{"id":9283,"date":"2017-01-30T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=9283"},"modified":"2023-03-19T11:50:25","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T15:50:25","slug":"shipping-container-transmitter-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2017\/01\/shipping-container-transmitter-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Shipping Container transmitter site"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_9295\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9295\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-9295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-650x433.jpg\" alt=\"Shipping container transmitter site from the early 1990's.\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/shipping_container.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9295\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shipping container transmitter site from the early 1990&#8217;s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I do not particularly like these. I know, they are relatively inexpensive, easy to come by, easy to install, etc. However, a shipping container was not designed to house a transmitter, they have certain drawbacks. These are, in no particular order:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Air conditioning.\u00a0 Using a traditional Bard-type equipment shelter HVAC unit requires cutting through a lot of fairly heavy gauge steel.\u00a0 What&#8217;s more, the steel walls are uneven, requiring a filler.<\/li>\n<li>They are by necessity, fairly narrow.\u00a0 Arranging racks and transmitters along the length of the unit restricts access to either the front or the back of the equipment.\u00a0 Meeting NEC clearance requirements for electrical panels, transfer switches, and disconnects can pose problems.<\/li>\n<li>They are not very tall.\u00a0 Mounting overhead equipment can be problematic as one does not want to drill through the top of the container.\u00a0 Crosswise unistrut is one solution, but it lowers the overhead considerably.<\/li>\n<li>Electrical work is slightly more dangerous.\u00a0 Doing any kind of electrical work, troubleshooting, repairs, etc is a little more nerve-racking when everywhere around you is a metal surface at ground potential.<\/li>\n<li>They are difficult to insulate against cold and heat.<\/li>\n<li>The door-latching mechanisms bind, wear out or otherwise fail over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of those things being said, I am now rebuilding a transmitter site in one of these shipping containers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9296\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9296\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-9296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-650x433.jpg\" alt=\"Inside view of shipping container transmitter\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Container_inside.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9296\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside view of shipping container transmitter site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fortunately, the original electrical work was not bad.\u00a0 The transmitter is a twenty-year-old BE FM10B, which will be retained as a backup.\u00a0 The new transmitter is a Gates Air FAX-10.\u00a0 We have installed several of these Gates Air transmitters in the last two years or so and they seem to be pretty solid units.\u00a0 This is the second 10KW unit I have installed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9297\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9297\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-9297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-650x433.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-650x433.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/FAX_10.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9297\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gatesair FAX-10 transmitter in Middle Atlantic Rack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We decided to install the FAX-10 in a Middle Atlantic rack since we did not have a whole bunch of extra room for a separate transmitter rack.\u00a0 The 1 5\/8 inch coax switch is installed in the top of the transmitter rack along with a Tunwall TRC-1 switch control unit. The other rack will have the STL and all other ancillary gear.\u00a0 My idea is to have nothing in between the door and the FM10B so it can be easily removed when that day comes.\u00a0 Something, something about planning ahead since it will be likely myself removing the FM10B.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I do not particularly like these. I know, they are relatively inexpensive, easy to come by, easy to install, etc. However, a shipping container was not designed to house a transmitter, they have certain drawbacks. These are, in no particular order: Air conditioning.\u00a0 Using a traditional Bard-type equipment shelter HVAC unit requires cutting through a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2017\/01\/shipping-container-transmitter-site\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Shipping Container transmitter site<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[82,215,15],"class_list":["post-9283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-stuff","tag-fm","tag-fm-transmitter-site","tag-fm-transmitters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9283"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11108,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283\/revisions\/11108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}