Best Looking Broadcast Transmitter in Ham Service

[Mike/W8BAC]

I drew a response from Mike in a similar thread a couple years back when I nominated the Vanguard as ugly duckling. So I refrained this time because Mike is a great guy who's done well to get his Vanguard into top shape by the looks of it. It's a pretty cool concept actually, I think the execution was just off a bit. Heard different stories from the economical design being made primarily for small stations with low budgets or as back up transmitters.

But the visual still nagged at me, couldn't nail it down beyond one of those 60s jukeboxes in a backstreet bar. Then while traveling recently, it hit me: it looks remarkably like the ice machine in a hotel I stayed at. Just a tad smaller.

Funny Todd, I have no idea how many of those motel ice machines I have seen in the past 28 years of business travel and I never put that together myself. Your right! All it's missing is a pull handle in the middle and a scoop.  I thought it looked like a slot machine missing the pull handle and the window for the spinning drums.

I have to admit the Vanguard-1 isn't a slam dunk for a ham conversion but at the end of the day it is a kick a$$ AM or SSB amp. Think of a Henry 8K on steroids and add another few extra db.  But of coarse all that extra power goes to waste because we have rules to follow here, right?

Sure, it's ugly but it's in my basement so I have to defend it. I wish I had a picture of the original for a side by side comparison so you could see the beauty treatment it received. Some would say lipstick on a pig.... but it is one of a kind for now. I don't know of anyone else that has given a Vanguard-1 a try so it must be given just a bit of respect, right?

I'm going to have to PM Steve and have him add a line in the AMFone rules "And don't dis Mikes Vanguard-1 or your out on your but!" Something like that.

[K5UJ]

The TMC stuff is great but once you allow that in it opens the door to T-368 and BC-610 transmitters and shortly no more broadcast stuff and people would be posting pictures of the stupid blue flex box.

Technically, the BC-610 might legitimately be classified as a broadcast transmitter.

I think I have told this story here before; certainly a few times on the air:  when I was a kid, maybe around 13, I got my parents to stop in Cairo IL on one of our trips south to see the grandparents.  The reason was a small radio station by the side of the two lane highway going into town.   They had an unlamped unpainted tower, probably R25, 90 degrees and fed with RG8.  At the age I was, I did not know all this but put it together later from memory.  They had to be up high on the bc band for they had an unpainted stick.  I somehow recalled they were a 250 w. daytimer. 

The whole operation was in a small one story building--a reception area, room with a wire service printer clanking along, one basic announce booth with a small board, mic and turn tables and another studio with a piano.  You could see everything through windows and there wasn't much going on but they were on the air with something, maybe a tape.  I don't recall talking to anyone but I remember I was able to open the front door and walk in and see the transmitter.  It was a BC-610.  I did not realize it at the time, but later I remembered that's what it was.  I didn't hang around long; only a few minutes unfortunately. 

[Steve - K4HX]

The 300G is pretty hard to beat. I tend to like the 30s and 40s BC rigs with their art deco styling to the 50-60 item which appear plain and industrial looking to my eye.

[flintstone mop]

The western electric certainly is pretty! But I still stand by the straight forward design of the RCA; The Western Electric almost looks too fancy for a broadcast transmitter, maybe like it should be in a drug store?
I got into radio when I was in high school back in 77/78 and at that time the FCC had removed the requirement for the control operator to be able to see the transmitter while on the air. It was before my time but have been in old stations where the air studio looked thru a window on the transmitter room and maybe when the FCC removed the requirement to see the transmitter that put a end to the pretty boxes like the Western Electric, chrome like on the Gates and RCA and huge rounded body panels like the Collins? Almost surprised the Collins twenty series did not spout fins and tail lights.

It was for selling air time too. Clients would come visit a station and look at the Art Deco and think that it was a real high class radio station......Everything in even today's b'cast environment is flashy with extra lights and pretty sliders and wood trim. I'm sure a station today pays big dollars for the "studio furniture".

