Gates BC1H conversion to 160 & 75 meters: What's involved?

[N6YW]

Good luck with 'er, OM. My 1H1 is still on broadcast band. I did replace the warped phenolic bar stock that held the 4 833 sockets in a row. The 1H had tube audio drivers and the 1H1 was with the silicon audio drivers. I imagine the 1H had a slight edge over the 1H1, more "natural sounding distortion" as pube audipiles are frequent to say.

John
That cracked me up. "Pube" audiophiles, or cork sniffers as I call them. I have nothing but disdain
and contempt for those dweebs who wouldn't know the hot end of a soldering iron if they sat on one.
Having said that, the 1H will sound just fine. My hobby is kept in check with reality, not fantasy.
Most audiopubes that I know don't live on this planet or even close to our reality. Seriously strange people.

One thing that has been discussed on the air recently regarding this box, is maintaining proper audio level without using any sort of signal processing. This is because of the high voltage peaks on the modulation transformer primary and the potential of ruining it. This was brought to my attention by the broadcast engineer who I am obtaining this box from. I am curious to learn more about this fascinating aspect
of high level modulation.

This is my first Barn Burner, so I want to get it right and keep it right.
I appreciate all of your comments and encouragement.
Thank you!
Billy N6YW

[W3GMS]

Billy,

Look for a BC quality negative peak limiter.  One of my favorites in the Innovonics 222 negative peak limiter.  I bought mine from Jim Wood out at Innovonics.  Its a great negative peak limiter.  Some of the older CRL units work well also and can be found at bargain prices.  I have had good luck with the CRL PMC-300A.  Both will drive the audio in on the BC rig directly.  I would start with a good negative peak limiter first since that will keep you from cutting off the carrier due to excessive negative peak modulation.  When you properly phase the audio so you get more positive peaks than negative you will be all set. 

A compressor could be added later if you feel inclined, but you may not even want to add that box. 

I use a Symetrix 528E for a broadband gain ridding compressor and like it quite a bit.  It also has a good parametric equalizer in it so you can play with the audio response tilt as well which is often needed when using a mic that has a flat response curve. 

Joe, W3GMS       

[John K5PRO]

I wouldn't ask the BC1H to go much beyond 120% positive peaks, if it can even do that. I remember trying to run tones and a proof of performance to a BC1G into a folded unipole on 1260 KHz in Virginia years back. It would cough and trip off whenever I got above 5 KHz. For sure - avoid carrier cutoff at 100% neg, limit it to 95% or less if you have a controller/processor. Since it was built to run 24/7 with music and such, it should take ham audio without flinching though.

I agree that a simple box such as the 222 is helpful. The old Volumax works too. For gain riding to keep levels up, even a simple mic processor would function well and allow some control of color via EQ adjustments. You'll find yourself sniffing the corks in no time with that box 'o' pubes.

[N6YW]

I wouldn't ask the BC1H to go much beyond 120% positive peaks, if it can even do that. I remember trying to run tones and a proof of performance to a BC1G into a folded unipole on 1260 KHz in Virginia years back. It would cough and trip off whenever I got above 5 KHz. For sure - avoid carrier cutoff at 100% neg, limit it to 95% or less if you have a controller/processor. Since it was built to run 24/7 with music and such, it should take ham audio without flinching though.

I agree that a simple box such as the 222 is helpful. The old Volumax works too. For gain riding to keep levels up, even a simple mic processor would function well and allow some control of color via EQ adjustments. You'll find yourself sniffing the corks in no time with that box 'o' pubes.

John
Thanks again. I like your approach to this discussion. I will look into some of the boxes you suggested. I have owned many compressor/limiters over the years having been in the recording studio business but I
haven't used anything other than a Presonus Eureka channel strip for processing the audio for my Flex 5000A. When the time comes, I shall experiment after the transmitter makes power again.
The audio front end will initially be the Gates Yard Console that I restored and has been awaiting the chance to meet it's partner in crime. This is going to be a fun project to say the least.
73 de Billy N6YW

[N6YW]

Thursday Morning...
We are driving to San Diego to pick up the BC-1H. It's ham radio heritage is about to commence.
Wish us safe travel. News to follow.
Billy N6YW

[N6YW]

As an aside from the the BC-1H acquisition, I am in need of the schematic drawings for the Gates Yard BC console. Mine is the tube version, mono. I have the functional drawings only and while I can likely get mine to operate satisfactorily, it will never be correct if I don't have the schematics of the console, and by this I mean the wiring. i have the mic pre and program amplifier board schematics, but not the power supply and console wiring. If anyone can help, it would be HUGELY appreciated.
I am presently wiring the patch bay for the I/O's. I intend to use it as the nerve center for the large AM system in the shack. I will explain more as it develops.
As promised, pictures will be added of the move commencing Thursday.
73, de Billy N6YW

[W7TFO]

Hi Billy,

KO6NM has all the lit on Gates mixers

PM me and I have lots of jack panels to share.

