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Title: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W7TFO on July 19, 2011, 11:24:53 PM Met it's demise on July 19 2011, after many years good service to the Phoenix radio market.
73DG Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W4RFM on August 11, 2011, 11:53:27 AM I'd love to know how many times the three 1 ohm power resistors in the step-start circuit have been replaced!
Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W7TFO on August 11, 2011, 01:25:08 PM Dunno.
The station was never under my care, but it did look like it had OK maintenance over the years. It was still running the day it was pulled. RIP. 73DG Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W4RFM on August 17, 2011, 11:24:01 AM Those boxes are like Criterion cart machines - you cant kill 'um.
Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W2PFY on August 17, 2011, 01:02:32 PM I once worked on a Gates 5KW FM rig. Don't know the model number because I was called in to cover the work while the owner went on vacation. I was told that it would not be a problem because it has been running for about three years and was very reliable.
This actually happen, the owners just left and were gone for about 1/2 hour and the transmitter went down. I started in on it having never worked on anything commercial before. Luckily for me, the owner thought he forgot his wallet (later found in his stuffed car) and had returned and repaired the problem.It was a step start resistor as I recall. Some three days later it went down again. We were having some brown outs in the area which I found out later was very unusual for the power company. I had quite a problem figuring out the single phase power panel which was using the old fashion plug in fuses along with some screw in fuses in the same panel. I needed 240 volts from the the panel that was missing and it was somehow routed beneath the plastic molding. I found a way of getting 240 volts from it but the transmitter was still not coming on with it automatic recovery system. I started poking around in the transmitter only to find the cabinet was energized with 120 AC in a loop system with the interlocks and the exciter. I thought I had everything turned off but got a 120 volt shock in my hand. Turns out the contactor coil for the hi voltage was open and I had no spare. I took the top of the contactor cover off, turned it upside-down, screwed it back in place to force the contactor contacts onto the AC buss and walla, it came back to life and the station Lessee thought I was a genius. The one thing I did not like was the area of the control panel on the transmitter. Too much stuff packed into a small area. Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W7TFO on August 17, 2011, 01:09:34 PM Congrats Terry, you have taken the first shaky steps down the road to broadcast engineering perdition! :'(
73DG Title: Re: Gates FM 20-H3 Post by: W2PFY on August 18, 2011, 02:46:51 PM Quote perdition Thanks I learned a new word, fitting as it may be :) :) :) |