[W1ATR]

To Mike/BAC..

Just thumbed through your webpage and I have to say, VERY nice equipment. What I didn't see was the time machine you used to fetch this awesome 212b? I want to get one of these before I die. Love that console.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Funny Todd, I have no idea how many of those motel ice machines I have seen in the past 28 years of business travel and I never put that together myself. Your right! All it's missing is a pull handle in the middle and a scoop.   I thought it looked like a slot machine missing the pull handle and the window for the spinning drums.

At least you have a sense of humor about it, Mike. Always a plus. I will say that yours is the nicest one I've ever seen. And let's keep in mind that there are plenty of other rigs out there that are well-regarded but wouldn't win any beauty contests. The R-390 family, T-368, late model BC-610, and KW-1 come to mind. Very industrial looking. So long as you like it, that's what counts.

The Vanguard is in a class all its own. I bet there weren't many sold. So the one you're preserving is important to the overall picture with the 20Vs, Western Electrics and so on. Besides, as Jared points out - the 212B more than offsets any perception of the uglys.

Hmmm......a Vanguard clause.....something to think about. Invoked in defense of the Obscure, Unheard of, Ugly ducklings, etc. Could be fun.

[WD8BIL]

The Vanguard is in a class all its own.

With the state of public education these days that doesn't sound good!

[k4kyv]

The Vanguard ought to go over big with the Good Buddy crowd. It already operates in leen-yar service, and has just the look that would appeal to the chickenbander. That one big tube and power supply would make a CBer cream in his jeans, basically needing only to replace the MW tank and grid circuits with something that would work on 11m, plus adding a SO-239 somewhere on the rear of the cabinet to accept the rf from the radio.  Operating class-A, a normal 5-watt good-buddy rig should have sufficient output to fully drive it.

[K5UJ]

two probs for CBer:
1:
<<basically needing only to replace the MW tank and grid circuits with something that would work on 11m,>>

2:
Stock it's not class C.  CBer won't be happy until it is putting out 5 to 10 KW as a class C PA. "Linear" is only a name on 11.  (and in some cases on the ham bands).

[Mike/W8BAC]

Just thumbed through your webpage and I have to say, VERY nice equipment. What I didn't see was the time machine you used to fetch this awesome 212b? I want to get one of these before I die. Love that console.

Hi Jarid, and thanks for the compliments. The 212B-2 works so well and looks really nice inside and out. It is a real pleasure to use. Originally every balanced input and output had to be hardwired to a terminal strip inside the cabinet. Any changes required clearing the desk and pulling out the mixer which wasn't much fun so I built an XLR breakout box. Now if I want to add a mic or move audio around it is a breeze.

I found it in the K7YOO bat cave. I think Skip has the time machine. I'm always blown away when I walk through his collection. Skip had two Collins boards at that time. One was a 60's vintage which I almost bought. Than I took a closer look at the 212B-2. I never regretted the change.

It took quite a bit of work to iron out a few power supply and relay problems and fix some wiring problems. Thanks again.

The Vanguard ought to go over big with the Good Buddy crowd. It already operates in leen-yar service, and has just the look that would appeal to the chickenbander. That one big tube and power supply would make a CBer cream in his jeans, basically needing only to replace the MW tank and grid circuits with something that would work on 11m, plus adding a SO-239 somewhere on the rear of the cabinet to accept the rf from the radio.  Operating class-A, a normal 5-watt good-buddy rig should have sufficient output to fully drive it.

Any Chickenbander with messy jeans that could figure out how to put a Vanguard-1 on the air on 11 meters (regardless of the class of operation) would be welcome at my place, after he changes his clothes. Gates used an SO-239 originally. I think our hypothetical CBer will need a bit more than a 4 watt driver  to tickle the 4CX3000A to rated output on 11 meters however.

With the state of public education these days that doesn't sound good

Hay Buddly, I found myself sitting in the principals outer office many times waiting to find out how much trouble I was in. In a way I was in a class of my own doing. 

