The AM Forum

Now that I am the proud owner of a Globe King 500, I wonder of there is an organized or otherwise congregation of World Radio Labs or Globe owners? 

They are known to gather in the AM windows when the bands are open.
Easy to spot mostly, they have a cool sounding power hum and sometimes a thunk then they go key down...

There's no main WRL site or "registry" I know of unless it's so bad it does not show up on the first page of Google..

There are various diverse pages/sites about the products, but only the basic one model number per site thing.

You could start one. A WRL site. A shrine to WRL covering many products. Maybe the aforementioned 'net'  - those folks may already have something or might like to team up. Didn't see it in Google. Someone has to start it. There's a possible group.

http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/wrl

Not very active at all.

Sorry about that Steve, I did not know which "pew to sit in".  I figured there might be a place where a sharing of information and pictures might take place.  Oh well, that might be a project down the road. Thanks everyone.

Then it could use some livening up!

Here's another one:
http://www.worldradiolabs.com/content/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23

Congrats on your purchase Bob.  I always liked the looks of the GK series.   Which model 500 did you get and what kind of shape is it in?

Joe GMS

Digging around in the W1LYD hamfest trailer....I found this...The neighbor kid is a possible operator...

happy.....

I acquired a 500 A from one of our AM fone members in Florida. Complete restoration is happening, finished the power supply tonight in fact. The Bud cabinet next, then the modulator, and finally the RF deck.

Bob,

Really nice work on the power supply.  Whole rig should look great when you're done.

Fred

Thank you Fred, the wiring looks very good on the inside of the chassis, but on the outside everything is so brittle.
Checked the plate iron this morning, 100 volts in on the variac gave me 2000 out on either side of center tap, that was a big hurdle, as I have no idea about the iron in plat here.
I think it was another case of the owner died or lost interest, and it sat for years.  The filters have been replaced, and have a 1971 date stamp.

You will enjoy the rig and the restoration thus far looks very good.   

A lot of the WRL transmitters were designed right to the edge, but running it at slightly de-rated parameters will serve the rig well.   

I always thought the GK series were a very cool looking rig.   

Joe - GMS   

Hi Bob,
           Glad to see you landed a great rig for a starting point. Best thing is it seems that everything is there and even though you may have to hunt for a few replacement parts, it's sure a lot easier than trying to start from scratch and find everything.
            I have three GK's here, two 500's and a 400. The 400 is working well at this point, but has some modifications that will need to be addressed sometime in the future. The 500's are... well... under heavy reconstruction so to speak. Here is a before and after of one of the power supplies.

73, Phil  

Really nice work,  hard to believe it's the same supply.

Fred

Phil, that looks great.  I see that 3B28's are the way to go. 

Very nice work.
I always thought the WRL stuff was junk, but there is plenty of it still around, working and sounding good, so its standing the test of time.
I remember Bruce, WA3JVJ had a Globe King 400 that he ran very hard with plenty of audio and never had anything crap out.

Here is someone else experience with restoring their Globe King.

http://www.arizona-am.net/PHOENIX/KE7TRP/globe_king.html

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=5853.0;wap2

Joe GMS  

Didn't someone a few years back try to resurrect these rigs and was making them new???

There's are least two past threads of this topic. I think one was back in 2011.

(http://amfone.net/Amforum/gallery/25_27_08_11_2_33_44.jpg)