73DG

[N6YW]

Roger Dodger Dennis.
I will call him the weekend. We are setting out to acquire the transmitter this hour.
This will likely be the only time in Ham Radio history that a fully blacked out full sized Denali
Limousine will be used to transport a broadcast transmitter. We removed the rear seats and
there's room for a full size sheet of plywood.
Pictures are forthcoming. Excited is an understatement.
73 de Billy N6YW

[N6YW]

I couldn't resist...
I now get to join in on the fun.
http://www.jtml.info/BC1H1/BC1H1-1.html

[N6YW]

The Beast has landed.
I just returned from the 300 mile round trip to acquire the BC-1H. It's more than I imagined it would be
and in very good shape. It's the EX-KSON (country) main transmitter which was retired after the new owners changed format to religious content and installed a new Nautel solid state transmitter.
So, out the door she went. Because of the inner relationships that exist among BC engineers, this box was sussed out among peers to insure it didn't go to the scrap yard or worse. So, this means I have access to the personnel who had worked for the station and maintained it. Apparently, those people really loved this transmitter and cared for it like it was their own and appropriately called it, "The Beast".
Anything I need to know about it can be gained for my benefit. This is nice so that I can have the provenance to pass on down the line.
Now the work begins but for now, enjoy the photos from the trip. I will post additional parts of the story as I progress.
Onward!

[N6YW]

Keep going...
Rick Bosscher K6FMB, Engineer for KFMB who lined this deal up for me.

[N6YW]

It gets better...

[N6YW]

Are we ready yet?

[John K5PRO]

May the real fun begin! Be careful poking around in that 1H while it's plugged in.

[N0WEK]

Looks really clean and the 833s look nice and low time.

Adventures in transmitter rescue!

What year was the Beast built?

[flintstone mop]

That was the last model GATES made with a viewing window for the PUBES.
Looks very clean and ready for some old buzzard testing. Does it have a built-in dummy load?
Fred

[N6YW]

Looks really clean and the 833s look nice and low time.

Adventures in transmitter rescue!

What year was the Beast built?

Approximately 1971. I read one of the date codes on a choke.
It does have the dummy load. As I stated earlier in the thread,
this unit was making power up till the day it was taken off line
about 2-3 months ago. I plan on tuning it up soon to check it out
before the conversion takes place.

[N6YW]

After speaking with Mike Dorrough by phone, it became clear that perhaps the console wiring schematic diagram of the Gates Yard console is hard to find. This puzzles me because there were hundreds of these consoles produced and were quite popular among a wide variety of broadcast facilities around the world.
So, why is it so hard to track down? Every search attempt yields nothing, yet I have copies of the "working" wiring diagram, you know... how to hook stuff up etc. I also have the mic preamp & program amplifier schematics but nothing relating to a real schematic. Why is this so damn elusive?
Part of my frustration stems form the fact that Gates was one of the giants in broadcast radio products, and in most areas, the product line resources are pretty well accessible.
If I find this resource, i will share it here and make sure it remains available.
Meanwhile, if anyone runs across this stuff, please drop me a line.
Thank you.
The work continues. The BC-1H will arrive in my studio B within the next couple of days to be situated for it's testing and tear down for the conversion.
73 de Billy N6YW

[pa0ast]

Have You tried this site for gates documentation ?
You need the type nr of the Yard like M....
http://bh.hallikainen.org/index.php/GatesRadioCompany
rgds Anton

[flintstone mop]

Have you seen this link?

http://www.broadcastdocuments.com/BROADCAST_DOCUMENTS/GATES_YARD_CONSOLE_MANUALS.html
Any good? Gots to pay for the info!!

I hope yours is a tube console.

Named the YARD console cuz it was one yard wide. Nice space-saver console,,,,,,,,"back in the day"

Fred

[KC4VWU]

Wolfman Jack and the Gates Yard. Want a popsicle?

[N6YW]

Wolfman Jack and the Gates Yard. Want a popsicle?

That's what I'm talking about, even if it's stereo.
(Y)

[N6YW]

thank you for the links gentlemen.
The M5526 manual is available but their Paypal link is broken. So much for instant gratification.
Does this mean I will actually have to use Email and a postal money order to purchase? GRRRR!

[N0WEK]

thank you for the links gentlemen.
The M5526 manual is available but their Paypal link is broken. So much for instant gratification.
Does this mean I will actually have to use Email and a postal money order to purchase? GRRRR!

Glad you found them, but I tried all the PayPal links and they worked for me!

[N6YW]

thank you for the links gentlemen.
The M5526 manual is available but their Paypal link is broken. So much for instant gratification.
Does this mean I will actually have to use Email and a postal money order to purchase? GRRRR!

Glad you found them, but I tried all the PayPal links and they worked for me!

I will try again in the AM, no pun intended.