ANYONE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THIS ISB CONVERTER?

[n2len]

Hello Everyone,

Has anyone ever come across an ITT World Communications Inc...

ISB Converter?
Dual meters, Dual level adjusts for each sideband. 25khz Car Osc Input on the front panel...etc...
So probably would have to convert 455khz to 25khz...
Model CNY-2526C
Rack Mount

I was told it came out of Mackay Radio in the late 60's....
Came as part of a modified SP-600 JX21

Any paper work on this contraption?
Will post picture later....

Tks,
Len

[n2len]

pics....

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Try contacting Joe/WA2PJP via PM here. He worked out there years ago maintaining the SP-600s and associated gear among other things. He might have documentation or know where you can find it. At the very least, he can likely give you some good firsthand experience on setting up and using it.

[W2XR]

Looks like something that came from the Preston Nichols collection.

He and a bunch of us picked up a ton of that kind of stuff from WSL when they went dark in 1986. The real estate developer who acquired the Brentwood transmitter site property told us we were free to take anything we wanted, and gave us free reign to come and go as we pleased, but he could not be responsible if anyone was injured in the course of being there. He was a really good guy, and I doubt if anyone would have the same kind of attitude nowadays in our lawsuit-prone environment.

You are correct; these converters were designed use with the Mackay-modified SP-600s; the SP-600s were modified for an IF output of 25 Khz, instead of the normal 455 Khz output. I acquired 3 of those SP-600s from WSL, and I still have two of them. Aside from modifying them for a 25 Khz IF output, the SP-600 audio output section was modified as well, with the single-ended 6V6GT being replaced by a 6SN7 transformer-coupled (with a 20 to 20Khz hi-fidelity plate-to-line transformer) to a 600 ohm balanced line output. Suffice it to say, the triode 6SN7 line output makes those receivers sound spectacular when they drive an outboard hi-fidelity amplifier. I have the documentation for the Mackay SP-600 modifications buried away here somewhere.

Unfortunately, I have never seen any documentation for these ISB converter units, but the design was quite simple as I recall. They were utilized for receiving FAX/wire-photo and RTTY transmissions at HF, where each sideband carried independent information. And there were many of those units at WSL, both at the East Hampton receiving site and at the Brentwood transmitter plant (where they were probably stored after being removed from service).

Good luck with it. It was a nice piece of gear.

73,

Bruce

[n2len]

Bruce...
My God...
You hit the nail right on the head!
I just gave Preston a call and read you reply...
What a wonderful story!
He also has several of the 3 remaining pieces for the complete setup.

Please if when you have the chance, can you kindly locate the documentation. I would gladly pay you for your time and effort at scan or copy, mail etc....
 

[Bill, KD0HG]

It washes your laundry, too?
 

Bill

[n2len]

Hey Bill...

It doesn't wash the laundry....
It's the brain of the washing machine....
 

[W2XR]

Bill & Len,

It allows you to do two independant wash loads at the same time. My wife loves those units for that.

Mackay Radio also made them for Whirlpool for that purpose.

Len, let me see where I stashed the Mackay engineering documentation for the SP-600 modifications, and I'll contact you off-line when I find it. Do you have one of the modified receivers? There was a pile of around 20 or 25 of them in the basement of the Brentwood transmitter site, and they all went to hams local to this area (Long Island) who were part of the WSL canibalization in November & December of 1986 when they went dark.

And if someone had the means of removing them, there were probably 30 or so 4-24 Mhz 30 KW Mackay-built HF transmitters to be had for nothing, along with a pair of TMC GPT-40K 40 KW 2-32 CW/SSB rigs, and a pair of Gates Radio HF-10K 2-24 Mhz 10 KW CW/RTTY transmitters. We parted out a tiny fraction of those rigs, and what was left ended up going to that great transmitter site in the sky. There were even some old rotary spark transmitter parts from the long-defunct Press Wireless facility here on Long Island, that fortunately went to a good home. That WSL "take whatever you want" gig was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I still think about frequently, and with fond memories.

73,

Bruce

[n2len]

Bill & Len,

It allows you to do two independant wash loads at the same time. My wife loves those units for that.

Mackay Radio also made them for Whirlpool for that purpose.

Len, let me see where I stashed the Mackay engineering documentation for the SP-600 modifications, and I'll contact you off-line when I find it. Do you have one of the modified receivers? There was a pile of around 20 or 25 of them in the basement of the Brentwood transmitter site, and they all went to hams local to this area (Long Island) who were part of the WSL canibalization in November & December of 1986 when they went dark.

And if someone had the means of removing them, there were probably 30 or so 4-24 Mhz 30 KW Mackay-built HF transmitters to be had for nothing, along with a pair of TMC GPT-40K 40 KW 2-32 CW/SSB rigs, and a pair of Gates Radio HF-10K 2-24 Mhz 10 KW CW/RTTY transmitters. We parted out a tiny fraction of those rigs, and what was left ended up going to that great transmitter site in the sky. There were even some old rotary spark transmitter parts from the long-defunct Press Wireless facility here on Long Island, that fortunately went to a good home. That WSL "take whatever you want" gig was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I still think about frequently, and with fond memories.

