmitter for W231AK was changed from a Crown 35 watt unit to a BW Broadcast T600. These units are made in the UK and it is an all-in-one processor/exciter/transmitter. We took the cover off to make a few configuration changes and the entire unit is very well made.

One of the nice features of this particular transmitter is the screw-down clamping method of connecting the RF devices. Lets face it, unsoldering MOSFETS is a PITA. This screw down clamp eliminates all that.

The audio input and processing board is pretty neat too.

There are several different processing settings which we played around with. All in all, it seems like a pretty solid unit and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a low to moderate power transmitter.

The NASH: WNSH, Newark, NJ

Lately, I have been working at a site in West Orange, NJ connecting various parts and pieces, and thought that this was interesting:

WNSH 94.7 MHz, Newark, NJ main antenna (top)

That is the main antenna for WNSH, 94.7 MHz Newark, NJ, aka “Nash-FM.” Below that is the backup antenna for WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz), WQHT (97.1 MHz) and WFAN-FM (101.9 MHz). More on those stations later.

This is the WFME studios, located off of NJ Route 10. It is kind of hard to see the call letters behind all those trees and whatnot. There is an older picture from 1999 floating around, which shows the studio building in better condition. This is a better angle:

I believe WFME is still originating its programming here, now being broadcast on WFME 106.3 MHz, Mount Kisco. I had to use the facilities there, the interior is like a way back 80’s time machine, which is kind of cool. If I owned a radio station, I would go for the 70’s office decor; dark wood paneling, shag carpets, bright blue bathroom tile and avocado green appliances, but hey, that’s just me.

This is the WNSH backup antenna, mounted on top of a UHF slot antenna for WFME-TV. There is an LP TV antenna mounted there also, but I don’ t know who it belongs to. Overall, it is an interesting transmitter site on “First Mountain” in West Orange, NJ. Also located here, WFMU-FM, an old ATT microwave site, now owned by American Tower and several cell carriers. In other words, it is just like most other mountain top transmitter sites, except there is a shopping plaza across the street.

I gave a listen to the NASH while driving there. For where it is, it seems to have a pretty good coverage area. As for the music, well, I am not sure how a Manhattenite will relate to Tracy Byrd’s “I’m from the Country” wherein:

Everybody knows everybody, everybody calls you friend
You don’t need an invitation, kick off your shoes come on in
Yeah, we know how to work and we know how to play
We’re from the country and we like it that way

Being from upstate NY, I get it. Perhaps the Manhattan salary man will too. There are no DJ’s on air quite yet, just music, some commercials and a few “Nash-FM” liners that sound slightly distorted.

Goodbye you piece of junk

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.