The AM Forum

For your viewing pleasure, a nice photo collection showing the VOA Medium Wave facility on Okinawa ca. 1968:

http://www.jandd.org/voice_of_america_on_okinawa.htm

When you combine a receiving facility consisting of wall-to-wall racks of equipment and a million watt transmitter feeding a 6-tower directional array, you're talking pretty serious AM radio!

73, Bob W9RAN

It's amazing how clean and well kept all those facilities were. I am use to so many commercial radio and television plants where the transmitter site becomes a dumping ground for old equipment, logs and whatever they don’t want around the station. But looking at those pictures it's something to see clean moped floors and no junk anywhere.

No five second rule on dropped food there....looks like you could eat off of the floor. Nice page.

I love those junky old stations.  No telling what ancient treasures are lurking in the shadows.  The clean, well kept, junk-free sterile facilities are kind of boring to look at, and you know all the goodies went to the landfill the moment they were taken out of service, without so much as an enquiry whether or not someone might be able to use them.

However, that Okinawa site was anything but boring to look at.

I spent some time in Okinawa around 1974 as chief operator of the Navy/Marine Corp. MARS gateway station N0MOC was a great tour of duty.

You know you have a big SW transmitter when it looks like an old Diner, which the 100KW SW transmitter reminds me of.

I'll have the Blue "Plate" Special please!!!

John

I thought it was kind of nice to see the bow tie in one of the pictures. It shows a layer of class that has faded from current times. Maybe I should wear one for Near-fest!