Hay Todd, You just keep on stirring up the pot, don't you?   

other rigs out there that are well-regarded but wouldn't win any beauty contests. The R-390 family, T-368, late model BC-610, and KW-1 come to mind. Very industrial looking.

It's looking like being a Vanguard owner is a bit like being a Studebaker enthusiast. Since my friends with R-390's, T-368's, BC-610's and KW-1's are thought of in the same way I'm going to have to start an ugly duckling support group. As a matter of fact we are already talking about making terms like "Very industrial looking" and "Ugly Radio" illegal Hate Speech.

Looking forward to hearing all of you on this fall

Mike

[WD8BIL]

Hay Buddly, I found myself sitting in the principals outer office many times

Being on the football team saved me many times. That's where I learned about perks!

[k4kyv]

I know there are a lot of bc rigs out there (maybe not enough but a bunch) but what is a mystery to me is that I hear a few guys running them who fire them up regularly and operate but for every one of them there are probably a dozen that only come out of the wood work on heavy metal night.   I wonder if there is something about a bc rig that causes some owners to not want to run them much.

Maybe for the same reason that 160m is usually sparsely populated, even on winter weekend nights when conditions are excellent. Yet, whenever there is a 160m QuaRMtest on, whether CW or slopbucket, big, strapping signals seem to come out of the woodwork to create at least as much congestion on that band as we ever hear on any of the HF bands, often packing solid the lower half, and sometimes a large part of the upper half as well. Those guys must not only be running a lot of power; they have to have excellent antenna systems as well, and had to have put a lot of work in their stations since it takes a lot more to put a strapping signal on 160 than it does to put out one on the higher frequency bands. But they appear to fire up those stations only a handful of weekend nights out of the entire year. What are they doing the rest of the time?

Except maybe in the hottest days of summer, I'd run one all the time if I had one to run.

I couldn't imagine putting that much effort into a station, and then rarely using it.

(One possible explanation) Maybe the rest of the time, they are pecking away at the computer keyboard visiting ham radio message boards. 

[KA3ZLR]

Good Buddy Crowd huh..? I don't think so not enuff channels and they don't go Above.. 


73
Jack
KA3ZLR

[KA3EKH]

I put a lot of work into the radios but only use them occasionally. I was sufficiently inspired by that comment to fire up the RCA and call a couple CQ the other night and then the night after there was a conversation going on but never got the opportunity to get in. Never been one of those Hams who gets on and talks for twenty minutes solid, myself run out of things to say after giving QTH, type of rig and the like. Maybe if it's another technical person will talk transmitters but that’s it for me. Good thing were not required to operate a cretin amount of hours per month to keep the license. One look at the shop and you can see there is no shortage of radio projects. But maybe I have a shortage of things to say.

[k4kyv]

You can always get on 75m slopbucket. You'll have plenty of opportunity to expound on the condition of your prostate, the results of your most recent colonoscopy, your blood pressure and cholesterol numbers, and any recent or anticipated surgeries.

If you carefully zero-beat, you might even be able to sneak into the conversation with AM, and they won't know the difference. Ask Ken, W2DTC.   

[WA3VJB]

But maybe I have a shortage of things to say.

Takes the right QSO.
 
As with any conversation, some just don't catch fire like others.

Firing up the station is a good first step. You can't play at all when the tubes stay dark. And now, with this cold front coming in, that hot-dust-on-glass aroma may inspire you.

[Mike/W8BAC]

That is a really nice looking shack Ray. I look for fun factor and I'm sure I would have fun twisting dials and flipping switches at your place. Nice job!

Mike

[WA3VJB]

... old stations where the air studio looked thru a window on the transmitter room...

Yeah I'm sure that's why so many were set up that way, because the overnight jock with a 3rd Class endorsed (element IX) would have to take transmitter readings.

But I don't think the transmitter manufacturers crafted style into their boxes just to entertain the jocks.

