Bad news today....KMSU TV Springfield, MO. lost an 1,891 ft twr today. Twr crew on twr at about 105 ft level when it went down Fox News reporting one dead several injured with non life threatening injuries. Report states they were working on tower.

Fossil

It's "day juh view all over again"!!!! Our FM-3.5K just blew a solid state relay on the plate ckt. This rig is a later version with a mechanical contactor. We got hit two days ago with a weird power surge that somehow affected the plate current metering circuit. While two other guys were working on ...

Well done. That one goes in the notes for the one I work on.

Fossil

Ahhhh, yessss-------I remember the NAB. Sore back, sore feet, hardly a chance to get lunch. 16 hour days. Actually, it was a bit of fun in spite of the pain.

Fossil

This is a real big SWAG!

Take a board, a real dry one, and lift the HV filter choke completely off ground to see if it will stay on. Totally insulate it from ground. It could also be something breaking din in the plate xfmr. But definitely do the filter choke test first.

Fossil

Don't recall if I ever posted this before..... Installed a Harris HT-5 waaay back in the early 90's. First factory new tube lasted well over 38,000 hours. Second tube - a rebuilt - lasted a year, third lasted back up in over 25,000 hours. Recent years, life has been pretty good with rebuilts. Lately...

Yuppers, that's the one. They transferred the manufacturing process to another state, but somehow there was some slight of hand technique - unwritten - of course, that didn't get to the light of day and xmttrs were blowing up all over the country. Some lasted a whole 8-12 hours after tube change, so...

Chuck: The old metal TO-3 case version is what Jon is working on for the mod to the TO-3P. It's pretty simple as he explained it. Not having worked on any of the GATES ONE series, I was not aware of the three different versions of devices they had used. As soon as he gets the biasing and mounting do...

I just got a wake up call two days ago with replacement of a 4CX3500 in a Harris FM-3.5K. Long story short, we were getting some really strange stuff with a 1.5 year old ECONCO still making plenty of power, but had some spurs. Swapped it out with a Chinese jug which didn't want to go in socket witho...

For those of us needing these transistors for a GATES ONE, a possible replacement has been located . Mouser part number 512-FQA13N50CF. It is a TO-3P case. Expensive price of $0.88 per unit in 100 qty, or thereabouts. My engineer buddy says that there will be some changes needed in the biasing, and ...

Whoops! Just remembered another issue. We had a site where the tanks were going empty pretty fast and found the leak was caused by a bad fitting that attached the regulator to the nitrogen tank. Check that fitting to see if it is grooved, or deformed. Don't over tighten as the nitro tank is steel, a...

I find that using a kids bubble liquid works really good as it is fairly viscous, and really makes good bubbles. Saw yesterday KMART had a basket full going for a buck each.

Get an empty spray jug like an old Windex bottle and put the bubble solution in that.

Fossil

I think I heard some ground rumbling in Quincy---Parker Gates must be rolling over in his grave! :( My. how times have changed. Good thing there are still two decent am xmttr brands out there------Nautel and BE. And thanks to Mike Patton for his contributions on updates for the SX series, not to men...

I second the suggestion of the controller board, Got an FM3.5K that had a plate off inop. On that rig there is a board vertically mounted at the back of the controller area. Replaced it and it's happy. BTW, the 3.5/5k is the early predecessor to the HT series. Quite a few common parts. I think the H...

Second that suggestion for U-wave Filter Co. Have used their product for FM receiver issue.

Fossil