73,

Bruce

Sounds great!
Yes the receiver I own is one of the modified versions....
With the HFO & BFO switch and the 3 way mode switch on the back of the receiver.
Currently I am using it with a 600 to 8 ohm transformer on the back feeding the wall mounted speakers in the shack.
Regarding a amplifier to speaker feed...
What do you recommend for that setup? Amp and speaker compliment?

[n2len]

Bruce..
I came across this post in a yahoo group with further information about the CNY-2061D receiver and the ISB Converter...
I am hoping that I can get the hookup diagram for the converter and I need to find out what the 2 other external rack mount accessories are....I am trying to reach out to this gentleman Bob to see if he can offer some additional info....

<snip>
---- Rick Barton <desertmoon_dxr@...> wrote:
> i have to concur. i collect vintage household broadcast and communication
gear
> (mainly just Hammarlund when it comes to communicaton recievers). and the
> best sounding radio i have

A working SP-600 will have excellent audio IMO.

Somewhere packed away is my copy of the Mackay Radio Corp.
Instruction Manual for the Mackay CNY-2061D. This is a SP-600 that was
modified in the Mackay Radio Lab to do the following: 1. Add a third mixer
with switchable xtal-controlled choice of 430 or 480 kc injection, driving
a 25 kc 3rd IF output. This went to a separate unit, see below. 2. Modify
the antenna input for balanced line option. 3. Bring out a connection to
allow an external VFO signal to lock the HFO (done to allow 2 RX's to
work slaved in diversity mode). 4. BFO, same thing. 5. AGC buss, same
thing. Probably some other stuff I forgot. The separate unit which took a
25 kc input had two L-C bandpass filters, one for 22-25 kc, the other for
25-28 kc, each with its own detector, which allowed for independent
sideband reception. (Later, 455 kc mechanical filters did this job). The
ISB unit was in a 8-3/4 inch rack panel configuration, 2 detectors. Each
of the L-C filters was maybe 2 x 2 x 8 inches and was custom made.

For diversity, a master oscillator around 2 MHz could be tuned, and
beat with a stable 5 MHz oscillator, for roughly 3 MHz output, This
would be multiplied up to the required freq to inject to the HFO
of each of 2 SP-600's, so they would both "tune" together, and so
the Sp-600 itself had to be "tuned" only roughly to the desired recv
freq so the RF/mixer tuning was usable, and the HFO's would lock to
the injected reference. This allowed both rx's to "sit" on a circuit,
even as high as 22 MHz, all day with no retuning. Of course, it
was a fair amount of work to get one of these set up. That 2 MHz
oscillator probably tuned 50 Hz per dial revolution, and was in an
oven container. This stuff had all gone away long before I went to
work there (mid-1980's after I left the broadcast biz).

I used to have a couple of these modified sets but sold them in about
1990. I still have one copy of the hand-made Mackay manual, dating from
the 1950's, produced in mimeograph and blue-print, with text, schematics,
parts list. I doubt more than 50 sets were ever manufactured, for use in
HF PTP circuits at the Southampton (and Centereach, before the
merger with ITT) receiving station, probably one manual for each station
with modified sets. An enormously labor-intensive job. I'm willing to bet that
I have probably the last surviving such manual, unless Lee kept one as
well. but he was never really active in the listening hobby, just kept stuff
like that as museum curios. (A Google of that term CNY-2061D returns zero
results)

Any other such items were bulldozed under, or hauled off as junk, after the
xmtg station (150 Adams Ave. Hauppauge NY) was closed by ITT in Nov.
1986, when they left the HF PTP business to RCA, none of it saved in
any organized fashion. The station manager did not condone "scavenging"
and I was lucky to save a few things, including the CNY2061D manual.
The developer Racanelli built an office park on that site around 1988.

There may yet be a SP-600 under (way under) someone's office there,
though I doubt it.

Who knows? (I do know that there are no PCB's on that site. All
the 12 kv plate xfmrs from the 10 KW xmtrs had mineral oil, having dated from
the 1930's)

- Bob

<unsnip>


   

[n2len]

Bruce,
I had to post this fantastic reply from Bob K2EUH.....

Hi Len,

Nice to hear from you. Not sure how you found my name. I read the 10 or so
postings on the thread, you are free to add mine to it as well.

The modded SP-600 is what I am most familiar with, I used to own three of them,
all in various stages of working. I sold them to Preston (Space-Time Laboratories)
probably in 1988 or so. I had debated going to work for ITT WorldCom some time
before then. I was then working for a major broadcaster in NYC but the hours and
shift work were very bothersome to my (then) wife, who had undiagnosed illness.
She passed in 1986. I was looking for a way to move to a less stressful rural life,
and I discovered Amagansett Radio (WSL) and their staff of 28 CW operators
who were working ships at sea from Southampton, whiich area we both loved.
It was shift work, but predictable.