Some old-time engineers I used to work with told me station SALES people, those who sold commercial air time, would often provide tours to potential advertisers. They could see, and hopefully be impressed by, the formidable, tangible thing called radio. 

It was a problem to compete against newspapers, since a client could SEE and hold the ad.  Radio ?  Not so much.  SO an impressive transmitter facility indicated a station's commitment somehow.

[Mike/W8BAC]

That's well put Paul. The styling of the early transmitters was done for a reason and the notion of increased ad sales has been touted for as long as I can remember but the concept, considering newspaper advertising vs radio ads puts it into perspective for me. For those business owners of the time looking through a window at what must have seemed like impossibly large tubes lit up brightly must have (hopefully) made an impression. The average person of that era might have an idea of what a radio receiver looked like and the look of a kilowatt transmitter, studio and antenna might have been very impressive.

By the way, I haven't voted yet. My favorite BC transmitters are the early Western Electrics as mentioned above and the 20V, -1, -2 and -3. You can't beat seeing the Eimac 4-XXX's rf and modulator tubes and the 4 mercury vapor tubes pulsing to the music.

Mike

[Mike/W8BAC]

Here are a few pictures of my Absolute Favorite Transmitter. I found it in Hermitage,PA at WPAC. It is a Western Electric 443A-1. Eat your hearts out!  

[Mike/W8BAC]

A few more shots. Notice the heavy nickle plated door pulls in the center and lower middle and the round portholes at the mid section for viewing the MV tubes.

[flintstone mop]

Major wood on the Western Electric.........WOW those pubes...

Looks like still in a TX site..........Hermitage Pa.....hmmmmm 20 minutes away from me.

[WA3VJB]

Here are a few pictures of my Absolute Favorite Transmitter. I found it in Hermitage,PA at WPAC. It is a Western Electric 443A-1. Eat your hearts out!  

I thought I had seen that one before. Barry's site !
http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/we.htm

Notice how it was built into the wall in that picture, extending all the way to the right. There's also a framed photo to the right side of the transmitter showing, what else, the transmitter !  Maybe that was taken when it was nearly new, and here you were, watching the loyal soldier still on duty.

I've seen one in person, for a few years, every day.

I may have told the story about how a guy who was an assistant to the assistant part-time engineer was allowed to store one of these in the back transmitter room at the radio station where I first worked.

I was extremely impressed at the huge round meters, the "teardrop" needle indicators, the barn doors with observation windows, and the overall mass of the thing.  I never saw it lit up, and I don't think it had a set of tubes, but wow, was it massive.

That same guy, the assistant to the assistant, later threw a Raytheon RA-1000 at us from another little station near here. That was the infamous wife-on-the-front-lawn, blocking the way as we tried to sneak it into a certain someone's basement in the rain and under cover of darkness.

[Mike/W8BAC]

Hi Fred, Meet Mr Wes Boyd (picture below). He is the CE for WPIC AM and WYFM as well as a dozen others in the area and a good friend of Barry Mishkind. The transmitter is headed to a museum if it ever leaves the site so long as Wes and the GM have anything to say about it. I had to endure 6 months of emails and phone calls to just take pictures of it. It was a memorable afternoon at the studio. Radio history in every direction.

[WA3VJB]

The 300G is pretty hard to beat. I tend to like the 30s and 40s BC rigs with their art deco styling to the 50-60 item which appear plain and industrial looking to my eye.

Yup.  You first saw Ser. No. 33 at WUST in Washington, D.C., when you, Fred and I were trying to figure out how not to bust a nut getting it out of the projection room in the loft over the movie theater.

Then you saw Ser. No. 22 here at the house, that I got from WYRE Annapolis a year or two later.  Never did get that one tuned up right and on the air.

Here's Ser. No. 147, the one from WFOY St. Augustine.  It's been on the air from the museum, but I'm still strugglin' to get a receive station up. LOTS of generated electrical noise around the site, uncontrollable, with power lines at the street, ugh.