The station manager, a Mr. Pulley said "get your 2nd class telegraph license and
I'll hire you that same day." Well I did get the license in 1980 but then decided
the pay, $380/week wasn't enough to commit to when I was making a lot more in broadcasting
in NYC. A couple years later they had an opening at the xmtg station for a watch
supervisor (Hauppauge) and I went ahead and took that. I got a few years work out of that
but all the HF circuits started being shut down, and WSL closed in 1984. I was finally laid
off on the day after Christmas 1985 (I must say ITT was very graceful about how they handled
that). All the xmtr operators left then as well.

When I left, they still had several HF RTTY one-way-outbound circuits for the Dept of
State, 100wpm, AP and UPI radiophoto to South America, the Press Trust of India RTTY news,
and an inbound RTTY circuit from Globe in Havana on 10220. This single circuit was
hard to keep reliable with all of the outbound RF floating around in the same area.

As I know some Spanish I sometimes had to get on the TTY and call them (by keyboard)
and converse about circuit issues. It was a special favor to the State Dept that the
circuit was kept open. I don't know what they did after I left. My wife passed in
Aug 1986 and I went by there after (the Hauppauge xmtr site was all that was left) to visit
them and I think Havana was all that was left. The xmtr chief was Lee, a ham, a good guy,
and he then gave me the three Sp-600 rxs, each of which had minor problems, and a copy of the
mimeographed manual for the CNY2061D mods. I think I still have it in some material
stored in my barn, I need to check. Or maybe it went to Preston after all. I guess it would be
the 2nd survivor?

All that material published about the tech features agrees fully with what I remember.
The 430/480 kc BFO, the ISB converters (each with two LC network IF filters for 22-25
and 25-28 kc ISB use), the 2 MC VFO for stable tracking of the RX HFO. It all matches
exactly. WE never used any of that gear during my time there, there was a number of
Watkins-Johnson 8718 rx's that came from Southampton when WSL closed in 1984, Four
of them stayed at Hauppauge and the rest went to ... who knows? (not me however) One
was assigned to the Havana 10220 inward RTTY circuit and the rest were for show, I guess. ITT
bought some expensive crystal filter networks for the rx input on that Havana circuit,
with its rx and 200 feet away from our 10 kW outbound. That one last circuit kept the Hauppauge
site open for months.

Another mod to the SP600 was replacement of the antenna input connector with a Twinax
UHF-style connector with 2 RF leads. All the Rcv RF leads were balanced line shielded.

The comment about the station manager matches what I remember, he did not want to
let any of the surplus, obsolete junk gear be given away during the time they were still
open. On that I'll say no more. I think it was all removed by scavengers after Racanelli
assumed ownership of the site.

There were six Collins 3-24 Mc (I think) log periodics on site on 100 foot towers and I think
they were all lowered and removed, I imagine a crane would be needed. The LPs were installed
after most of the site had been sold and the rhombics removed, years before my time.

Mackay Radio of course had been taken over by ITT WorldCom, and somewhat earlier, Press Wireless
merged into Mackay. Their old site is the origin of the name "Wireless Road" in
Centereach, NY, now all housing but then rhombic farms.

Most of the few paper historical items I had saved were lost in a house flood. ITT locally
had no sense of historical archival at any level and I am certain that the great majority
of things of historical interest were junked after I left. I did save a book called "Rhombic
Antenna Design" (A E Harper, Van Nostrand, 1940) one of my valued possessions and long out of
print. My sole surviving paper historical artifact, if I can't find that 2061D manual.

A special time in radio history. Bob k2euh

[ke7trp]

I had one.  I think its sold now. It has the switches on it like you describe len.  I had it running for a while.  I had to get a twinax adapter to run it to coax.

C

[n2len]

Hey C...
You had the sp-600 or the isb converter?
If either, do you have any paperwork?

[ke7trp]

It was an SP600.  It had those controls on it.  Modified by a company after Hammarlund made the unit. 

We also had one that was for the dual diversity setup.    I had the one pictured on this website:

http://www.navy-radio.com/rcvr-div.htm

I got the system working with an 80 meter vertical and an 80 meter horizontal dipole. It did not work perfectly as I have a small lot.  However, It did work and was fun to use. I could see the signal go to the vert or horizontal antenna.

C

[n2len]

That sounds interesting
I wonder if the signal fading would shift between sides?
Horizontal and Vertical shifting..
Probably the odds of loosing the signal path would be much less.

[ke7trp]

Exactly.. I could watch the reciever with the 45 ft tall 80 meter Vertical "take over" the Receiver that had the 80 meter wire antenna on it.  Station to station and during fades.  Really neat.

That "Northern 159"  receiver is for sale.  I just saw it today as I am cleaning up the store room. 

http://www.navy-radio.com/rcvrs/frr28.htm 

I am selling off a huge list of gear.

C

[n2len]

Exactly.. I could watch the reciever with the 45 ft tall 80 meter Vertical "take over" the Receiver that had the 80 meter wire antenna on it.  Station to station and during fades.  Really neat.

That "Northern 159"  receiver is for sale.  I just saw it today as I am cleaning up the store room. 

http://www.navy-radio.com/rcvrs/frr28.htm 

I am selling off a huge list of gear.

C

Send me that list....
n2len@aol.com